Oval crowd being idiots by booing Clarke. Shameful.
Agreed. They should not be booing him or the umpires. That said he should not have been trying to force the umpires into making the light decision.
Oh and again one has to ask why we bother having Floodlights at circket grounds if we still come off for bad light?
Having experienced a floodlight test match earlier on this summer, in cloudy conditions with floodlights on it is very hard to spot a red ball in those conditions
But I think the USA and the West are thinking of the precedent. That is they don't want any future autocrats to think that when in real danger of losing power, the solution is to launch gas attacks upon the rebels
The fact is Assad is winning this civil war inspired by the West. Hence the need for this casus belli.
Of course the sheeple are going to be hoodwinked once again into going to war...
From now on Test cricket in England MUST start at 10:30 am.
We tried that a decade ago, early morning dew made it a bowler's dream.
Maybe from the middle of July onwards then. I can understand the problem with dew early in the season but of course the light situation is better at that time of year.
Remember some tests in England are played in September, the dew there is a problem at 10.30
Starting the cricket at 10.30am is a nonsense.
One's barely had time to digest a full Scottish breakfast let alone have a squint at the Auchentennach Pig Breeders and Ferret Owners Gazette.
The four umpires used in this series clearly needed a break about half way through but couldn't because all the other umpires on the elite panel were either English or Australian. Madness.
From now on Test cricket in England MUST start at 10:30 am.
We tried that a decade ago, early morning dew made it a bowler's dream.
Maybe from the middle of July onwards then. I can understand the problem with dew early in the season but of course the light situation is better at that time of year.
Remember some tests in England are played in September, the dew there is a problem at 10.30
Starting the cricket at 10.30am is a nonsense.
One's barely had time to digest a full Scottish breakfast let alone have a squint at the Auchentennach Pig Breeders and Ferret Owners Gazette.
Th alternative would be to introduce some serious fines for slow over rates, as opposed to the Mickey Mouse ones currently in use. Or to deduct a certain number of runs from the total.
Oval crowd being prize idiots by booing Clarke. Shameful. He ought to be being cheered. Very disappointing.
Agreed. Just embarrassing. Clarke is a brilliant batsman and a superb captain. 3-0 flatters England more than somewhat.
I agree with your assessment of Clarke but don't think the score line flatters England at all. In all the matches they won and in this one today they clearly outplayed Australia comprehensively over the full match and in terms of the relative abilities between the two teams England were clearly far and away better overall. The only case where the Aussies might possibly feel hard done by is the one match that ended in a draw.
Perhaps at a certain light-level the red balls should be replaced by light green ones as in tennis, or perhaps self-luminous ones?!
Wouldn't work, just imagine you're England, you've got a 50 over old red ball, that you've got reverse swinging, then it gets replaced by a different ball then Jimmy and Stuart are going to go ballistic
From now on Test cricket in England MUST start at 10:30 am.
We tried that a decade ago, early morning dew made it a bowler's dream.
Maybe from the middle of July onwards then. I can understand the problem with dew early in the season but of course the light situation is better at that time of year.
Remember some tests in England are played in September, the dew there is a problem at 10.30
Starting the cricket at 10.30am is a nonsense.
One's barely had time to digest a full Scottish breakfast let alone have a squint at the Auchentennach Pig Breeders and Ferret Owners Gazette.
Th alternative would be to introduce some serious fines for slow over rates, as opposed to the Mickey Mouse ones currently in use. Or to deduct a certain number of runs from the total.
I think monetary fines are meaningless. Certainly proportions of match fees are so small that it would be nothing to these players. I think it has to be some penalty in terms of runs. Something that actually affects the game and the bowler personally. So a given number of no balls against a bowler if he does not meet the required over rate.
Rod Crosby - Obama and Kerry won't go to war, Obama was full of waffle in his interview with CNN on how the UN would need to approve, the dangers of involvement etc. Apart from Bin Laden he is the weakest president on foreign policy since Carter
Re the cricket -- It was perfectly fair for Clarke to appeal for bad light as he probably made the declaration based on the fact that some overs would not be bowled for light . If its the rules its the rules . you cannot expect a captain to make a declaration under one set of rules then ignore them
re the cricket again - I think England got most of the luck this series -won the toss when the weather was good and lost it when weather was bad - I think a big bet on the aussies for the winter is in order if not fancied much by market
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
Also, Assad and all other dictators have learnt from Saddam's death is never to give up their WMD's. I have always wondered what went through Saddam's mind last...if only I had those WMD's I would not have been attacked.
