Another England Test Cricket Victory - Huzzah!

[Wombat]

Take a whistle with you Martin. There must be a goodly selection of cricketing tunes you can play. (Practice Waltzing Matilda just in case. )

Which reminds me, The Positively Testcard did a great rendition of the Test Match TV Theme Tune (can't recall the proper name, is it Soul Limbo?, but you know the tune I mean), on their mini-album "The Indestructible Beat of South Norwood", so we managed to drag this thread on topic!

I've been playing 'Cm'on Aussie, Cm'on' for years on low D.

[avanutria]

As my birthday falls during the Third Test, I may be able to persuade Beth to sit and watch a whole day's play on TV, or maybe even get tickets to go up to a game at Lords or the Oval. If they haven't sold out already.

Uh oh. Can I bring my Gameboy?

Here's an underdog for you Brit-types: http://www.usaca.org/

[Impempe]

Well, I was mildly surprised at Englands fight back, and very disappointed that the weather did not spoil the day. Don't forget England still have a test to play in SA and "we" the south Africans, will be trying to regain a bit of honour by leveling the series. I have been fortunate in having a tv in the office to watch the games. The Barmy Army really is a hoot. i think some of you brits should join them with a whistle or two. that trumpeter is getting a little tired me thinks. Perhaps I could drum up a a bunch of kwela players to start a SA support team for the next game. I saw a game against the West Indies a few seasons back that had a tin drum band (what do you call that jamaican drum?)during the tests. It was great and added some real carribean flavour to the long 5 days in the sun.

Ian

[jbarter]

Uh oh. Can I bring my Gameboy?

That's no way to describe Mr Milner.

[Martin Milner]

Uh oh. Can I bring my Gameboy?

That's no way to describe Mr Milner.

Well John, if you press my buttons right...

I was just telling Beth about the last time I tried (with my father) to see an England-Australia Test at Lords.

Ten minutes before the match was due to start, the heavens opened, SPLOOSH, it poured cats & dogs for half an hour, then the next half hour we watched the water hogs drying the pitch.

Just as the hogs left the pitch, the heavens opened, SPLOOSH, it poured cats & dogs for half an hour, then the next half hour we watched the water hogs trying to dry the pitch.

The pitch was not quite dry again, when the heavens opened, SPLOOSH, it poured cats & dogs for half an hour, then the next half hour we watched the water hogs trying to dry the pitch, until one of them broke its sponge roller.

Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, the heavens opened, SPLOOSH, it poured cats & dogs for half an hour, then the next half hour we watched the water hogs, with increasing desperation, trying unsuccessfully to dry the pitch.

To make matters worse, the radio commentary had not come on air, so we had no chat about pigeons, buses, and cake to distract us from our increasingly damp misery.

We wandered round the shop, the pavilion museum, and the practise nets. Eventually, around 4pm, we gave up and headed home. There was about 1/2 an hour of play right at the end of the day, which we caught on TV at home. We did get a partial refund, but we really wanted to see some live Aussie cricket!

So, yes, Gameboys are required kit, plus knitting, a good novel, warm clothing, waterproofs, and sandwiches and a thermos of soup.

They might not allow concertinas and fiddles, but then again...

[jbarter]

And with a bit of luck you could do it for 5 days running. You don't get joys like that with any other sport.

[Flyingcursor]

Well since we in the US often presume that everyone not from the US should be interested in our peculiar foibles, it's only fair that I show an interest in this great non-US sport. Due to it's presumed similarity to our "baseball" (a popular American myth) it's much easier to respect for a baseball fan then the so-called "football" which resembles not at all our so-called "football" which I couldn't care less about (neither yours nor ours) unless it's in the company of testosterone filled large hairy guys all drinking beer, jumping up and down yelling "Hit him!" "Hit him!"
Makes for a good chortle.

With that in mind I've done a bit of research.

