reality bites
Aug. 4th, 2008 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistletoeRanty macRant warning
Well, that all went pear-shaped. After extolling the brilliance of Colly's innings, we still lost. Rather badly. So the captain resigned in a tearful press conference on Sunday. He was very brave thanking everyone for their support until he got to his parents when he just started to cry, but managed to battle gamely on, only wiping his eyes once. That's the British for you. Other nationalities may have blubbed in a girly way, but Michael Vaughan attempted the stiff upper lip - and failed. Now this is where the famed British phlegm is sadly lacking these days. We aren't the power we used to be for this very reason. British lads don't cry; they just don't. Beckham did it too, though I have less sympathy for him 'cos he's still a millionaire and is a git. Vaughany is just a cricketer and therefore not well off. He wears a lucky sun hat for God's sake.
To add insult to injury the money is on Kevin Pietersen to replace not only him as England captain but also Collingwood as One Day captain. In a show of solidarity, or because he was nudged to do so, Paul resigned as one day captain. He did have a rocky ride against the New Zealanders in a controversial run-out where he appealed in spite of the fact the batsman couldn't make his ground because he had collided with the bowler half way down the pitch. "It's just not cricket," cried the old-stagers. "Win the Aussie way" came the reply. See that's where Paul's problem lies in some ways. He's not old school tie enough for some of them. As I keep telling you, he came from our school, didn't go to University and plays for Durham, which was a Minor County not that long ago.
And just to get really paranoid about it , Yorkshire, Vaughan's county, were thrown out of the 20Twenty at the last minute for fielding an ineligible player. This happened literally minutes before their 1/4 final match against? Durham. Two Northern Counties, meaning one was guaranteed to get to the big finals day in Southampton 300 miles away. May affect the crowds, people having to come all that way. So there was a hearing chaired by a member of Lancashire (Yorkshire's arch rivals) who upheld the complaint that a lad from Barnsley was actually Pakistani and didn't have the requisite British passport needed to play for Yorkshire, though he had captained England schoolboys. Now I could digress even further into overseas and Kolpak players but that would be too esoteric and just leave it at that.
So Nottinghamshire, who had been defeated by Yorkshire in the group stages, were told they would play Durham for the glory of Finals day in Southampton. A Midlands team, hmmm still a bit far away but not as far as Yorkshire. Yorkshire appealed and a different committee sat, chaired by someone from Hampshire, where Southampton is incidentally. They decided that neither Yorkshire, nor the original injured party, Nottinghamshire, should go to Finals day: it should be - Glamorgan, who were in a different league and happened to have the same number of points as Yorkshire before they made it into a no result giving Yorks and Notts 1 point each which knocked them out of the running. So Durham ended up playing the team nearest to Hampshire who were still in the running, three days before finals day instead of two weeks before. They won anyway but only had two days to recover before having to get down to Southampton. Needless to say they lost in the semis. The other three teams? Why Essex, Middlesex and Kent of course. Handy travelling for Southampton the lot of them.
Now you may wonder why I'm going on at length about a piddling little domestic competition of dubious import. Well, this year it was important because the winners and runners up were to play in an International tournament worth MILLIONS of ££££. Ah ha. Course my theory was a bit derailed by the fact Kent, the runners up were disqualified because they had players who had been in the ICL and India weren't letting them play for anyone else (even if they were English). I think it just goes to show - money talks.
On the Pietersen front: there are numerous objections to him being England captain.
1 He is South African. Well so was Tony Gregg you cry. True but the circumstances were different then; South Africa was banned from international competition at the time - politics. I can remember the boycott of South African tinned fruit you know. But I digress.
Pietersen came here because the South Africans didn't think he was good enough. He thought he was, which brings me to:
2 He has an ego the size of Cape Town and the press love him for it. What I would call reckless they see as cavalier and mercurial talent. I just don't get it. When England were just teetering on the brink of getting back into the last Test match, Pietersen was on 94. He had already done two reverse sweeps where he actually switches to left handed while the bowler is running up; not really appropriate for the circumstances but never mind, he got away with them and oh how the crowd love it. So, he needs 6 for his century and the chance to bash on 'cos Colly is at the other end battling to save his test career and therefore determined to stick in there, like they did in the last test for the Ashes in 2005. What does Pietersen do? He fails to spot the fielder set half way back to the boundary and takes a mighty swipe for glory, top edging it to the fielder. Why did he do it? Two reasons: he is an idiot and he is not English. What is the reaction? Tremendous effort. Just unlucky at the end. Well played. NO! Why didn't he wait, look at the bigger picture, stop thinking about himself and what the press would be saying about him, get the interviews on the telly: KP saves the day again. Well he didn't Colly did. Colly hit the 6 for his 100. Colly batted on with the tail to reach 135. Colly got the telly interviews. Colly tried to save the match.
