SHA Small Heath Alliance

Anyway enough of my thoughts I've bored myself with them so found these comments on the ready to go message board as a starter for ten. What do peeps think? Btw fun to read this with a Mackem accent

Where to start with this absolute shower of shite?

1 - Whoever signed off the itinerary needs to be sacked, 1 "warm up" game which we all know was half arsed vs England Lions was a shambolic way to prepare.

2 - The constant "resting" of England players during the County Championship season is now looking hideous. For example I remember last year Durham needed a concussion replacement, the ECB wouldn't allow Carse to play despite him being at the ground, he was in the bar watching Sunderland in the play off final. The way they messed Potts about resting him as well last year clearly bothered the lad and obviously Bethell as well was messed about.

3 - The management of our fast bowlers, I have banged on about this for years but again shambolic. Archer, Wood, Atkinson, knackered on this trip and it raises questions yet again why this is happening all the time with English fast bowlers? The way they have managed Mark Wood was absolutely astoundingly bad. "Don't play any games mate for Durham, we'll just throw you straight into an Ashes Series"

4 - We were told this series was several years in the planning. Therefore what was the reasoning behind preparing Bashir for the last 2-3 years then not bother selecting him, and even worse selecting a spin bowler (Jacks) ahead of him who was clearly never part of this "several years in the planning".

5 - Bethell - Similar to point 4, granted he's done well this week, they basically threw the lad in at the deep end, he was never part of the plan. They may well have stumbled on a Pope replacement.

6 - Crawley/Duckett - Not good enough. Said on here to @smoker that Crawley has a way of blagging his place by getting a decent score when he needs to and he did it during this series, ultimately though not good enough 27.30 average is poor. Likewise Duckett, I was prepared to give him a chance this series after a poor start........ on the piss, pissed and averaging 20.02, not good enough. Both need replacing.

7 - County Cricket "too much cricket" - Can we stop with this bullshit? Again repeating myself, but this series was several years planning and some of this lot hardly played any red ball cricket between the end of the India series in July, to then rocking up in October/November in Australia. That is appalling. Ironically the player who has impressed me the most, was playing red ball cricket in September..... Josh Tongue.

8 - County Cricket merit - Can we get rid of this "face fits club" that is clearly the case with this lot? I am a strong believer in "performance over reputation" and this series has highlighted the need for that in my opinion. Hameed averaged 66 in the CC in 2025, Sibley 60.66, Simpson 60.33, Cox 59.09, Lawrence 54.23. There are other examples but you get the idea, reward CC performances because this current selection criteria just isn't working.

9 - Get rid of BM and RK, beyond arrogant and that is breeding throughout this team

10 - Given what I have seen this tour, Carse, Potts, Smith, Pope, Duckett, Crawley and Jacks aren't good enough for this level. Carse and Potts need a full season with Durham, Smith may come good. The 2 opening batsman I am struggling with. Bethell needs managing properly. What is the purpose of Bashir, he isn't even our best spinner.

11 - If we intend to experiment with the Kookaburra ball in the future, I'd suggest it's not a good idea to test it during a test series where the only players testing the ball are County players who are never ever playing for England.... seems a bit pointless having George Drissell testing a ball for an Ashes series..... ECB logic!!!

12 - Reduction of CC - Mr Bostock said it would improve performance/we would see more high level performances...... Can we stop with this shit now please?

13 - Stokes - made mistakes but is the best leader we have, the alternative is Brook who I wouldn't want captaining England, shit for brains that lad.

Really struggling to find any positives from this series, only 1 player scored 400 runs which is piss poor and only 2 players scored centuries for England, again piss poor.

An absolute disaster of a series, riddled with arrogance, weak minded players and against a very average Australia side, it's absolutely unforgiveable and some heads need to roll for this shambolic outcome.

Hope they enjoyed the golf and booze though

Firstly, why are you reading Sunderland forums?

If we want county cricket to produce hardened international cricketers then there needs to be a huge change to it.

The schedule needs to be changed so that 4 day cricket is played throughout the summer, rather than the majority being played at the start and end.

There also needs to be a major change in structure. 18 counties does not consistently produce the quality of cricket that is sufficient to do the above. I know you will disagree with this but it's the truth. Archie Vaughan is being talked about as a future England player and opens the batting for Somerset. He's currently batting 8/9 in Sydney grade cricket, the difference in standard is huge.

Some fair points but very over the top in assessments. Anything good (not much) coming out of the series = despite the set up and treatment; everything bad because of the utter shitness (his words) of everything despite the fact
we are a much better team than before this regime.

View of Duckett and Smith is bollocks.

Yeah I agree. I've made my feelings on this regime clear but you can't claim the good parts are in spite of them if you're happy to blame all the bad parts on them.

Duckett and Smith being written off after one bad tour is bollocks too, imagine if the Aussies had done that with Johnson?

The reaction is very ‘football’ - though if you read btl comments on test matches and people’s
In-game reaction, it might be said football
is very ‘cricket’.

What I love about the mainstream cricket press is they laud our batsmen for their dynamic attacking stroke play when it's comes off, but call the same players stupid and brain dead when it doesnt.

Basball is BS. English cricketers previously went into their collective shells, then went to the other extreme when McCullum appeared on the scene.

I wonder if the likes of Brook have the mental fibre to play a 'sensible' innings where they get out to a good delivery as opposed to more likely a rash stroke.

Our current set of bowlers also aren't exactly world class so what you end up with is where we are right now, losing to 'worst Australian team since 2010'.

Firstly, why are you reading Sunderland forums?

I think it's widely regarded as the best of the forums certainly in terms of breadth of content. Their cricket sub forum is quite good and I've always liked Durham. In terms of the new test grounds I always rated it far higher than the soulless Rose Bowl although the location is just as soulless really and facilities not really up to scratch hence one reason they lost test status.

I lurk there from time to time. Some of my 'hot takes' stem from things I pick up there. They seem to hate us though especially since our new owners came in but FEA

Mad by name...

Is there any particular reason why Sunderland disike what we are doing?
They've already gone down the big new ground and billionaire owners route.
I suppose they may be directly threatened if we make it to the PL.

mad

Firstly, why are you reading Sunderland forums?

I think it's widely regarded as the best of the forums certainly in terms of breadth of content. Their cricket sub forum is quite good and I've always liked Durham. In terms of the new test grounds I always rated it far higher than the soulless Rose Bowl although the location is just as soulless really and facilities not really up to scratch hence one reason they lost test status.

I lurk there from time to time. Some of my 'hot takes' stem from things I pick up there. They seem to hate us though especially since our new owners came in but FEA

Bunch of racists in my experience, especially the football fans. The cricket ground is in a nice location but totally unsuited to a large crowd when it becomes totally bottle necked around the ground. Plus it’s Durham and except for the occasion day feckin freezing (one of the reasons why cricket is played more in hotter countries). Tbf club cricket is still pretty strong, it’s more like
Bits of Yorkshire.

Think it's just that mainly. They do have fans of other teams on there so it's hard to say. They seem peeved we alongside Coventry (who they really hate for various reasons) are suddenly filling our grounds again. As ever with these things though the silent majority will have more nuanced and balanced views of us and just don't post shite on message boards as frequently as the OTT attention seeking mob like yours truly