I am 17 and absolutely love cricket (as well as football and tennis!)

However whenever I mention that I am interested in cricket, both playing and watching to anyone in England, they always look at me like I'm weird and say that it's boring! It's like they are surprised that anyone my age and sex would like it!!

Then, whenever I speak about it here in Spain they think I am talking about "that game when you hit the balls through metal hoops" and I have to explain that that is<b> croquet! </b>

Is anyone here interested in it? Especially you Australian people because I know cricket is a big thing ther - we have the Ashes this summer!! Or is it just me??

Totally random post here!! :rolleyes:

o_O ..IT'S BORING!

haha j/k. I've learned to appreciate it, but I don't get to see games often enough to know what I'm talking about. If it's any comfort to you, I like to watch and play darts. (yes, with fat old geezers yes -_-)

*hyperventialtes* I'm Australian and I'm not exactly.... partial to it. I like playing it now and then, but it's pretty boring. My brother is obsessed with it though...

love cricket!! and why not, coming from Australia -home of the greastest team on Earth- and all. That being said, I pretty much am an all round sportsfan.

oooh finally, i love cricket far more than is natural
once i sat for the whole day watching England against New Zealand last summer.
Cant wait for the Ashes!

I have really NO idea how to play it
It looks quite difficult

No, me neither!

I have a feeling that finally it could be Britain's year :P Touch wood!!

I would love to got to one of the Ashes matches, the one at Trent Bridge but I don't know if I will be in England though so I will have to wait and see!

Has anyone been to a Twenty/20 match? I went for the first time last summer, to watch my team, Leicestershire, who ended up winning the whole thing! :D

keep dreaming JCSam! Go Australia!! Good luck to Langer, Gilly, Brett Lee, Marto and the others!

Now that I've finished my rare outburst of patriotism... What is the general feeling about the Ashes in England? Is there a high belief that you can win? What's the media saying?

Well I think everyone recognises that we are going to have to be on top form to have a chance of beating you lot...That includes the media, but they do feel that we have a realistic chance of winning, our best chance for a long time (but thats not saying much!!)

If players like Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Steve Harmison play to the best of their ability, I really think we could do it. We do have a good test team, we showed that we CAN survive without Flintoff in South Africa, and I'm sure there will be some fireworks if Flintoff and Pietersen bat together! Michael Vaughan was telling the spectators to wear crash helmets!! :lol:

The wicket keeping position is a bit of a problem, Jones hasn't exactly shone and I personally believe that James Foster is a better bet, but the England selectors don't seem to agree with me!

We might have a better chance if we manage to crock Brett Lee though... ;)

Does anyone here heard of these English cricketers: (I only ask because they are all, in my opinion v good looking!! :wub: )

Take a look!!!


James Foster






James Anderson

Ok, so I'm obsessed...there you are, that's life!!

Haha!! On Friday they didn't get to start the 1st match of the English cricket season because it snowed!! I mean come on!!!

Isn't global warming supposed to be taking place??? :lol:

OK I know I'm kind of talking to myself here :lol: but with the England - Australia matches about to start maybe this post will get a few more replies :unsure:

Anyway, tomorrow it's the 20/20 international match..should be VERY interesting! Not sure who will win...I have a horrible feeling Australia might though if Flintoff et al are all good form then we have a good chance! Can't wait.

And then its not long until the one-day matches so....predictions please???!!

I think (trying not to be biased but kind of failing!) we will win the 20/20, Australia will win the one day tournament (but not whitewash us!) and then England will win the tests...maybe 3-1 or 2-1, depending on the weather! I am trying to be positive here!! :D

Awww poor Sam! It's alright, I'll chat about cricket! That 20/20 match was utterly embrassing and the one day match against the county side (somerset?) was even more so. Hopefully the boys will pick things up before the first one day game against bangladesh.

p.s Sam, r u gonna be in Australia during the ashes?

Yay...someone to talk to :P

Yep...was Somerset...You still managed to beat my county team (Leicestershire) though fairly easily...we are pretty rubbish though I must admit!!

