Howzat!?! Is this cricket?
February 6, 2009 12:31 AM   Subscribe

The player auctions and trades for the Indian Premier League are underway, with some players signing contracts for record sums. This is the first year that ECB-registered players can play in the IPL, and the ECB and county cricket clubs are watching the auctions closely. Tensions between players on the England team and county clubs with IPL players have been noted. With the growth of Twenty20 and concerns about its impact on playing style, the injection of so much money and spectacle, it might be fair to ask is this cricket?
posted by Grrlscout (31 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Twenty20:Youtube:: Test cricket:Tarr Bela.
The end. This thread has been resolved.
So now post cricket clips. Yay.
posted by pita at 12:54 AM on February 6, 2009


Screw Twenty20. I can not wait for the Aussie/SA test at Newlands in March.
posted by PenDevil at 1:05 AM on February 6, 2009


Post clips or die. Look at the tags on this one.
posted by pita at 1:09 AM on February 6, 2009


Can't see any difference? You think it is usual?
National Geographic at its best.
posted by whiterussian at 1:15 AM on February 6, 2009


wyexoos usolem uprolli bole LAI TXIS
posted by pita at 1:20 AM on February 6, 2009


If only someone could call the third umpire on Modi.

---

As for cricket, ODIs should be phased out gradually to the occasional appearance that international T20s presently suffer. In the long run, competition involving national colours should be restricted to Tests and quadrennial World Cups (sorta like in football now) and limited-overs fixtures being league-based, with the exceptional exhibition/charity ODI.
posted by Gyan at 1:25 AM on February 6, 2009


Gyan blah blah blah blah blah blah wheres the xoos
posted by pita at 1:30 AM on February 6, 2009




xoo woewa cxekiouwmens loo lillee 'threw his toys out of the pram' loo loo loo
posted by pita at 1:42 AM on February 6, 2009 [2 favorites]


Well, at least it's not Quiz Bowl.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 2:20 AM on February 6, 2009


Thanks for the aluminium bat youtube post pita. That was quite bizarre. I'd never heard about that incident.
posted by Sitegeist at 2:51 AM on February 6, 2009


How to play cricket for the American baseball fan:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.
posted by netbros at 4:24 AM on February 6, 2009 [4 favorites]


Nice one netbros, I read that in a George Carlin voice.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 6:02 AM on February 6, 2009


Gyan blah blah blah blah blah blah wheres the xoos
Ummm, what?
posted by the cydonian at 6:10 AM on February 6, 2009


erm....schloopdy woopbxoo glibololollitty allanborder fwibble harrumalumaphawollodiar SIX!!!
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:14 AM on February 6, 2009


No link to post right now, but bippity boppity boo have my tickets for 3 days each of the third and fourth Ashes tests this summer and can't wait to see Australia get spankiepooed tikka masalawallah
posted by Grrlscout at 9:43 AM on February 6, 2009


IPL teams have cheerleaders, some from the NFL, who know nothing at all about cricket. Well, I'm assuming they don't.

It's a spectacle to watch and as a cricket convert (thanks to my Trinidadian hubby), I have to say that 20-20 is more to my taste than trad test matches. But that's just me.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:59 AM on February 6, 2009


ah, Australia are hazar fucked. lost comfortably to New Zealand tonight; now 2-0 down in the series. bring back Warney, say I. at least, take him on tour so the English players are too concerned about their wives to concentrate on the game.
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:06 AM on February 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


As a Yank who knew nothing of the sport and happened to see a Test match on TV while in UK and another while in South Africa, I was baffled to see the same game continued over a number of days. I can see Twenty20 as a good way to win converts, and get the notion of the game across to people who know nothing.

