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    International Cricket Thread

    There is now a man on the pitch with a box containing some honeycomb frames to collect up the bees. A member of the ground staff appears to be using his pink shirt to equally good effect. This is what sport should be all about - enthusiastic amateurism - down with anodyne professionalism!

    What I'm most interested to know is where this beekeeper came from. Is he a member of the ground staff who happened to have some honey and a white keeper's overalls? Does the ground staff have a full-time beekeeper on the payroll for just such a contingency? Was he a member of the crowd who has stepped in to save the day? Or a local expert urgently rushed to the ground?

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      International Cricket Thread

      Play has restarted. Sri Lanka are 117/4 after 26 overs. And now Imraan Tahir has found some more bees hiding in the spare helmet behind the wicketkeeper. The offending object is gingerly removed from the field of play.

      Kagiso Rabada is now being menaced by more bees at the top of his run up.

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        International Cricket Thread

        So, it seems Ireland and Afghanistan may well be given Test status, but they'll mostly be playing each other, and Zimbabwe.

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          International Cricket Thread

          SouthdownRebel wrote: What I'm most interested to know is where this beekeeper came from. Is he a member of the ground staff who happened to have some honey and a white keeper's overalls? Does the ground staff have a full-time beekeeper on the payroll for just such a contingency? Was he a member of the crowd who has stepped in to save the day? Or a local expert urgently rushed to the ground?
          The commentators have revealed that the hero of the hour is a proper beekeeper who was watching on TV and then went down to the ground to volunteer his services. He now has pride of place among the watching ground staff and is on hand should there be any further problem.

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            International Cricket Thread

            Diable Rouge wrote: So, it seems Ireland and Afghanistan may well be given Test status, but they'll mostly be playing each other, and Zimbabwe.
            Seems totally mad. Each of the top 9 countries would play at least 16 "series" every two years.

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              International Cricket Thread

              SouthdownRebel wrote:
              Originally posted by SouthdownRebel
              What I'm most interested to know is where this beekeeper came from. Is he a member of the ground staff who happened to have some honey and a white keeper's overalls? Does the ground staff have a full-time beekeeper on the payroll for just such a contingency? Was he a member of the crowd who has stepped in to save the day? Or a local expert urgently rushed to the ground?
              The commentators have revealed that the hero of the hour is a proper beekeeper who was watching on TV and then went down to the ground to volunteer his services. He now has pride of place among the watching ground staff and is on hand should there be any further problem.
              Given the way the game is progressing he'll probably end up with Man of the Match.

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                International Cricket Thread

                He should be. What amazes me a bit is that the guy saw the bee invasion on TV, rushed to The Wanderers with his kit on his own initiative, and was let through by the security. No paranoia about whether he is a terrorist or a freeloader trying to sneak in without paying. No, he introduced himself as a beekeeper, and security believed him and took him through. I think that's lovely.

                The groundstaff was rather at a loss about what to do. Attacking a swarm of bees with fire extinguishers seemed to be a good way of making them angry. With a few thousand people sitting around the ground, you don't really want angry bees flying around.

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                  International Cricket Thread

                  Cook has resigned as captain of England

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                    International Cricket Thread

                    Shame, though not entirely unexpected. Be interesting to see how Rooooot, copes with the captaincy, assuming of course that he gets it, having had fairly little experience of it himself. Here's hoping that it doesn't affect his game at all.

                    Just by way of coincidence, my tickets for the Trent Bridge test against SA arrived this morning.

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                      International Cricket Thread

                      Hopefully Cook will stay fit and in form for long enough to get a few more series out of him as a batsman, the 2019 Ashes would seem like a reasonable stop point.

                      Root is still only 26 which seems young to be appointed an international captain, though there's no obvious alternative unless they do something weird like bringing back Ian Bell.

                      Elsewhere England under 19s got beat again by their Indian counterparts, but they fielded a Middlesex player called Arthur Godsal. Born 1997, though the name sounds like someone out of the Victorian era.

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                        International Cricket Thread

                        Stuart Broad is a feasible option, which I wouldn't particularly object to, but it makes no sense to have a bowler who picks up niggles every now and then as your captain when Root has clearly been groomed for it for ages.

