ODI cricket not dead yet
November 21, 2023 11:16 AM Subscribe
Why the 50-over Cricket World Cup is more vital than ever in modern era. In the moments after Australia’s historic victory over India on Sunday, a euphoric Pat Cummins described how this Cricket World Cup had made him “fall in love with ODI cricket again”. Going by the numbers at least, it appears he wasn’t alone.
Jomboy breaks down Australia's Glenn Maxwell's historic batting vs Afghanistan earlier in the tournament.
Wait! ODI cricket? What the hell is that? I thought cricket was just a week long affair.
Jomboy breaks down Australia's Glenn Maxwell's historic batting vs Afghanistan earlier in the tournament.
Wait! ODI cricket? What the hell is that? I thought cricket was just a week long affair.
I'm not into cricket but from what I understand India was just steamrolling everyone during the World Cup up to the final where Australia won. Normally I wouldn't care who won but seeing how this took place in Gujrat, India, in a stadium named after Narendra Modi, seeing news of Australia's victory did bring a smile to my face.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:09 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:09 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
From the person who brought us the amazing covid tale of when an entire truck full of rice was delivered to their sister's house (a non Twitter link), (alas on twitter) a response to India's loss:
Because I'm from a super rational country, I now have spoken to 2 separate people who claim they will not vote for Modi because we've never won a world title since he took powerposted by spamandkimchi at 1:05 PM on November 21, 2023 [11 favorites]
Whatever floats your boat I guess, if it isn't record youth unemployment and widespread erosion of civil rights that turns you against the govt, might as well be the best cricket team we've ever had
Pat Cummins seems like an incredible rarity in Australian men’s cricket, a genuinely nice and rounded human being.
Afghanistan’s inclusion in international cricket at all seems to be in pretty poor taste. That country opposes women’s cricket to the point that the erstwhile team is mostly in exile…
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:08 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
Afghanistan’s inclusion in international cricket at all seems to be in pretty poor taste. That country opposes women’s cricket to the point that the erstwhile team is mostly in exile…
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:08 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
I'm not into cricket but from what I understand India was just steamrolling everyone during the World Cup up to the final where Australia won.
India were undefeated in the tournament until the final, including drubbing Australia in the first round of the Group Stage. A humbled Australia then proceeded to a historical loss in the second round, this time to South Africa, before righting the ship and proceeding on to the final.
As in all things, it is better to be lucky than good, but it helps if you can do both. This ABC (no, the other one) summary of what went right pretty much covers the basics.
posted by zamboni at 1:23 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
India were undefeated in the tournament until the final, including drubbing Australia in the first round of the Group Stage. A humbled Australia then proceeded to a historical loss in the second round, this time to South Africa, before righting the ship and proceeding on to the final.
As in all things, it is better to be lucky than good, but it helps if you can do both. This ABC (no, the other one) summary of what went right pretty much covers the basics.
posted by zamboni at 1:23 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Everything I have read about this world cup suggests that it was a really magnificent tournament. I'm disappointed that Australia won, but you really can't have everything.
posted by plonkee at 1:54 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by plonkee at 1:54 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Holy cow, that catch by Travis Head is really something!
posted by phliar at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by phliar at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I enjoy letting the utter incomprehensibility of cricket wash pleasantly over me, like a warm bath of differential equations. Baseball is similiar, but with more shouting.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
it's actually very simple - man with ball wants to smash the sticks, man with stick wants to smash the balls. everyone is waiting around until the ball comes to them.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:02 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 3:02 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
My gob is totally smacked.
WTF?
On Diwali (last Sunday) I spent the whole day catching up on this world cup and rolling my eyes at how thoroughly India was defeating everyone else? Like I ranted to my friends that this game is dying as a world sport and it will only survive as the subcontinental version of baseball. Lamenting.
India had BATSMEN take turns BOWLING in one of the matches where the other team was losing so badly that nothing mattered anymore, I could hardly believe it was happening in a World Cup. (Btw that batsman who bowled took a wicket. W.T.F.)
Now you're telling me they lost to Australia? Don't get me wrong, Australia used to be a powerhouse until recently and even 5 years ago this loss would not be surprising. What the hell happened here?
posted by MiraK at 3:45 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
WTF?
On Diwali (last Sunday) I spent the whole day catching up on this world cup and rolling my eyes at how thoroughly India was defeating everyone else? Like I ranted to my friends that this game is dying as a world sport and it will only survive as the subcontinental version of baseball. Lamenting.
India had BATSMEN take turns BOWLING in one of the matches where the other team was losing so badly that nothing mattered anymore, I could hardly believe it was happening in a World Cup. (Btw that batsman who bowled took a wicket. W.T.F.)