But Pietersen gets treated like the naughty schoolboy who gets away with it because he is a genius. No he's not. Yes he can bat well but he makes bad decisions at the wrong times. Do we want that from our Captain? Not really.
They are making the announcement today at 12.30. Let's hope this rant is not pointless.
To add insult to injury the money is on Kevin Pietersen to replace not only him as England captain but also Collingwood as One Day captain. In a show of solidarity, or because he was nudged to do so, Paul resigned as one day captain. He did have a rocky ride against the New Zealanders in a controversial run-out where he appealed in spite of the fact the batsman couldn't make his ground because he had collided with the bowler half way down the pitch. "It's just not cricket," cried the old-stagers. "Win the Aussie way" came the reply. See that's where Paul's problem lies in some ways. He's not old school tie enough for some of them. As I keep telling you, he came from our school, didn't go to University and plays for Durham, which was a Minor County not that long ago.
And just to get really paranoid about it , Yorkshire, Vaughan's county, were thrown out of the 20Twenty at the last minute for fielding an ineligible player. This happened literally minutes before their 1/4 final match against? Durham. Two Northern Counties, meaning one was guaranteed to get to the big finals day in Southampton 300 miles away. May affect the crowds, people having to come all that way. So there was a hearing chaired by a member of Lancashire (Yorkshire's arch rivals) who upheld the complaint that a lad from Barnsley was actually Pakistani and didn't have the requisite British passport needed to play for Yorkshire, though he had captained England schoolboys. Now I could digress even further into overseas and Kolpak players but that would be too esoteric and just leave it at that.
So Nottinghamshire, who had been defeated by Yorkshire in the group stages, were told they would play Durham for the glory of Finals day in Southampton. A Midlands team, hmmm still a bit far away but not as far as Yorkshire. Yorkshire appealed and a different committee sat, chaired by someone from Hampshire, where Southampton is incidentally. They decided that neither Yorkshire, nor the original injured party, Nottinghamshire, should go to Finals day: it should be - Glamorgan, who were in a different league and happened to have the same number of points as Yorkshire before they made it into a no result giving Yorks and Notts 1 point each which knocked them out of the running. So Durham ended up playing the team nearest to Hampshire who were still in the running, three days before finals day instead of two weeks before. They won anyway but only had two days to recover before having to get down to Southampton. Needless to say they lost in the semis. The other three teams? Why Essex, Middlesex and Kent of course. Handy travelling for Southampton the lot of them.
Now you may wonder why I'm going on at length about a piddling little domestic competition of dubious import. Well, this year it was important because the winners and runners up were to play in an International tournament worth MILLIONS of ££££. Ah ha. Course my theory was a bit derailed by the fact Kent, the runners up were disqualified because they had players who had been in the ICL and India weren't letting them play for anyone else (even if they were English). I think it just goes to show - money talks.
On the Pietersen front: there are numerous objections to him being England captain.
1 He is South African. Well so was Tony Gregg you cry. True but the circumstances were different then; South Africa was banned from international competition at the time - politics. I can remember the boycott of South African tinned fruit you know. But I digress.
Pietersen came here because the South Africans didn't think he was good enough. He thought he was, which brings me to:
2 He has an ego the size of Cape Town and the press love him for it. What I would call reckless they see as cavalier and mercurial talent. I just don't get it. When England were just teetering on the brink of getting back into the last Test match, Pietersen was on 94. He had already done two reverse sweeps where he actually switches to left handed while the bowler is running up; not really appropriate for the circumstances but never mind, he got away with them and oh how the crowd love it. So, he needs 6 for his century and the chance to bash on 'cos Colly is at the other end battling to save his test career and therefore determined to stick in there, like they did in the last test for the Ashes in 2005. What does Pietersen do? He fails to spot the fielder set half way back to the boundary and takes a mighty swipe for glory, top edging it to the fielder. Why did he do it? Two reasons: he is an idiot and he is not English. What is the reaction? Tremendous effort. Just unlucky at the end. Well played. NO! Why didn't he wait, look at the bigger picture, stop thinking about himself and what the press would be saying about him, get the interviews on the telly: KP saves the day again. Well he didn't Colly did. Colly hit the 6 for his 100. Colly batted on with the tail to reach 135. Colly got the telly interviews. Colly tried to save the match.
But Pietersen gets treated like the naughty schoolboy who gets away with it because he is a genius. No he's not. Yes he can bat well but he makes bad decisions at the wrong times. Do we want that from our Captain? Not really.
They are making the announcement today at 12.30. Let's hope this rant is not pointless.
