I am apoplectic with rage

[jonas10]

Actually, England has been no.1 in both soccer and cricket before, I'm not so sure about fox hunting; you'll have to point me to the ranking tables for that. :winky: But as for the cricket #1 ranking, it is all about results over a period of time in various locations; it's not dependent on England defeating India in India. If that were the case, India would never have gotten to #1 as they never beat the previous incumbents, Australia, in Australia :hysterical:

England have NEVER been the #1 football team. Never not even in 1966 when they STOLE the world cup. Not FIFA rankings which are irrelevant or top football side in terms of skill. England have never been the #1 ranked test side and before test rankings came out Australia and West Indies were always better sides. And dont get me started even on ODIS lol losing in the world cup to Bangladesh AND Ireland? I agree with you though that #1 ranking means results over a period of time in various locations. India has been a fortress in India over the last few years. They havent lost a series in years and there hasnt been a team better than them from 07 to now. Are they as good as Australia was in the early 2000s? Obviously not, neither is this English side by a long shot. Id be curious to see how good both sides would be if they fielded their best line ups against each other fully healthy home and away series.

[Maundy Gregory]

England have NEVER been the #1 football team. Never not even in 1966 when they STOLE the world cup. Not FIFA rankings which are irrelevant or top football side in terms of skill. England have never been the #1 ranked test side and before test rankings came out Australia and West Indies were always better sides. And dont get me started even on ODIS lol losing in the world cup to Bangladesh AND Ireland? I agree with you though that #1 ranking means results over a period of time in various locations. India has been a fortress in India over the last few years. They havent lost a series in years and there hasnt been a team better than them from 07 to now. Are they as good as Australia was in the early 2000s? Obviously not, neither is this English side by a long shot. Id be curious to see how good both sides would be if they fielded their best line ups against each other fully healthy home and away series.

:offtopic: England most certainly has been #1 in cricket, though not for a good few years now. They also were #1 in football in 1966 and I think you'll find that the person who stole the World Cup was never identified; I do know that Pickles was the one who found it. You've also got your facts incorrect, India was not #1 in 2007, they were actually 4th (yes, that's fourth) and didn't make #1 until December 2009. Yes, it's been a while since they lost a series, but then again, they haven't won that many either, seemingly being content with draws And don't get me started on the WC, not even being able to beat England and losing to SA... :hysterical::hysterical:

[Sachinism]

Its India's greed for money that is the reason that your team is "half injured" you muppet. Dont worry the boys will all be fit for the IPL though :giggle:

Well at least Indian players haven't got so greedy they'd let their wives bounce around on a millionaire for some $$$

:offtopic: England most certainly has been #1 in cricket, though not for a good few years now. They also were #1 in football in 1966 and I think you'll find that the person who stole the World Cup was never identified; I do know that Pickles was the one who found it. You've also got your facts incorrect, India was not #1 in 2007, they were actually 4th (yes, that's fourth) and didn't make #1 until December 2009. Yes, it's been a while since they lost a series, but then again, they haven't won that many either, seemingly being content with draws And don't get me started on the WC, not even being able to beat England and losing to SA... :hysterical::hysterical:

Getting 20 wickets in India is not an easy task. But whatever tickles your balls

[TheWall]

ppl who speak about $ from India mustn'yt forget most of their players salary comes from India... Beggars for ever...

[Septimius Severus]