As all of PB know my total hatred for Blair on Iraq. It is generally believed the intelligence on Iraq was wrong. I believe strongly that it was not. Otherwise, the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee would not have got a promotion after the war.
The intelligence was good, It said Iraq did not have any WMD. Can you imagine, if our boys and girls had gone in and many had died or came back with serious chemical burns, what would have been the reaction ? Specially against a country which was not in any way a immediate threat to Britain itself.
One last observance on the cricket - thought there would be terrible confusion when Mike Atherton asked the aussies to come up in batting order. Thought it would have resembled the scramble for the last plane out of Saigon
Re the cricket -- It was perfectly fair for Clarke to appeal for bad light as he probably made the declaration based on the fact that some overs would not be bowled for light . If its the rules its the rules . you cannot expect a captain to make a declaration under one set of rules then ignore them
More importantly, they ahd gone off at 6.4 on the second day. This evening it was 5.9. They should have gone off 10/15 minutes earlier. I think the Match Referee insisted to Aleem Dar to have a look at the meter. Dar did not even have a meter on him ! The 3rd umpire ran into the field and handed him one.
The decision to give Obama the Nobel peace prize was stupid. No still serving leader should get it let alone give one at the start of a term of office. I am not saying Obama takes it into account in his foreign policy but it might influence recipients to take the wrong decision
The decision to give Obama the Nobel peace prize was stupid. No still serving leader should get it let alone give one at the start of a term of office. I am not saying Obama takes it into account in his foreign policy but it might influence recipients to take the wrong decision
The deadline for nominations that year was about two weeks after he was inaugurated ! He must have done something bloody good in those two weeks ? Or, were the Norwegian committee's collective knee shaking with excitement !
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
A break-up of Syria will happen - the Western [ Alawite ] part will carve itself out a sustainable territory bordering Lebanon. Eastern Syria is already controlled by Al-Qaeda proxies who are also present south of Damascus.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
And I could bet that you won't be voting Conservative at the next GE, I have hardly made it a secret that I support staying in the Union? So why bother with this meaningless and petty partisan point scoring on a site for grown ups? If you had been a bit more observant, you might have spotted the odd Scots Tory poster on here who is quite relaxed about Independence.
Re the cricket -- It was perfectly fair for Clarke to appeal for bad light as he probably made the declaration based on the fact that some overs would not be bowled for light . If its the rules its the rules . you cannot expect a captain to make a declaration under one set of rules then ignore them
The point is that it was not fair under the rules. They have stupidly changed the rules so that the two teams have no say in the decision over whether or not play should stop for bad light. It is entirely the decision of the umpires. I may disagree with that and think it is a stupid rule but as long as that is the rule it is not right for the teams to attempt to influence the umpires into making the decision. He certainly would not have taken the light into account when deciding whether or not to declare since his aim was to win the match and so would not have been trying to influence the umpires if England had been 8 or 9 down.
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
A break-up of Syria will happen - the Western [ Alawite ] part will carve itself out a sustainable territory bordering Lebanon. Eastern Syria is already controlled by Al-Qaeda proxies who are also present south of Damascus.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
Can't believe how people can take so seriously the game of Test Cricket, arguably the most boring game in the world
Every day of every match in this series has been as boring as driving fast on drugs with the police in hot pursuit while having your wingwang squeezed and trying not to spill your drink. Which suits me fine, as my head would explode with excitement if I did something really stimulating, like visiting the National Railway Museum.
This is my first post. As a Scot and successful business owner in the Central Belt I often feel lonely on political websites. The Southern English seem very insular and living in their own world while the vicious politics of the North seem mostly about power and little about progress. This is maybe the way it has been for centuries.
The SNP have made it clear that they plan to try and win the election through bribes to the poor. Unfortunately we have many of them in Scotland. The SNP have no clear vision except the desire for power and they will only look after those who support them. The chances are very high that if the vote is yes then I will move south, like most of my family have already done, within the next couple of years.