Sadly, those sums are large for a single player, but they are far from obscene. Sure, they're great at their given sport, but it's just a sport. But I digress.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:19 AM on February 6, 2009


We all can play Mefi cricket right here! Who'll join my team. I don't want that Bieloruss on my team. Ok ok maybe I'll pick him last. Dunno. Ok so who's in.
posted by pita at 4:08 PM on February 6, 2009


I pick all the Seth Efrikens!
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:11 PM on February 6, 2009


Who'll join my team. I don't want that Bieloruss on my team. Ok ok maybe I'll pick him last. Dunno. Ok so who's in.
некомпетентный бык. не хочу играть с тобой.
posted by whiterussian at 5:12 PM on February 6, 2009


Ok so who's in.

Pick me pick me! I have a pretty good googly, can fumble out a flipper, a pretty nasty yorker, and love pushing it out deep past the gully and around silly mid off.
(And you yanks thought the game itself was confusing - try the terminology)
posted by nudar at 7:39 PM on February 6, 2009


but can you bowl a maiden over?
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:57 PM on February 6, 2009


Filthy light thief - point taken, but keep in mind that the Flintoff & Pietersen bids were for three weeks of play only. For a sport that at least in England likes to keep its amateur edges, you're talking about major culture shift. All that "gentlemen's agreement" veneer to cricket isn't just an act. Bringing that kind of money and bidding feels a bit like bringing in a bunch of professional football agent wideboys to a family bbq.

Ethnomethodologist - next time there's a championship/test on, just put it up on cricinfo or some other site, or on TV in the background, and let the match unfold. Cricket grows on you. It's a bit of a slow burn. The push and pull between teams and players, bowlers and batsmen, and partners gets to be pretty absorbing after a while. It's one of the most subtle and powerful games there is. T20's a good night out, but there's no time for any of what I've just described to happen in 20 overs. Batsmen just swing wildly, bowlers tend to just chuck the ball down the wicket. It's a mess.

Pick me for the MeFi First XI and you'll get a pretty unflinching starting batsman. Batswoman. Whatever! My fielding isn't half bad, either.

UbiRoivas seems to have the right sort of evil clown sledging spirit for a top class wicket keeper... Warney indeed!
posted by Grrlscout at 10:28 PM on February 6, 2009


As for cricket, ODIs should be phased out gradually to the occasional appearance that international T20s presently suffer.

Now, I haven't watched an ODI series live on TV in a long long time (the cricket channel is expensive :-( ), so this current India - Sri Lanka series was an interesting experience. Seems to me that 6-runs-an-over chases are now the norm in ODI's; it's only when it creeps _above_ that mark after the 40th over that people start to get really concerned. While the emasculation of bowlers (powerplays, free-hits etc) is one clear reason, the other seems to be the impact of Twenty20's. I'm thinking ODI's are fast becoming a longer version of Twenty20's; unlike Tests, you don't apparently need a different mindset to perform in both.

Meanwhile, it's getting crowded at the top in the official ICC ODI rankings.
posted by the cydonian at 10:28 PM on February 6, 2009


evil clown sledging spirit for a top class wicket keeper.

that's nothing. apparently, Ian Healey used to eat fucktons of baked beans (a la Warney) and when keeping up near the stumps would let rip tremendous farts to put the batsmen off.
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:01 AM on February 7, 2009


the cydonian: While the emasculation of bowlers (powerplays, free-hits etc) is one clear reason, the other seems to be the impact of Twenty20's.

Well, Powerplays are a more flexible and slightly enhanced variation on the fielding restrictions that have already been in place for about 15 years now. Free hits also have a low success rate. I think the advent of T20s as well as the general emergence of an aggressive cricketing attitude is primarily responsible. And for the better.
posted by Gyan at 1:47 AM on February 7, 2009


The English team must be happy that the auction was yesterday.
posted by Gyan at 12:18 PM on February 7, 2009


Yeah, it was pretty poor. Geoffrey Boycott's been pretty scathing about the St Kitts tour. If they keep on at this rate, I might be sobbing into my Pimms this summer...
posted by Grrlscout at 12:58 AM on February 9, 2009


Fuck I hate cricket.
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:05 PM on February 12, 2009


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