There are people out there that believe England’s trip to South Africa is less about competition and more about recruiting.
That is unfair, and funny.
Their trip to South Africa is about their love of draws.
And not just any draws, but four and a half days of lifeless cricket, and then a final afternoon that wakes up anyone who has accidentally left the TV on.
This is the 4th test of 09 that England has produced a thrilling end after days of wrist slicing tedium.
4 times have we said, fuck the win, what a draw. And 4 times have we fallen asleep earlier in the match.
We have to thank England for exciting us.
Whether it is with a collapse like the last two, or by not getting out Fidel Edwards they know how to draw.
Most teams just play shitty draws that people hate.
Not England, they are the kings of the crowd pleasing draws.
In the future English fans might boo victories, wishing for the rush from that plucky draw with the classic not quite complete collapse or the moral indignation that comes with not getting the tenth wicket because of a bad declaration.
Looking at South Africa’s run rate in the first dig, and England’s ability to lose 6 wickets in a session today, this series could keep all these English draw enthusiasts happy for a while yet.
If it means seeing the Bruce Willis of Nudgers, Collingwood, doing his batting impression of dragging himself through the remains of his dead comrades as mortar drops around him and a tailender batting better than Ian Bell, I will tune in for it.
Viva la draw.
There is more than a little about England’s nail biting draw in this book.
That was shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit. This time the Monty was called Onions. And it was as shit as always. I feel betrayed, robbed and plundered. Shit.
I feel very relieved! Think I aged about 7 years during those last 7 overs. England didn’t really deserve that draw & I’ll be more than happy with some tedious easy wins, thank you very much! (I can dream)
And hurrah for Colly & Onions! If only Bell & Cook could show as much grit. Or indeed the selectors by dropping them. Now that really would be dreamtime.
.-= SarahCanterbury´s last blog ..David Fulton prepares to interview Ryan McLaren =-.
The best part is that 12 of those final 19 balls were played by Onions!
I bet Smith was hoping a Christmas miracle would bring Steyn on for the final over.
.-= Rishabh´s last blog ..Sehwag paints the field red =-.
What I don’t get is that Robert Key only had about a dozen matches starting at a similar age to Bell, yet now Key is primed for Tests, he’s left at home when they both should switch places. Bell looks like a fucking hobbit, he will still be young at 32, give him five more years in country cricket and he might deserve another chance. But I don’t want to see his shitbag, Bilbo Bagginsian cocksucking face for at least five years in Test cricket.
Did england draw? . That shows SA lacked firepower to clean up the tail. They needed steyn to bowl reverse swinging yorker. So without him SA can’t win this series. So england may have chance to win this series.
Exactly, Gigi! Key would also be the perfect choice to deputise as captain in Bangladesh should Strauss be rested for that series. Appreciate Morgan might be ahead of him in terms of batting alone but if you’re looking for a captain/batsman combined, Key is a pretty safe bet & has to be better value than Cook.
Still not quite sure why De Wet wasn’t given the last over – ok his last one wasn’t great but he’d taken 4 wickets & had been bowling brilliantly. Surely he had to be a better option than Ntini? Erroneous sentiment by Smith (and hurrah for that!).
.-= SarahCanterbury´s last blog ..David Fulton prepares to interview Ryan McLaren =-.
I saw the score at tea and thought “not even we can fuck this one up”. Clearly, I’ve not been following England long enough.
Dave, we didnt fuck it up, we ensured that Smith nearly swalloed his cap in apoplexy.
Bumble’s stating that he’s been moaning about how long it takes Trott to get ready to face.
Good
All English batters should now do the same, whilst whistling Rule Britania off key.
Fuck England – it’s not that they are good at drawing. They are just really bad losers. They can’t bear anyone else to win, so they make sure they don’t, not by playing better, but by refusing to play at all.
time-wasters! bloody unsporting dog-in-the-mangers ! Typical poms
‘There are people out there that believe England’s trip to South Africa is less about competition and more about recruiting.’
brilliant UJ!!
.-= namya´s last blog ..The Benn Johnson saga =-.
At the start of play yesterday I was cursing England for not trying for the win. Mind you, West Indies just did and look what happened to them, fell 35 runs short. So maybe they had it right after all. And if it annoys the Saffers, so much the better I’d say.
I went to go out with 20 overs to go thinking the same as others, there is no way England can stuff this up and found it hilarious when I got back and saw that Onions hauled their sorry asses over the line.
Hooray for The Mighty Onions. And someone put Ian Bell out of our misery.
Watching England is an experience.
Even when England were hanging on at the end they still tried to stuff it up for themselves.
How the hell did Collingwood end up letting the No.11 face the last over.
They are clearly not content with just a bog-standard batting collapse, they have to throw in a few extras to make it even more interesting.
Was Pietersen doing an impression of Owais Shah, or did he think he was just starting his innings again and going for the usual reckless single when on 0.
Maybe he didn’t notice the 8 on the scoreboard.
.-= Cricket Betting Blog´s last blog ..Never thought I’d see the day! =-.
ROTFL!
Why do England suck ? There must be some point in their cricket timeline when they aren’t made fun of (Ashes 05 apart) :-)