... "amirite"
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 11:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Don't ask, Dan, just don't ask. The last time I asked, I got a very complicated explanation that involved getting all the balls of thread out of the sewing basket and putting them out in elaborate patterns on the blanket and obscure rules about legs and wickets and not starting matches on the first full moon following the Queen Mum's birthday.
I was born here, and I don't get it. You have no hope. Just sit in the sun and drink beer and lemonade and nod occasionally and shout "good show!" when everyone else claps.
― Masonic Boom, Friday, 31 August 2007 11:58 (sixteen years ago) link
It's Ambient Sport
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 11:59 (sixteen years ago) link
I really isn't that difficult to get the basics, most people willfully decide that they will never know how it works so never try.
It's the subtleties that take the time, and make the game the greatest sport on Earth.
xpost, thats the joy it can be ambient, not much better than driving around your hols with TMS burbling away, or it can be mind blowingly nerve wracking like the 2005 Ashes.
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:03 (sixteen years ago) link
::HEAD EXPLODES::
― Masonic Boom, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:05 (sixteen years ago) link
most people wilfully decide that they will never know how it works so never try
OTM, it really doesn't take much effort to understand, unless you're playing the comedy foreigner/stranger (which I suspect quite a few people here are doing). It's also a sport of ambience AND action; when you're wandering about in the covers waiting for the ball to come your way you can ponder exalted things like the meaning of life or how they make yoghurt, but then WHACK, the batsman's just nailed one to your left, ARE YOU GONNA BE A BRO AND DIVE??
Plus, it's such a logical game, such a balanced game. There's more pertinent risk and reward than in most sports. There's individual human error, there's intense tactical manipulation, there's the lot. It rules.
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:09 (sixteen years ago) link
and it has more truly GREAT witticisms or moments of inspired chat than just about all the other sports combined.
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:11 (sixteen years ago) link
eg "The Batsman's wanking the Coxman's Balls, and he's Willey".
― Frogman Henry, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:14 (sixteen years ago) link
if we succeed in grasping it do we automatically become condescending wankers like you? jesus, you people remind me of the guy who taught my perl course a few weeks ago - "so, do you get it, tracer? you look lost! it's really not that difficult"
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:23 (sixteen years ago) link
It is sport. Ergo, I do not understand even the POINT of it, let alone the finer nuances of a game with rules so complex they're into their 37th edition since the Victorian age.
― Masonic Boom, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:25 (sixteen years ago) link
i think it's nice to watch people in white clothes stand around, run and leap in the sun
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Go away, you're not taking this thread seriously enough
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 12:32 (sixteen years ago) link
thank goodness
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:34 (sixteen years ago) link
"in you're interested in this topic you could try reading the thread, which is a good one, rather than cracking jokes about how asian cricketers are all meek and subservient"
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 12:35 (sixteen years ago) link
ya perl is easy
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:55 (sixteen years ago) link
perl is basically about people in white clothes standing around, running and leaping in the sun
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 12:56 (sixteen years ago) link
they dont even wear the white clothes anymore ;_;
― jhøshea, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:58 (sixteen years ago) link
it is like the polyphonic spree but with more balls
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 12:59 (sixteen years ago) link
... and better songs
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 12:59 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpsxaDvtOTw
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 13:01 (sixteen years ago) link
ok everyone im gonna try. this is what i got from louis' explanation in the other thread and from watching it some:
11 guys on a team. everyone gets a turn to swing the stick at the ball once or twice (depending on the type of match).
when you hit the ball you run from the stump youre standing near to the other one (and maybe back again depending on how far you hit it).
you get to keep swinging the stick at the ball over and over again until the ball hits the stump or is caught by the opposing team in the air - at which point you are out!
the field is round.
― jhøshea, Friday, 31 August 2007 13:06 (sixteen years ago) link
That'll do for now
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 13:08 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ the basics, beautifully rendered
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 13:09 (sixteen years ago) link
i'm just in a bad mood because the red sox got swept by the yankees
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 13:40 (sixteen years ago) link
well, my mood will alter depending upon whether my beloved worcestershire can pull off an unlikely and heroic victory against durham this afternoon.
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 13:42 (sixteen years ago) link
My mood was improved immeasurably on listening to Broad and Bopara bat last night - and noting that Stuart Broad looks like an elongated Ziggy (from Big Brother)
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 13:45 (sixteen years ago) link
*sigh* The pitch is oval.
― Stone Monkey, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:10 (sixteen years ago) link
*sigh* The pitch is rectangular, the ground is oval
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 14:11 (sixteen years ago) link
stone monkey, that is the worst piece of attempted pedantry i've ever seen
and there is only one Oval. (well, two if we're counting the one in barbados)
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:18 (sixteen years ago) link
wait a minute we ARE condescending pricks.
