Armchair Crictic

@WG_RumblePants @nimishdubey @ErikaMorris79 @scserendipity1 @weymarplanet A different kind of “Rumblein the jungle”!

@ErikaMorris79 @scserendipity1 @weymarplanet Erika and I should just frankly do a podcast where she brings all the stats, analysis and actual cricket knowledge and I bring the vibes, misplaced enthusiasm and alcoholic beverages.

Early season check-in for the #ThreeFeathers family. Are we happy with our bowling variety so far? Early days or already seeing some red flags/standout stars. @WG_RumblePants

@WardyShorts Why is it hard for people to accept that most of us have jobs in which we are not allowed to publicly speak against the employer unless it’s a whistleblowing level issue. Surely, sky sports presenters should be afforded the same courtesy…. 🤷‍♂️

I was at Hove yesterday.

@KhanMarshmallow @WG_RumblePants The better term to use would be “overseas fans” rather than “foreigners”. 😊 Jos Buttler played a fair amount of seasons for RR and he is a popular player. Shane Warne winning the first IPL title as captain of RR is another reason. Rajasthan & its palaces are well known too.

@WG_RumblePants What explains so many foreigners being Rajasthan Royals fan? In India Rajasthan Royals was considered one of the boring teams to watch. That might change with Vaibhav suryavanshi and Jaiswal tho

Not perfect, but it’ll do the job, and the design has actually really grown on me. I almost feel 15 again — but perhaps the beard, the gut, the eyebags and the grey are a bit of a giveaway 🤦 Nevermind. Minor details! I’m sure this shirt will enable me to effortlessly hit the best bowlers in the world out of the ground, right? Right???

@nimishdubey @kk_mayur That was partly because Azhar scored centuries in his first three tests vs England. A feat unmatched to this day! Despite playing only 3 tests, Azhar topped the batting for India in that series. Sadly, the timing of his exclusion was unfortunate for Sandeep Patil.

@kk_mayur He was dropped along with Kapil Dev for playing irresponsible shots in the 1984 Test at Delhi. Was never recalled to the Test team, although got one of two ODI chances. Was a huge loss.

The ease with which we got rid of Sandeep Patil was a ghastly mistake. There are those who will say that Azhar was better but Patil was streets ahead while playing pace bowling, which is what mattered overseas, and was a better ODI player.

@WG_RumblePants @GodLightTruth Great start this season! It’s not the first time RR have started the season well. It’s usually the second half of the season when they start to fizzle out…

@GodLightTruth Well, they definitely have my attention.

RR beating RCB was not on my bingo card for today. I thought they might put up a decent fight, but it’s been much better than that. Everything seems to be going right for them this year. It’s one hell of a turnaround since last season. Between them, Parag and Sangakkara seem to be building something quite formidable 🤯

@Barilay01 @mehdirhasan The reasons people end up sharing such fake news or AI generated content is because it confirms their pre-existing bias about that particular issue. See it all the time in whatsapp groups!

@mehdirhasan Respect for owning it, but if we are being honest, this is exactly how misinformation spreads. People rush to post first, apologize later, and the damage is already done. Maybe the real issue isn’t AI. it’s our addiction to being early instead of being right

Apologies for resharing an edited/inaccurate clip from Indian cable news earlier. My early-morning itchy Twitter trigger finger got away from me. Too much misinformation & disinformation and AI on this site these days. More important that we all are more careful before sharing.

@WG_RumblePants I won’t be able to fully believe your devotion to the man until I see your portrait of him… Go on… you know you can’t hold back any longer.

Just remembered that “Shah” means king or emperor in Persian. That makes perfect sense.

@Mr__Kirk @cricket_badger What’s the point of the depth of talent if selection is based on instagram videos, golfing skills rather than performance in first class cricket?

@cricket_badger Maybe if the team was selected on cricketing ability rather than if they like golf….

These are meaningless platitudes. You have 11 shirts and it’s how well the selected team plays that defines how good you are. It doesn’t really matter how good everyone else is.

@NoContextCounty Is it do with the games @SkyCricket are telecasting? Understandable because they are subscription service trying to generate more customers. When they are telecasting the blast or 100 or county games, you will see a lot of tweets about them.

Number tweet Sky have made about cricket competitions in the last 3 days: IPL - 16 County Championship - 1

@WG_RumblePants @Ohdannyboy77 Surely Scotland would be a top test team by now…

@Ohdannyboy77 It’s something that surely needs looking into. With a bit of selective breeding, we may be able to build ourselves an unbeatable Test team in just a couple of generations.