I and most of the people around me see little chance of Salmond winning. Among the educated circles there are few people who are prepared to stand up and say they support independence. This is for fear that they may be blacklisted later on. This is a shame but is also a reaction to the generally nasty way the nationalists have treated the vote. Attacks on Chris Hoy, Glaswegian students and anyone else who disagrees with their view has set the tone. The country is becoming split and the bad feeling may last for a long time. People are keeping their heads down and flags of all kinds are disappearing from view.
I would suggest that the best polls to watch will be the telephone polls and not the internet panels. I would also suggest that as the polls get closer the population, as in Northern Ireland, will fall into line; the Labour voters will back Darling and the SNP voters Salmond. The Yes campaign can get 40% but I just don't see how they will get 50%.
PS The Tories are alive and well in Scotland. The country has a core base of wealthy private school kids and their families which make up about 10% of the population but more in places like Edinburgh. What is does not have are working class Tories.
I'm confident that one day you will come to love Test cricket!
Tip: it's the boring bits that make the exciting bits especially interesting. For example, today was so exciting because it contrasted brilliantly with Friday's dullness. A bit like everyday life, really.
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
A break-up of Syria will happen - the Western [ Alawite ] part will carve itself out a sustainable territory bordering Lebanon. Eastern Syria is already controlled by Al-Qaeda proxies who are also present south of Damascus.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
The Kurds are carving out their own autonomous zones in the north same as they did in Iraq. Once they're done they'll probably be neutral afterwards like Iraq.
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
A break-up of Syria will happen - the Western [ Alawite ] part will carve itself out a sustainable territory bordering Lebanon. Eastern Syria is already controlled by Al-Qaeda proxies who are also present south of Damascus.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
The Kurds are carving out their own autonomous zones in the north same as they did in Iraq. Once they're done they'll probably be neutral afterwards like Iraq.
David Morton @DavidMorton359 Sorry, but learning the country is going to war via a leak to The Daily Mail has triggered my Post Traumatic Blair Disorder. #Syria
Obama won't go to war. Remember that Nobel Peace Prize.
Whose side should he go to war with ? Assad or Al-Qaeda ?
Both?
In all the discussions I have heard about Syria, one American who was in Syria for a few months recently and whose wife is Syrian said taht the US is petrified about the fact that should Assad lose in a chaos they wouldn't know for sure who will get hold of the chemical weapons. That is why the west is less gung ho about going in there than at the beginning of the year.
I'm always struck by the insistence that we should try to maintain the integrity of what were artificial lines on a map drawn after WW1. There seems an almost pathological fear that Assad's departure will lead to a break-up of Syria just as many feared Saddam's removal in 1991 would have led to a partitioned Iraq.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
A break-up of Syria will happen - the Western [ Alawite ] part will carve itself out a sustainable territory bordering Lebanon. Eastern Syria is already controlled by Al-Qaeda proxies who are also present south of Damascus.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
The Kurds are carving out their own autonomous zones in the north same as they did in Iraq. Once they're done they'll probably be neutral afterwards like Iraq.
@Sunil - test cricket is sublime; the finest sport there is when played to its maximum potential. Basketball has to be the most boring. That and anything to do with cars and horses; with a special mention for weightlifting and synchronised swimming.
Can't believe how people can take so seriously the game of Test Cricket, arguably the most boring game in the world
Nope, that's the baseball 'world series' - 2 teams fighting it out for the chance to play each other again tomorrow, again 2 days later, and again the day after that.
However college football starts on Thursday, a fan tells me, and the NFL the next week.
I honestly hate having to say this as I do think Assad deserves to be driven from power and made to pay for his crimes...
but...
Nothing the West can possibly do in terms of military intervention can make things better either for the Syrians, the wider Middle East or the rest of the World. All we will do is stir up even more hatred against us and I seriously doubt if we will do anything to stop yet more bloodshed.
I am sure that if they want their war for whatever reasons, good or bad, the UK, France and the US will get it. But Syria in a decade will not be a better place because of what we do and there will just be another couple of generations with more reasons - both valid and invalid - to hate us.
Twitter Chris Ship @chrisshipitv 10m View from DC: RT @markknoller: WH official disputes British press reports that Obama & Cameron agreed on intervention in Syria in their call
I honestly hate having to say this as I do think Assad deserves to be driven from power and made to pay for his crimes...
but...
