Big win for the U.S.A. in cricket :)

[Neilster]

The United States has easily defeated traditional rivals Papua New Guinea in a One Day Match in Oman. Although the "traditional rivals" thing was my little joke, actually, the U.S. and PNG are now rivals as both sides are rapidly improving and are vying for positions in tournaments with the strongest world teams. In One Day Cricket, USA are ranked 19th and PNG 20th, which is very creditable.

PNG won the toss and batted first, making only 158 (an average score is more like 250) due to some excellent U.S. bowling and fielding. USA, led by genuine local product (from Florida) Steven Taylor, overtook the total easily, losing only three wickets (out of a possible ten).

I played for the Australian Air Force and have watched cricket since I was about five and consider myself a reasonable judge of the game. These second tier teams have a lot of talent and now seem to have the coaching structures in place to continue improving. The USA team had administrative problems for years but that's all been sorted out now and their coach is a serious guy with a strong background in Indian cricket.

I recently watched online a tournament with Germany, France (now they really are traditional rivals [:D]) and Norway. All the names sounded South Asian but it was quite a good standard and, being held in Germany, very well organised [;)]

https://www.usacricket.org/

https://www.usacricket.org/what-is-cricket/

[RangerJoe]

I always thought that a cricket was an insect . . .

[Neilster]

Second only to Soccer as a global sport.

https://sportsshow.net/top-10-most-popu ... the-world/

[Zap]

In the US I suspect that among sports enthusiasts interest is less then 1% of active sports fans. Just the nature of our culture. Its hasn't caught on. Not saying it won't some day. But its highly unlikely any time soon.
No news sources of any significance has reported this. If you hadn't mentioned it we would have never know.

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: Zap

In the US I suspect that among sports enthusiasts interest is less then 1% of active sports fans. Just the nature of our culture. Its hasn't caught on. Not saying it won't some day. But its highly unlikely any time soon.
No news sources of any significance has reported this. If you hadn't mentioned it we would have never know.

Yes. That's why I did

Even in the world of Cricket, it's not exactly big news. India defeating England yesterday is but I noticed it and thought it was an interesting curio for the Americans here.

Given the growing number of Americans with a South Asian heritage, I'd expect the sport to grow there, but slowly. It is really a great game but it helps to grow up with it as its details are quite complicated. Essentially though, it's a bat and ball sport.

[arvcran2]

I don't know that much about the game except what I have seen on tele and film - the Brits liked it ... maybe because they were exposed to it in India.

Seeing as the main part of the action is center field, and the game can last for days (except the variant I am now reading about - 1 Day cricket).

Is the ball similar in size to a lacrosse ball, and a base ball, easily fitting in the palm of a regular adult sized hand?

The batsman wants to protect his wickets supporting the i-beam (I have not looked up the name of the horizontal piece); while also, as a secondary measure, score some points.
The winners, I would expect, to be the most disciplined at patience, and have the best quick risk assessment abilities. This is not the exciting kind of entertainment one can sell tickets on and is probably the reason why it was not marketed in the united states. But if it teaches folks to hold on to what they have, practice patience, and hone opportunity without loss, maybe we should all pay more attention! [:D]

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: arvcran2

I don't know that much about the game except what I have seen on tele and film - the Brits liked it ... maybe because they were exposed to it in India.

Seeing as the main part of the action is center field, and the game can last for days (except the variant I am now reading about - 1 Day cricket).

Is the ball similar in size to a lacrosse ball, and a base ball, easily fitting in the palm of a regular adult sized hand?

The batsman wants to protect his wickets supporting the i-beam (I have not looked up the name of the horizontal piece); while also, as a secondary measure, score some points.
The winners, I would expect, to be the most disciplined at patient and have the best quick risk assessment abilities. This is not the exciting kind of entertainment one can sell tickets on and is probably the reason why it was not marketed in the united states. But if it teaches folks to hold on to what they have, practice patience, and hone opportunity without loss, maybe we should all pay more attention! [:D]

The sport is very old and was invented in England, from where it spread to the British Empire. In the 19th Century it was quite popular in the USA but for a variety of reasons, baseball took over. Organised cricket requires proper grounds, was associated with the upper class and it didn't help that..."in 1909 when the ICC was originally organized as the Imperial Cricket Conference it was open only to Commonwealth nations and thereby excluded the US from participating in the sport at the highest level". Nice one England [8|]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_i ... ted_States

Traditional (test) cricket can go for five days and is the game purists like me like the best. Think of your favourite sport played five days in a row with the results totalled. One day cricket was invented in the 60s and it's excellent too. T20 is a more recent thing and games go for about three hours.