Now you're telling me they lost to Australia? Don't get me wrong, Australia used to be a powerhouse until recently and even 5 years ago this loss would not be surprising. What the hell happened here?
posted by MiraK at 3:45 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
How much does India love cricket? When Disney lost the streaming rights, they lost 12.5 million of their 40 million Indian subscribers.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:47 PM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:47 PM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Now you're telling me they lost to Australia?
For ODI, it’s not even their first loss to Australia this year.
posted by zamboni at 4:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
For ODI, it’s not even their first loss to Australia this year.
posted by zamboni at 4:58 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
What the hell happened here?
A senior editor of ESPN Cricinfo wrote an article that amounts to "Because Australia" (in fact, that phrase ends the second paragraph; and the entirety of the first paragraph is, "Australia.")
Australia "used to be a powerhouse" in the sense that Mitch Hedberg used to do drugs. They had a year or two of struggle after the ball tampering incident in 2018, but they still made the semis of the 2019 ODI World Cup, won the 2021 T20 World Cup, won the 2021-23 World Test Championship, have held the Ashes since 2017, and now have taken their 6th ODI World Cup (nobody else has more than two). India's about the only team you could say has had it over on them in the last few years.
I'm a relatively recent cricket fan but even I was thinking before the match, "Watch Australia pull this off." They're that team. They're the Brady Patriots; the Saban Tide; the House in blackjack. I'm an England fan mostly, with love for the West Indies and New Zealand, so it's not like I wanted to see it, but at the same time it was not entirely a shock. It was also a brilliant and gutsy gameplan executed very, very well.
posted by tarnish at 5:01 PM on November 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
A senior editor of ESPN Cricinfo wrote an article that amounts to "Because Australia" (in fact, that phrase ends the second paragraph; and the entirety of the first paragraph is, "Australia.")
Australia "used to be a powerhouse" in the sense that Mitch Hedberg used to do drugs. They had a year or two of struggle after the ball tampering incident in 2018, but they still made the semis of the 2019 ODI World Cup, won the 2021 T20 World Cup, won the 2021-23 World Test Championship, have held the Ashes since 2017, and now have taken their 6th ODI World Cup (nobody else has more than two). India's about the only team you could say has had it over on them in the last few years.
I'm a relatively recent cricket fan but even I was thinking before the match, "Watch Australia pull this off." They're that team. They're the Brady Patriots; the Saban Tide; the House in blackjack. I'm an England fan mostly, with love for the West Indies and New Zealand, so it's not like I wanted to see it, but at the same time it was not entirely a shock. It was also a brilliant and gutsy gameplan executed very, very well.
posted by tarnish at 5:01 PM on November 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
India had BATSMEN take turns BOWLING in one of the matches where the other team was losing so badly that nothing mattered anymore
Yup, India v. Netherlands had some strong Stop, he’s already dead! energy.
(Btw that batsman who bowled took a wicket. W.T.F.)
Kohli and Sharma can have a little wicket as a treat. (Technically they have 5 and 9 career ODI wickets respectively.) India tried out four non-specialist bowlers as an experiment, given Pandya stuffed his ankle in the Bangladesh match.
posted by zamboni at 7:11 PM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yup, India v. Netherlands had some strong Stop, he’s already dead! energy.
(Btw that batsman who bowled took a wicket. W.T.F.)
Kohli and Sharma can have a little wicket as a treat. (Technically they have 5 and 9 career ODI wickets respectively.) India tried out four non-specialist bowlers as an experiment, given Pandya stuffed his ankle in the Bangladesh match.
posted by zamboni at 7:11 PM on November 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
In cricket's evolution, One-Day should ultimately be looked at as a transitional format - an intermediate between the 'pure' mettle-testing format of a Test and the entertainment spectacle that is T20. It has a lot of dead time in the middle - even in the final, India avoided trying for boundaries in the middle 30 overs, so as to ensure their innings didn't end early.
The dwindling interest and audience is precisely why England introduced the T20 format. The new format allows those returning from work or school to catch the entire game, like in all other major sports. Even in the India league stage games, the stadium would be at best half-full during the first innings. It is also what allows Olympics to add cricket in the 2028 games. An 8-hour contest just wouldn't work in that cramped schedule.
Don't let nostalgic attachment let the format limp along for a brief burst once every four years.
posted by Gyan at 8:56 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
The dwindling interest and audience is precisely why England introduced the T20 format. The new format allows those returning from work or school to catch the entire game, like in all other major sports. Even in the India league stage games, the stadium would be at best half-full during the first innings. It is also what allows Olympics to add cricket in the 2028 games. An 8-hour contest just wouldn't work in that cramped schedule.