Nothing the West can possibly do in terms of military intervention can make things better either for the Syrians, the wider Middle East or the rest of the World. All we will do is stir up even more hatred against us and I seriously doubt if we will do anything to stop yet more bloodshed.
I am sure that if they want their war for whatever reasons, good or bad, the UK, France and the US will get it. But Syria in a decade will not be a better place because of what we do and there will just be another couple of generations with more reasons - both valid and invalid - to hate us.
"Nothing the West can possibly do in terms of military intervention can make things better either for the Syrians, the wider Middle East or the rest of the World. "
I don't know. If the various coastal groups were separated from the interior groups that might end up better but that's not the plan. For some reason the plan is Assad has to lose which means all the coastal groups get cleansed. How this is in anyone's interests baffles me.
Press release 26th August 2013 Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, today appealed to the Rt. Hon. William Hague, British Foreign Minister, and M. Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, to stop calling for military action against Syria which, she said, will only lead the Middle East into even more violence and bloodshed for its people.
Maguire said: ...
During our visit we met with all sections of the community, most of whom are sick of violence and death and want peace and reconciliation and a political solution. We met with the Syrian Prime Minister and 7 other government ministers, and we were assured that the Government did not use sarin gas on its own people, and they invited the UN to send in inspectors to see what was happening. Currently there is an International Commission of Inquiry on Chemical Weapons in Damascus staying at Four Seasons Hotel, which is less than ten minutes from the areas where the chemical weapons were allegedly used. The western media, particularly vocal being the British and French Foreign Ministers, are accusing President Assad of using chemical weapons on his own people but have no proof of this accusation, rather some things point to rebels as the ones who used such weapons.
The question must be asked, what would it benefit Assad to use sarin gas in the vicinity of visiting international UN inspectors and in his own environment and neighbourhood where it would affect his soldiers, etc., personally, I do not believe the latest accusations against the Assad government using sarin gas, and in order that the world can hear the truth, I would appeal to the International Commission of Inquiry to go into the areas in question immediately and report as quickly as possible. In the meantime I appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France to encourage, as the Syrian people wish, dialogue and negotiation as a way forward.
We all remember the fear, panic and lies spun by the British and American governments, and others that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was not true. Let us learn the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya where so many millions have been killed in invasions and war, and many continue to die in violence. Violence is not the answer, let’s end this ‘war on terror’ and give nonviolence and peace a chance.
Mairead Maguire Nobel peace laureate http://www.peacepeople.com info@peacepeople.com peace people, 224 Lisburn road, Belfast. Bt307NW. N. Ireland
Twitter Chris Ship @chrisshipitv 10m View from DC: RT @markknoller: WH official disputes British press reports that Obama & Cameron agreed on intervention in Syria in their call
That's the second time in as many weeks there has been a "misunderstanding" on a call with a foreign leader. Cameron needs to get a grip on his briefers - foreign affairs to important to mess around with paddling pool tactics
I and most of the people around me see little chance of Salmond winning.
Now you have more scottish tories to blindly agree with you on PB. A good thing too since they portray themselves as helpless outnumbered victims on here despite strangely numbering so many and their self-evident unpopularity in scotland.
Among the educated circles there are few people who are prepared to stand up and say they support independence. This is for fear that they may be blacklisted later on.
This is a shame but is also a reaction to the generally nasty way the nationalists have treated the vote. Attacks on Chris Hoy, Glaswegian students and anyone else who disagrees with their view has set the tone. The country is becoming split and the bad feeling may last for a long time.
PS The Tories are alive and well in Scotland. The country has a core base of wealthy private school kids and their families which make up about 10% of the population but more in places like Edinburgh. What is does not have are working class Tories.
And people think Clegg is complacent. The facts sadly do not back up your rose tinted view.
Your performance last year at the local elections which is real votes not just opinion poll ratings.
The scottish conservatives lost 20 per cent of their councillors, saw their vote fall to 13.31 per cent and local representation cut dramatically or even wiped out in some areas.
Andrew Hardie, the editor of the blog Tory Hoose, put it in his online column at the time: “Last week the Scottish Conservatives suffered their biggest electoral set back in local government since 1995”.
Have you ever been to an international cricket match, Sunil?
