ThePortForum.com

Posted: **01:25 Sat 31 May 2014**

We need tension in the game. It will build us up nicely for watching England v Italy later in the evening.

Posted: **01:44 Sat 31 May 2014**

Wait. Lord's is a Test. 3rd Day. Different competition.

Posted: **02:04 Sat 31 May 2014**

djewesbury wrote:Wait. Lord's is a Test. 3rd Day. Different competition.

Hmmm. That does make a difference. Should we have a contingency plan in case England don't hold out until day 3?

Posted: **21:19 Sat 31 May 2014**

Well thank goodness we had the old timers Cook, Anderson and Bell around to steady the ship today. Bell.

Jos Buttler scored some runs, was he any good? I didn't even get to see the highlights.

Posted: **22:13 Sat 31 May 2014**

Careful what you say about Bell. His best years are clearly ahead of him.

Posted: **22:24 Sat 31 May 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:Jos Buttler scored some runs, was he any good? I didn't even get to see the highlights.

I watched most of the game. Butler was outstanding by any measure. Some very clever bowling and psychology from the man with the unfathomably wonky shoulder was the difference in the end.

A thoroughly enjoyable game, despite the best efforts of Cook and Bell to send everyone home before the tea and biscuits were served.

Posted: **23:24 Tue 03 Jun 2014**

Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

Posted: **00:25 Wed 04 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:Julian will be along shortly to point out the difference between being uninterested and being disinterested.

Watching 'The History Boys' this evening the prefix 'un' was described as being in the state of separation, of being out of the swim of things and never having; unloved, unfulfilled, it seemed to make sense. Disinterested implys a choice, pre knowledge which allows us to pull away.

djewesbury wrote:Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

Cook's captaincy just keeps looking more cranky. I cannot propose an alternative but I wish there was one.

Posted: **08:18 Wed 04 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:Buttler was out. Complaining about the laws of the game is pretty bad form. He was out of his crease, he'd been warned, he was out. Cook should put up and shut up.

My thoughts exactly.

Posted: **23:07 Mon 09 Jun 2014**

I had completely forgotten the test starts Thursday. Looks like it will be warm and sunny so we will miss the deep joy of watching players from the sub-continent looking frozen and over swaddled.

I see one Ian Bell won player of the year. I think they are doing it deliberately.

I hope those attending from

have a good day out.

Team suggestions anyone?

Posted: **23:16 Mon 09 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:I hope those attending from have a good day out.

Thank you, Sir.

I am very much looking forward to Saturday - 25º according to the BBC

Daniel and I will be washing down our half time low-fat fish and chips with a mini horizontal of La Croix de Beaucaillou and Wine Society Exhibition 2006. For afternoon tea we will be having a half bottle of Chateau Batailley 2004 to accompany the carb-free cucumber sandwiches.

Then we are off to watch the footie.

What could go wrong?

{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}

Posted: **23:23 Mon 09 Jun 2014**

DRT wrote:Then we are off to watch the footie.

Is there footie happening somewhere?

DRT wrote:{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}

Everybody deserves a day off now and then.

Posted: **23:33 Mon 09 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:
DRT wrote:Then we are off to watch the footie.
Is there footie happening somewhere?

Yes. You need to read the thread. Really, you do.

LGTrotter wrote:
DRT wrote:{shut-up Julian, I've been planning this for weeks!}
Everybody deserves a day off now and then.

Your support is greatly appreciated. I will need it.

Posted: **01:38 Tue 10 Jun 2014**

We are going to have a very enjoyable day. Derek has been making a special banner for Ian Bell to celebrate his award. (Glad you saw that Owen. I definitely thought of you.)

Posted: **07:28 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

It's a green-top!

Posted: **10:24 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:It's a green-top!

Lords first day, what else?

Posted: **10:29 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

Oh Cook...

Posted: **15:23 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.

Posted: **16:45 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

flash_uk wrote:Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.

But didn't he do good, steadied the ship and looked the part too IMHO.

Posted: **17:05 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:
flash_uk wrote:Oh Ali.

Poor lad - the 50 beckoned, and he fell into the trap.
But didn't he do good, steadied the ship and looked the part too IMHO.

Yep a very positive debut, and great confidence.

Posted: **17:06 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

Now, I wonder if Derek and Daniel have been wearing the suncream today, or are they now a couple of glowing beacons?

Posted: **20:02 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

We are not there yet.

Another staggeringly rubbish display by the captain. How long can he get away with this?

Posted: **20:07 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

I think you are getting the same way about Cook as me about Mr Bell. Who I would add looked great then got himself out without actually making any significant impact on the game.

Posted: **20:21 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:I think you are getting the same way about Cook as me about Mr Bell.

We are both correct.

Posted: **22:24 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

Gads you are some tough observers of the beautiful game. England have scored around 150 runs more than they have in any of their last 10 test innings and yet you still grumble. Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

(Quite proud of having invented a new word. It's not in the OED,)

Posted: **22:36 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

AHB wrote:Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

It's typical of the youth of today to invent meaningless new words when we are trying to have a serious conversation.

Posted: **22:57 Thu 12 Jun 2014**

AHB wrote:Gads

Love it. Old skool.

