BS: The amazing game of cricket....

Subject: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:22 PM

Well, I saw a truly excellent movie from India last night which included (in the whole second half) a detailed dramatic presentation of a 3 day cricket game! And, man, was it ever a nail-biter!

I'm not kidding. I now understand pretty much how the game of cricket works, and I see why it fascinates people in the countries where it is popular. For sheer suspense, stretched out over an agonizingly long time, I've seen nothing that can beat this game.

It requires great skill, tremendous endurance, and very steady nerves on the part of every player.

I therefore duly apologize to all lovers of cricket for the slanderous jokes I made about it before...due to my ignorance of what was actually going on. It's one of those games that looks like nothing much at all is happening...until you understand the rules.

You could say that about chess or football too.

"Oh, well played! Jolly good!!!" is all I can say at this point...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: MMario
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:24 PM

as with curling; dressage; and many other activities, both sports and arts - if you don't understand at least something about the activity it can look prettyt pointless.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: MMario
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:30 PM

it's ok LH - we understand you're excited.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:31 PM

I've tried to watch Cricket several times, but I have to admit that I have no idea what is going on.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:35 PM

There are a lot of cricketeers here in Brooklyn and they seem to enjoy it but they seem to be way overdressed on a very hot day like today. I know it's part of the trad but I still have trouble with enduring that much discomfort to have have fun.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: MMario
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:38 PM

Ever seen Renaissance faire performers (and many patrons) in their velvets during july and august? For that matter - in may and june in parts of the US!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:39 PM

Competitive games by their very nature involve stress. It's a funny thing about people...they like stress when they choose it of their own free will, but they don't like to lose.

Looks to me from what I saw that Cricket may be one of the most stressful games in existence, because it is so drawn out. A single mistake can be a major catastrophe in that game.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Phillip
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:47 PM

Where are these slanderous jokes, Little Hawk? I've probably heard it all before from my wife, but I'd like to read 'em.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 02:57 PM

I don't remember where...there was some thread where Spaw and I were poking fun at cricket for some reason, but it was a side issue to the main theme. I suggest a 1 year search for the word "cricket" and you'll probably find it.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Les from Hull
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 05:05 PM

I imagine that some of the jokes were on the lines of 'you can play for 5 days and still not get a result'. It seems that North Americans like a game that somebody wins, but a draw or a tie is a result, especially if the games are played in a series. A hard-fought draw can be really exciting.

I would have thought that the fascination we cricket lovers have with statistics would have appealed over there, though. I'm not really sure why cricket isn't so popular in Canada, as it is in Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and all the other former 'pink bits' on the map. Perhaps because it's a summer game.

If any transatlantic vistors to these shores (what shores? mines a pint) wishes to get more intimate with the game, I'll willing accompany them to a game (Headingley, Leeds preferably). I'll also explain what's going on (like, it's raining so there's no play).

To experience cricket properly you need to sit out there with plenty of beer, and soak up the atmosphere. It's really just about sitting in the sun with your mates and drinking beer!

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 05:17 PM

I don't really like cricket, I find it boring to watch on the tv, it must be one of those sports which is better to watch live. I was once told by someone quite close to me that( and who will remain nameless) that cricket is wonderful......you can fall asleep and when you wake up you haven't missed anything!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 05:23 PM

i think cricket is boring, my favourite sports to play are beer, darts, pool and domonoes, my favorit sport so watch is hosre racing.I have been nown to win money at all of them but not much .john

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Penny S.
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 06:35 PM

I was at a girls' school which played, and was dragged out to watch without any information given. So I played red ants versus black ants in a little arena in the grass, only they wouldn't fight like the ones in the Disney (?) film, so were just as exciting as the cricket.

I am told that baseball satisfies the statisticians in the States.

I also acquired some information as to why some places learned cricket and others didn't on a broadcast somewhere this year. Canada was not colonised in the same way as other parts of the Empire, with the nobs running things and taking their game there. In the West Indies, they did what they did at home and employed the help to do the fielding and bowling and other strenuous stuff. Football (soccer, that is) travelled with other ranks, such as engineers, ships' crews and so on, and so spread beyond the empire.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 06:56 PM

I am delighted that Little Hawk has seen the light at last. I am afraid that I am one of those who do not understand the niceties of the game, and consequently am not entertained by it.

I DO however understand that it is a game with many subtleties and overtones, and that it is my misfortune not to be able to appreciate them to the full. I do get pissed off by people who call cricket boring. Being bored by watching a sport does not mean that the sport is per se "boring".

