Cricket

[mike carey]

No, not 'crickets'!

I realise the sport of cricket is so much not a thing in North America that there is little that happens in the sport that might interest, much less excite most people in the forum. (Although Canada has competed in four of the 50 Over World Cup competitions, and the US will co-host the 2024 Twenty Over World Cup with the West Indies.) I've made the topic title general so it can be the place where anything about the game can be posted rather than make it about one particular cricket-related subject.

Why now? I'm glad you asked. (OK, so you didn't, but I won't let that stop me.) International 'test' cricket, the longest version of the game has been played for almost 150 years since the first game between Australia and England in 1877, and in that time about 2400 tests have been played. In a game, the player who bowls the ball when a batsman is given out is credited with that wicket (what the 'out' is called) when they are out in the process of playing a shot (so not when they are dismissed by being run out, the equivalent of a baseballer failing to reach a base).

In the current game between India and New Zealand being played in Mumbai, the New Zealand bowler Ajaz Patel took all 10 wickets in India's first innings. Bowling in cricket, unlike pitching in baseball, is rotated between usually four or five players in each innings, so that is not an easy feat to achieve. In fact this is only the third time in the history of test cricket that it has been done. Poignantly, Patel was born in Mumbai and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents when he was eight, and members of his extended Indian family were in the crowd. Understandably this has been the talk of the cricket world for the past 24 hours. (It turned out not to be New Zealand's finest day, they were bowled out for 62 runs in their first innings, India had made 325.)

Now, back to your scheduled sports coverage.

[mike carey]

The international cricket community has been rocked by the death in Thailand, apparently from a heart attack, at 52 of Shane Warne, a retired Australian bowler widely regarded as one of the best players of all time. I had not planned to post anything about it as it is of potentially zero interest to forum members, but a member sent me a PM about it, so I changed my mind.

Cricket is a game that cherishes its history and traditions more than many sports seem to do. Where it's played widely cricket references have slipped into the language. 'That's not cricket' means that was not the way you should do things. It is the second most popular sport in the world. It remembers its heroes, the great and the not so great, even some of the obscure. You often see teams wearing black arm bands to mark the passing of a national player who lived to their 90s and had faded from the public consciousness.

That is far from the case with Warne. He still coached teams, appeared as a commentator on cricket broadcasts and could be described as a celebrity. He was a legend still very much in the public eye, at his prime not in my childhood but my middle age. Within minutes of the story breaking, Twitter exploded, with tributes from ordinary people who knew him or had been inspired by him and from the great and good of international cricket, names like Brian Lara, Sir Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kholi (perhaps not household names to readers here). On TV hardened veterans of the game, including a former England and a former Australian captain fought back tears.

It has to some extent overshadowed what is a historic first Australian tour to Pakistan since 1998. Players and the crowd at the first test in Rawalpindi paused for a minute's silence before start of play on the second day, and both teams wore those black arm bands. So did both teams in the Australia-England game in the women's world cup in New Zealand.

This New York Times staff sports writer (not some random writer from a cricket playing nation) captured the moment well, and in words that will make more sense to most people in this forum than mine probably could.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/04/sports/cricket/shane-warne-dead.html

[Guest]

Edited March 8, 2022 by Unicorn

[mike carey]

Ok, I'm sure things like this happens all the time. At the one-day international game between England and India at The Oval in London a player scored a six (hit the ball over the boundary on the full, scoring six runs) but it hit a young girl in the crowd.

The England team doctor and physio checked her out and treated her. She and her father, who was there with her, were invited to come back to The Oval for a future game, and she was given an England team t-shirt. I don't know if the publicity was intended but the Sky TV commentary team broadcast what had happened. Assuming she was an England supporter (not a given at a game such as this in the UK) she will have bragging rights at school after summer.

[mike carey]

Although probably largely unnoticed in North (or indeed South) America (except the Caribbean) what is arguably the biggest global sporting event of the year [Edited to add 'so far', as the FIFA one is a little bigger - hat tip to @KeepItReal] is under way in Australia. It started a week ago with a final round of qualification matches for four teams to join the eight teams that had qualified automatically for the main tournament.

This weekend saw the opening games and among the fixtures, the draw had pitched local rivals against each other, including Australia and New Zealand (we wuz thrashed) and South Africa and Zimbabwe, but there was one monumental clash that had a knife-edge finish. Tickets for the game went on sale about six months ago and the 100K seat stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, sold out in five minutes. This was for the third of the games between local rivals, India and Pakistan. (As it turned out, only 90K spectators turned up.)