The UK has to have the highest number of gingers playing elite sport of any country in the world. I’d put money on it.

@WG_RumblePants Surely there is any room for Instagram/TikTok video stars? 🤔

The new England Test team so far then… Opener Opener Rew Root Brook Bethell Critchley Foakes Bowler Bowler Bowler Sir James Anderson 😉

@LostPlayhouse @nimishdubey Also Anderson was very miserly and the avg 34 appears decent but hides the increasing strike rate towards the end of his career. The final phase of his career ruined his career SR too when compared to other great fast bowlers of yesteryear.

@nimishdubey He was great for a very long time, but the sad fact is his last two years for England yielded just 29 wkts from 11 tests at an avge of 34.06. He'll get good hauls from time to time in what's left of his FC career, but his days as a consistent threat at test level were over.

There was a time when we used to make fun of England’s tendency to recall veterans to the Test team. Close was recalled when past forty, John Lever got a recall at the age of 37 against India… And we couldn’t stop laughing when we saw the slightly round 38 year old Eddie Hemmings picked for the 1987 World Cup. And then he wrecked us in the semi-final. Yep, Kapil played THAT shot off him to another gent about whose weight we made jokes, Mike Gatting. Many of us kind of stopped making jokes about weight and age after that. They are just numbers. At the end of the day, you have to perform. The England selectors forgot that. James Anderson could have comfortably played for another year or two.

@WG_RumblePants You should have started your #JaiJayShah on the same day as Day1 of the county season. Then you could count two things at the same time and you already know there is nothing depressing about the glorious haired messiah…

@TPLCricketClub Still thinking about how to do it in a way which doesn’t become depressing! 😂

It was SO good being at Lord’s for the start of the County Championship yesterday but that, as they say, was just the beginning! We have another 177 days of the cricket season still ahead of us! The Championship is the foundation of that. I’m going to be following it on the livestreams and BBC commentary today. If you’re going along to a ground, have a great time. If you’ve never been, what are you waiting for?! The oldest, grandest and most gruelling red ball competition is back!

@WG_RumblePants @JamieMagill5 Everything they need is on TikTok, Instagram and other social media reels…

@JamieMagill5 Don’t be so ridiculous! England Management watch a game? The very notion of it!!!

Maybe go to the ground and watch a game?

@P_Wcricket @WG_RumblePants And work on his golf…

@WG_RumblePants Awful knock. Strike rate less than 100. Key’s probably on the phone right now telling Surrey to drop him and pick a proper player who gives it a whack.

Some players are just special.

@WG_RumblePants @richardtaylor43 Rename Lords in his name? 🤔

@richardtaylor43 Fantastic idea!

If he’d been in charge at the ECB rather than the Richards, you can bet your bottom dollar that Jay Shah would’ve signed off on the Crix Nations and would’ve happily presented the trophy to the winner #AHJS

@WG_RumblePants @Purnabrata1 Needs vs Wants is a perennial philosophical question!

I would really like to understand the figures more. India generates a lot of income for world cricket. It’s not unreasonable for the BCCI to want hang onto a chunk of that, but how much do they actually need to meet reasonable funding commitments? Where’s the fat and what are the pinch points? That’s what I’d like to properly understand.

@weymarplanet @WG_RumblePants The arrogance has long been the downfall of Eng cricket teams. It’s a stubbornly persistent trait in Eng cricket that other mainstream sports have managed to move away from over time.

@WG_RumblePants Exactly. It's just that they think they are an advanced side and this current arrogance doesn’t even match their form. They are sitting at #8 in ODI rankings and also struggling to even guarantee a direct 2027 WC qualification.

@timwig It’s a real shame that the big 3 cricket nations are unable to look past their self interests and promote the less privileged cricket nations.

England not supporting a European Cup: a huge shame for men's and women's cricket in Europe. The comp would only last a few days; England could rest stars. The ECB's stance highlights how India are far better global citizens in playing emerging nations telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2026/0…

@martinfhull1 @StickWalker @richardgibsonDM @HomeOfCricket KG is used to shorten Kagiso

@StickWalker @richardgibsonDM @HomeOfCricket Why is it showing as K.S. rather than K.G.?

Bonus point for spotting the anomaly on the honours board in the home dressing room ⁦@HomeOfCricket⁩ ….