BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 07:24 PM

Point taken Don. What I was trying to say was that in my life, the impression I have got is that regular hidings from the Australians have been the order of the day for most of the time. It seems to be the natural order. Of course I am being subjective there. Had I been born at a time in which England had more success, I would doubtlessly perceive things differently. I do not want to prove anything which is incorrect, it is just that I can recall very few England successes against Australia - or indeed until quite recently - against the West Indies either!

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 06:15 PM

Selective choice of periods would IMHO supply less significant statistical results Alan.

This is a closed competition between England and Australia and the statistics are incomplete if one chooses to take a slice based on what one wishes to prove.

The only statistically accurate assessment is that which shows the complete results from its inception to date, and that is what I provided.

The series win statistics may give a somewhat slanted view since not all series are won by the same set of match results (i.e. 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 etc.).

For this reason match results are the only sensible indicator of relative prowess.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 08:22 AM

Thanks for the corrections Don. I don't doubt your statistics, but I think they would look less flattering for England if we looked at the stats for the last forty years, which is the time that I have been aware of the rivalry. I think a lot of the way you perceive these things is a result of when you were born. For instance, there are kids in their twenties today who are unable to remember the time when England last beat Ireland at football!

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 08:51 PM

""The rivalry between England and Australia has always been particularly earnest, even though on most occasions England have barely been credible opppostion for the Aussies. It makes us enjoy the occasional aberration in the sequence of results even more!""

MCC Ashes History

MCC 95 match wins (30.55%)
Australia 130 match wins (41.80%)
Drawn 86 matches (21.65%)

Not quite as one sided as it might appear.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 08:35 PM

For Information, The Ashes are the ashes of the bails, not a stump.

They were burned in 1882, after an obituary in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times, about the death of English cricket, following the Australians first ever defeat of the MCC at the Oval in London.

The MCC were presented with a small terracotta urn by a group of Melbourne women, and the ashes of a bail, or bails were placed therein.

The Ashes never actually leave MCC Museum at Lords, though replicas are held aloft by winning Captains at the end of test series.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 08:23 PM

""He is a tight miserable old t..t........but he could bat.......for Geoffrey Boycott !!!!!""

Sure could!!

I remember him carrying his bat for a day and a half for 66 runs, a match MCC might have won if only he'd been bowled out for 2.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 03:37 PM

Thanks for the explanation. I had assumed that The Ashes was a playing field, perhaps named for Mr. Ash or for ash trees on the grounds.

My hometown is also enjoying a happy aberration, as our football team, a losing outfit for many years, has made it to the playoffs. We are stunned. Happy, but stunned.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 10:14 AM

The Ashes is an urn, supposedly containing the ashes of a cricket stump, which was burned after the Australians defeated England in a series of test matches. I have no idea of whether the people involved took this seriously, or if it was just a melodramatic joke. The cricket stump was meant to symbolise the death of English cricket. It is not a bad symbol come to think of it, because we have been getting our stumps - not to mention our arses - burned regularly by nearly all the other cricket playing nations in the hundred or so years since this silly ritual took place. The rivalry between England and Australia has always been particularly earnest, even though on most occasions England have barely been credible opppostion for the Aussies. It makes us enjoy the occasional aberration in the sequence of results even more!

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 01:34 PM

An urnful of ashes...

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 11:55 AM

Thanks for the link, alanabit. That's an appealing photograph.

What is 'The Ashes'?

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: MikeL2
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 03:42 PM

hi john

What ????????? Geoffrey Boycott got some thing wrong ?????

Never.....never.....never.

He is a tight miserable old t..t........but he could bat.......for Geoffrey Boycott !!!!!

Looks like England should do it, even with their sometimes frgile batting.



Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 01:33 AM

It looks like Australia will have to bat pretty well in their second innings. So far so good for England.

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 06:20 AM

Ah! So Aussie cricket has more balls to it...!

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 06:09 AM

From the thread title, I figured you were talking about THIS NEWS.

Oh well.

John

Subject: RE: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 05:01 AM

I fell asleep during the first few overs, listening to the whinging Geoffrey Boycott, moaning about the poor line and length of the England bowling.
Still, I don't suppose he'll admit he might have been wrong, as he doesn't understand the word 'wrong'
Well done the lads

Subject: BS: They must be making it up! (Cricket)
From: alanabit
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:31 AM

They must be making it up!