Topic: News of the cricketing world

[Rivers]

The great Sachin Tendulkar retires - http://sports.yahoo.com/news/legend-tendulkar-tearfully-bows-game-071641335--spt.html

Saw him play a couple of times for India against NZ, really a class act, electrifying in fact. Top notch athlete, will be missed by cricket fans everywhere.

And such a nice human being.

[harvey]

Unusual to see a cricket thread on this forum ....

But well worth it, one of the worlds all time sporting greats has retired. If I was ever coaching young bats men I would say study Tendulkar for the perfect technique and temperament.

Good luck Sachin !

[Prof Scratchy]

Brilliant player. Bnemerov's undoubted favourite!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[Rivers]

I was fortunate to be present to witness Tendulkur turn a couple of pedestrian matches into major events, where he had people who were previously starting to doze-off up on their feet jumping up and down, including me. Saw him playing with an international allstars team, including Imran Khan, against NZ. The world needs more of that kind of spirit.

As I recall it he always had a wave for the fans as he walked onto the pitch and off it. We will miss him. I don't go much for sporting heroes but Sachin I will always respect. Got a lot of time for Imran as well, you really had to be there to appreciate these guys.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tendulkar-pakistan-tribute/25169615.html

[pete1951]

I was once asked to make a lap-steel out of a cricket bat..... It would have been a good thing to add to this thread...... If I do, I will post a pic.
PT

[Rivers]

OMG, WTF, 5-0 whitewash in the Ashes 

This is not good. But England's been there before, and... well actually they're still there, but even worse.

Time for a major shakeup, or I may have to start watching American sports. Naaaah, only joking. 

[Norfolk Slim]

Its been quite, quite horrible.  Every night, staying up late, lying in bed as the coverage starts, then switching off half an hour later when my renewed optimism has been blown to pieces once again.

Too many senior players have pretty much given up.  Theyve run out of energy, determination and application. 

The bowlers have been okay for the most part, but I agree a big shakeup is required now.

[alyoung]

On a brighter note... New Zealand batsman Corey Anderson smacked a century off 36 balls in a one-dayer against the West Indies last week to break the world record. One swallow doesn't even come close to a summer, but NZ has just won a test series against the Windies ... imagine that happening a few years ago. Commiseration to you Poms; the Aussies are bloody hard work at home, and your guys did seem to run out of bottle. Better luck next time. [Now, how many of our regular American readers even understand WTF this discussion is about....]

[ScottN]

Odd...no discussion of Buddy Holly...or Don Bradman...go Red Sox ;-)

[dj]

Now, how many of our regular American readers even understand WTF this discussion is about....

Well, here's one, thanks in part to Austrailan singer Paul Kelly's song Bradman - the best song ever written about any sport - and in part to the fact that not far from me is a field (a glorified cow pasture, actually) where the local Caribbean and South Asian communities regularly play cricket.

But really, what do we want?  Baseball.  When do we want it?  NOW!  Go Mets (and Red Sox).

[Rivers]

I missed that snippet re the kiwis Al, I'd better put 'cricket' as a news item in my google news setup.

Baseball's good, I've been to several games in Austin, minor league but hey, it's a nice day out, and I like the cultural buzz of pure Americana munching hotdogs in the stands while watching the game. I could do without all the show biz glitz, tee shirt cannons, jumbotrons, wurlitzers, annoying mascots prancing around dressed up as animals with giant heads, ad freakin' infinitum, it detracts from the game. I'm like, "jeez, just play ball already..."

Back to cricket, really great to see Afghanistan, yes I did say Afghanistan, qualifying for the 2015 World Cup, http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/cricket/2014/01/from-refugee-camp-cricket-world-cup-20141493217988933.html - clearly that's positive on a lot of levels, I hope they do well and provide a few upsets. If there was a Buzkashi World Cup the Afghans would be hard to beat but, failing that, cricket, brought home by returning refugees from NW Pakistan, is the very thing.

[blueshome]

Hooray! Another team likely to beat us.

I wish the moderator would remove this whole cricket thing- it's too painful at the moment. We certainly know how to lose.

[dj]

I could do without all the show biz glitz, tee shirt cannons, jumbotrons, wurlitzers, annoying mascots prancing around dressed up as animals with giant heads, ad freakin' infinitum, it detracts from the game. I'm like, "jeez, just play ball already..."

I absolutely agree with the sentiments expressed above.  I assume they don't have stuff like that in professional cricket?  If they don't, it's just a matter of time...

[Prof Scratchy]

The sentiments may be OK. The syntax ain't.

[bnemerov]

Prof. Scratchy is referring, in his 1st post, to my hearty laughter (and his, when he reread the pages) at Bill Bryson's lengthy description of Cricket in his Australian travel book "In a Sunburned Country."

A short excerpt:
 "After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players -- more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.

Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute's pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher's mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress's strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a misstroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket.

The mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each other's noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished over night and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it."