Cricket Tweets Of The Week - Dead Balls & The Olympics

Cricket Tweets Of The Week - Dead Balls & The Olympics

The second Test at Headingley has provoked plenty of talking points

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John Pryor highlights and discusses a range of the most entertaining and controversial tweets of the week by cricketers and cricket pundits. This week's range of subjects includes England-South Africa, dead balls and the Olympics.

With the Olympics gripping the nation one would be justified in assuming that few would be talking about cricket on Twitter...but luckily for us they would be wrong.

The start of the second Test Match in the England versus South Africa series sparked several interesting debates. First and foremost amongst these was the England team selection; the decision to leave out Graham Swann in favour of Steven Finn was celebrated by some and criticized by others. 

Michael Vaughan (@VaughanCricket) tweeted, "I would have played @Swannyg66 out of interest..."

Shane Warne (@warne888) agreed with him: "Can't believe England have left Swann out of the playing 11. Agree Finn should play but for me, Broad out. England seem to be in a panic."

Ian Botham (@BeefyBotham) did not partake in direct criticism of the England selection but stated his concerns over the omission of Graham Swann: "Oh dear.... 84 / 0....all for Finn playing but no Swann always a danger...! Work to do.... Lots !"

The second topic of debate was England’s decision to put South Africa in to bat; the general consensus was that this decision could only be justified by England bowling South Africa out on day one; needless to say they did not. It was the same characters who entered into this debate.

Vaughan tweeted, “England Bowl... Ball is swinging in practice... England have to bowl SA today to justify decision...” and Botham added, “Brave call by England ...won the toss now need early wkts...!! Good to see Finn in and good luck to James Taylor...#comeonengland.”

Phil Tufnell (@philtufnell) also saw the danger in putting South Africa in, he tweeted: “Interesting toss for Straussy. Havent seen the pitch yet but be brave to put them in as we've only got two of them out so far!”

The third controversy came as a result of the dead ball call against Steven Finn which reversed his dismissal of the South African Captain Graeme Smith. 

Shaun Pollock (@7polly7) admitted his ignorance of the law but agreed with the umpire’s decision: "The dead ball call was correct, law says that if something is distracting the batsmen then the Ump must call dead ball.#wasntawareofthelaw."

In among the controversy was some light entertainment, provided for us by Investec Cricket (@investeccricket); their quizzing of Matt Prior, Alistair Cook and Graeme Swann revealed facts such as who is the funniest, the strongest and the best dancer in the England team.

Highlights included: Graeme Swann, (@Swannyg66) Q and A, “WHAT'S BEST SLEDGE YOU'VE HEARD? via @Lianneco: "@athersmike asked why he didn't walk once in Aus: "When in Rome dear boy,"

Aliatair Cook Q and A: “WHO IS THE LONGEST IN THE SHOWER? "@christremlett33, he spends the most time getting himself ready," and Matt Prior (@MattPrior13) Q and A, “WHO IS THE FUNNIEST MEMBER OF THE SQUAD? "I can't say Swanny [pauses] it would have to be @Swannyg66 though!"

The Olympics was not absent from cricket Twitter, many of the stars got in on the action by supporting their own Olympic heroes, Michael Vaughan tweeting:  "End of a dream day.. Getting to see @bradwiggins make history was a absolute honour... Whose next to produce some magic @TeamGB??"

John Pryor tweets at @johnnypryor and Cricket World are tweeting at @Cricket_World

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