If not, you don't know what you are missing. The atmosphere is unique. Why don't you risk it for a day? Hook up with one of the cricket enthusiasts on here and go for a day with them. I'll join you if we can organise something for when I'm across. Take a chance and you might well be pleasantly surprised!
This is my first post. As a Scot and successful business owner in the Central Belt I often feel lonely on political websites. The Southern English seem very insular and living in their own world while the vicious politics of the North seem mostly about power and little about progress. This is maybe the way it has been for centuries.
The SNP have made it clear that they plan to try and win the election through bribes to the poor. Unfortunately we have many of them in Scotland. The SNP have no clear vision except the desire for power and they will only look after those who support them. The chances are very high that if the vote is yes then I will move south, like most of my family have already done, within the next couple of years.
I and most of the people around me see little chance of Salmond winning. Among the educated circles there are few people who are prepared to stand up and say they support independence. This is for fear that they may be blacklisted later on. This is a shame but is also a reaction to the generally nasty way the nationalists have treated the vote. Attacks on Chris Hoy, Glaswegian students and anyone else who disagrees with their view has set the tone. The country is becoming split and the bad feeling may last for a long time. People are keeping their heads down and flags of all kinds are disappearing from view.
I would suggest that the best polls to watch will be the telephone polls and not the internet panels. I would also suggest that as the polls get closer the population, as in Northern Ireland, will fall into line; the Labour voters will back Darling and the SNP voters Salmond. The Yes campaign can get 40% but I just don't see how they will get 50%.
PS The Tories are alive and well in Scotland. The country has a core base of wealthy private school kids and their families which make up about 10% of the population but more in places like Edinburgh. What is does not have are working class Tories.
Welcome and some good points. Not sure I agree with it all but then different opinions add to the vibrancy.
Disappointing. There's almost always a passive aggressive onlaught an hour or so after anyone has the temerity to question the scottish tories. Ah well, I guess the victim mentality takes it's toll some nights.
BTW has anyone seen stuarttruth lately? He was great. All that whining about the librul meeja polls and Obama bribing the poor. Then Romney had to ruin it all by being such a pathetic loser. A true comedy original. Probably.
"PS The Tories are alive and well in Scotland. The country has a core base of wealthy private school kids and their families which make up about 10% of the population"
Do 10% of Scottish children go to independent schools?
Of course not, it's obvious bullshit. Try at least half that and you're closer to the mark.
Care to elucidate on which ones? Since it all looks remarkably like the same old bile and smearing of the SNP from the tories from where I sit.
As a soft tory who would vote Tory in England again as no choice but support the SNP in Scotland the economic issues are important to me. Having gone to a comprehensive with girls having kids at 15 as well as a posh school which would have been at home in Berkshire the politics and culture in each was totally different. The problem I have with the Tories is they support the M25 and nearby environs first and Scotland second. Sadly they do not even try to hide it. They need someone to do a genuine mea culpa, say they did look after London and spend the oil wealth there but now is the time to look after everyone equally starting NOW.
Absolute disgrace. The jobsworth ICC based in Dubai ought to hang its head in shame.
The ICC only changed the rule because so many people complained about batsmen going off for light pretty much all the time.
If England had been 8 or 9 wickets down, what would be fair then?
It makes no difference it would still have not been right. The old rule was perfectly good with the umpires offering the light when it had reached a certain level and then the batsmen (the ones having to face 90 MPH+ deliveries) deciding if they wanted to continue. Of course it was gamed on occasion as so much of cricket is gamed but that is all part and parcel of cricket. This situation was a complete farce.
I can only assume from your comment that you are not a cricket fan and do not know that we applaud a century and cheer the rafters down on a double century no matter whether the batsman is English or Australian.
"not a cricket fan"?!? I'll have you know that I bunked off sixth form college to watch Jack Russell in a one-day match between Surrey and Gloucestershire at the Oval - don't be so pompous.
I was certainly disappointed that the match was brought to a premature conclusion, but I well remember all the complaints under the previous rules, so I thought it worth pointing out there wasn't a simple solution.
In the midst of all the talk of some kind of external military intervention. there have been clear statements from Iraq Kurds that they intend to make a move into Northern Syria, ostensibly I assume, to protect their Syrian brothers. Those statements have suddenly got louder.