Well you are 97-3 at the moment...was 57-3 though so thats an improvement!!! Problem is I am kind of worried Australia are going to have a reaction very soon to what went on last week, especially if you don't beat Bangladesh easily (like we did ;) ) and no doubt it will happen against us!!! still I want to beat you when you are at your best lol

No, not during the Ashes....but I am throughout the one day matches. So we'd better do well or it might be a bit embarrassing!! :lol:

Finally found the cricket thread.

I've only got into cricket recently but when I start getting into it its all I watch for ages. I'm watching the Ashes at the moment and the first day was a cracker, I thought we'd done brilliantly bowling all the Aussies out for 190 that was before McGrath stepped up and seemed to take on England's top order all by himself.

Whilst I really want England to win I've a massive soft spot for McGrath and think he's lovely so if anyone had to completely destroy England yesterday I'm glad it was McGrath.

I also think Pietersen is brilliant and I've found myself only one of a few people that wanted him picked for the Ashes and believe that he can do really well, which he showed yesterday.

I still haven't got into county cricket yet but international cricket has me hooked and I could talk all day about it.

Come on England!

I love cricket....I have been brought up with it, I used to go down to my village cricket club every week in the summer since I was about 4 so I've always been into it!

I love the Ashes....I couldn't believe what happened yesterday...and today was pretty special too! Harmison and Jones whacking the Australian bowlers around the park made me laugh so much! I think Harmison is great! And Pietersen did really well too - I thought he HAD to be picked, and he has justified the selection.

I love county cricket too....Leicestershire are my team even though they are pretty rubbish! still I stand by them and hopefully I'll get to one of their games on august when I am in england.

Iv only just found out there's a cricket thread so i thought i'd post here.

I only really watch it when there are test matches and im really bad at the way i just sit there and watch it all day when i have nothing to do. I find its so easy to just sit and watch for hours too, even if i just turn off to see what the score is.

i thought the bowling yesterday was so good. I couldn't believe it when i saw that Australia were struggling and i thought England were going to win for sure but then i started panicing once England started batting cos they were hardly scoring anything. I missed Harmison and Jones bat cos i had to go to work and when i left England were like 25 for 5 so i was so relieved when i saw they'd scored some more runs.
However i think the Australians will win the match cos they biult up a big leadover England especailly considering the batting yeasterday. I really hope englandget them all out soon!

I'm 18, female and live in England and everyone thinks its really wierd i like cricket. I haven't actually met anyone my age and sex in England who actually likes it! I mean it was so unpopular at school that we didnt actually have a girls cricket team. I dont really understand it since Surrey, the county i live in, is quite good at cricket and i don't live that far from the overal and very near the guildford ground that Surrey sometimes plays at.

Okay so the first test wasn't much to write home about in England's case, we dropped too many catches and our batting (apart from Pietersen :wub: ) was pretty dismal at times. However our bowling was pretty good - I'm a big Harmi fan as well Sam, I think he's lovely.

However, Glenn McGrath is my favourite bowler - he's just so god damn sexy :blush: and pretty good as well :P

The 2nd test is a week tomorrow and I'm already looking forward if its anything like the first test it'll be brilliant.

I also find that there is hardly anyone I know that likes cricket - luckily I post on another forum that has a lot of cricket discussion (and its a footie forum :rolleyes: ) so I get by that way but its a pain when I really need to talk to someone about how good or rubbish we were.

We definitely dropped too many catches....I mean I'm not a great fan of Geraint Jones at the best of times...I just don't think he is as good a keeper as either Foster or Read for example, and the 1st test hardly did much to improve my feelings about him! Still they won' t drop him fot the next test- and I think that's right, just one bad match but still, he is clearly under pressure!

I think England should play Collingwood in the 2nd test, he's a great player and is in form - he really impressed me in the one day matches! I think Collingwood is great, you know, he just gets on with the job and he is very stylish too! If he does play he has to reaplce a bowler...either Giles or Simon Jones I guess. It's at Edgbaston, where Giles has had some good results so I suspect, if anyone it will be Simon Jones dropped.