First of all let me say f%ck off. Just f%ck the f%ck off! I am apoplectic with rage after yesterday's Bell incident. I have never felt so royally rogered in all my life. I spent the whole evening pacing up the f%ck and down in my house. As an Indian and follower of cricket I feel humiliated not just by the incident but the way it has been misrepresented, sliced and diced and celebrated as a great day for the spirit of cricket. F%ck off. Never has the spirit of cricket been so soiled as it was yesterday. Everyone involved should be utterly ashamed. Bell was just OUT. He jogged for a fourth run to be sure, then clearly stuttered and realized his error midway through the pitch as Morgan held his ground and thought it best to slow down to a casual stroll in a brazen attempt to cheat. Bell is a f%cking cheat. The guy literally then ran towards the pavilion to escape the crime scene. You complete tosser! At the boundary he makes out Rauf called over. Bell is a f%cking liar. Watch his interview. He is guilty as f%ck. He has the gall to say the right thing was done? I mean just f%ck off. Who the f%ck do Strauss and Flower think they are to go knocking on India's door? The f%cking cheek. Bell, Flower, and Strauss have taken both the law and spirit of the game and ripped it to shreds. Never mind that once you cross the white line a batsman cannot be recalled and certainly not without consulting the umpire. Andrew Strauss should have gone to the Indian dressing room at tea to reassure them that they had nothing to feel guilty about, and that they had acted correctly. He should, above all, have said that he would have acted in exactly the same way out on the pitch as they did. Further, in order to try to appease the drunk and biased crowd, Strauss should then have insisted on making an announcement over the PA to the effect that the England team wholeheartedly supported the Indian team's appeal and the umpire's decision. But no, he acted like a f%cking **** and a cheat. The Indians were made to feel they had done something wrong by the crowd, the members, and the opposition captain and coach. We got hoodwinked. I'm f%cking fuming. Botham, the greatest England cheerleader since Winston Churchill's kittens said it was out and should have stayed out. That tells you everything you need to know. Strauss, Flower, and Bell need to be reprimanded and I'm f%cking serious. And that ECB and ICC release just took the biscuit. Now for some breaking news. It has been learnt that Praveen Kumar has been served a level one charge by Ian Bell for feigning a boundary. Also, in an interview with Sky's Ian Ward Ian Bell said he was glad the right thing was done and the spirit of the game was upheld since he really wanted to get to his 150. F.U.C.K. O.F.F

[jonas10]

:offtopic: England most certainly has been #1 in cricket, though not for a good few years now. They also were #1 in football in 1966 and I think you'll find that the person who stole the World Cup was never identified; I do know that Pickles was the one who found it. You've also got your facts incorrect, India was not #1 in 2007, they were actually 4th (yes, that's fourth) and didn't make #1 until December 2009. Yes, it's been a while since they lost a series, but then again, they haven't won that many either, seemingly being content with draws And don't get me started on the WC, not even being able to beat England and losing to SA... :hysterical::hysterical:

No England have never been number 1 in cricket. Please tell me when this occured 1925? Australia and WI were always better than them before formalized rankings. You clearly know little about football and Tofik Bahramov so lets stick to cricket. I never said India was ranked #1 since 2007 I've said there hasnt been a better team then them. India beat England in England in the last 5 years, aside from a much weaker Australia who has England beaten in away tests that matters? I think you know England's test record in India over the last 30 years. As for the world cup...let me get this straight i point out England LOST to Bangladesh AND Ireland and your rebuttal is tying England and a loss to SA? So in your world those two are equivalent? :hysterical: Glad to see what the England standards are. Anyways more sour grapes World Champions, #1 Ranked test team, richest cricket sports body and loving every minute of it. :hatsoff:

[Kinwell Smart]

No England have never been number 1 in cricket. Please tell me when this occured 1925? Australia and WI were always better than them before formalized rankings. You clearly know little about football and Tofik Bahramov so lets stick to cricket. I never said India was ranked #1 since 2007 I've said there hasnt been a better team then them. India beat England in England in the last 5 years, aside from a much weaker Australia who has England beaten in away tests that matters? I think you know England's test record in India over the last 30 years. As for the world cup...let me get this straight i point out England LOST to Bangladesh AND Ireland and your rebuttal is tying England and a loss to SA? So in your world those two are equivalent? :hysterical: Glad to see what the England standards are. Anyways more sour grapes World Champions, #1 Ranked test team, richest cricket sports body and loving every minute of it. :hatsoff:

England were ranked 1 from around 1951-59 and again briefly in the late 60s (or was it early 70s?). Prior to that it swapped around between England and Australia, after that it has always been Australia or WI and, just recently, India. I'm not sure that SA ever made it to 1 (late 60s or, very briefly, between Australia & India)

[Dhondy]

One week on, do you view things differently, Goose? Particularly given the suggestion that the idea came from Tendulkar? I thought it was a fine gesture. After the miasma of nastiness in the wake of the last two Pakistan tours, it's a relief that this tour will be remembered for the right reasons. About the only redeeming feature for India. Outclassed, outthought, outplayed. As I predicted, this will be the beginning of the end for the fat little golden goose that the cricket mafia in India has been ravaging. Halaal or jhatka? Ahh, who cares? It'll be a bloody mess either way. About time too.

