BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?

Subject: BS: Bury "The Ashes"?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 05:52 AM

In my opinion, whilst one-day cricket is one of the best sports in our world, test-cricket is one of the worst - thus, should The Ashes be buried or fought over via the one-day form?...
(PS: I've looked at this in a SHAPED poem, called DOT-BALL, which I could not properly post here, sorry - hence, please use either of these links: e-scroll; e-book.)

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 07:08 AM

I'm sorry, I disagree with you. Test cricket is the highest form of the game but is unsuitable for those with a short attention span. It epitomises the rhythm of an English summer (including delays for rain - just tune in to TMS). Fortunes change over the days along with the conditions. Players have the evenings to mull over tactics, strengths and weaknesses, and overcome or be overcome by mental aspects of the game. Although one-day cricket has a place, and even Twenty-20 has its supporters, I'd almost rather they were renamed than ever be thought of as replacing the 'real' Test of a cricketer.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 07:38 AM

I love the 20/20 games and the one dayers, but to suggest that the test matches should be changed or that the ashes should be buried beggars belief.

Cricket is in my blood and I just love the test matches.

WV, you just enjoy your 20/20's and leave us that love test matches alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:02 AM

As I suggested in the above poem, WS and TV, if a batsman misses the ball completely (rather than being good enough to at least get an edge, which could be caught/out) in a test match, there may be no punishment at all (unless the batting side is running out of time, e.g.); however, in limited-over cricket, at least the batting side thereby suffers a dot-ball - thus, the competition is much fairer with far less luck involved.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:14 AM

WV
Are you saying that the batsman should be penalised if he can't hit the ball?

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:32 AM

I'm saying, TV, that, focusing on a batter, an air-swing is a worse effort than an edge.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Will Fly
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:35 AM

A test match lasting several days is rightly a "test" - of tactics, stamina, coping with shifting fortunes, match play - in fact, the highest form of cricket. One might say, if one were a mouldy fig, that the one-day matches and other forms have, in point of fact, debased the game...

What I do object to, is playing any form of the game in anything other than whites. Harrumph!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:51 AM

>>a batter, an air-swing is a worse effort than an edge<<

So you give the bowler no credit for delivering an unplayable ball, either by use of swing or the ball moving off the seam.

I teel you, I don't think I would see the ball at all when somebody is bowling at 90mph. Harmison would kill me.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Will Fly
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:59 AM

In the 50s, my school XI used to have an annual match with Lancashire Cricket Club at Old Trafford. This was in the days when Cyril Washbrook was the captain, and one of England's finest fast bowlers of the period - Brian Statham - played for the LCC. Statham was chatting to some of us youngsters after the match (the school lost...) and said that he put accuracy above pace every time. So, for example, he never rated himself faster than Freddy Truman, but he was more consistently accurate.

If you missed many of Statham's deliveries, you were out - simple as that - bowled.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:44 AM

"So you give the bowler no credit for delivering an unplayable ball, either by use of swing or the ball moving off the seam."...no - not I, TV, but the game of test (rather than limited over) cricket itself. And I'm sure Mr. Statham deliberately aimed outside off-stump sometimes, Will, to try and get an edge - BUT no doubt some of those deliveries proved too good for an edge!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:52 AM

Brett Lee out of first test and could be more, due to sore ribs.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:01 AM

Thinking of the great Brian Statham, there's an apocryphal tale from Radcliffe, my home town, which was then in Lancashire (still is in my opinion). The council wanted to name a street on a new estate in honour of the great man. One option seriously under consideration was "Brian Close." I can only conclude that a tyke mole was on the council!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Will Fly
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:08 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:21 AM

The game of cricket should be buried.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:34 AM

And it 'kicks off' (must be a better term!) Wednesday, 11a.m. 2.1 miles from my house
First Test

Is this the first England vs Australia test match not to be played in either England or Australia?

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:46 AM

I don't know about "burying the Ashes" so much. Isn't it usually the latest hapless England team which gets buried. The one true defining quality of Englishmen is their ability to be perrenially awful at this sport, which really belongs to those who live in warmer climates!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:48 AM

Looks like it Nigel.