And on Saturday its Twenty20 finals day :D I can't wait! What with Leicestershire in it (as we have been the last 2 years!) hopefully we can defend our title. Go Leicestershire!! B)

Hopefully our batting will be better in the next test - i thought that our bowling was very good in the first innings but Australia were lucky with the drop catches. However I think part of the problem with our batting was that McGrath was so good!

However i wasn't impresses with Bell - I think we missed Thorpe - i hope they recall him and he changes his mind about retiring!

Not sure about the wicket Keeper front - I definately think we miss Stewert - I think its important to have a wicket keeper who is also a good batsman - Not sure Geraint Jones -my brother reckons he has potential but i guess we'll just have to see if he improves.

I hope Surrey do well on Saturday and at least get to the final if not win it!

Well u guys did quite well in the first innings to bowl us out for a low score (180?), shame u couldn't keep it up :lol: ! Hopefully the next test will be a bit closer and Justin Langer can score the winning runs for Australia :D ! And I don't get this fascination with Kevin Skunkhead Pietersen. I mean he's strong and agressive n everything but I'm not his biggest fan. And to prove I'm not biased, I think Freddie Flintoff is an excellent player-much better than ol' skunkhead.

p.s Why do they call him Freddie?

LOL but u have to admit Pietersen was our best batsman by miles!
Umm... Freddie comes from Fred Flintstone - not sure why but did hear it was a joke about his weight on some radio a couple of years ago but not sure if thats right or whether they were just being mean.

Don't criticise our Pietersen Renae...where would we have been without him :P Well to be fair it's annoying we rely so much on one person, I'd much prefer it of the others...ie Vaughan, Trescothink, Flintoff...were getting runs, but Pietersen is great!

Freddie's name is because of Fred Flintstone...I read this article the other day on the BBC Sport website which made me laugh....

Lol!

By the way I am absolutely gutted that Leicestershire lost in the semis...we did so well to keep Somerset to 157, and we were 70-0....and then we chucked it way. HD Ackerman, our captain is right.....we blew it. Still, we have an amazing record, in the 3 years it has been going we have had 2 semi final appearances and we have won it once so I guess I can't really complain... :(

LOL!!! Does this mean we're now refering to them all (Strauss, Trescothick and Harmison as well as Freddie) by their nicknames?

I think England have actually done quite well. Just hope they don't let Langer and Gilchrist get too many runs since the Australian tale end is suppost to be a lot better at batting than ours. They've done really well so far bowling so i hope we don't allow another partnership like Freddie and Pieterson yesterday to allow Australia to score more than us!

I thought it was so funny when Gummy hit a 6 off Brett Lee yesterday. I thought Giles, Hoggard, Gummy and Simon Jones did really well since we really needed to get 400 runs on a pitch like that and i thought we'd be in trouble after Pieterson got out but they 9not including Giles) managed to another 49 runs.

OMG! I'm still in shcok over what happened this morning...I really thought we had lost it but thanks to Freddie, Gummy :P etc we won!! Absolutely incredible!

I can't say any more (oh yeah apart from the fact that Geraint Jones held onto that last 1!!! I was just waiting for him to drop it.) but I am delighted! Go England!!! Roll on Old Trafford!

I was so relieved when we won! I started off Sunday being sure of us winning but i was at the point where i really thought we were going to loose!

I felt so sorry for Brett Lee - he played so well for Australia and got so close before he was left stranded. Thought it was nice of Freddie to go console him after the match before going to celebrate.

Only two more days to the next one - i hope we win it but not convinced we can since Australia have just proved you can never count them out and must have got a lot of confidence from getting so close when it hadseemed lost.

omg, I was so pissed when Kaspa got given out!!! I dropped like a million F bombs, If I had a swear jar it wud have been full! The worst part was, he shoudn't even have been given out! He had taken his glove off the bat when the ball hit and the rule states that it's only out if it hits the batsman's glove/s when its holding the bat. But oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.

I've just been watching the Old Trafford test n we're doing alright, I would hav liked to for us to hang on to some those dropped catches and bowled u out earlier but it could have been worse. Justin Langer just got out :(, but hopefully we'll be able to get a win at Man U's home ground!