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                          International Cricket Thread

                          diggedy derek wrote: Stuart Broad is a feasible option, which I wouldn't particularly object to, but it makes no sense to have a bowler who picks up niggles every now and then as your captain when Root has clearly been groomed for it for ages.
                          If Broad was captain he would have used both reviews up inside his first over ; )

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                            International Cricket Thread

                            Yeah, nmrfox, but they were definitely out both times.

                            They've talked to Stokes too. Now, I hadn't thought about that, and I'm surely being too hasty, but that could work. I think he's a clever cricketer than given credit for, there's less that can go wrong with his batting, and he's an unquestionably a first choice for the team when fit. That could be fun! And maybe then everything would be alright!

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                              International Cricket Thread

                              I took it that Stokes was one of the senior players being consulted about the choice of captain (i.e. to rubber stamp Root) rather than being considered himself.

                              The BBC report seems to point to that too :

                              "The trio (Root, Stokes, Broad) met Strauss and his team on Thursday, although it is understood that the discussions were not considered as interviews for the position.

                              Strauss previously stated that he would be speaking to senior squad members in leadership roles about who should succeed Cook."

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                                International Cricket Thread

                                Gotcha. Oh well.

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                                  International Cricket Thread

                                  Ray de Galles wrote:
                                  Strauss previously stated that he would be speaking to senior squad members in leadership roles about who should succeed Cook."
                                  "Who do you think should be the new captain, Joe?"

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                                    International Cricket Thread

                                    "Now, we're looking for a new leader. Someone who can take the team forward, to inspire by example, to knit this bunch of lads together, and further down the line, give the Aussies a right kicking.

                                    "So, just wondering Joe, do you know anyone at all?"

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                                      International Cricket Thread

                                      diggedy derek wrote: They've talked to Stokes too. Now, I hadn't thought about that, and I'm surely being too hasty, but that could work. I think he's a clever cricketer than given credit for, there's less that can go wrong with his batting, and he's an unquestionably a first choice for the team when fit. That could be fun! And maybe then everything would be alright!
                                      The last two times England's star allrounder was made captain, things didn't turn out too well. The job is Root's if he wants it, the rest is just lip service.

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                                        International Cricket Thread

                                        Australia would automatically give the captaincy to their best batsman, which in England's case right now is clearly Root. England faffs about hoping to unearth a new Brearley. Stokes can sometimes make unwise decisions, like the time he came out to bat with a quite serious injury, but the main reason it doesn't work is sheer workload. There haven't been many great all-rounder captains: Benaud and Imran are perhaps the exceptions but they were truly great cricketers and obviously highly intelligent.

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                                          International Cricket Thread

                                          Joe Root is the new England Test captain. Well I never!

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                                            International Cricket Thread

                                            Gunarathne of Sri Lanka with a magnificent knock in the second 20/20 match to give them a series win.

                                            Magnificent doesn't do it justice, one of the greatest I've ever seen.

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                                              International Cricket Thread

                                              India Australia test series starts tomorrow. Really looking forward to this. Reports are that the pitch looks like a raging turner and the Aussies are twitching already. My team mates in the ANZAC cricket team (I'm an honorary member due to my sweary nature on the pitch) expect a fairly easy India series win, but the team bet ($600 between us) is for a series draw at 8.0. Throwing money away, but it encourages a sense of collective loss and camaraderie.

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                                                International Cricket Thread

                                                First day over. Aussie win toss and bat. 259/9 at close of play. 82 opening stand. Renshaw had to go off for a shit but came back and top scored with 68. Mid-order collapse and then Starc goes big and hits a quick unbeaten 57 at a run a ball, including 3 sixes. This pitch won't get any better and I reckon that's 256 very good runs.

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                                                  International Cricket Thread

                                                  Game on. This is going to be a very big day. Australia closed at 260. India three down for 45. Starc takes two wickets in one over, including Kohli second ball.

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                                                    International Cricket Thread

                                                    O'Keefe goes one better than Starc and takes 3 wickets in an over.

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