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Is there a future for test cricket?

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    #26
    Is there a future for test cricket?

    I see the Mail has steamed in on this story. But seeing they also said "ego-fuelled farce", I'll let them off.

    Actually irritating Matt "chirpy behind the stumps" Prior has made me think better of Stanford.

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      #27
      Is there a future for test cricket?

      I like to imagine Stanford has just said "I've just handled more bouncers tonight than your bloke has!"

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        #28
        Is there a future for test cricket?

        So we're going to give his money back and tell him to sod off?

        When you jump on a rich man's plaything, he can do what he likes.

        So who's playing tonight? Oh England v Trinidad and Tobago. It couldn't be less farcical if it was Harlem Globetrotters v Bromley United Dairies.

        A lot's been made of Stanford giving the West Indies a lift but he seems to me very much in competition with the official boards.However silly this competition has looked, it has not as yet been as bad as the World Cup with its empty concrete bowls. I fear he's probably winning that struggle at the moment.

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          #29
          Is there a future for test cricket?

          Noticed that Pietersen was using an Adidas bat. Adidas's range of cricket gear wasn't even supposed to launch before next spring, so I'm not sure what that's all about. Adidas aim to be the world's biggest cricket brand within five years.

          Flintoff was wearing a Puma helmet, even though as far as I know he's still under contract with Woodworm. Though he'd obviously run a felt-tip pen over the silver Puma logo.

          Could it be we are about to witness a battle for cricket's eternal soul between the big two German sports equipment companies?

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            #30
            Is there a future for test cricket?

            Is the adidas range just a rebranding of Reebok gear, or are they actually going to do two lines?

            I can't see why anyone would think they would know anything about cricket bats, pads or gloves. They would seem to have a better chance with clothing.

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              #31
              Is there a future for test cricket?

              There must be a great deal of cheap bat producers in India already. I don't see buying one of these and putting their name on it is beyond Reebok or Adidas. It's not as reassuring an image as old Duncan Fearnley in Worcester, but they could buy that as well. He's the sort of age he might listen to offers.

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                #32
                Is there a future for test cricket?

                Stephen Moss lets rip:

                http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/oct/29/stanford-super-series-cricket

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                  #33
                  Is there a future for test cricket?

                  I like Steve James' comment:

                  to call it cricket at all will be difficult. For November 1 will be the night cricket is turned into reality TV, where some grisly voyeuristic fare is served up for those of a short attention span. Big Brother has finished: roll up instead to watch the nervous antics of the England cricket team. Who will drop a catch to cost his mates half a million quid?"
                  Last night's game was quite fun. The meaninglessness that gave it a kind of cricketing value. People started taking catches (except Ian Bell) and there was some good bowling and hitting.

                  Ignore for a moment England had 5 players out sick, they played Alistair Cook as a non bowling number 9, and that there was a trough on a length that led to irregular bounce.

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                    #34
                    Is there a future for test cricket?

                    "O my Capel and Pringle of long ago!"

                    That's fantastic from Moss.

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                      #35
                      Is there a future for test cricket?

                      Thanks for the updates Tubbs.

                      I'd prefer the BBC sports-extra channel had the India- Australia test, of course. I'd write to complain, but apparently they're all busy with weightier events elsewhere.

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                        #36
                        Is there a future for test cricket?

                        Woodworm no longer sponsor Flintoff or Pietersen as they appear to be suffering financially.

                        Not sure losing two fo the most high profile players in the world is the way to increase sales though.

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                          #37
                          Is there a future for test cricket?

                          India 296 for 3 at stumps, btw. Gambhir on 149.

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                            #38
                            Is there a future for test cricket?

                            Pietersen apparently is now just wanting to get through the week.

                            This has been a triumph for 20/20, I'm glad to say.

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                              #39
                              Is there a future for test cricket?

                              "Woodworm no longer sponsor Flintoff or Pietersen as they appear to be suffering financially."

                              Ok thanks, that makes sense. Maybe they are going to concentrate on their golf business.

