Cricket is hilarious

[jonf]

Please read the following article from the BBC website in full. You will likely be in stitches within about 2 paragraphs but please, stay with it until the end. And please, keep in mind this is not a joke. This is a real sport. And this is the real terminology. And yes..they do take tea breaks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cric...nd/5268560.stm

[Hank Hill]

Please read the following article from the BBC website in full. You will likely be in stitches within about 2 paragraphs but please, stay with it until the end. And please, keep in mind this is not a joke. This is a real sport. And this is the real terminology. And yes..they do take tea breaks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cric...nd/5268560.stm

This is actually a very rare occurance in cricket, but I can see how the game (even without this incident) can seem rather crazy to non-cricket people.

The most common response I get when I say I enjoy cricket is,"wow what a boring game, it lasts 5 days and is still always a tie".

While it is true that "test cricket" can last 5 days and games can be drawn (tied) it is far from boring and is actually a bloody good game to watch, especially live when the sun is out (rarely) and the beer is flowing (often).

You really have to watch the game to start to understand the rules and nuances of the game. There is also other forms of the game, namely "one day international" and "20/20 day night game".

Cricket is also a very fun game to play.

I am just biased but I believe that cricket is a superior sport to baseball (sorry) as the game varies drastically from day to day.

If you ever take a trip to one of the cricketing countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand, the Asian sub continent (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangledesh), West Indies, South Africa I urge you to go for a day and take in a game.

[jonf]

I was less astonished by the ball controversy than the other lingo. But yes, I do realize that it is a very very popular game. In face I was walking around Beacon Hill park yesterday and was a game going on - some of the fans were getting really into it. And that bowler ( I think that's what they're called) is just crazy. I can't fathom how people do that. At the same time - some of the language is hilarious. I particularly liked "silly point" and "fine yorker". Most of all though, I love the tea break.

[Hank Hill]

I was less astonished by the ball controversy than the other lingo. But yes, I do realize that it is a very very popular game. In face I was walking around Beacon Hill park yesterday and was a game going on - some of the fans were getting really into it. And that bowler ( I think that's what they're called) is just crazy. I can't fathom how people do that. At the same time - some of the language is hilarious. I particularly liked "silly point" and "fine yorker". Most of all though, I love the tea break.

Yep games typically start at 10am and there is a 40 min break for lunch, tea is a 20 in break at 3pm and close of play is usually around 5:30pm-6pm. I must admit that a lot of the terminology is pretty funny, here is a sample with explanations.

Silly Point: a fielding position right next to the batsman but off to the side, the fielder will often wear a helmet and shinpads for this position as it is really dangerous (and rarely used).

Googly: a type of spin delivery by a right-handed bowler.

Howzat: an appeal by the fielding side to the umpire to judge whether the batsman was out or not (literally "how's that")

Jaffa:a terrible deliberately bad delivery by a bowler.

Yorker: a type of delivery from a bowler that goes right for the batsmans toes.

Beamer: like a yorker but aimed at the batsmans head.

Bouncer: similar to a Beamer but will bounce high up at the batsmans head (to entice the batsman to try a hook shot).

Duck: A batsman scoring 0 runs during an inning.

Golden Duck: a batsman being dismissed by the first ball.

LBW (leg-before-wicket): This is a method of dismissal where the ball when having been bowled would normally strike the stumps if not for the fact it strikes the batsman’s leg first.

Nightwatchman: A player sent into bat who generally bats down the bottom of the order, but, is promoted up the order usually near the end of a days play when a wicket has fallen. This is to prevent another top order batsman being dismissed in bad light so he can play in good conditions the next day.

The tail waggled: The bottom order (mainly bowlers who can't bat that well) score a lot of runs instead of being dismissed easily.

Pie thrower: a bowler of poor quality.

That's enough for now, enjoy!

[spackler]

I listened to a lot of cricket on ABC radio while driving around Australia a few years back. It was the only station you could get in a lot of parts of the country, and Australia was playing a test against India at the time, so there was wall to wall coverage. With the huge distances we were travelling, I actually got to understand cricket and got quite into it. Shane Warren racked up his record wicket in that test and one of the coolest things I brought back from the trip was a Shane Warren model cricket set. Once my boy and my nephews get a bit older, there will definitely be cricket in the nearby park. I'll be hitting for 6s every time.

[Hank Hill]

I listened to a lot of cricket on ABC radio while driving around Australia a few years back. It was the only station you could get in a lot of parts of the country, and Australia was playing a test against India at the time, so there was wall to wall coverage. With the huge distances we were travelling, I actually got to understand cricket and got quite into it. Shane Warren racked up his record wicket in that test and one of the coolest things I brought back from the trip was a Shane Warren model cricket set. Once my boy and my nephews get a bit older, there will definitely be cricket in the nearby park. I'll be hitting for 6s every time.

Would that be "Shane Warne"? or is this Warren fella someone I've never heard of?

[Hank Hill]

FAO Jonf: Can I surmise by your avatar that you are a fan of Man Utd? The Lancashire cricket team also play at a stadium known as Old Trafford, can cause quite a bit of confusion for the out of towners.

"Waaa, Man Utd in white.....but what are they doing with those pieces of wood, it sure looks different on the TV, is that Ryan Giggs?".

["Richard"]

How nice of you to make fun of my country's national sport...

[covanant]

Well,we just assumed because the ball had been tampered with,you were on the team (peanut butter perhaps?)

[spackler]

Would that be "Shane Warne"? or is this Warren fella someone I've never heard of?

Yeah, yeah, pathetic... I still find it funny that the only place that Shane Warne's name appears on the set is on the bat, seems like a bad omen or something.

[LobWedge]

Well,we just assumed because the ball had been tampered with,you were on the team (peanut butter perhaps?)

LMAO! That's a wicked googly!!

[manitoulin]

I don't know the game but i'm sure it must be fun. I wouldn't mind playing it someday.