Bit dangerous playing in Wales. It always rains.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 12:31 PM

...I thought it was England AND Wales v. Australia..?

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: olddude
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 01:02 PM

I was always fascinated with cricket. I freely admit that I don't understand the game. It looks like a lot of fun. I think there is about 1600 rules, more so than the NFL ... someday I am going to try to understand the game. Does look like fun, I still don't understand a googly . I think it is a pitch of some type.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 01:40 PM

To make sure, I had to google "googly" myself, Dan - wiki.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: olddude
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 02:11 PM

Thanks Wav
I always wondered what that term meant in cricket

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:20 AM

Further to 4 posts above...

"...A similar mess over nationality occurs in the sporting world where English children, for example, can hope to play (perhaps managed by a citizen of a nation they may compete against) football for England, rugby-league for England/Great Britain, rugby-union for England/British Isles, athletics for England/U.K., golf for England/Europe, cricket for a combined England and Wales, or tennis for Great Britain - but Wimbledon is still The All England Lawn Tennis Championships…Anyone for friendly-rival republics?!" (from here).

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:45 AM

I suppose, somebody not knowing anything about cricket, reading that Harmison has just bowled a maiden over, may well call him a bounder or a person who goes around being voilent to maidens LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:30 AM

I just love it the way the bowlers use the rubbing of the ball against their privates to sex themselves up and then say they are shining the ball :-)

Warne has just dropped a dolly. Well we all know cricketers go to bed clutching a dolly :-)

He's just bowled a chinaman. I thought they were supposed to bowl a cricket ball.

He's just bowled a floater. Dirty devil, couldn't he have left it in the toilet and flushed it away, like the rest of us do

The batsman has just received a full toss from the bowler. No comment LOL

The bowler has just sent the batsman a jaffa. Well he probably didn't get his vitamin C today.

Finally
The batsman keeps on slashing outside the off stump. Diry bugger.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: alanabit
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:23 AM

My favourite commentary:

"The batsman's holding the bowler's Willey."

Apparently it really happened!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:45 AM

LOL
The oft cited quote:

" The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey "

allegedly occurred when Michael Holding of the West Indies was bowling to Peter Willey of England in a Test match at The Oval in 1976. Johnston claimed not to have noticed saying anything odd during the match, and that he was only alerted to his gaffe by a letter from "a lady" named "Miss Mainpiece".[3][4] According to Christopher Martin-Jenkins,[5] the cricinfo biography,[6] and the biography of Brian by Johnston's son Barry,[7] Johnston never actually made the remark. His son says It was too good a pun to resist...but Brian never actually said that he had spoken the words on air. . However, this is contradicted by an account [8] offered by Henry Blofeld, who claims to have been present at the time. It is perhaps worth noting though that, with Blofeld's recollection of the score being 81-7 when the remark was made, England had a healthy first innings, and in the second Willey was the fourth wicket.[9] A popular cricket website, Holdingwilley.com, has named itself after this well-known cricket anecdote, although the site is a general cricket website and doesn't focus on that incident alone.


Taken from Wikipedia

However I do like these 2 related to Brian Johnston

In one famous incident during a Test match at the Oval, Jonathan Agnew suggested that Ian Botham was out hit wicket because had failed to "get his leg over" (a British slang term meaning to have sex). Johnston carried on commentating (and giggling) for 30 seconds before dissolving into helpless laughter.

and

" There's Neil Harvey standing at leg slip with his legs wide apart, waiting for a tickle "

when Neil Harvey was representing Australia at the Headingley Test in 1961.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: alanabit
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 09:18 AM

Yes, cricket is just made for terrible puns, isn't it?

Football does not have so many, although there was a beauty in a magazine about twenty years ago. Arsenal had just lost the final of a European competition in the dying minutes, when a player floated a ball over David Seaman's head. The headline read, "Could you lob Seaman from forty yards?" (Read it aloud).

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 09:45 AM

It's a long time since I repatriated, but I do remember this Australian comedian being very funny at times - The 12th Man.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:14 AM

"...I thought it was England AND Wales v. Australia..?"