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:22 (sixteen years ago) link
:-D
let us now be welcoming and let the people taste cricket howsoever they wish
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link
oh baseball fans also need to understand this point: the batter and pitcher are both in the CENTER of the playing field! there are no foul balls. so hitting it behind you is just as good as hitting it in front of you. mindbending.
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:25 (sixteen years ago) link
*sigh* that's CENTRE not CENTER
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 14:27 (sixteen years ago) link
hitting it behind you is liable to have you caught by the wicketkeeper or the slips, though.
(the slips stand in an arc around from the wicketkeeper to the side you're facing when you're in your batting stance)
haha tom
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:28 (sixteen years ago) link
unless they are a leg slip.
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:30 (sixteen years ago) link
mate, sometimes even I don't understand leg slip
(newbies, leg slip is a very archaic position and it's never used EVER. unless alastair cook is batting.)
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:33 (sixteen years ago) link
cricket is sort of like if american football teams were allowed unlimited chances to advance 10 yards -- and you could score in either end zone
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Now you've lost me
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 14:41 (sixteen years ago) link
in the interests of transatlantic comity, here is an interesting page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_cricket_and_baseball
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link
I prefer to face the bowler myself.
― Dr.C, Friday, 31 August 2007 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Cricket's bowlers are grouped into different categories based on their bowling style—pacemen, seamers, off-spinners (or finger-spinners), leg-spinners (or wrist-spinners)
Uhhhhhhh, where is SWING bowling? Oops, forgot to sigh... *sigh*
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 14:49 (sixteen years ago) link
swing is just a feature of pace bowling
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link
How do you define "pace bowling" tho? I mean, if you're going to separate seamers from pacemen? You don't have to be a pace bowler to swing the ball, any more than you have to be a pace bowler to seam the ball surely?
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Tom it's wikipedia, just add "and so on" to that list
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
pacemen, seamers
does not compute, there are genuinely quick bowlers who also seam it about, e.g. makhaya ntini
― Just got offed, Friday, 31 August 2007 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Tom it's wikipedia
Yes, silly me
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 15:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Well that list is kind of bollocks.
There are Fast Bowlers 80-9, Mediums and Slow bowlers (who are 99% spinners)
Fast and Medium pacers can exploit swing.
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 15:27 (sixteen years ago) link
With some bowlers, swing is all they've got, hello Matthew Hoggard
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Sorry, that was a but unfair on Hoggy
― Tom D., Friday, 31 August 2007 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
You leave Hoggy alone....
― Jarlrmai, Friday, 31 August 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link
fao DJP & others, this is cricket distilled 2 its ~essence~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9x8STHMdRs
― imago, Saturday, 13 September 2014 00:05 (nine years ago) link
http://sportpulse.net/blog/top-25-most-handsome-cricketers-160801
― tangenttangent, Monday, 13 April 2015 16:33 (nine years ago) link
want to know what exactly Chris Gayle's sculpted physic is
― PORC EPIC SAVVAGE (imago), Monday, 13 April 2015 17:08 (nine years ago) link
Ricky Ponting????!!!!???
― Quack and Merkt (Tom D.), Monday, 13 April 2015 17:16 (nine years ago) link
always a good moment for Feminist Afridi
http://cache.pakistantoday.com.pk/Even-the-Feminist-Afridi-Tumblr-couldnt-offset-this-shoddy-outing.jpg
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 13 April 2015 17:17 (nine years ago) link
otm
shane watson's is the funniest inclusion/writeup
― PORC EPIC SAVVAGE (imago), Monday, 13 April 2015 17:34 (nine years ago) link
can only assume that anderson & broad are excluded on grounds of being cockroach england's enforcers
― PORC EPIC SAVVAGE (imago), Monday, 13 April 2015 17:38 (nine years ago) link
even the photo of Watson is perfect
altho as Tom points out, Ponting still looks like Ian Hislop with a weave
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 13 April 2015 17:39 (nine years ago) link
hott
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58600000/jpg/_58600362_beard_getty.jpg
― Keith Moom (Neil S), Monday, 13 April 2015 19:19 (nine years ago) link
beard_getty.jpg
Shikhar Dhawan was robbed, imo.
My brother's middle name is Imran entirely because my mother had a crush on yr man in the 80s tho.
― Ethnically Ambiguous / 28 - 45 (ShariVari), Monday, 13 April 2015 20:06 (nine years ago) link
isn't yr surname also, like,
― PORC EPIC SAVVAGE (imago), Monday, 13 April 2015 20:07 (nine years ago) link
yeah
Yep
― Ethnically Ambiguous / 28 - 45 (ShariVari), Monday, 13 April 2015 20:07 (nine years ago) link
as this is the cricket ephemera thread not the rolling cricket match thread i shan't ask you to pass comment on yr lads' rickety bowling or suliemann benn's fielding/presence in international sport, may revive the other one tho, which will confuse ppl
― PORC EPIC SAVVAGE (imago), Monday, 13 April 2015 20:09 (nine years ago) link