Funny how t20 haters can say why they don't like t20, while t20 lovers resort to accusations of sooking, isn't it?

I racked up 24 off 6 balls once, and no one puts a thread up about that. Once again, it's one rule for the rich and famous, another rule for the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by Zat:
Funny how t20 haters can say why they don't like t20, while t20 lovers resort to accusations of sooking, isn't it?

Nonsense.

Where is the sooking in my original post? It is a celebration of a cracking little cameo in an entertaining, condensed game of cricket.

It is a form of the game that allows me, other committed cricket fans, and most importantly new and casual cricket followers to watch an entire game from start to finish after a day's work or schooling.

No other form of the game can offer this, and it's a great way to get youngsters and other newly interested observers to take their first steps into a cricket ground.

Being something of a traditionalist myself, I was entirely cynical about the new format when it was first introduced but enjoyed some of what I saw on TV during that first season in England.

I was then converted after being persuaded to go along to a Notts v Yorks game the following season and seeing Ealham win a previous game for us by scoring the bulk of the runs in knocking off 144 off the last 9.5 overs of the game.

I would still much rather be getting my teeth stuck into a damn good Test match and perhaps even a good County Championship / First Class game than Twenty20, but it has already overtaken the 40-50 over game in my affections.

All One Day cricket is essentially just as meaningless from one game to the next, but Twenty20 has merely dispensed with the boring middle bits of the longer limited overs games.

Open your minds, give it a try!

Could Ealham really have done worse than Bresnan?

I've never quite worked out why he was dropped. The irritating little fatty was your most reliable bowler in JAMODIs.

quote:

I've never quite worked out why he was dropped.

Obviously no-one has put the answer in a book......

Very funny.

Perhaps you'd like to explain what good reason there was for dropping someone with his economy rate who could bat?

Some variation on 'Duncan Fletcher didn't like him' is probably the 'reason'. But I don't KNOW that. Do you?

He was/is/and forever shall be crap

Yeah, okay. Economy rate of 4.1 in ODIs playing in the second half of the 90s, but he's just crap. Never did anything useful for England. Not a patch on Rikki Clarke, Vikram Solanki or Tim Bresnan, who are all class and did/do a grand job for England.

Whatever.

He played to the peak of his potential and was never going to be a world beater...and a description of "handy" might be a stretch

The others you mentioned have more potential but havent/didnt play to it ....

Sort of a Hopes vs Watson debate

Granted that Ealham played to the limits of his potential, and was only a useful member of the team.

But I'm not sure anyone in their right minds ever thought Bresnan or Clarke would be 'world beaters' either...

Ealham would have been a better pick for the Lankan ODIs than Bresnan, even at 35. It irritates me that someone who gave it 100% and has the ability to make a contribution seems to have been written off in favour of might be/could be/never will bes like Bresnan or Clarke.

.

quote:

Originally posted by Big_Bad_Bob:

quote:

Originally posted by Zat:
Funny how t20 haters can say why they don't like t20, while t20 lovers resort to accusations of sooking, isn't it?

Nonsense.

Where is the sooking in my original post? It is a celebration of a cracking little cameo in an entertaining, condensed game of cricket.
...

BBB, Please note, I said 'resort to'. By implication, this cannot include an initial post. Read the reast of the thread, you'll see what I mean.

quote:

Open your minds, give it a try!

Seen a few of them on the teev, and sorry, I'd rather watch croquet, tiddlywinks, or lawn bowls.

Oh, and despite Ed's best efforts, I do only have one mind to open...

Mark Ealham is a God

quote:

Originally posted by Mang The Merciless:

quote:

Originally posted by jontyh:
I don't know Breese - who's he?
Better than Gough as a bowler/slogger?

No, he's a bit of a T20 bunny.

He bowls off-spin for Durham, quite sure his econ is excellent.

I think you need two spinners and a medium pacer in your T20 attack. The pace men, Phillips is a back of a length strike bowler and Broad has an incredible econ for a young bowler in this form of the game.

I'm off to Old Trafford this evening for the Lancs vs Durham T20 on a hospitality freebie, so if this Breese fella's playing I'll get a look at him.
It's a hard life..