My first stop, http://allworldknowledge.com/cricket , appears to be a joke. If not then Cricket is an interesting game indeed.
I then discovered a copy of some rules written c. 1900 as well as www.lords.org.

There are some similarities in terminology to baseball:

Ball, bat, pitch, inning, scoring, out, fielder, umpire. In practice, except for throwing the ball at the batter and the batter trying to hit the ball there's no similarity.

Now that I've armed myself with a cursory knowledge of bails, wickets, bowlers, stumps, overs, dead balls, wide balls, no balls (snicker), bye and leg bye, I think I'd be interested in watching a game, or part of a game.

Some questions.
I've read that the number of overs allowed for an inning is 50 but then I also read that the number could be determined beforehand. For these tests is there a regulation amount? Is that why the games last so long?

What constitutes "wasting time"? Is it true that the umpire can allow up to 24 hours before calling "wasting time"? (see above knowledge site).

[Martin Milner]

I've read that the number of overs allowed for an inning is 50 but then I also read that the number could be determined beforehand. For these tests is there a regulation amount? Is that why the games last so long?

What constitutes "wasting time"? Is it true that the umpire can allow up to 24 hours before calling "wasting time"? (see above knowledge site).

There are two forms of the game, one day games, where the number of overs each side faces is fixed so the game can be finished in one day, and "proper" cricket, where each side has two innings, facing an undetermined number of overs until 10 men are out, or the captain declares the innings closed (i.e. he thinks they have scored more runs then the opposition possibly can manage).

In One Day Internationals, 50 overs is now the normal innings. Thus 100 overs (600 balls) are bowled in a day's play. Lunch and tea breaks are reduced in length to accommodate the extra overs, I think. Matches in England generally started at 11am, but recently they have started at 10:30am. This is supposed to give enough time for the dew to evaporate from the grass.

The form of "village cricket" I've played, 20 overs each is about all our amateur sides can manage. I acted as wicketkeeper for one such match, and couldn't lift my legs for about a week afterwards. Ever since I have only be seen fielding at the Outfield Nancy position.

For Test matches (and County Championship games, and other multi-day games), 90 overs in a day is the norm. If the bowling side manage less, they can be fined. The umpire can stop the game for bad light or rain, in which case overs are deducted from the total.

The bowling side are wasting time if the Umpire decides they are , but generally this means things like moving lots of fielders around, spending too long polishing the ball, or generally slacking off and not getting on with the game. I don't think any umpire worth his salt would allow more than a couple of minutes between balls being bowled.

Interestingly in the 30s, the era of the great Don Bradman, there was a "Timeless Test" in which each side was allowed to bat for as long as they liked, i.e. there was no five day limit on the match. I believe after nine days, with the first innings still not closed, the experiment was terminated without a result.

[jbarter]

My first stop, http://allworldknowledge.com/cricket , appears to be a joke.

Yes Fly, that's a joke. However, a word of warning to you. If you find six such joke sets of rules and the one correct set there is no way you'll ever be able tell which is which.

[Flyingcursor]

My first stop, http://allworldknowledge.com/cricket , appears to be a joke.

Yes Fly, that's a joke. However, a word of warning to you. If you find six such joke sets of rules and the one correct set there is no way you'll ever be able tell which is which.

There are a lot of good jokes on that site. I think lords.com is probably about as "official" as I'll find.

[dubhlinn]

Early in August '03 my cricket mad son and I spent a week in London.
Cost an absolute fortune to do all the tourist things ,everything was so expensive.
The cheapest attraction,and by far the most enjoyable, was the tour of Lords Cricket ground. The tour guide was a mine of information and even though I know nothing and care even less about Cricket, I was very impressed with his knowledge and passion for the game.
My son was speechless as we were shown around the museum and the guide threw out these matter of fact statements about many of the items on display..including the famous Ashes.
I would recommend this tour to anybody going to London.
As luck would have it,it was the second hottest day ever recorded in London.



Slan,
D.