                              I heard from a former test player that Flintoff never liked Woodworm bats, he had his hand made by 'County' in Huntingdon, and had Woodworm decals slapped on them.

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                                #40
                                Is there a future for test cricket?

                                "If you were offered $250,000 for this article rather than the £200 the Guardian will pay you, you'd find it hard to say no."

                                Fair point.

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                                  #41
                                  Is there a future for test cricket?

                                  England Camp Consumed with Seller's Remorse.

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                                    #42
                                    Is there a future for test cricket?

                                    All this "i'm not fussed" stuff is the players bellyaching cos Sanford exposed their wives as money grabbing whores skinning teet and flirting with the billionaire.

                                    there is $1 million per man riding on this, of course they are bothered.

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                                      #43
                                      Is there a future for test cricket?

                                      It also sets up the "it's just a tawdry commercial circus, not real cricket" excuse in case they lose.

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                                        #44
                                        Is there a future for test cricket?

                                        Well, I'll be watching tonight's game. Less as a cricket fan than as a mourner at a funeral. I'd like to see Stephen Finn bowl well after missing out to the old firm for the money game. There's something I like about the words "19 year old 6ft8 fast bowler". Just as there's something I don't like about "part-time leg spinner".

                                        This is only act one of the deal with Stanford, isn't it? Mike Atherton has today said he'd put rather a lot of money on the next four acts not happening. He also said the tournament was "cricket poker", except that at least the money in poker feels like it has more significance to it.

                                        You can lose the dressing room, but losing the Sky commentary box is something else.

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                                          #45
                                          Is there a future for test cricket?

                                          Athers has also written this:

                                          WAG, of course, a term coined during the football World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, does not really stand for wife and girlfriend; it stands for someone who is noteworthy only for the movements and actions of someone else; someone who is unthinkingly and uncritically admiring. An appendage, in other words. And from the moment Stanford landed his helicopter at Lord's in June, trailing his cash, with the ECB's officials fawning all over him, English cricket has been reduced to WAG status.

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                                            #46
                                            Is there a future for test cricket?

                                            Aye, the Manc misery's right- the players are trophies as much as the WAGs are.

                                            Still, he and Agnew and co. should stop whining. They've all got a week in the sun to watch a few benefit matches. If you don't like it, bugger off back to Arundel or Canterbury in April.

                                            West Indian sage Tony Cozier isn't convinced by the English hacks' grumbles about pitches and floodlights. BUt then he's probably seen more recent games in Bristol or Hove than Atherton has.

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                                              #47
                                              Is there a future for test cricket?

                                              Athers must see a fair bit as a Sky commentator. They had a pro40 game on virtually every night towards the end of the season. On a few nights they even got some play.

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                                                #48
                                                Is there a future for test cricket?

                                                Anderson left out. So Luke Wright and Graeme Swann might become millionaires.

                                                I don't mind playing the extra spinner on the day but this does show up the continued absurdity of this match.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Is there a future for test cricket?

                                                  Crike, even the PCA bloke (who could be the fastest white man in the world if there was enough money on it) has now changed his tune:

                                                  http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/oct/31/stanford-super-series-englandcricketteam

                                                  He's responding to what the players have said, sure, but you could bet he'd have done his best to talk them out talking it all down if there were a gramme of credibility left.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Is there a future for test cricket?

                                                    Tubby Isaacs wrote:
                                                    Athers must see a fair bit as a Sky commentator. They had a pro40 game on virtually every night towards the end of the season. On a few nights they even got some play
                                                    Heh. I was exaggerating a bit for effect. Don't the Pro40 games tend to go to the bigger grounds (with better lights/ TV gantries/ corpo-hosp/ facilities generally)?

                                                    Come on the Carib boys, they need the dough more- a million bucks goes a long way in my old manor of Unity village.

                                                    Anyway, Sidebottom and co. always have their Zeppelin tribute act to rely on even without lucrative central contracts.

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