I wouldn't mind betting that there are plenty on this forum who find snooker , horse racing, and sumo wrestling boring and pointless. I find them all fascinating. Why? Because I understand them.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 07:10 PM

Good point,well made, Murray

As a big cricket fan I would however admit that cricket can sometimes be as dull as ditch water. (but so can every other sport on a bad day)

The ebb and flow of the game over a long period can be wonderful, and at it's best cricket must be the most exciting sport in the world.

Jim

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 10:20 PM

I at least SEE the suspense and skill in croquet and curling, but I have never seen a live cricket match OR seen the rules laid out so I know the object and scoring patterns... I seldom see anyone run fast or throw hard in a cricket match...and CERTAINLY never a fight!

so I suppose I shall never understand...

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Bert
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 11:28 PM

The best way to enjoy watching cricket is to get yourself a score card and keep score as you watch. That way you keep interest in the game 'cos you have to watch every ball.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Terry K
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:34 AM

Cricket is, for me, just the greatest spectator sport of them all - it really does have everything. But it's very subtle - the vagaries of weather play a huge part in determining tactics - the nature of the particular wicket (strange name for an area of grass!) can be a major deciding factor in team selection - I could bang on for hours, and often do, but nobody would read it.

Incidentally, watching cricket "live" is more for the occasion and the tradition. To get the best, watch it on television. Radio 4 cricket is still terrific too, but the main problem for casual observers is the language barrier.

And one of the most heart-warming aspects of the game is that they still play in a sporting spirit - though it's getting a bit dodgy in some parts of the world!

So Little Hawk - assuming you're not taking the piss - let's agree to leave off politics and religion and stick to my two great loves, cricket and Dylan ;-)

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:58 AM

OK, OK, I'm willing to have an open mind. But will somebody tell me just what the game is all about? I haven't the faintest idea how it works. I understand there are some similarities between cricket and baseball, but beyond that I'm in the dark. I think I remember reading an article about it in an encyclopedia when I was in junior high school, but when they got to the part about a "silly mid-on", I gave up. Am I remembering that right? Is there a "silly mid-on"?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 04:07 AM

Mark, I believe it was Oscar Wilde who defined the game as "throwing a ball at three straight sticks, and defending same with a fourth."

Or maybe it was George Bernard Shaw. Or somebody else ....

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 04:14 AM

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in goes out and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When both sides have been in and out twice, including the not outs ...

...that's the end of the game.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 04:17 AM

Looks like Ronnie Barker is a lurking Mudcat GUEST ....

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: okthen
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 05:27 AM

"The British invented cricket so that they could grasp the concept of eternity."

I love cricket, and modern technology that can put a camera in the top of a stump to watch every ball in slomo.

And that Shane bloke from Oz, who can turn a ball at 45 degrees, I just LOVE watching him decimate the English batting (irony).

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 05:47 AM

I didn't think so...

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 07:25 AM

Does anyone have the words to "The Cricket Set" - I think it was by Tim Brooke-Taylor from "I'm sorry I'll read that again". It was a parody on A DECK OF CARDS (DT).
And was an english soldier's excuse for bringing a cricket set into church.

There were lines like: The number of stumps remind me of the days of the week minus one.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 08:55 AM

Terry K - Hey, it's a deal! :-) (At least until the next thread...) I figure a guy that likes cricket and Dylan is at least halfway to enlightenment...

Mark - Okay, this is what I gleaned from the movie about the rules...

You've got a playing field (quite a large one) with a fairly small rectangular section in the middle called the "wicket". The wicket is where the bowling and batting take place. The team that is batting places one batter at each end of the wicket, standing in front of three sticks. The team that is fielding has eleven men on the field, one of whom bowls the ball at one of the batters.

The intention of the bowler (pitcher) is to throw the ball past the batter (like a strike in baseball) and in doing so to break or knock over one or more of the 3 sticks behind the batter. This is not easy to do, because the batter has a large, wide wooden bat and if he knows what he's doing will probably succeed in hitting the ball most of the time...but sometimes he will miss it.

The ball is quite small and VERY hard. It must hurt like hell to catch the thing when it's going fast!

If the batter succeeds in hitting the ball clear out of the field beyond the boundaries and in the air (like a home run) he scores 6 runs! If it's a grounder, but makes it beyond the outer boundaries, he scores 4 runs.

The fielders, of course, try to catch the ball, as in baseball. If they catch it in the air, the batter is out. If the batter misses the ball (3 times? Or?) he's out.

