England

The names and numbers of a modern cricket tour match

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< 1 minute read

Back in the day, amateurs were given full initials, professionals surname only.

Either would be preferable to what we get nowadays:

Most Twitter names are similar to the player’s name, but some are only just about recognisable, while a select few are basically random selections of letters and numbers. Don’t forces us to deduce players’ identities. Use their actual names. People haven’t got time for deduction in this fast-paced modern world.

People clearly haven’t got time for addition either. The above tweet comes from a match between an England XI and a South African Invitational XI.

Both teams will field 13 players.

OH NO!

Roelof van der Merwe just heard you haven't yet signed up for the King Cricket email...

...so he's on his way to see you!

Similar deliveries:

Default ThumbnailOur numbers are bigger than your numbers, so your numbers can kiss our numbers’ arses Default ThumbnailTest cricket is what Mark Wood wants to play – but even if he’s keen enough and fit enough, modern cricket won’t allow him to do so Default ThumbnailLord’s Cricket Ground tour – not a match report The ‘Test cricket doesn’t fit into modern life’ fallacy

8 comments

  1. Accompanied by a photo of a Somerset player… who is this up-and-coming young hope?

    Also, who is NG and what kind of danger is he in?

  2. If 50 off 107 is “excellent”, that doesn’t leave you many places to go when somebody else scores, say, 150 off 129.

  3. Since it’s not even a proper game, who cares whose dog is playing, anyway?

    And what’s Ian Bell up to?

  5. When was the last tour that had proper XIs with first class status for the warm ups?

    I recall that Gooch had some statistical uncertainty over when he reached a hundred hundreds based on whether a tour match in Asia somewhere was really first class… But think that related to team strength as opposed to the number of players.

    1. It’s like those football friendlies that Sven used to field two entire teams in. Complete waste of time really, since you can’t do that in an official match. Might as well just have a net.

  6. And here’s where the mindfuck begins. Thandolwethu Mnyaka has been run out, yet he’s still batting and has so far added a boundary off Moeen Ali to his score.

    If you’re going to bring someone back from the dead/pavilion, why would it be the tail-ender who’s just got out? Wouldn’t it be better to get some more bowling practice against someone who can actually bat well?

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