posted Feb 7, 2008

“England, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh are in the tier-2 of cricket overall. They need time and consistent performances to get to top tier.”

You are sadly mistaken, ravibala.

Aren’t you the same guy who was accusing everyone who disagreed with you of being “racist”, a few weeks ago?
Well, that comment of yours sounds pretty racists to me...

As things stand at the moment, the Aussies are head and shoulders above everyone else.
India, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are pretty much on equal terms.
Suggesting England are at the same level as Bangladesh is a laughable and, frankly, rather racist comment.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

I notice the mods have deleted your bile-filled response, ravibala.
It was a wise decision, however it’s a shame other people won’t have the pleasure of reading it.

I am going to answer anyway, though, just to prove to you that I am not blind and deaf to your foolish rants.

Just in case your shallow sense of humour didn’t allow you to notice, my reference to you as a “racist” was purely ironical, as the “smilie” and the inverted commas clearly testify.

I have often noticed you (and I’m not alone in this) accusing people who disagree with you of being “racist” on other threads - hence my ironic comment. I have also had the pleasure of reading your spiteful comments on the England cricket team. Well, I’m afraid you’re becoming tiresome, ravibala.

Your allegation that England is a weak team is clearly based on some sort of personal hatred/anger/bile which is churning up inside you. It is not based on true facts.

It’s a shame that some people like you have to resort to this sort of vacuous verbal banter. I have never posted (and I would never dream of posting) sarcastic comments about the team you support.

No one is getting over-excited about England’s victories in the two slog-festivals against NZ. But allow us to at least raise a glass at two solid all-round displays.

As far as I am concerned, this argument ends here. I have neither the time nor the will right now to engage in further verbal clashes with anyone. Let alone with you, ravibala.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

England lost to west indies and also the Umpires screwed india in the final ODI and the 3rd ODI so a TAINTED victory- yeah yeah all those lord fanatics- SREEshant was out!! dravid was NOT OUT so there! England full of all rounders so they are a decent ODI i would not put pakistan in the same league as INDIA at the moment as they are a terrible run. West indies, Pakistan and Sri lanka and new zealand in the same league. What is Sri lanka going to be without Murali. Pakistan are in decline and New zealand and west indies the decent inconsistent sides.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

England may have lost narrowly to India in a series in England (one of India's very rare away series wins against major opposition) but didn't they only draw the series in India 18 months earlier when England were barely able to field a second team.

Apart from Australia, who surpringly took their eye off the ball when 2-0 up against India in the recent Test series and looking odds-on for a whitewash, there is little to choose between any of the next 5 sides in the ICC rankings. South Africa, India, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are all battling for second spot in the Test table.

In ODIs the situation is similar. India were worse than awful in the World Cup - they had a worse tournament than England - and have done little since to claim that they are a serious challenger to Australia, South Africa or Sri Lanka.

Again though, there is a log-jam of middle-ranking sides, with only Australia and South Africa clearly head and shoulders above the rest.

As for tainted victories, only the loser tends to complain about such things. Proof of that would be to mention that England actually twice took India's 10th wicket in the 1st Test last summer and still only were allowed a draw...

There were a lot of things in the recent Australia v India series that should not have happened, certainly not all of them though were the fault of the umpires. Pressure the umpire too much and mistakes will be more frequent.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

twice took the 10th wicket... yeah much easier to get a tailender out then a world class batsman like dravid... especially dravid who would have done the business. Shouldnt even have got down to 9 wickets. Not to mention decisions went against them in the 2nd test which they still won... oh look going on about aussies 5-0 whitewash springs a memory- and you beat australia in the ODI it was a weakend side. Stopped the rot of aussies twice and deserved to do it earlier. England struggled to take 20 wickets as did sri lanka but india did it on regularly. Infact when was the last time a team scored more than 500 agaisnt aussies at there own back yrd.. india have improved as a ODI team since the world cup.. they deserved to be knocked out... still england couldnt beat a top 6 team in the world cup and struggled to beat bangladesh... loser complains about tainted victory - yeah india wasnt tainted draw because dravid wasnt out.. aussie tainted victory 2nd test because they shouldnt of even been in a winning position. nobody complained 1st test because india were outplayed and deserved to lose

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posted Feb 8, 2008

Dhoni is a tail-ender???
Incidentally, how many did England score in the 2nd Test last winter? It was over 550. We still lost, but... I think that is the answer to your quiz question.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

If I were really being contentious, I would also mention that half of the Australian team has retired since the last Ashes. India played a much weaker Australian side that were further weakened by injuries. They deserve a lot of credit for coming back in the series, but playing against a side that would have only been the 2nd XI last winter made it easier.

Finally Australia are showing a like human weakeness.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

oh yeah the collapse from out of nowhere second innings... fair enough ... dhoni is poor batsman than dravid and was the 1st time he played with his mind in check..

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posted Feb 8, 2008

"England are Useless" is a term shared around our National Sporting Teams ..... 6 months ago it was the Circket, 3 months ago it was the Football (ok, can argue they've not lost the tag yet) and now the joke is on the Rugby Union boys..... Cricket will recover to it's normal status soon enough

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