England's Summer Of Cricket against New Zealand and AUSTRALIA!

[Liverpool]

as long as theres 2-3 hours play on Monday and we win, I don't care

few ales afterwards in Manchester and train home

[Shaggy]

heavy rain due 1 till 6 on Friday and Saturday now

:

as long as theres 2-3 hours play on Monday and we win, I don't care

few ales afterwards in Manchester and train home

Any plans? We're gonna come down to Chorlton and sup in our local pubs/bars. Welcome to come if you fancy it. Tram runs every 12 minutes from Chorlton to Piccadilly/Oxford Rd for getting the train home.

[Shaggy]

And right on cue my tickets have just come through the door

[PTP]

so i'm off to the T20 at the end of August

think it's about 5th or 6th year in a row of watching England somwhere in some format or another.

Some of you may remember that each year we do fancy dress with a theme.

For example, there was the legendary Star Wars one which is by the greatest fancy dress i've ever seen - we got mobbed all day like we were celebs by people wanting pictures



there was the martial arts related year where we got stopped by some photographer who took this and sent me the finished picture



Last year we all went as different versions of michael jackson, which ended up in a mate getting man handled out the ground






This year the theme is rock stars.

So i've picked Jimi Hendrix - got about a month too sort out a costume

others have gone for
Slash
Bon Jovi (80's)
Elvis
Kiss
Jim Morrison

and god knows what else

[Shaggy]

What did your mate get slung out for?

[PTP]

it's bizarre - every year, we act horrendously - we get extremly drunk and it's carnage and we seem to get away with everything!

except for building beer snakes - it's the one thing, no matter which ground we have been too, that the security get pissed off about - building beer snakes out of empty plastic glasses.

So anyway, we made an epic beer snake that my mate hoisted into the air - the stewards went mad, what happened next was brilliant – they targeted him, my mate went on the run around the stand, with all other groups helping him out by giving him different items of fancy dress haha

So he’d join a group of lads about 10 rows in front and put a different wig on and glasses and just stand there like he’s part of their group – the security would be standing there confused for a few seconds, then spot him and go for him again, he’d throw the fancy dress stuff back and leg it across the seats – and then another group would ‘hide’ them in their gear

Went on for about 20 minutes until eventually he was cornered by loads of them and these two big ****ers grabbed him and dragged him out.

to be fair he said they were just playing to the crowd though as once they got out of the stand area, they let go off him and started laughing about it all, but wouldn't let him back up to the seats so they wouldn't lose face,

Luckily it was a test match, we’d been there since 11am and there was only about half an hour so of play left and we were all ****ed – so we used it as a good excuse to leave and beat the rush for taxi's

[Shaggy]

I have seen almost exactly the same thing happen at Old Trafford before - gargantuan beer snake, stewards got uppity, chased the ringleader and a Benny Hill style chase scenario ensued, with the lad being chased attempting to mingle with other groups. He had about 5 stewards chasing him from different angles, it was comical

[PTP]

i just don't understand why it bothers them so much

we asked, and it's because they get complaints from people being soaked by spilled beer

which is ridiculously because as a rule you have to give 'empties' in to the beer snake or you risk be ripped apart for not finishing your drink

as i say out of all the things we've done - building beer snakes is one of the least offensive

One year...and i am not joking, two police officers were standing in front of us (one black guy, one white guy), we were about 10 rows back, about 12 of us

and i swear down this happened - firstly one of my mates shouted - "****ing hell it's Charles and Eddie" , then another, a police officer himself shouted "nah it's more like McCartney and Stevie Wonder" , and we all just broke out and started singing at them

"Ebony And Ivory Live Together In Perfect Harmony
Side By Side On My Piano Keyboard, Oh Lord, Why Don't We?"

- the whole stand was ****ing crying with laughter, and to be fair the two coppers just stood there laughing their tits off

[Liverpool]

:





Any plans? We're gonna come down to Chorlton and sup in our local pubs/bars. Welcome to come if you fancy it. Tram runs every 12 minutes from Chorlton to Piccadilly/Oxford Rd for getting the train home.

Ill take you up on that, providing there's no 6 pound peronis involved

[Shaggy]

Haha is there ****.

Might go into town if there's a massive England/Barmy Army exodus into town.

[Shaggy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/10209920/Ashes-2013-Hot-Spot-can-miss-fine-edges-admits-inventor-ahead-of-third-England-v-Australia-Test.html

Ashes 2013: Hot Spot can miss fine edges, admits inventor ahead of third England v Australia Test

The makers of Hot Spot have admitted the system can fail to detect faint edges off fast bowlers but hope to convince the International Cricket Council to add an improved snickometer machine to bolster the Decision Review System.