[Rajiv]

^^ but it's painful to watch..unless the fat lady sings x 2 and we square it

[goose]

One week on, do you view things differently, Goose? Particularly given the suggestion that the idea came from Tendulkar? I thought it was a fine gesture. After the miasma of nastiness in the wake of the last two Pakistan tours, it's a relief that this tour will be remembered for the right reasons. About the only redeeming feature for India. Outclassed, outthought, outplayed. As I predicted, this will be the beginning of the end for the fat little golden goose that the cricket mafia in India has been ravaging. Halaal or jhatka? Ahh, who cares? It'll be a bloody mess either way. About time too.

Dhondy, you'll note from my OP that my anger and frustration is not directed so much at India or any of her players. I was writhing at how the England players and various media commentators responded to the incident. If you were watching Sky, the immediate response of Warne, Holding et al was to cry foul play and how awfully tragic and unfair Bell's dismissal was. Once the dust had settled there was a noticeable shift in sentiment and opinion. So what changed? I think it was the conduct of Bell during and after the incident. It was the conduct of Strauss and Flower. Tendulkar would not have had the benefit of analyzing the footage and body language of the English players whose reputations are severely tarnished in my eyes. Instead he was just faced with a tea-time plea. When you are approached like that it is human and entirely reasonable to assume there is some merit and substance to that plea. I am convinced the plea had no merit. I think the English players and their Sky apologists behaved disgracefully. Dravid's interview soon after just deprived me further. I was very angry. I agree with Captain of Bhangra. I do think it effected the game. I don't know if you've heard that quote from Senna when he was asked to explain his dangerous driving endangering Prost, something about once you see a gap and you chose to not go for that gap, you are no longer a racing driver.

[Bumper]

How did the Bell incident impact the game ? No one knows. However what we know for sure is that Broad & Swanny took England from 124-8 to 200+ in 30 mins. And in the same 30 mins, we crumbled from 267-4 to 288 a.o. Unfortunately, there is no Ian Bell to hide behind, for these two cockups. Just couple more hours of responsible batting would have gotten us to some 350-6 & from then on, England would have been on the backfoot rest of the game, setting defensive fields, allowing tailenders the freedom to bat. IMO, we lost the game when we failed to ram home that advantage. You could say Bell's wicket at that point could have triggered a slide. Its perfectly valid for a English fan to counter that saying that would have meant Trott coming in before the new ball was taken and would have batted himself in. Works both ways! And even if it did affect our performance, a pu$$y of a team, that gives in to the Bell run out and gets demoralized for a decision it made consciously as a team, is simply not worth following. Can't help but think, what a fighter Anil Kumble used to be down the order. Bat or ball, you could count that man to give his 100%. We may find a better bowler, a better tailender batsman, but rarely a cricketer with a bigger heart. Its a shame, India does not produce cricketers like that anymore.

[Gollum]

 

Was watching some of the highlights from that 2011 series. This is where I think we lost the mental edge against Eng. 

 

Great rant by OP. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Gollum

[Sooda]

On 8/1/2011 at 11:46 AM, Sooda said:

goose, that was the most epic rant in the history of internet forums. Epic my son. I would laugh if i were not so embarassed by India right now. The point surely is that really it would not have made a difference. Broad and Prior would have carried on with the carnage. Bresnan is now scoring a century against us. BRESNAN. TIM BRESNAN. Shambolic

9 YEARS AGO

[maniac]

4 minutes ago, Sooda said:

9 YEARS AGO

Still holds true

[goose]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:50 AM, Gollum said:

 

Was watching some of the highlights from that 2011 series. This is where I think we lost the mental edge against Eng. 

 

Great rant by OP. 

 

Totally. Still fuming!

[neel roy]

1 hour ago, goose said:

 

Totally. Still fuming!

Actually we lost the match when we allowed stuart broad to play a blinder in first innings. They were 8 down i guess with 100 plus or something. We didnt hv bumrah. We had lost zak. We had sreesanth n Ishant. 

