Even great teams lose every now and then 
The last few years England get a target that is tough and try and defend their way to 50 and get out so this is refreshing. Selection choice has certainly improved as you can’t go 20/20 on these numbers but every ball is not a defend shot within the first 20 overs
I think it has never been doubted England have great players. Anderson and Broad, even at the ‘twilight’ of their careers would still be considered in any other team.
Root is one of the greatest batters of all time and Stokes gives you everything, batting, bowling and in the field. Okay he has been a bit irrational with his batting and No balls but you accept that because of what he brings.
We have batters Bairstow, Butler, Livingstone, Malan who are very good in the shorter format and when they are on form like Bairstow is, it looks very good.
The problem is that we don’t have trusted openers. I accept NZ/India and England lost their top order very easy and it was the middle order that scored well, but our 1st 3 does not install confidence.
It will be interesting to see how Baz/Stokes progress the team. We are definitely not a bad team, but recently an unguided one.
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Anyone seen this? It looks like it should be good
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I did. I felt sad for a lot of the lads, even in England we take a lot of things for granted that some of these lads don’t have.
Football is oversaturated in terms of kids trying to make a potential career out of it. Could definitely do with some of that raw athletic talent in cricket.
This was but one TV show. The ECB should be doing a hell of a lot more on the grassroots level to make cricket more accessible to working class kids. Schools should be the only route to a potential pro career
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And India isn’t great.
Massive cricket fan here, play, captain etc. But, should all sports’ governing bodies have a responsibility to engage working class kids? I always go back to F1. I was never going to be an F1 driver as my parents could not afford (and never would have) to take me karting every weekend. Shouldn’t sports encourage those who want to participate rather than drive to engage everybody? There’s always a cultural question here, cool. More people of Asian origin play cricket in England than play football. Cool, cultural diversity. Should we try to equalise it? If you can afford to have kids (HA!) you can afford for them to play cricket, it’s not that expensive. Bat, pads, bag, kit less than £100 and I’d imagine 99.999% of kids in this country get more than that for Christmas.
I’m always for the talent pool to get widened. British Asians find it a more approachable sport because that’s the perception they have been brought up with. It IS up to the ECB to send out that message that cricket should be for everyone who would like to participate.
They keep going on about cricket on terrestrial Tv bringing in a new generation of audience that will be inspired to play cricket. But they won’t if the subliminal message is that it’s a posh people sport
F1 is a very different sport in comparison. It’s individualistic like tennis. Don’t think it quite compares with cricket.
Cost wise cricket is doable. Kids need both parental support and encouragement from governing bodies
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Also there’s little “home” football in India / Pakistan / Sri-lanka etc whereas the cricket scene is massive. If I moved to the USA tomorrow, I’d look for a cricket team, not a large scale rounders team.
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I think England does have a asian population that is interested in cricket. But as recent events w.r.t the institutionalization in English cricket has shown , It’s not that easy for Asians to do get in.
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They have to swallow a lot of discrimination even before they can get to the top
Lots of Asian lads in our team, have asked them about this. Consensus was that yes they face name calling and piss taking all the time but it’s no worse at cricket.
Forget about getting to the top.
I think the core has to be addressed on why more Brit Asians identify more with an asian team than with identifying with the country of their birth.
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In a lot of ways , cricket in England is more exclusionary than football in England. Was the reverse about 30 years back… But not now
Not for those of sub continental background.
Again, if I moved to the USA, I’d still be an England fan. My children (if born over there) maybe not.
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You just have to look at what happened at YCCC
What do you mean? There are a few who do make it like Moin, Saj Mahmood, Hasib etc
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