• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

The Edge - England Cricket Documentary

Uppercut

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I read the thread last week, then watched it tonight and liked it a lot. I expected a bit more cricket, because that England team were amazing to watch in a relentless sort of way, and there's a more sporting story there to be told. But they were definitely right to focus on the story they did.

I thought everyone came across better than I was expecting. Flower only seems OTT tough from today's standpoint, very few people were seriously objecting to those methods in 2010. I thought it said a lot about him that he was able to look back and be so self-critical, when a lot of the previous generation of coaches take an attitude of "world's gone soft, I went through it and turned out ok etc."

I wouldn't go as far as to say that time has vindicated Pietersen, but one of the realisations I had while watching it was that his attitude has actually aged kind of well? He wasn't shy about the fact that he hated being made fun of, and at the time that was seen as being childish, thin-skinned and, as one interviewer implied, "un-English". But in 2020 the reaction would be closer to "maybe be considerate of the fact that he's sensitive and don't make fun of him?"

OTOH, the fact that his career path was defined by his bitterness about the quota system couldn't have aged much worse.

I found Trott really likeable, and fascinating to listen to. I realised watching him how rare it is to see people with anxious and introverted personalities on TV or other forms of media. He reminded me of so many people I know, but most of the time you'd get the impression they just don't exist.

I really want a documentary about Mitchell Johnson. Even as a villainous background character, you could see the outline of a great story in the symmetry of the England team throwing hard things at a picture of him in their 2010 boot camp, then him throwing hard things back at them in 2015.
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
One of the interesting snippets in the Sunday Times article was that they actually used Trott in water when filming the 'drowning' sequences. Maybe that was obvious to everyone else, but I assumed that either it was an actor in cricketing gear, including helmet, or the whole thing was computer generated. Apparently the foam in much of his protective gear meant he kept floating to the top of the pool, so they had to weigh him down with bricks.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Really? Instagram has a "drowning" filter and they could not spend a bit to digitally do that? Had to get Trott to actually get into water? :laugh:
 

wpdavid

Hall of Fame Member
Really? Instagram has a "drowning" filter and they could not spend a bit to digitally do that? Had to get Trott to actually get into water? :laugh:
According to the article and Trott's quotes, that's what happened. Maybe the director knew about the Instagram filter and some of the wags in the England camp put him up to it. The article also picks up on what Uppercut said about Flower being willing to admit that he made mistakes. And I agree that Flower comes over really well in that regard.
 

mr_mister

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
these drowning sequences sound way too on-the-nose/pseudo artsy for a cricket documentary

but i will watch this at some point.
 

MW1304

Cricketer Of The Year
Those weren't the best parts, no.

But if you leave out those few pretentious flourishes, it's a really interesting doc. I think you can sense the documentary makers finding the true heart of the story lying with Trott and his mental health struggles, and it makes for a kind of satisfyingly messy conclusion to a great period for English cricket.
 

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Has anyone in Aus managed to get hold of this? I'm happy to pay for it but everywhere I've looked says it's unavailable in this country.
 

Top