A really good batter may score many, many runs before he goes out. This is what is hoped for by the batting team, and it's why cricket scores can go VERY high...like 150, 200 or 300 runs.

A hit that gets fielded successfully may still earn 1 or more runs... When the hit occurs, the batters (both of them) run for the opposite ends of the wicket (like a baseball player running around the bases). If they do one circuit, they earn one run. If they make it twice, they earn 2 runs, and so on...they must be careful not to get tagged before getting there.

And, believe me, that's just part of what's involved.

It's a very subtle and demanding game.

I've probably made some errors in the details up there...but that's the best I can manage at this point.

Oh...one team bats until all its batters are out (I think)...then the other team does the same...then the game is over. It's a long range endurance test which can be very suspenseful if the score is close toward the end.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:09 AM

Mark Cohen suggests some similarities between cricket and baseball. Not a lot in common, really, except they were both invented in England(or possibly Ireland). Baseball is a (very slightly) improved version of the old English game of rounders, which is played by people unable to master cricket ( Cissies and Girls, basically).

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:10 AM

LH - The batsman can miss the ball as many times as he likes as long as it doesn't strike the wicket or part of his body which is in front of the wicket. Also the actual distinction as to if his wicket is destroyed is if either of the "bails" (the two vertical pieces laid along the top) are dislodged.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:17 AM

Dave: The bails are horizontal.
Little Hawk: The batting team are 'in' until they have lost 10 players, at which time they can no longer man both ends of the wicket. This upsets statistics, as there is always one player who can rack up a score without being given as 'out'.
Batsmen can also be 'run out' where the ball is put, or thrown, to dislodge the bails whilst they are running between ends. They are considered 'safe' once they, or the bay they hold, touches the ground behind the 'batting crease' (the mark in front of the stumps at which they stand to await the ball.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:42 AM

Shouldn't trust that Nigel P on the subject, he always claims to be Welsh. The game has been banned in Wales for centuries, since Owen Glendower's Edict of Machynllethh (1401). This enjoined all Welsh archers to shoot anyone they saw carrying a cricket bat or keeper's gloves.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:45 AM

greg: who was it that won the recent Wales-England cricket international ? (Rhetorical question)
And anyway, our archers only shoot at outsiders.

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Les from Hull
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:58 AM

A word about bowling. There are many different types of bowler (swing, seam, wrist spin, finger spin). A baseball pitcher tries to develop several different types of pitch, but with cricket there are so many different types available that bowlers specialise.

The ball normally bounces before it gets to the batsman, and this is where all the fun happens.

Seam Bowling. The ball has a double seam stitched around its circumference, which is quite prominent, especially with a new ball. You always start with a new ball, and then you only get another after a certain number of balls have been bowled (85 x 6). If you bowl fast (up to 90mph) and land the ball on this seam you can get it to move in towards or away from the batsman to confuse him and get him out. Sometimes the wicket (playing surface) will help this happen more than others.

Swing Bowling. Nobody knows exactly why a cricket ball swings through the air, but some fast or medium-paced bowlers can do this. It happens more when the ball is new and when the atmosphere is humid under cloud cover. A swing bowler normally pitches the ball to bounce nearer the batsman to give it time to swing.

Spin Bowling. Slow bowlers (about 50mph) spin the ball using either the wrist or the fingers to get it to turn one way or the other when it bounces. When the wicket and the ball are worn, this can happen quite sharply. These bowlers also have diguised deliveries which turn the way they shouldn't, or bounce more or less (top-spin).

As of course as there are right and left-handed bowlers and batsmen there is an immense variety in bowling. The amount or seam, swing or turn, how far away the ball pitches from the batsman and the differing conditions of the ball, wicket and weather as well as the skill of the participants make this game fascinating enough to watch for 5 days,

Watching cricket on TV gives you a good view of what is happening, which you don't get at the ground. Like baseball you are well away from the action. But the atmosphere at the ground (and the beer) make up for that.

(I'm listening to England v India One Day International while I'm typing this)

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:01 AM

Les, I don't think it is quite true that "nobody knows exactly why a cricket ball swings through the air".

I would imagine that it is the same process by which a skilled football (soccer) player can "bend" the ball, and involves imparting a huge amount of spin to the ball.

Not that I fully understand the physics involved, but some people do, I am sure.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:23 AM

Woops - still the bails look horizontal if you're laying on your side on the ground, pissed, on a nice warm day - the best way to watch cricket !