The ball is about the size of a baseball and weighs five and a quarter ounces (149g).

It's a very subtle game. The shorter forms have plenty of attacking and exciting play built in, which is much of their appeal to many people, but test cricket often throws up tactical situations where extremely attacking play is required. As a wargamer, you'd appreciate the test (hence the name) of tactics, strategy, psychology and endurance. You have to be tough to play cricket. You play for six hours a day, often in brutal heat and the ball can easily break bones.

Here's an explanation video, which describes how the sport went from an English gentlemen's game to a big money global sport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGLHdcw2RM

And for something different, two English players trying baseball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_lvQaX ... icketBoard

Edit: Many Australian cricketers used to play baseball in the Winter to keep their hitting and fielding skills up but it's a 12 month sport these days and they no longer have time. They guys who did think that's a pity because they said baseball kept them very sharp.

[arvcran2]

Well. I have to say...sure money...ok entertainment ra, ra; but ya still have work/manage/predict/maintain/prevent/promote to be able to enjoy life, and at the same time provide for your children, and their children, and so on.

Am curious about the line of thinking behind the reason for conceiving the game in the first place compared to how it has evolved into the same formula of provide for consumerism in just about everything else that seems to be popularized. And the notion of laws compared to rules is also quite interesting. Thanks for that link. Am more curious now.

Edit: Many Australian cricketers used to play baseball in the Winter to keep their hitting and fielding skills up but it's a 12 month sport these days and they no longer have time. They guys who did think that's a pity because they said baseball kept them very sharp.

Yes baseball can be a sport where nothing much happens on the field when the pitcher is on fire. Yet you have to be able to spring into action at top performance when something does happen. Scoring points when you can start at home base, make your way to the three other bases and finally return back home before your team gets three outs in a row in an inning. Also stealing bases is allowed in the rules, but cricket laws prolly avoid the subject.

Edit: Sorry Baseball has no points, they are runs, and they are not scored, they are hit?

[Neilster]

Am curious about the line of thinking behind the reason for conceiving the game in the first place

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cricket

Cricket wasn't conceived but rather gradually evolved over centuries. It's origins are somewhat murky but people were clearly playing cricket in 17th Century England and most likely long before.

Having said that, it begins to take on it's modern form by about 1850 and, judging by the photographic evidence, the skills of the players had improved to something approximating modern players by about 1920.

The best batsman of all time played between 1928 and 1948, with a hiatus for WW2 (my best friend still hasn't forgiven Hitler for that). There is an English bowler from the 1930s who, even by today's standards, looks terrifyingly quick.

It only went professional in the mid 70s but since then it's been big business.

As a side note, sport for the masses didn't really get going until the mid C19th. Before then, Sunday was really the day of rest and doing anything but going to church was frowned upon, and people used to work six days a week. Once workers had a little more money and Saturday afternoon off, they were looking for entertainment.

An oft overlooked factor, however, is the invention of the lawnmower in 1830. Before it, scythes were used or livestock would "mow" sporting fields. Lawnmowers enabled the efficient preparation of soccer, rugby, cricket, Australian Football and other playing fields, without having to pick up manure [;)]

[Pvt_Grunt]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

The best batsman of all time played between 1928 and 1948, with a hiatus for WW2 (my best friend still hasn't forgiven Hitler for that).

There's even a song about him! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjZHfEIEJ54

[RangerJoe]

Why bother to pick up the manure? It could make things a little different each game!

I do believe that in base ball, the balls are hit and the runs are scored.

There was a baseball player who was killed by a pitch. The ball was so scuffed up and dirty that the batter did not see it coming and it hit him in the head. That was before the ball was changed during the game. Now the ball is changed frequently for that very reason.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Chapman

[arvcran2]

I love hearing these stories! (In this case it is reading them)

It is unbelievable how fast our way of lives have changed.
Technology is both dangerous and required at the same time.

The only thing that will save us is our ability to wise-in up just as fast as our technological solutions are implemented!

