Cricket

[captainfog]

Last couple of years he's been an amazing one day opener, he was churning out the hundreds.

[Shaggy]

Is 5 hundreds in 73 games a good record? Not sure about that. He averages about 38. Strike rate of about 78 which is pretty good to be fair.

[captainfog]

Is 5 hundreds in 73 games a good record? Not sure about that. He averages about 38. Strike rate of about 78 which is pretty good to be fair.

Most of those hundreds have come since he was made captain?

[Buzzo]

Cook has faced 5 balls in the last 2 ODI's. He definitely needs a break.

[Alex]

Well he just came off the back of a break, they all did from the Summer. Plus he wont be going to the world T20, so thats another month away from playing.

[Buzzo]

Well he just came off the back of a break, they all did from the Summer. Plus he wont be going to the world T20, so thats another month away from playing.

I suppose the alternative to him having a break is he starts scoring some runs?

[RichC]

So Finn has been sent home for a rest/work on his technique, this tour has been nothing short of a disaster.

Cook needs to find some form, his last four innings have seen him score 7,7,3 & 1.

[captainfog]

So after 3 months working with him in the nets our bowling coach was unable to improve him? Saker is the most overrated member of the setup. The sooner we get rid the better.

[Buzzo]

So Finn has been sent home for a rest/work on his technique, this tour has been nothing short of a disaster.

Cook needs to find some form, his last four innings have seen him score 7,7,3 & 1.

I found the quotes from Giles totally staggering, Finn must be sooo possed off, and by being undermined they are not going to build his confidence.

Jimmy Anderson was handled really well when he first broke into the team, he was supported (and played) through his bad spells. Look at Mitchell Johnson for a guy who rebuilt his confidence having been destroyed in the summer.

This is not how its done.

[captainfog]

Jimmy was handled very poorly IMO. They ****ed his action up to the point where they had to drop him. He only got good again when he went back to his old action.

[Buzzo]

Jimmy was handled very poorly IMO. They ****ed his action up to the point where they had to drop him. He only got good again when he went back to his old action.

Maybe so in terms of his action (I can't remember that ). But in terms of his confidence I think the selectors and coaches backed him quite well when he was new to the team and strugglind (I remember the tour when he was sporting the trad died mohawk and he was having a shocker but was backed due to his potential). Broad also has received backing when he has struggled for form. Finns stats are good (I seem to remember) something is amiss in how he has been managed.

[Alex]

Jimmy was handled very poorly IMO. They ****ed his action up to the point where they had to drop him. He only got good again when he went back to his old action.

I thought they changed his action in order to help him avoid injury as much? I remember him debuting about 10 years ago for England and then nothing for a few years. Didnt realise this was the reason.

[Buzzo]

To much info from Gilo I think this could have been handled better.

Giles added: "In the short term, he needs a couple of weeks away. Steven is not selectable at the moment."
In the wake of the Ashes Tests, England are one game into their five-match one-day series against Australia, which ends in Adelaide on 26 January.
A three-match Twenty20 series immediately follows.
Despite previously being a regular in the one-day side, 6ft 7in paceman Finn missed England's six-wicket defeat by Australia in Melbourne and the 172-run win over a Prime Minister's XI on Tuesday.
The Middlesex bowler has also taken 90 wickets in 23 Tests but has not played in the longest form of the game since the first match of the home series against Australia at Trent Bridge in July.
He took 11 wickets in his two first-class tour matches down under, but an economy rate of 4.44 contributed to his lack of Test action.

Steven Finn in numbers
Age: 24
In 23 Tests, he has taken 90 wickets at an average of 29.40
He has played in 39 one-day internationals, claiming 59 wickets at 27.74 with an economy rate of 4.71
In Twenty20, he has 25 scalps at 19.48 and an economy rate of 7.16

"Mentally, there's no problem but it does wear you down," said Giles of the decision to send Finn home early. "Sometimes through your career you go through those ups and downs.
"His timing is out. That then can affect your confidence and certainly it is not coming out as quickly as he would like.
"I suppose he has been in this state for at least a couple of months and it hasn't worked. We feel now it is best to take him out of it. Sometimes you do have to do that."

Of all bowlers to have sent down a minimum of 2,000 deliveries for England in Tests since 1959, Finn's strike-rate of 48.3 is bettered only by Simon Jones, who was a key member of the side which won the Ashes in 2005.
Giles added: "Steven is one of our most talented bowling assets who has played and will continue to play an important role for England.
"He has been working hard over the last couple of months on technical aspects of his bowling and Steven and the coaches all feel continuing this work out of the performance environment will be beneficial for him."