Don't let nostalgic attachment let the format limp along for a brief burst once every four years.
posted by Gyan at 8:56 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
I spent the last several years working on major global media events for a big CDN and Cricket streaming in India was, by far, the most challenging. The sheer audience size aside, you need to adjust all of your expectations of what constitutes a problem free broadcast when so many people are watching via high latency mobile networks on a vast array of past-end-of-life mobile devices. Nothing about live broadcasting is easy, but ICC T20 was another level entirely.
posted by neuracnu at 11:18 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by neuracnu at 11:18 PM on November 21, 2023 [4 favorites]
All cricket suffers from the structural problem that games tend to peter out: you have to play through to the conclusion even though it’s often obvious who’s going to win long before the end.
Test cricket at least has a second innings, and time for the game to swing back and forth a bit before you reach that point, and despite all the jokes about playing for 5 days with no result, the possibility of playing for a draw helps keep some games interesting even when one team has no realistic chance of winning.
But watching an ODI match where the first team scores big, and the second team loses three quick wickets and is already behind the run rate: you basically know what’s going to happen but it’s going to take another three hours. It’s all the more exciting when there is a miraculous comeback or a tight finish, but it can be a real slog.
So I wouldn’t be too sad to see the end of 50 over cricket (F50?), even though it can be brilliant. I’m more worried about the sustainability of Test cricket, honestly.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:31 AM on November 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Test cricket at least has a second innings, and time for the game to swing back and forth a bit before you reach that point, and despite all the jokes about playing for 5 days with no result, the possibility of playing for a draw helps keep some games interesting even when one team has no realistic chance of winning.
But watching an ODI match where the first team scores big, and the second team loses three quick wickets and is already behind the run rate: you basically know what’s going to happen but it’s going to take another three hours. It’s all the more exciting when there is a miraculous comeback or a tight finish, but it can be a real slog.
So I wouldn’t be too sad to see the end of 50 over cricket (F50?), even though it can be brilliant. I’m more worried about the sustainability of Test cricket, honestly.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 1:31 AM on November 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am enjoying the "Go Woke, Go Win" memes, validating Australian captain Pat Cummings in the face of previous belittling by the conservative media for his fairly mild opinions.
posted by other barry at 4:57 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by other barry at 4:57 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Unfortunately as of yesterday, “transgender women [are] banned from playing international women's cricket by ICC” :
In September, Canada's Danielle McGahey became the first transgender cricketer to play an official international game. […]posted by autopilot at 5:07 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
McGahey played six T20 internationals at an ICC T20 World Cup qualifying tournament in Los Angeles, where she made 118 runs in six innings at an average of 19.66.
Her top score was a 45-ball 48 against Brazil.
She received the news of her ban from a lawyer at the ICC on 14 November and expressed her disappointment at the decision following the announcement.
Unfortunately as of yesterday, “transgender women [are] banned from playing international women's cricket by ICC”
Well, if they insist on classifying trans women as men, they're going to have to keep admitting them to their private members' clubs, aren't they?
posted by Cardinal Fang at 5:47 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well, if they insist on classifying trans women as men, they're going to have to keep admitting them to their private members' clubs, aren't they?
posted by Cardinal Fang at 5:47 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
India started off the final looking like it would be just like all their other matches, but as soon as Australia managed to send off the opening partnership, their bats turned into wobbly fishes.
As a newbie to cricket (I've mostly managed to grasp it all except for some lingo), I enjoy the ODI, particularly since Willow allows me to watch it in chunks at my own pace. T20 is fun for seeing the ball flying, but I like the pace and energy levels of the ODI (coming to this as a lifelong baseball fan), whereas Test cricket is something I'm still settling into. The batters in ODI have just the right mix of caution and urgency in their approach that make every throw interesting.
posted by dry white toast at 11:14 AM on November 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
As a newbie to cricket (I've mostly managed to grasp it all except for some lingo), I enjoy the ODI, particularly since Willow allows me to watch it in chunks at my own pace. T20 is fun for seeing the ball flying, but I like the pace and energy levels of the ODI (coming to this as a lifelong baseball fan), whereas Test cricket is something I'm still settling into. The batters in ODI have just the right mix of caution and urgency in their approach that make every throw interesting.
posted by dry white toast at 11:14 AM on November 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
If you don't understand cricket, I can suggest a few options:
a) DM's Guide To Cricket is a good starting place, although there have been certain… developments since 2006.
b) Just roll with it
c) conclude that this thread may not be for you, and move on to the next post.
Option d), posting 'hurf durf cricket man talk funny I don't understand the words' is on a level with 'Is this something I'd need a TV to understand?', 'sportsball sucks anyway', or 'NOPE NOPE NOPE' in a post about spiders. There are many other fine threads to participate in, and I heartily commend option c to you.
posted by zamboni at 12:04 PM on November 21, 2023 [23 favorites]