Cricket Quotes
[Nor, he tried to insist, would the series' epic quality.] If we don't win I won't enjoy it... As a Test cricketer - and I've played 120-odd [126] - the series you remember are the close ones. A two-day Test against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh is not that enjoyable. Going to India and being tested in their conditions, playing South Africa, playing England the way they are playing now - they are the series people remember. As players you want to be tested. You don't want easy games. At the moment everybody is being tested. A Test match is a test of your technique, your patience, a test of everything about you.
- Shane Warne
[It is not a comfort zone; as Chris Read and Graham Thorpe discovered, players do get dropped. But rookies get a run first and changes are usually made with a view to the long term. The team have thus been able to grow together and bond. The side Giles came into was a wary one with some players playing primarily for themselves, an inevitable consequence of chop-and-change team selection. Now they are a team.] It's a completely different atmosphere to '98... It's much more professional and we are much more together. I found it quite tricky in '98. No disrespect to anyone in that side, because players made me feel welcome, but it was very disjointed. Now we are basically another county team. We know each other that well. We've played that much cricket together.
- Ashley Giles
[But now it is Australia talking of lessons learned.] Everybody has taken a lot from this tour... One of the interesting things is that England have made advances over the last four years and we have taken some interest in what they have done around and away from the team, with the support from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
- John Buchanan
[76th over: England 292-5 (Flintoff 44, G Jones 13) More good stuff from Flintoff, who rocks back before cracking Warne through the covers for another boundary.] England should change their name to Great Britain, if only to help Welshmen like me have easier lives, ... It's so tedious explaining to work colleagues how I can support 'England' in cricket and England's opposition in rugby and football.
- Chris Mason
[38th over: Australia 121-2 (Ponting 41, Martyn 17) Jones is getting some swing here - lots of sharp inswingers which Ponting has to jab down sharply on. But the Australian captain survives, and that's lunch.] Intrigued by the fervent praise for Stick Cricket in this OBO, I thought I'd give it a whirl - and almost immediately attracted the attention of my less-than-impressed boss... Surely some kind of record - do I win a prize? Other than a P45?
- Mark Shaw
[37th over: England 122-4 (Pietersen 34, Flintoff 4) Some customary looseness from Lee, whose radar deserts him as he sends down four byes. Meanwhile England are content to nibble and nurdle: more easy singles than Maguluf High Street keeps the score ticking over.] We have the cricket on TV at work, and I am currently being given tactics advice by a lady who was taught the rules yesterday by her boyfriend, ... Hold me back.
- David Penney
[31st over: World XI 110-7 (Flintoff 14, Pollock 3) - 146 to win) Just the one Pollock run from that over.] I too can sympathise with Matthew Cobb - something similar happened to me when playing cricket as a teenager... A gust of wind trapped the wasp under a lock of my slightly foppish hair which sent it into the normal wasp rage. I've had a short back and sides ever since...
- Peter Smith
[10th over: World XI 39-1 (Sangakkara 27, Kallis 3) - 217 to win) Not McGrath's greatest over, but he's bowled enough of those down the years already, hasn't he? An early wide sets the tone.] Is it just me or does anyone else think Jacques Kallis shouldn't be there? ... Isn't being a great cricketer about your value to the team, not just your individual prowess? Sure he's very good technically, but when push comes to shove he's a red-inker.
- John Swan
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