Losing faith: Ashton Agar was given out in the second Test despite Hot Spot failing to show an edge

By Nick Hoult

8:31PM BST 29 Jul 2013

Warren Brennan, the inventor of Hot Spot, met the ICC over the weekend and will hold further meetings with the governing body in Melbourne later this week to discuss advances with the new audio system, real time snickometer, which is being trialled during the Ashes series and used by Sky.

Brennan admitted Hot Spot failed at Lord’s in the second Test when Ashton Agar was given out caught behind off Tim Bresnan as Australia were bowled out in the second innings.

Agar was given not out by the on-field umpire but this was overturned on review by the third umpire despite Hot Spot, the thermal imaging system, not showing a mark on the bat.

At the time Tony Hill, the third umpire, was criticised by Sky commentator Michael Holding for not applying the DRS process properly but Telegraph Sport understands the umpires do not trust Hot Spot and will give batsmen out if they believe there is enough audio evidence picked up by the stump microphones.

“Even with our latest generation Hot Spot cameras there are still occasions when Hot Spot will miss fine edges,” said Brennan.

“During the Lord’s Test there were half a dozen very fine edges and I believe that Hot Spot only missed the Agar one.

“What we are finding with Hot Spot is that it is much better on spin bowling. The reason for that is because the ball is rotating and turning so much more than from a fast bowler so when it makes contact with the bat it grips, turns and creates more friction showing up better on Hot Spot.”

Brennan’s company, BBG, has invented a new, more sophisticated version of the snickometer and believes the results are encouraging for the future, particularly when used in conjunction with Hot Spot.

Brennan hopes real time snicko, as the technology is now called, could be part of the DRS within “three to six months” if independent testing verifies its success.

“Compared to Hot Spot what we find for snicko is the opposite. When there are slow bowlers snicko is not as good because the keeper tends to stand up to the stumps, is constantly moving and you get noise from his feet which mask fine edges,” said Brennan.

“When the keeper is back for a fast bowler we find snicko is much better. When put all that together both technologies complement each other perfectly.’

Snickometer is not part of DRS at the moment because of the time it takes for the technicians to assemble the evidence but Brennan believes the improved version speeds up the process.

“What I have spent most of my time on over the last 12 months is to come up with a system whereby we record ourselves directly on three or four of the cameras and both the stump mics,” he said.

“We are getting everything we need in our own domain so we can then turn around snicko within five seconds so we can get all that info to the third umpire in the time required. It gives another string to the bow of finding fine edges.

“The other interesting aspect in this process is because we are recording both stump mics what we generally find is if there is a noise at the batsman’s end you can see that noise on snicko on the opposite stump mic between six or seven frames after it has happened.

“We can’t pick up the audio at the non-striker’s end from faint edges. If the stump mics there can’t pick it up then there is no hope the umpire at the bowler’s end will ever hear those fine edges.

“We presented that to the ICC [on Sunday]. We are heading in the right direction but the ICC want independent evaluation of new snickometer so the video, audio and all the algorithms we have to put in are bona fide. That will be high on the agenda of Friday’s meeting and hopefully we can go through that.”

The DRS controversies during the Ashes have been used in India to vindicate the stance of the Board of Control for Cricket in India which refuses to endorse the system. “We don’t need to say anything now,” said Ravi Shastri, the commentator who sits on the ICC cricket committee.

“I’ve told a lot of people now in India when I’ve been asked, it’s time to shut up, watch, listen and read ... because what [we] have said has been vindicated.”

[EwarWoo]

FFS shaggy, you'll have Harv throwing a hissy fit again!

[Neil Young]

The DRS controversies during the Ashes have been used in India to vindicate the stance of the Board of Control for Cricket in India which refuses to endorse the system. “We don’t need to say anything now,” said Ravi Shastri, the commentator who sits on the ICC cricket committee.

“I’ve told a lot of people now in India when I’ve been asked, it’s time to shut up, watch, listen and read ... because what [we] have said has been vindicated.”

Although it doesn't change the fact that their position is illogical.

[Shaggy]

Yep. Shastri has been such a tit over all this.

[captainfog]

forecast changed again, now looking pretty good especially the first couple of days. If this a bit of a belter of a pitch and the Aussies bat first then who knows, maybe they can post a big total and put us under pressure. But I'm sceptical. If Clarke wins the toss and bats then you'd imagine the top order batsman will feel under incredible pressure to perform and some nervous shots to some quality new ball bowling and, good batting pitch or not, the test match could effectively be over sometime before tea on the first day.