And the cricket. Flattered by the comparison to the most excruciating batsman England has ever produced, and yes I do include Chris Tavare in my reckoning, I would direct people interested in my views to the TMS podcast where Boycs covers it all. I have a few minor divergences in that he did not advocate the flogging of laggards. grumblehrmphchunterblahblah.

Posted: **00:04 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

And what about Stokes and Compton?

Posted: **00:15 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

AHB wrote:Gads you are some tough observers of the beautiful game. England have scored around 150 runs more than they have in any of their last 10 test innings and yet you still grumble. Am I surrounded by graduates from the Geoffrey Boycott School of Curmudgeonliness?

The other side of this coin is that we have had one day where Cook, Robson, Ballance and even I would argue Bell failed against a fair to middlin county attack. Root, Prior and particularly Moeen showed excellent temperaments (against a fair to middlin county attack). My curmudgeonlyness is matched only by your blind insouciance.

Good day to you sir!

Posted: **05:47 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:And what about Stokes and Compton?

I would never have put Dennis Compton in the same category of batting style as Sir GB.

I once worked with Dennis Compton, years after he retired from cricket he was Marketing Director at a firm where I did a short spell while training to be an accountant.

Posted: **08:12 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Wow. My dad saw him score a century at the Oval, I think.

Posted: **13:35 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Slightly annoyed to miss Root's thrilling innings. Unless he's still in tomorrow, with Anderson on 17...

Posted: **14:16 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Come on then whingers. Let's hear how badly we underperformed.

Posted: **14:55 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Agent DRT reporting from the Mound Stand:

England seem to have built a small lead just before I got here. Sri Lanka 35-0 with a long way to go.

No one has offered me a cucumber sandwich yet.

I have already bumped into one work colleague who was absolutely wasted.

There are no cheerleaders.

Posted: **14:56 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:Come on then whingers. Let's hear how badly we underperformed.

That would be me then.

I was thinking following my last nights grumble that Alex is right in the sense that yesterday at Lords would have been my idea of heaven. Today too probably, even though I haven't seen the score.

Sorry to let down the miserable side.

Posted: **15:07 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

If I had any idea what I was talking about I could probably criticise Cook's field set-up. I'm fairly sure it's bad.

Posted: **15:30 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

SL 54-1. Karunaratne caught and bowled Jordon with his third ball of the match. Impressive.

Posted: **15:32 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Correction. Caught by Prior. Not as impressive as I thought.

Should have gone to Specsavers.

Posted: **17:15 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

SL plodding along at 126/1 after 36 overs. DJ tells me by text they are doing fine.

A lovely evening. The girl in seat 8/118 adding to the aesthetics of the occasion.

Lots of very drunk people being louder than a gentleman ought to be.

Posted: **17:22 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

After 38 overs Eng were on 154/1. SL are on 130/1. Our run rate was 4.05, SL's is 3.48. They are behind the mark but not by much. There's a long way to go yet.

Posted: **17:27 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Forecast sounds humid and close in the morning. Rain overnight, cloudy and warm in the morning. Jimmy could prove his worth with some swing and maybe get a few in the first session…

Posted: **17:30 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

I deeply regret not being with you.

Posted: **17:34 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

jdaw1 wrote:I deeply regret not being with you.

We will make sure to raise a glass to absent friends. Derek's full report on the couple of hours he sneaked in this afternoon will follow and our ball-by-ball commentary starts at 11.00 am tomorrow on

Sports Xtra FM (in St John's Wood only, edited highlights on

)

Posted: **17:36 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Spontaneous burst of applause for Joe Root from the miserable stand.

Posted: **17:49 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

LGTrotter wrote:Spontaneous burst of applause for Joe Root from the miserable stand.

Good. Admirably uncurmudgeonly.

Posted: **19:16 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

jdaw1 wrote:I deeply regret not being with you.

You are missing out on:

Ch. Batailley 2004 (half)
Wine Society Exhibition Pauillac 2006
La Croix de Beaucaillou 2006
Wiese& Krohn 1982 Colheita (b2013)
Niepoort 2001 Colheita (b2011) (half)

We will miss you.

Posted: **19:31 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:After 38 overs Eng were on 154/1. SL are on 130/1. Our run rate was 4.05, SL's is 3.48. They are behind the mark but not by much. There's a long way to go yet.

So this bet, laid after close of play yesterday, doesn't look like bad value...

: Screen Shot 2014-06-13 at 20.29.37.png (15.56 KiB) Viewed 5301 times

Posted: **19:42 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

It doesn't look likely though. A draw is much more likely but I would prefer to see odds for (a) England batting again before close tomorrow, (b) Sri Lanka to follow on (they still need 230ish to avoid that, however academic it looks right now).
Bring on the swing!

Posted: **20:11 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

djewesbury wrote:It doesn't look likely though.

Perhaps that's why it says 9/1.

Posted: **22:23 Fri 13 Jun 2014**

Here's my prediction for the close of play tomorrow. Daniel and Derek (there must be one of those compound names in there like Brangelina) will have had a bl**dy good day out.

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