[Chazza]

Steven Finn must 'fall back in love with bowling', says Angus Fraser

England paceman Steven Finn has fallen "out of love" with bowling but will get back to his best, says Middlesex director of cricket Angus Fraser.

Finn, 24, was the only member of England's Test squad not to play in the 5-0 Ashes defeat and has been sent home from Australia early to "work on technical aspects of his game".

"I've every confidence he will get back to his best," Fraser told BBC Sport.
"He is a man trying too hard. He will work his socks off to get it right."

Fraser, a former England seam bowler, was involved in the decision to send Finn home and said the Middlesex player would be given two weeks off to "clear his head".
Finn has taken 90 wickets in his 23 Test matches, the last of which was the 14-run win over Australia at Trent Bridge in July.

He took 11 wickets in his two first-class tour matches in Australia but an economy rate of 4.44 contributed to his lack of Test action.

"Steven has worked to get things right, turning out an hour early with coaches, and it's not easy when you're getting further and further away from where you want to be," added Fraser, who played in 46 Test matches and 42 one-day internationals.

"It can become a job at times rather than the thing you dreamed about as a young cricketer. We'll work with England to get him back playing cricket and enjoying himself."
After sitting out the Ashes series, he was also overlooked for the first one-day international in Melbourne.

"It's hugely frustrating for Steven because he wanted to play a major part in Australia, but sometimes the harder you try the worse it gets," added Fraser.
"Working every day to try and win selection, with people asking where he is and what he's doing, is not the ideal environment.

"I think the main thing is that Steven falls back in love with bowling. I've seen bowlers run up in tears before.

"But Steven just needs to love bowling for the sake of bowling again - not to win selection for the next ODI or the first Test of the summer."
England take on Sri Lanka in a two-Test series, beginning on 12 June, before five Tests against India.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/25748055

[RichC]

I shouldn't laugh but what a ******!

Ruthless former pro belts schoolboys bowling attack for triple-century

It makes you think of every over-competitive adult that has stood on the sidelines barking orders at their children or relentlessly berating youngsters. Only this man hammered a team of kids himself.

Former first-class cricketer Craig Findlay bludgeoned 307 runs off 115 balls as he left St John's College's teenage bowling attack begging for him to retire.

The result, unsurprisingly, was a thoroughly dejected and demoralised group of young cricketers who had lost their love of the game almost entirely.

The ex-New Zealand first-class player and Hawke's Bay Cricket Association chief-executive belted the ball to all parts to humiliate the young bowlers.

Findlay, whose innings for Complete Flooring Napier Technical Old Boys included an extraordinary 27 sixes, has been promptly slammed by parents and players alike.

He was utterly unrepentant afterwards, claiming that he was "nurturing" the young boys.

"It was coming off alright. I was dropped early though by some poor young fellow when I was on about 40," Findlay said.

"My favourite six was probably one that sailed over the sightscreen."

Asked if he would approach the game the same way if he was playing against his own 10-year-old son, Findlay said he most certainly would.

"I tell you I also won't be cutting him any slack," Findlay said.

"I can't wait for him to play against them (experienced adults)... to compete against the best."

St John's 16-year-old captain James McNatty said he personally pleaded with Findlay to retire and give them a break, but the 42-year-old refused.

"After another seven overs I asked him again but he just walked away and carried on batting," said McNatty, who then approached opposing skipper Mike Pawson about the situation.

"Mike said there were only a few more overs to go and to keep our chins up," McNatty said.

"There was nothing I could do so I used everyone to have a go," added McNatty, whose team-mates are mostly 15- and 16-year-olds.

"We were just glad to get off the field."

Megan Singleton, a concerned onlooker, told Hawkes Bay Today: "Can't believe the cricket CEO retired on 300. Some of those kids were 15 and completely demoralised. What a guy!

"That CEO should be nurturing these players not trying to show off and have his score on back page."

McNatty's mother, Michele, speaking on behalf of the players' parents, said Findlay was wanting to "teach the schoolboys a lesson" because they were not good enough.

"I'm just so disappointed in the way they used our boys to prove a point. How would Finns (Findlay) feel if some day someone like him bullies his young boy on the park as a batsman or bowler?"