Its a curious one. One wonders if this is their own threatened intention or one that they have agreed with 3rd parties as a convenient way of taking on and beating down the Islamic extremists who are fairly strong in parts of the North and have clashed plenty with Syrian Kurds already.
If it took off it'd be a significant move for sure.
Comments
We needed Steve Bucknor out there, after his heroics in Karachi in 2000, when England won in pitch black conditions
Oh and again one has to ask why we bother having Floodlights at cricket grounds if we still come off for bad light?
Of course the sheeple are going to be hoodwinked once again into going to war...
One's barely had time to digest a full Scottish breakfast let alone have a squint at the Auchentennach Pig Breeders and Ferret Owners Gazette.
"You can see the moon. How far do you want to see?"
Also, Assad and all other dictators have learnt from Saddam's death is never to give up their WMD's. I have always wondered what went through Saddam's mind last...if only I had those WMD's I would not have been attacked.
As all of PB know my total hatred for Blair on Iraq. It is generally believed the intelligence on Iraq was wrong. I believe strongly that it was not. Otherwise, the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee would not have got a promotion after the war.
The intelligence was good, It said Iraq did not have any WMD. Can you imagine, if our boys and girls had gone in and many had died or came back with serious chemical burns, what would have been the reaction ? Specially against a country which was not in any way a immediate threat to Britain itself.
From an Essex & England supporter.
The cantonisation of the Arab world is, it seems, one thing of which the West is hugely afraid, perhaps echoing Europe's experience after 1918.
I am prepared to bet that Fitalass is not amongst them.
Iraq is divided. The Kurds, the only victors from the war, are effectively independent controlling their own oil with the full support of the West. The Sunni in the middle of the country deeply resentful of the West and the Shias in the South and East allied to Iran.
Who won ? No one knows. Certainly, the Kurds won.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23747711
The SNP have made it clear that they plan to try and win the election through bribes to the poor. Unfortunately we have many of them in Scotland. The SNP have no clear vision except the desire for power and they will only look after those who support them. The chances are very high that if the vote is yes then I will move south, like most of my family have already done, within the next couple of years.
I and most of the people around me see little chance of Salmond winning. Among the educated circles there are few people who are prepared to stand up and say they support independence. This is for fear that they may be blacklisted later on. This is a shame but is also a reaction to the generally nasty way the nationalists have treated the vote. Attacks on Chris Hoy, Glaswegian students and anyone else who disagrees with their view has set the tone. The country is becoming split and the bad feeling may last for a long time. People are keeping their heads down and flags of all kinds are disappearing from view.
I would suggest that the best polls to watch will be the telephone polls and not the internet panels. I would also suggest that as the polls get closer the population, as in Northern Ireland, will fall into line; the Labour voters will back Darling and the SNP voters Salmond. The Yes campaign can get 40% but I just don't see how they will get 50%.
PS The Tories are alive and well in Scotland. The country has a core base of wealthy private school kids and their families which make up about 10% of the population but more in places like Edinburgh. What is does not have are working class Tories.
Welcome from me too :^ )
I'm confident that one day you will come to love Test cricket!
Tip: it's the boring bits that make the exciting bits especially interesting. For example, today was so exciting because it contrasted brilliantly with Friday's dullness. A bit like everyday life, really.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/middleeast/syrian-kurds-find-more-than-a-refuge-in-iraqi-kurdistan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Btw I'm English, but have lived here happily for over forty years, and expect to continue doing so.
Sorry, but learning the country is going to war via a leak to The Daily Mail has triggered my Post Traumatic Blair Disorder. #Syria
However college football starts on Thursday, a fan tells me, and the NFL the next week.
I doubt it is much different in 2013.
http://www.edinburgh-inspiringcapital.com/invest/economic_data/education_and_research/secondary_school_education.aspx
but...
Nothing the West can possibly do in terms of military intervention can make things better either for the Syrians, the wider Middle East or the rest of the World. All we will do is stir up even more hatred against us and I seriously doubt if we will do anything to stop yet more bloodshed.
I am sure that if they want their war for whatever reasons, good or bad, the UK, France and the US will get it. But Syria in a decade will not be a better place because of what we do and there will just be another couple of generations with more reasons - both valid and invalid - to hate us.