We so need to keep understanding our behavior and propensity to make sure we don't consume the very resources we need in order to survive.
I wonder if cricket has any influence in these matters. Striving to amass as many folks buying tickets in to the smallest spaces possible in order to make more of a thing that is designed to represent true value: money. It is a simplification of course. But one has to consider the cost of getting all those ticket purchasers from where they live to where the event takes place. (an argument in favor of tele and internet I suppose)

Now days with all this simulation and tech one is not even convinced with 100% certainty that these sport events are even really taking place lol.

Electronic Arts seems to be travelling in that direction.

I noticed the ball has only two half domes sown over the join. Is that representative of equator I wonder. Seeing as the Lords were thinking in terms of laws and ruling by Britannia in those days. Experimenting with houses and styles of governance or rule I suppose. It is all so interesting, really!

Why bother to pick up the manure? It could make things a little different each game!

*chuckle* it would probably have made the players lobby for ensuring that the livestock mowing the lawns were fed nutrition for a more subtle manure . It would also have quickened the pace of stripping uniform, probably avoiding any reporter-esk types, hitting the showers immediately, and promoting change room decontamination of potential unwanted or misplaced organisms; while at the same time promoting transferring manure product into the drainage system as a result of laundry practices. Heck our society would probably look very different today if that cricket law had been passed. (though must not pick up the fertilizer produced by the live stock and play on the conditions placed by the practice of preparing the field). You can imagine what a stink that would have produced during the board meeting to pass the motion of such a law.

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Why bother to pick up the manure? It could make things a little different each game!

I do believe that in base ball, the balls are hit and the runs are scored.

There was a baseball player who was killed by a pitch. The ball was so scuffed up and dirty that the batter did not see it coming and it hit him in the head. That was before the ball was changed during the game. Now the ball is changed frequently for that very reason.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Chapman

The same thing has happened in cricket several times. An Australian player was killed a few years ago when he was hit just below the back of his helmet. Now helmets have a guard there. Amazingly, helmets only came in in the late 70s. Fielders are sometimes only a couple of metres from the batsman, so you can imagine the danger of that.

In One Day cricket they now use two balls because they are white and were getting dangerously hard to see from being scuffed up. Another factor is that the players are bigger and stronger and modern bats are absolute cannons. Some of the umpires, who are about 22 metres from the batsmen, have started wearing helmets.

I tried batting in a helmet but I hated it. I was hit in the jaw once and if I hadn't spun my head at the last second I would have worn it in the face. I wanted to bat on but a massive egg came up and I had to go for an X-ray. It wasn't broken, though. Now helmets are compulsory in organised cricket against fast bowling.

[Orm]

I was once hit in the orbit with a bandy ball. It was on a small rink, with small goals so the penalty shot was taken 5 yards from the goal. And the bandy ball is a really hard sucker of a ball. And it gets to a really high speed when hit with a bandy club. So I found out the hard way why the eye socket is protected by the bony walls. Probably would have lost my eye if not for those bones. I got a nice, circular swelling along the ridge, and a cool colour to match, as a memory of the event. And thanks to the helmet I avoided serious head injury from my fall after that blow. Hit the back of my head pretty hard...

[Orm]

Anyway. Back to cricket stories. Or so I hope. Fascinating stuff. [:)] [&o]

[Neilster]

I like Bandy. I once described it to a Canadian because, despite its similarity to Ice Hockey, he hadn't heard of it.

Here's a good collection of catches. They're all taken in England as the poster is their cricket board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX9fRb9 ... icketBoard

[arvcran2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Watkins_(South_African_cricketer)

Just saw this on wiki's news. Did not even know it existed (news).

[arvcran2]

I like Bandy. I once described it to a Canadian because, despite its similarity to Ice Hockey, he hadn't heard of it.

Orm's Bandy Ball photo makes me think that orange is a very good complimentary color of green so I am just guessing, before looking, that it should be used on green surfaces (Highly visible if the non-focused field of vision is on the green - assuming you are keeping your focus on the ball).

[IslandInland]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

Second only to Soccer as a global sport.

https://sportsshow.net/top-10-most-popu ... the-world/

I would question this but I know the US is only any good at three sports and one of them they have the audacity to call the "World Series".

[:D]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: IslandInland

ORIGINAL: Neilster

Second only to Soccer as a global sport.

https://sportsshow.net/top-10-most-popu ... the-world/

I would question this but I know the US is only any good at three sports and one of them they have the audacity to call the "World Series".

[:D]

Which three sports?