TDK's International Test Cricket Update's

[mal]

Another moral victory for the Poms

Well summed up Jimleg
To play this test virtually with 10 men v 11 , they did well to be narrowly defeated

[jackpot jim]

Great Game
Great Series
2 - 2 a fair result

But HTF did England lose it after being 3/301with 2 batsmen in complete control ?
Needing just 73 more with all the time in the world they just need to dot the "I"s and cross the "T"s.
Brook then throws his wicket away . Yes people will say thet's the way he bats and how he got to a ton to put them in a winning position but that was just a pre meditated hack.
Then at 4/332 and only needing 41 more with Root cruising , Bethell who couldn't hit the ball off the square played a ridiculously selfish shot to throw his wicket away and give India a sniff. He'd made 5 off 30 balls. So what? Why the need to panic? Just support Root for another 10 overs and the game is over. Just one of the dumbest shots ever
Then Root nicks off and well the rest is history.
Not that it should've came down to Atkinson and harsh to blame him at all but even his shot he got out on was a brain fade.

So whilst the cricket public applaud and rejoice in watching such an exciting and entertaining series, what are the repercussions behind the scenes?
What consequences do certain players who stuffed up suffer? What blame does McCullum take for seemingly giving a license to his players to play recklessly? Sure there's a time and place during a match to take risks but England poor judgement when to are costing them wins which i find quite amusing tho i wouldn't think all their supporters and even dare i say it some of their players would?
Even when from the outside looking in, team harmony looks rosy, in reality we all know there's always some level of tension between players which generally increases when a team loses. It happens at all level of team sport to certain degrees. Like would Joe Root really be happy to fight like hell to win only to see several of his teammates throw it away? Or it may be some of the pace bowlers that bowl themselves into the ground that would'nt be pleased to be handballed the job of getting the last 30 runs when they never should have had to?
Maybe if Bethell showed the same courage as Woakes did to go out to bat they may have been celebrating a 3 -1 series victory ?

Bring on the Ashes which promises to be just as intriguing with many twists and turns i'm sure.

[shoe boy]

Brilliant.