Chris Ship @chrisshipitv 10m
View from DC: RT @markknoller: WH official disputes British press reports that Obama & Cameron agreed on intervention in Syria in their call
I don't know. If the various coastal groups were separated from the interior groups that might end up better but that's not the plan. For some reason the plan is Assad has to lose which means all the coastal groups get cleansed. How this is in anyone's interests baffles me.
Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, today appealed to the Rt. Hon. William Hague, British Foreign Minister, and M. Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, to stop calling for military action against Syria which, she said, will only lead the Middle East into even more violence and bloodshed for its people.
Maguire said:
...
During our visit we met with all sections of the community, most of whom are sick of violence and death and want peace and reconciliation and a political solution. We met with the Syrian Prime Minister and 7 other government ministers, and we were assured that the Government did not use sarin gas on its own people, and they invited the UN to send in inspectors to see what was happening. Currently there is an International Commission of Inquiry on Chemical Weapons in Damascus staying at Four Seasons Hotel, which is less than ten minutes from the areas where the chemical weapons were allegedly used. The western media, particularly vocal being the British and French Foreign Ministers, are accusing President Assad of using chemical weapons on his own people but have no proof of this accusation, rather some things point to rebels as the ones who used such weapons.
The question must be asked, what would it benefit Assad to use sarin gas in the vicinity of visiting international UN inspectors and in his own environment and neighbourhood where it would affect his soldiers, etc., personally, I do not believe the latest accusations against the Assad government using sarin gas, and in order that the world can hear the truth, I would appeal to the International Commission of Inquiry to go into the areas in question immediately and report as quickly as possible. In the meantime I appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France to encourage, as the Syrian people wish, dialogue and negotiation as a way forward.
We all remember the fear, panic and lies spun by the British and American governments, and others that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was not true. Let us learn the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya where so many millions have been killed in invasions and war, and many continue to die in violence. Violence is not the answer, let’s end this ‘war on terror’ and give nonviolence and peace a chance.
Mairead Maguire
Nobel peace laureate
http://www.peacepeople.com
info@peacepeople.com
peace people, 224 Lisburn road, Belfast. Bt307NW. N. Ireland
Link? http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-tallinn-protocols/ Link?
Since the scottish tory surgers are so fond of questions you will have no problem backing up your amusing assertions.
And people think Clegg is complacent. The facts sadly do not back up your rose tinted view.
Your performance last year at the local elections which is real votes not just opinion poll ratings.
The scottish conservatives lost 20 per cent of their councillors, saw their vote fall to 13.31 per cent and local representation cut dramatically or even wiped out in some areas.
Andrew Hardie, the editor of the blog Tory Hoose, put it in his online column at the time: “Last week the Scottish Conservatives suffered their biggest electoral set back in local government since 1995”.
Alive and well indeed. ;^ )
If not, you don't know what you are missing. The atmosphere is unique. Why don't you risk it for a day? Hook up with one of the cricket enthusiasts on here and go for a day with them. I'll join you if we can organise something for when I'm across. Take a chance and you might well be pleasantly surprised!
I took some small consolation in the fact I had a hundred quid on the draw.
BTW has anyone seen stuarttruth lately? He was great.
All that whining about the librul meeja polls and Obama bribing the poor. Then Romney had to ruin it all by being such a pathetic loser. A true comedy original. Probably.
*titter* ;-)
The problem I have with the Tories is they support the M25 and nearby environs first and Scotland second. Sadly they do not even try to hide it. They need someone to do a genuine mea culpa, say they did look after London and spend the oil wealth there but now is the time to look after everyone equally starting NOW.
I was certainly disappointed that the match was brought to a premature conclusion, but I well remember all the complaints under the previous rules, so I thought it worth pointing out there wasn't a simple solution.
In the midst of all the talk of some kind of external military intervention. there have been clear statements from Iraq Kurds that they intend to make a move into Northern Syria, ostensibly I assume, to protect their Syrian brothers. Those statements have suddenly got louder.
Its a curious one. One wonders if this is their own threatened intention or one that they have agreed with 3rd parties as a convenient way of taking on and beating down the Islamic extremists who are fairly strong in parts of the North and have clashed plenty with Syrian Kurds already.
If it took off it'd be a significant move for sure.