The Welsh are VERY different, so, please stick to your 'home rule for England' or whatever it is you indulge yourself in.....

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:29 PM

...so is it time for Wales to play international cricket - along with rugby, etc. - on their own..?

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:41 PM

'one-day cricket is one of the best sports in our world, test-cricket is one of the worst'

Well I think that says quite a bit about you, mate. Test cricket is the ultimate game, the changing conditions of the wicket and the weather over the five or six days of the match mean that your team has to be capable of accommodating all the possible changes, rather than bringing in a few burly lads (or lasses) who can knock up a quick 35 runs, or bowl sufficiently negatively to restrict their opponents. Cricket where it doesn't really matter if you don't take wickets isn't the full game. It also takes a special skill batting out to a draw on a wicket that's really turning.

I don't mind the full 50 over one-day game, but surely 20/20 is just for those people who don't really like cricket - and that's why they bring in piped music and dancers.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:03 PM

I've watched a lot of 50 over games (and a few World Cup 60 overs), but have never seen a 20/20 game (I just have Sky's basic family pack); I'd imagine, though, that I'd agree with you, in this case, that 20 overs is too brief, Les.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 03:06 PM

It's not cricket.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 03:58 PM

Villan,
I heard Brian Johnston say it .
I also heard him say the next batsman is Henry Horton,who has a rather peculiar stance a bit like someone shitting on a sooting stick

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 04:16 PM

Test cricket is far and away the finest form of the game, an ashes series the pinnacle. Roll on tomorrow!

Rog

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 04:42 PM

Captain
I thought I had heard it as well, so was surprised to see that it supposedly didn't happen.
The memory box is not too good these days, so I just accepted that it didn't happen.
Now what was I going to say......

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 04:52 PM

I remember now

I agree with Rog

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: alanabit
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:21 PM

I know these things always start with optimism - England at the World Cup, a Brit at Wimbeldon etc and we know how they always end. I just want to ask you cricket buffs, is there any real prospect of the MCC providing credible opposition for Australia this time around, or is it just the usual fanciful thinking?

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:38 PM

No I don't think its fanciful. England have quite a good team when they put their mind to it.
I personally do not think that the Aussies are as good as they used to be.
So all in all it should make for a good hard fought match.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:56 PM

One bloody thing's for sure. Along with millions of others, I won't be able to watch it on the telly.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:42 PM

What a wonderful discussion these polemics are me thinks. Reading it all, as I have--twice now, on this cool summer night in Illinois (where our governors make our license plates) I am transported to the shores of a thoroughly tranquil and idyllic stream with mole and other wind in the willows things. The fact that I have no idea what the hell any of you are going on about makes being here with you one of the most marvelously relaxing bits of time I have ever spent. No distressing words with real meanings to ruin the pastoral bliss of it all. This is better than Soma, or cocaine---maybe even ice cream!

I must thank you all.

By all means, bury your asses -- if that will make you happy! But, please, leave something of it sticking out above ground. That way you will never, ever, run out of bicycle racks!

Affectionately,

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 04:37 AM

"That way you will never, ever, run out of bicycle racks!"...In France, Art Thieme, the bikes are well and truly off their racks for the Tour de France - and that is certainly not cricket!

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 05:49 AM

Just about to start

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 08:15 AM

97 for 3 at lunch. I hope England bat better after lunch.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Chris Green
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 08:43 AM

So do I! Not a promising start, chaps.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 09:59 AM

151 for 3 need Peterson & Collingwood to work hard and build at least a 150 partnership.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: alanabit
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 10:51 AM

Business as usual? Maybe the weather will rescue England?

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: Rasener
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 10:59 AM

194 for 3 at tea, so almost 100 of the 150.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 01:12 PM

Test cricket[IMO]is the ultimate form of the game ,and is infinitely superior to twenty twenty,which is just glorified tip and run.
what more delight can there be than bowling a maiden over.

Subject: RE: BS: Bury 'The Ashes'?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 01:17 PM

..."bowling a maiden over" in the World Cup - still 60/60 overs, I believe. And tip/hit and run - that brings back some memories.