A cricket journalist was on a 6am flight to Melbourne and as the plane taxied to the gate the captain did the usual welcome to Melbourne and thank you for choosing us announcement and finished by saying, 'Enjoy the cricket' upon which the passengers erupted into competing chants of 'Bhaarat jeetaga' (India will win) and 'Pakistan zindabad' (sort of equivalent to Viva Pakistan).

Allegiances in the crowd appeared to be about even (few neutral spectators) and even on TV the atmosphere was electric. Each team at times appeared to have thrown the game away, but half-way through the Indian innings their run chase was insurmountable. But it wasn't. India was within reach of a still difficult victory with a few balls to go and Pakistan made some, what could be called rookie mistakes, but that's unfair, pressure forces errors, and India needed one run from the final ball of the innings. And score it they did.

[KeepItReal]

3 hours ago, mike carey said:

Although probably largely unnoticed in North (or indeed South) America (except the Caribbean) what is arguably the biggest global sporting event of the year is under way in Australia. It started a week ago with a final round of qualification matches for four teams to join the eight teams that had qualified automatically for the main tournament.

This weekend saw the opening games and among the fixtures, the draw had pitched local rivals against each other, including Australia and New Zealand (we wuz thrashed) and South Africa and Zimbabwe, but there was one monumental clash that had a knife-edge finish. Tickets for the game went on sale about six months ago and the 100K seat stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, sold out in five minutes. This was for the third of the games between local rivals, India and Pakistan. (As it turned out, only 90K spectators turned up.)

A cricket journalist was on a 6am flight to Melbourne and as the plane taxied to the gate the captain did the usual welcome to Melbourne and thank you for choosing us announcement and finished by saying, 'Enjoy the cricket' upon which the passengers erupted into competing chants of 'Bhaarat jeetaga' (India will win) and 'Pakistan zindabad' (sort of equivalent to Viva Pakistan).

Allegiances in the crowd appeared to be about even (few neutral spectators) and even on TV the atmosphere was electric. Each team at times appeared to have thrown the game away, but half-way through the Indian innings their run chase was insurmountable. But it wasn't. India was within reach of a still difficult victory with a few balls to go and Pakistan made some, what could be called rookie mistakes, but that's unfair, pressure forces errors, and India needed one run from the final ball of the innings. And score it they did.

I await the world cup with great anticipation.  There is also the upcoming Rugby world cup and FIFA world cup. Clearly my productivity will slump quite a bit during the next few months. Sorry boss!!! Will have to wrap up my annual performance review before he can notice it!! 🤭

[mike carey]

On Wednesday afternoon, England (the original cricket superpower [except that Australia won the earliest test matches, but I digress]) played Ireland in Melbourne. It rained, the match was delayed but Ireland batted through their innings and England most of theirs. Then it rained again and the match was abandoned. Ireland had had the better of the English, and England was behind where they needed to be in the run chase.

The calculations, and how it happened matter not, the records will hold that Ireland had beaten England! The men in green on the field and their countrymen and women in the stadium, and their supporters could rejoice, and they did. A famous victory!

[mike carey]

On 3/10/2024 at 12:58 AM, mike carey said:

Christchurch is a beautiful city, although there's nothing 'must see' about it, and it has that in common with a lot of places. Australia is playing New Zealand in a cricket test at the moment (day three will be on Sunday, and Australia had the advantage at the end of day two), and that is being played at Hagley Oval which is in the same area of parkland where the botanical gardens are. Hagley Oval is a new test cricket ground, the previous venue at Lancaster Park was damaged beyond repair in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the area was deemed unsafe to build a new stadium.

I agree with Rod, that driving anywhere in the South Island is a joy. @azdr0710 @tristanbaldwin and I drove from Picton (the ferry terminal from the North Island) to Queenstown down the west coast and it was a great trip.