With the weather over here in the North up to its usual standard I wouldn't be surprised if this ends in a draw. At the moment play is delayed due to rain and as I look out my window it isn't getting any better (I'm about 1-2 hours away from Manchester).

And how can anyone critise Pietersen, he's a fantastic cricketer, the way he bats is just amasing and given that this is his first test series he's living up to all the expectation that the fans are putting on him. He makes the game so exciting and with him and Flintoff batting together you can't turn away from the TV for a second.

I'm still getting over last weekends match, I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life as the runs started counting down, when it got to 5 I thought we'd lost it. My love for Harmi just keeps on growing :wub:

The rain is sooo annoying...typical english weather (and I'm coming over tomorrow !! :unsure:) It's a real shame that there couldn't have been more play today!

The other really annoying thing was Geraint Jones today!! I mean, I'm sorry - I was defintely impressed by his batting yesterday but his keeping today (coming after the test at Lords!) was not great. First the stumping (which wasn't particularly hard!) and then he dropped a sitter. Not impressed!!

Hopefully we can pick up the 3 wickets quickly tomorrow and maybe there could still be a result!! Come on England!

geraint jones has become my favourite english cricketer :P

I was so gutted when England only drew! We should have won! But Australia did bat really well to stay in all day! At least we're playing really good cricket atm!
Least Geraint jones managed to take some good catches. Maybe he's improving...

Lol Renae...I don't talk about Geraint Jones any more...my sister has banned me from complaining about him!! However, to be fair that catch he took when Strauss dropped it was pretty special!

I can't wait for the match on Thursday...this series is amazing.

I was really annoyed yesterday though...I was going to go and watch Leicestershire vs Warwickshire in the Totesport League but it rained and they called it off. And it wasn't even raining when they decided to call it off...and it didn't rain any more that evening. I was soooo disappointed - it would have been my only chance to see them live this season. Still, if they get promoted I won't complain!

Go England and Leicestershire!!

First time since 1988 that the Aussies have had to follow on - great cricket and I love it when England are playing well.

I'm still speechless!!

Hoggard and Giles are my heroes....and Freddie and Simon Jones of course!! Everyone contributed in one way or another to be fair!!

A great match, but can we have a boring one at the Oval...I don't think my nerves can stand another such match, especialy as I will be back at school <_<

I think Australia lost the Ashes. The country's been in a state of mourning for the past few days. You see grown men crying in the streets. </exaggeration>

I still can't believe we (England) actually won. :D Everyone's been celebrating and there's been so much TV coverage of the celebrations. Never imagined cricket could ever be so popular here. The England cricket team have sort of come national heroes!

OH MY GOD I can't quite belive we won the Ashes! i feel quite chuffed. i loathe cricket and find it intensely boring but even i've been watching this summer. i still find it boring and i still don't understand that rules but i'm so pleased that we've won something... seeing as we invented the game!! along with football, rugby..... :rolleyes:

Happy happy happy.... :P

Sorry for my outpouring of joy...no offence to anyone!! It was an amazing series, both teams played very well and what a great result at the end...(for us anyway!! I'm sure some of you don't feel the same way!!!)

I love cricket, always have done and finally I have got reward for all the years I suffered being teased and laughed at for loving this sport!! :lol: All of a sudden it's cool to be a cricket fan, but I'm just tres happy!! Now time for Pakistan and India....

:D :D :D :D WE WON :D :D :D :D

I'm still so happy that we won, I still can't quite believe it.

What an unbelievable series and although it's a shame a team had to lose I'm glad we won.

I've got so much respect for the Aussies after this test that they have to be my second favourite team now, I'm grown really fond of McGrath, Lee and Clarke :wub:

Can't wait till the World 11 v Australia 11 in October and then England's winter tour, the more cricket the better at the moment :P

Ok, so England's winter tour has started, and so far its going pretty well despite the fact that Vaughan is injured!

I've been impressed with Udal so far, and Trescothick's know today was fantastic. But how different is this pitch from the ones used for the warm ups? They were so bowler friendly it's untrue!