[goose]

My considerable regard for Michael Atherton rose further when he wrote this article in the Times straight after the incident :

 

Forget whines and Spirit, MS Dhoni should have laid down Laws

 

Mike Atherton

Monday August 01 2011, 1.01am, The Times

 

In the distance between the Laws of the game and the Spirit of Cricket lie many of the greatest controversies. One such happened yesterday on the stroke of tea and the outcome of it, when India’s captain was persuaded to withdraw his appeal against Ian Bell after a request from his opposite number, could well decide the outcome of the match and the series.

The situation was this: Eoin Morgan clipped the last ball before tea from Ishant Sharma to the square-leg boundary where Praveen Kumar, who always looks like he has bowled 50 overs in scorching heat, gave laboured chase. He collared the ball before it reached there whereupon his own momentum took him, but not the ball, over the boundary rope.

Kumar picked himself up and threw the ball in. Bell, meanwhile, had assumed that the ball had gone for four, and wandered up the pitch to congratulate Morgan on getting to tea undefeated and both batsmen began to walk off towards the pavilion.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni collected Kumar’s throw, under-armed the ball to Abhinav Mukund at the stumps, who then broke the bails. The appeal was upheld and Bell, who by this stage had been prevented from leaving the field by the fourth umpire, Tim Robinson, was given out.

The Laws of the game are clear: the ball was live, the batsman was out of his ground, the umpire did not call “over” until after the bails had been broken, and so the umpires were right to give Bell out. This is where the spirit of the game intervened: Marais Erasmus, firstly, asked Dhoni whether he wanted to withdraw his appeal to which the India captain said “no”.

Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower then asked the same thing of Dhoni during the tea interval, after which Dhoni consulted with his team and withdrew his appeal. The initial consequence of all this was comical, since nobody in the ground — commentators or spectators — had a clue what had happened. When they came out after tea, both the umpires and the India team, did so to a cacophony of boos; only when Bell came out shortly afterwards, with the England team applauding on the balcony, did those boos turn to cheers. Dhoni had gone from villain to hero in the space of a few seconds. Dhoni will certainly by hailed as a great sportsman for his actions and there is no doubt that by withdrawing his appeal he rescued what has so far been a hard-fought but good-spirited contest. Things might have deteriorated had he not done so. Which is not to say that he was right to do so. Bell was guilty of doziness and of forgetting the first rule that any young batsman is taught: you don’t leave your crease while the ball is still live. There are those who will contrast Dhoni’s actions with Paul Collingwood’s, as England’s one-day captain during a one-day international at the Oval in 2008, when he refused to withdraw an appeal against Grant Elliott, the New Zealand batsman. Elliott had collided with Ryan Sidebottom, and (ironically) Bell was the fielder who had thrown the ball in to run out the prone batsman. Elliott was given out and Collingwood, under pressure to withdraw his appeal, refused to do so. This seemed to be exactly the kind of situation for which the Spirit of Cricket was designed. Elliott, through no fault of his own, had been prevented from making his run and had been given out. By the purest interpretation of the Laws of the game, he should had been given out. This would have been patently wrong, and Collingwood was rightly castigated for his intransigence. Bell’s situation was different, in that he was entirely at fault. Morgan, at the non-striker’s end, knew of the dangers, because he tried to send Bell back, and, when Bell advanced towards him instead, he then made sure that his own bat was grounded. India’s fielders knew the ball was live, as did the umpire, Asad Rauf. In this instance, some spurious notion of the spirit of the game has actually subverted the Laws of the game, and, therefore, the natural progression of the game. Dhoni will be congratulated for his sportsmanship. It was certainly a magnanimous gesture, and one that took the sting out of the situation, but he would have been well within his rights not to have withdrawn his appeal regardless of the unpopularity and possible ramifications that would have inevitably followed. Surely, at the heart of the Spirit of Cricket is respect for the umpires and the decisions that they make. Through doziness or naivety, Bell took it upon himself to act as the umpire. He, not Rauf, decided that the ball had gone to the boundary; he decided that the ball was dead; he decided that the over had been bowled, and that tea was at hand. That is not the batsman’s job. It was Bell, not India, who made a mistake yesterday and Dhoni should not have been castigated for initially upholding the appeal. It had nothing to do with the Spirit of Cricket.