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Sep 14, 2005, 12:01am

Everythings off topic now, so...

Contracts to the English Cricket Team(s) on Both winning the ashes back from
ausieland, to all the Aussies in AW, your team put up a good fight but just
wernt good enough.

For everyone who doesnt know what cricket is, its a game of skill, where the
game often moves at over 90 miles an hour straight at your body, and you
only get minor protection, no huge body armour.

--
- Mark Randall
http://zetech.swehli.com

"Those people that think they know everything are a great annoyance to those
of us who do"
Isaac Asimov

Sep 14, 2005, 12:59am

sounds ALOT like baseball here in the states, but why are there ashes in
that urn? LOL


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Sep 14, 2005, 1:05am

"> For everyone who doesnt know what cricket is, its a game of skill, where
the
> game often moves at over 90 miles an hour straight at your body, and you
> only get minor protection, no huge body armour."

And yet despite all of that, they are too big a bunch of *ussies to play in
the rain, and have 5 day matches! :)
oh, and have some funky sort of scoring, no idea how it works, but it always
looks something like 150-12 to 110 or something like that!

-SWE

Sep 14, 2005, 2:30am

The ashes have been played for approximately 125 years,

They were named after the Australians slaughtered the English in 1882, and a
leading newspaper.

It read: "In affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The
Oval, 29th August 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances. RIP. N.B. The body will be cremated and the ashes
taken to Australia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ashes_notice_facsimile.png

One of the bails (the small pieces of wood that are placed on top of the
stumps and must be knocked off to be out by being bowled / run out) was
cremated, and put in a small urn.

http://www.rlca.com.pk/wallpapers/bails.jpg

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a brief introduction to cricket.

You have 2 teams, each has 11 people on it, + 1, each team takes it in turn
to either bat or bowl.

http://www.scorpio-sports.co.uk/shop/images/products/as1tone.jpg

In batting, 2 batsmen play simultainiously at either end of the wicket, the
bowler bowls at the 'on strike' batsman who (attempts) to hit it, they can
hit it out into the field and then score 'runs' by both running between the
stumpts at either end of the wicket. They can be 'run out' if a fielder gets
the ball, and throws it towards the stumps, knocking the 'bails' off. Bats
are made of willow and are quite the expensive item, each one is polished
and oiled on a yearly basis.

http://www.saathee.com/TheCricketForum/cricket%20ball.jpg

A batsman can also hit the ball over the boundary (the edge of the field),
if it bounces 4 runs are scored automatically, if it goes over without
bouncing 6 runs are scored. If a fielder catches the ball directly after it
bounces off the bat or batsmens gloves (ie: without bouncing) this is called
caught out.

Each team typically has a set number of overs to score as many runs as they
can, this is cut short if 10 players are out (at the end, one player will
remain 'not out' but the laws of the game state you must have two!)

The team positions then switch around, the objective of the new batsmen is
to score more runs than the opposing team, the objective of the now bowling
side is to dismiss them 'take their wickets' before they do so.

When the bowling team claims to have a wicket (when its not bloody obvious,
ie: the wickets got smashed in half) the team makes a plea by shouting
'Howzat' at the top of their voices at the umpires.

One umpire stands at behind the set of wickets opposite the current batsman,
this is the end that the bowler runs from, there are various kinds of
bowler, spin (where the bowler impartss a strong angular rotation on the
ball around its seam using his wrist), seem (where half of the ball is more
shiny, making the ball move away from that side while in flight) or fast
(upto 100 miles an hour!).

Mainly due to the last point, cricket is effected a lot by weather, the
pitch needs to be of excellent quallity for professional games as being hit
by the ball without chance to react can lead to severe physical injury, and
often puts people in hospital, myself included.

Partially to stop this, the batsmen wears 2 pads on his legs, these serve as
both protection and part of the game, where the batsman can defelect the
slower balls away with them. However, the perhaps most difficult part of
this is the LBW (leg before wicket) law, which states that if the ball
pitches in such a way that it is aligned with the stumps, and will go on to
hit, the batsmen is dimissed LBW. In addition to this, international players
wear 1 inch internal padding next to the ribs (a hit on the chest would
instantly shatter the entire section of the ribcage) and a helmet (to avoid
your skull being caved in).

The game is utterly professional and players must have a healthy respect for
eachother, in the professional game a player may be fined a large percentage
of his match fee 80% if he acts agressively. Also, the umpires descision is
final and should never be challenged out of respect.

In a test match (the ashes for example) each game consists of 4 turns, (ie:
each side should bat and bowl once), the 'runs' for each side are added for
each match. A draw occurs when you run out of overs, the batsmen have not
reached the target, but you have not bowled all the opposition out. This
happened several times in the ashes, however; most have come down to 2 or 3
balls.

Cricket is the most popular sport in the commonwealth.

--
- Mark Randall
http://zetech.swehli.com

"Those people that think they know everything are a great annoyance to those
of us who do"
Isaac Asimov

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Sep 14, 2005, 2:32am

150 - 4 = Scored 150 runs, but 5 batsmen have been out / dismissed.

150 - 9 = Really bad news for batsmen.

--
- Mark Randall
http://zetech.swehli.com

"Those people that think they know everything are a great annoyance to those
of us who do"
Isaac Asimov

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Sep 14, 2005, 7:47am

Cricket it too complicated for some countries.. they just don't have the
pationce

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Sep 14, 2005, 11:40am

Congratulations..

I've been waiting 15 years to say that England.
Sure, you beat us this time, but check the ratio.



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Sep 15, 2005, 7:29am

Well look on the bright side it could actually get lower when we win again
:)

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Sep 16, 2005, 10:08pm

Yes Jolly Good show, WE own the Ashes!!! Been a long old slog, but we made
it chaps and chapesses,
Bravo for the boys in the team they did England proud and all in good time
to have tea and biscuits on the lawn.
Splendid work, we own the Ashes once more!! Gave them Australians what for!
Howzat!


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Oct 3, 2005, 1:22pm

*mumbles bad words under his breath*

I still havnt recoverd but all I can say is Dame Edna stole the ashes and
brought it home to the AFL Grand Final only later to be ambushed by a mob of
angry poms and mugged.....

SHAME SHAME SHAME now if you will excuse me I have to frown my miserys in
this bottle of vodka.

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