Great day for sport today!

I see Monty Panesar has said that England's win will hopefully boost the popularity of the sport because cricket is dying in England.He said the grounds would have been half empty at this tournament if supporters of other teams particularly India hadn't been buying tickets.

Not sure Monty is right about that, Test cricket still gets full houses wherever they play and the one day and 20/20's are well attended. County cricket on the other hand gets one man and a dog watching that so that is something they need to look at.

Norpig wrote:Not sure Monty is right about that, Test cricket still gets full houses wherever they play and the one day and 20/20's are well attended. County cricket on the other hand gets one man and a god watching that so that is something they need to look at.

Any sport that can attract a God is doing ok Mr Pig.

You spotted it before i changed it Boncey, very observant 

For once I agree with Nat completely. Back when I was a kid the West Indies were the supermen of cricket and no one could match them least of all an at best decent England team. Watching the likes of Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall play at their best was a joy.

Sky have mostly improved cricket and in the one day game at least have made it much more entertaining. I don't rate the idea of "The Hundred", I think that's a gimmick too far but both 20/20 and the 50 over game have become much faster and much more fun to watch. This has inevitably knocked on to Test Cricket where a snooze fest draw with a 2 an over run rate is by and large a thing of the past. While Sky may have done a lot wrong with football I think they have been good for cricket, both the game and the audience.

Meanwhile County cricket plays out to empty grounds.

boltonbonce wrote:Meanwhile County cricket plays out to empty grounds.

It always has.

I mentioned that in my post (one man and his god  ) and that is an issue. That is why 20/20, one dayers and internationals if you can get them are massively important to clubs. Lancashire wouldn't survive without that revenue.
I've only ever been to one county game years ago. It was against Yorkshire so you would expect a few in but it was dead and it's not improved from what i can see.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:Meanwhile County cricket plays out to empty grounds.

It always has.

But at least your Test players could play for their respective county. Now they're contracted to the England and Wales Cricket Board, and rarely see a county game.
On another note, what about the extra run we were given. The Kiwi's took it well. I don't think we'd have heard the last of it from the Aussies.

I don't think it would have mattered if we had to get one more. Stokes said he knew he couldn't put it in the air just in case but if he needed 3 then he would have had no choice. The ball was a full toss so i reckon he would have hammered it for 4 or 6 if he knew he had to.

It was a bonkers game, the bat overthrows, Boult stepping on the boundary when he caught it meaning it was a 6 and the super over. You'll never see another game like that.

England - World Cup winners - bowled out for just 85 today in a four day test match against Ireland.

IRELAND!!!!

ALL OUT BEFORE LUNCH!!!!

Back to normal service it is then!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/47324462

New Zealand were gypped in the World Cup Final. They won it.

sunlight wrote:New Zealand were gypped in the World Cup Final. They won it.

They took it well to be fair. The Australian's would have been different.