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GUEST,Penny S.
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:30 AM

Yes, there is a silly mid on, and a silly mid off. They are all I remember from my first cricket lesson, which attempted to introduce me to all the places a fielder could stand. Each potential position has a name covering the area of the pitch, to enable the captain to tell people where to go. There are more named positions than fielders, and many of them have names which seem strange to non-combatants - slips, gully, etc, though some are clearer. On and off refer to which side of the batter they are, rather like nearside and offside of a car, but I don't know which is which. The sillies are close to the batter, so could get a fast moving ball arriving very quickly.

I wish I'd been taught by having a mock up pitch and being asked to suggest where to put the fielders for a particular combination of bowler and batter. I'd only have had to learn a few names at a time, and I'd know why they were there.

New Scientist had an article once, comparing baseball pitching with cricket bowling, and explaining the physics of a baseball curving in flight - which I forget, but which is presumably related to swing in cricket.

What are all those signals in baseball about? In cricket, the signals are about what's just happened, not what's going to happen, so are easier to work out.

I have heard it said that cricket is a game between 24 men (teams and umpires) and the scorers. You wouldn't believe how fast it goes when you are filling in all the little boxes.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:39 AM

and then there's the commentators!

johnners et al with their hilarious bloopers & unintentional double entendres

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:46 AM

I can't believe that "Johner's" famous line "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey" was really accidental though.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 11:56 AM

Does anyone remember the episode of "Dr Who" where the TARDIS was out of control and managed to land between the wickets of a Test Match. They had Johners and some other commentators discussing how this was affecting the match, whether there was going to be enough light etc. It was brilliant, never once did they stop to wonder how a Police Telephone box had arrived on the pitch - they were so thankful when it went away again and play could re-commence.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GMT
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 12:04 PM

And of course Penny Boxes are a vital part of a batsmans equipment.

The fielding side try to keep the new balls shine on one side of the seam and roughen up the other. The theory is this causes drag on one side of the ball and contributes to swing in the air.

Cheers Gary

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Paul from Hull
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 12:07 PM

Dont remember that one, Dave!

I do remember the bit in 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' though, where the Chesterfield sofa apears on the pitch....Hehehe

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 12:59 PM

Wow. This is sophisticated stuff... It's obviously a great game for playing in the tropics, where people don't mind at all lazing about on the sidelines for a few days, sipping their cold drinks, and watching the players slowly fry their brains out under the hot sun.

I forgot to mention that the various fielders do not have the benefit of using catching gloves to snare that murderous little ball...they must make do with their bare hands!

Baseball is clearly for sissies! You must have real grit to last through a game of cricket.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Penny S.
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:14 PM

The wicket keeper has gloves! And leg pads.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: RolyH
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:22 PM

One of the strangest terms in Cricket, is if a bowler has bowled his 'over'(six delieveries)without conceeding a run,he has "Bowled a Maiden Over"

Who is she?

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:25 PM

That's not strange Roly - maiden/virgin/undefiled

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Les from Hull
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:54 PM

Murray - that's spin bowling, imparting spin to the ball so that when it bounces it changes direction.

Gary - right enough, polishing one side of the ball. That helps. So does the action of the bowler - side on or chest on. And cloud cover. And humidity. The trouble is that sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't!

There also used to be a theory about some balls being more liable to swing than others. The old swing bowlers could tell a good 'un by smelling it. Sniffing your balls, an important part of cricket, that!

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: Hrothgar
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 05:28 AM

Kipling wrote the bit about "casting a ball at three straight sticks and defending the same with a fourth" in "Kitchener's School" in 1898.

I can't help getting the feeling that it's difficult to convince outsiders that some of the greatest Test matches have been drawn, because a seemingly beaten team battled on until time ran out.

The greatest Test of all, indeed, was a tie. Australia v. West Indies, Brisbane, December 1960. There were a couple of thousand people in the ground, but there are 200,000 people who claim to have been there. As an honest man, I can only claim to have been listening on the radio.

I suppose one has to be steeped in the game for many years to appreciate it.

Subject: RE: BS: The amazing game of cricket....
From: GUEST,Wyrd Sister
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 03:28 PM

And of course, some of the very best bits of cricket occur on Radio 4 when rain stops play.

The best way to pick up knowledge is to listen to TMS (sorry, Test Match Special - available on the web) whilst watching on TV. The radio describes in more detail what is happening, details TV commentary would omit as self-evident.