Moving this into a relevant Forum, the test match was a roller coaster ride for spectators and the teams playing at Hagley Oval alike. Australia did indeed have the advantage at the end of the second day, but what a difference a day makes. The New Zealand batsmen settled down and played aggressive cricket in their second innings, overtaking Australia's 94 run lead from the two teams' first innings. By late on the third day they had amassed a second innings total of 372 runs, a lead of 278 when they were all out. Things didn't get any better for the Australians as when they began their run chase four of their batsmen were out when the team had only scored 34. Early on day four another Australian was out when the score was 80 leaving them 199 runs to win and New Zealand only needing to get five more batsmen out for them to win. Nobody gave Australia much chance of pulling that off. Scoring more than 250 runs in the fourth innings of a test match rarely happens, and it was more than Australia had ever scored to win against the Kiwis. Mitch Marsh and the wicket keeper (a bit like a baseball catcher) Alex Carey (NR) combined to score 140 runs (dare we hope?) before Mitch was out with Australia needing a further 59 runs. The new batsman (who is in the team mainly as a bowler) was out first ball. Seven out and hope ebbs away. The nervous tension was palpable, even for someone watching on a small screen. The captain, Pat Cummins (also a bowler) came in to bat. They gradually scored runs, with Cummins, the less accomplished batsman, scoring more than Carey. Australia reached 277 runs. Cummins was at bat. Carey was 98 not out. Cummins could have played a defensive shot and left scoring the final two runs to Carey, but he hit a final ball to the boundary scoring four runs. And leaving Carey two runs short of a century.

If New Zealand had won they would have reprised their first ever test victory against Australia, at Lancaster Park in Christchurch in 1974, a victory that had been marked by a reunion of surviving NZ players on the eve of the match. Many Australians would not have been too disappointed at a loss for that reason. A fitting way to mark the 50th Anniversary wasn't to be. And we had been treated to a match that was absorbing throughout and had an uncertain result almost till the end.

[mike carey]

Another in an occasional series of posts.

As one or two of you would know, cricket is classically played in games of two innings per side over several days, at the international level called tests (because they do test the teams, okay maybe that's not why but I digress). There are also two common shorter forms of the game with one innings a side, played over about three and seven hours. The shorter terms are easier for new teams to deal with but at the test level only about a dozen nations play and three, England, India and Australia, dominate. But they don't always win and those who love the game love it when another team beats one of them.

That has happened twice on the sub-continent over the last few days, not just in a single test but in two three-test series. After being thrashed in their first test (in a single innings England scored more runs than Pakistan did in its two), Pakistan came back to defeat England in the second and third tests, and convincingly so. On the same day in Pune, India lost their second in the series against New Zealand. The BBC World Service has a weekly cricket podcast (called Stumped) with broadcasters from the BBC, the ABC and All India Radio. I look forward to this week's episode.

[+ FrankR]

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

Another in an occasional series of posts.

As one or two of you would know, cricket is classically played in games of two innings per side over several days, at the international level called tests (because they do test the teams, okay maybe that's not why but I digress). There are also two common shorter forms of the game with one innings a side, played over about three and seven hours. The shorter terms are easier for new teams to deal with but at the test level only about a dozen nations play and three, England, India and Australia, dominate. But they don't always win and those who love the game love it when another team beats one of them.

That has happened twice on the sub-continent over the last few days, not just in a single test but in two three-test series. After being thrashed in their first test (in a single innings England scored more runs than Pakistan did in its two), Pakistan came back to defeat England in the second and third tests, and convincingly so. On the same day in Pune, India lost their second in the series against New Zealand. The BBC World Service has a weekly cricket podcast (called Stumped) with broadcasters from the BBC, the ABC and All India Radio. I look forward to this week's episode.

A little off topic, if you will indulge. I was traveling in Barbados a few months ago. Needed new running shoes and stopped by a local store. The salesman told me the shoes I liked the looks of, was actually meant for cricket. They were Pumas - very colorful. Very good looking. So was the salesman! 😉 

Ended up going to a game of cricket with him. Day/night game I think they called it. He explained that was the reason why they didnt use the traditional red cricket ball. It was actually a lot of fun to watch a game live. 

[mike carey]

3 minutes ago, FrankR said:

Ended up going to a game of cricket with him. Day/night game I think they called it. He explained that was the reason why they didnt use the traditional red cricket ball. It was actually a lot of fun to watch a game live. 

I'm jealous, I'd love to go to a game at Kensington Oval! Day/night games are usually the 50-over version (6-7 hours' play). The shorter games are usually in the day or the evening, although some run through the twilight. To confuse things further, there are now day/night test matches, which use a pink ball. It works under lights like the red ball, but they've managed to make them so they last long enough for the game. The white ones are fine for shorter games but become unplayable more quickly for some reason. (Unlike baseball, the changing state of the ball during the game is one of the variables that teams can take advantage of.)

[TonyDown]

A coworker from India, very old school, was a serious cricket fan, watching matches on a special PPV channel.

