I call Will Young being a worse mishandling than Ajaz. Fair enough he opened in Conway's Test absence through 2021, but his technical deficiencies were plain to see - and Conway had already shown he was adept batting there. A who scored a pair of tons and a 60 against a nigh-on full-strength Australian ODI side (albeit in a non-official warm-up) 3 years ago is now a chance of missing this year's squad altogether, and that's on the selectors. Had one bad series v Ireland and got dropped like a hot pie. Absolutely butchered his talent, and we can't afford to do that with a guy like Will Young.
Feb 7, 2023·edited Feb 7, 2023Liked by Dylan Cleaver
I'm sure some other trainspotter will point it out, but it's unfair to focus on Nicholls' away average to the exclusion of the neutral stats. All four of those games were played away from home as well (the UAE series v Pakistan where he scored a match - and series - winning hundred, and the WTC Final). That boosts Nicholls away average to 879 runs at 26.63.
I did consider this but I think you have to separate them. Facing Ravi Ashwin in Southampton is a markedly different experience to facing him at Wankhede. The Pakistan in the UAE tests are more like for like, but Pakistan still don't have those natural advantages you get from playing at home.
"It will be intriguing to see how it works in a sport where superstar culture is so heavily embedded, and within a squad that has just spent £600 million in a bid to be the best."
An interesting conundrum. The current English football coach, Gareth Southgate, has been far more successful than many of his predecessors, and well liked both within and outside of the dressing room. Right from the start of his tenure he refused to embrace the culture of celebrity, so rampant in top-flight football. It was clear that this Southgate-led England team would have no truck with celebrity. It was also clear that the players brought into it. And it has paid off.
In answer to your question, I think Enoka's mission is not impossible, providing he gets the backing that he had with the ABs, or Southgate got from the FA.
Like you say - for what might happen, for what happens next, for outstanding skill, for the unexpected, because I'm invested in the result (sometimes) and when you're there at a match live - well that's just great.
The Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes, the excellent English sportswriter, attempts to answer this question in a book full of sporting vignettes (sort of vaguely linked), that lead to a sort of conclusion...but not a definitive one.
Watched cricket all my life so it’s part of the fabric of my existence (didn’t play - no girls teams at school or where my brother played so it didn’t occur to me I could aside from backyard and beach). Can’t imagine not watching it, except for when I really care about the result and it’s all going very badly wrong! Everything else is a form of distraction/entertainment - used to watch rugby and football but the overwhelming greed has put me off. AFL is great for vicarious parochialism.
"Can’t imagine not watching it, except for when I really care about the result and it’s all going very badly wrong!"
This rings true. My mother would have the cricket on the telly all day but couldn't bring herself to watch it most of the time. She'd do crosswords in the kitchen and go into the lounge every now and then to check the score. She'd rather walk in and be pleasantly surprised (or have her worst fears confirmed) than she would watch them get to that point.
That’s how my mother approaches All Blacks games if it’s close. I will make a mockery of my previous comment and say that I watched The Game That Shall Never Be Spoken Of until its bitter end. Will never recover from that.
Sports is simply entertainment in the same way reading a novel, watching a movie or playing a video game is. The question better framed as why do I use some of my time to watch sports for entertainment instead of other types of entertainment? The unscripted nature of the drama is definitely part of it.
Entertainment is definitely a big factor, but I think if you're a Mancunian from the blue half of the city, or an AFL supporter whose family has roots in Collingwood, Carlton or Richmond for example, the reasons for watching sport are probably more deeply ingrained and possibly even spiritual (and I know how twee that word sounds when used for sport).
I call Will Young being a worse mishandling than Ajaz. Fair enough he opened in Conway's Test absence through 2021, but his technical deficiencies were plain to see - and Conway had already shown he was adept batting there. A who scored a pair of tons and a 60 against a nigh-on full-strength Australian ODI side (albeit in a non-official warm-up) 3 years ago is now a chance of missing this year's squad altogether, and that's on the selectors. Had one bad series v Ireland and got dropped like a hot pie. Absolutely butchered his talent, and we can't afford to do that with a guy like Will Young.
I'm sure some other trainspotter will point it out, but it's unfair to focus on Nicholls' away average to the exclusion of the neutral stats. All four of those games were played away from home as well (the UAE series v Pakistan where he scored a match - and series - winning hundred, and the WTC Final). That boosts Nicholls away average to 879 runs at 26.63.
I did consider this but I think you have to separate them. Facing Ravi Ashwin in Southampton is a markedly different experience to facing him at Wankhede. The Pakistan in the UAE tests are more like for like, but Pakistan still don't have those natural advantages you get from playing at home.
"It will be intriguing to see how it works in a sport where superstar culture is so heavily embedded, and within a squad that has just spent £600 million in a bid to be the best."
An interesting conundrum. The current English football coach, Gareth Southgate, has been far more successful than many of his predecessors, and well liked both within and outside of the dressing room. Right from the start of his tenure he refused to embrace the culture of celebrity, so rampant in top-flight football. It was clear that this Southgate-led England team would have no truck with celebrity. It was also clear that the players brought into it. And it has paid off.
In answer to your question, I think Enoka's mission is not impossible, providing he gets the backing that he had with the ABs, or Southgate got from the FA.
Good point David. One advantage Gareth at England has over Bert at Chelsea, is he was "one of them".
Like you say - for what might happen, for what happens next, for outstanding skill, for the unexpected, because I'm invested in the result (sometimes) and when you're there at a match live - well that's just great.
The Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes, the excellent English sportswriter, attempts to answer this question in a book full of sporting vignettes (sort of vaguely linked), that lead to a sort of conclusion...but not a definitive one.
I think I might have read that years ago. He was a particularly skilled writer.
Watched cricket all my life so it’s part of the fabric of my existence (didn’t play - no girls teams at school or where my brother played so it didn’t occur to me I could aside from backyard and beach). Can’t imagine not watching it, except for when I really care about the result and it’s all going very badly wrong! Everything else is a form of distraction/entertainment - used to watch rugby and football but the overwhelming greed has put me off. AFL is great for vicarious parochialism.
"Can’t imagine not watching it, except for when I really care about the result and it’s all going very badly wrong!"
This rings true. My mother would have the cricket on the telly all day but couldn't bring herself to watch it most of the time. She'd do crosswords in the kitchen and go into the lounge every now and then to check the score. She'd rather walk in and be pleasantly surprised (or have her worst fears confirmed) than she would watch them get to that point.
That’s how my mother approaches All Blacks games if it’s close. I will make a mockery of my previous comment and say that I watched The Game That Shall Never Be Spoken Of until its bitter end. Will never recover from that.
Sports is simply entertainment in the same way reading a novel, watching a movie or playing a video game is. The question better framed as why do I use some of my time to watch sports for entertainment instead of other types of entertainment? The unscripted nature of the drama is definitely part of it.
Entertainment is definitely a big factor, but I think if you're a Mancunian from the blue half of the city, or an AFL supporter whose family has roots in Collingwood, Carlton or Richmond for example, the reasons for watching sport are probably more deeply ingrained and possibly even spiritual (and I know how twee that word sounds when used for sport).