From the service class to the upper class, cricket was quite a British thing, at least in Maurice.

 

[Vin Marco]

On 12/5/2021 at 2:32 AM, mike carey said:

No, not 'crickets'!

I realise the sport of cricket is so much not a thing in North America that there is little that happens in the sport that might interest, much less excite most people in the forum. (Although Canada has competed in four of the 50 Over World Cup competitions, and the US will co-host the 2024 Twenty Over World Cup with the West Indies.) I've made the topic title general so it can be the place where anything about the game can be posted rather than make it about one particular cricket-related subject.

Why now? I'm glad you asked. (OK, so you didn't, but I won't let that stop me.) International 'test' cricket, the longest version of the game has been played for almost 150 years since the first game between Australia and England in 1877, and in that time about 2400 tests have been played. In a game, the player who bowls the ball when a batsman is given out is credited with that wicket (what the 'out' is called) when they are out in the process of playing a shot (so not when they are dismissed by being run out, the equivalent of a baseballer failing to reach a base).

In the current game between India and New Zealand being played in Mumbai, the New Zealand bowler Ajaz Patel took all 10 wickets in India's first innings. Bowling in cricket, unlike pitching in baseball, is rotated between usually four or five players in each innings, so that is not an easy feat to achieve. In fact this is only the third time in the history of test cricket that it has been done. Poignantly, Patel was born in Mumbai and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents when he was eight, and members of his extended Indian family were in the crowd. Understandably this has been the talk of the cricket world for the past 24 hours. (It turned out not to be New Zealand's finest day, they were bowled out for 62 runs in their first innings, India had made 325.)

Now, back to your scheduled sports coverage.

Kilikiti! My Sāmoan brothers play and play quite well. It's become a traditional sport throughout all of Sāmoa. 

[mike carey]

The England group of touring fans, the Barmy Army (they're still around, I bought one of their shirts on their 1996 Australian tour) posted this handy guide to the fielding positions in cricket. Cricket is a simple game, they say in the caption. There are 11 players on a team so after the bowler and wicket keeper, the captain has the job of deciding where to place the other nine players. You'll hear shots that batters play described using the field positions shown here, regardless of whether there was a fielder in the position. This chart is for a right-handed batter. When the batter is left handed, field positions are a mirror reverse of this.

[mike carey]

I mentioned the fourth cricket test (the Boxing Day Test) in the thread about Boxing Day. The game has just finished and was an epic. Australia had been on top after the first innings (that ended half way through the second day). India lost early wickets in their first innings but came back by the end of their innings to be far closer to Australia's score than anyone had thought possible. 87,000 and 85,000 people attended the first two day and another 80,000 on the third. It was pushing record territory.

In their second innings, Australia's batting collapsed early on making it appear likely that India could score enough in their second to win the game, but in the latter half of the innings Australia ended up making a respectable score. At the start of the fifth day all four results were possible, either team could win, it could be a draw or it could even be a tie. (In a draw, time runs out before one side can score enough runs to win, or the other can bowl all of the opposition out, a tie happens when the final innings of the game finishes with the team all out but the total scores level - there have been two ties in 2,573 tests in history.)

India lost some early wickets, and was scoring steadily, but a draw seemed to be becoming the most likely result. Late in the day, India lost more wickets and were eventually bowled out. A tense draw would not have been a completely unsatisfactory result, but as an Australian, a win was better.

The largest ever crowd to attend a test match in Australia was 350,000 for an Australia-England test in 1937. This game had 373,000 spectators pass through the turnstiles in Melbourne. It still fell short of the largest ever test cricket crowd of 463,000 at a test between India and Pakistan in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1998-99.

With the size of the Indian diaspora here, at all of the games so far, you could be forgiven for thinking that India was the home team! After the game I heard a vox pop with a fan, and when asked whether he was from Melbourne replied, 'No, I've come here from Washington DC for the [previous] Brisbane test and this one, and I've been to all five days.'

[mike carey]

I'm just watching the Aotearoa-Pakistan cricket game from Tauranga, and it's just before 1930 NZDT, 15 minutes into the game as the sun sets. The game has just paused as team members bring trays of fruit, drinks, and dates onto the field for the Pakistani players to have an impromptu iftar. How the players manage to practise and warm up for the game without food or drinks all day, I will never know. Pakistan comfortably won the previous game a couple of days ago, but Aotearoa/New Zealand is off to a flying start tonight.