It just isn't cricket

[longeared]

"Hands in the air, Lords!" - Jax Jones, August 21st 2021.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/guardian_sport/status/1429867873057525767?s=20

[Nesta]

Cricket administrators are breadheaded enough to make football blazers look like mendicant friars

[Nesta]

to make Chuck Blazer look like etc

[Levin]

I went yesterday. I have a friend who wanted to see a woman's game last year but they were all sold out by then. It was scorching hot, with no shade. I've got access as a member but as I wanted to sit with the people I went with I had to buy a full price ticket, (unlike the blast which allows you to take a zero cost seat in the paying section if you're also buying full price tickets).

It was really good, a much wider range of people than the blast. A lot less alcohol being consumed, not that this means there weren't some very drunk people. Also, people had brought loads of beach balls, why?

I know the score presentation on TV and scoreboard is different, but it does really make sense if you're not familiar with the old way of doing it. The DJ had a good mix of tunes, proper leaning into modern, dance and dnb. No sweet Caroline. One thing I did feel was that the soundtrack overrode things like applauding batters off. Everything was focussed on the new batter, making it hard to acknowledge the one leaving.

Personally I could do without the two in stadium presenters doing crowd interaction.

I get that it was hot, and a lot of people had been in direct sunlight for three hours but I don't really understand why about a third of the crowd fucked off after the men's game. It was rather dispiriting given that this was the first women's fixture, and the only one where the Women's game is headlining.

But all in all, it was fun. I've ordered a Wong Butterkist shirt. I'll go to another women's game quite happily if I'm free.

One thing I've been thinking about for a little while is atmosphere. And how it differs between cricket and football. Cricket is punctuated with applause and cheers for boundaries and wickets and fielding excellence. It's been decades since I've been to a game where a bowler is consistently roared on in their delivery. Oh, it happens here and again, if they are on a hatrick or something, but in general, the crowd reacts to things on the field. It takes a whole game of slowly ratcheting tension to get a cricket crowd really involved. The tie I saw in the Royal London last week was fantastic at the end, but for the most part it had that same 'cricket' soundtrack. Now this is going to be in large part due to me being in England, and watching at the Oval, but I was also wondering if it contrasts with football because it's easier to see moves build up. Despite the slogan, every ball isn't going to matter but you're only going to know which ones do after the fact. With football, you're following a more generally consistent narrative, so the crowd interacts as things happens rather than afterwards.

But then, it might just be that football teams belong to their fans more than cricket teams do. Are the majority of attendees as attached to Surrey etc. as fans are attached to Palace et al? I don't remember seeing many England shirts at league games but you'll always see England cricket merch being worn at county games, as well as club cricket team stuff. Not that wearing the gear means much, how many of the many many people wearing Invincbles kit yesterday are now die hard Oval fans?

Sorry, I've meanandered

Edit: it felt really slow in places, especially at change of ends where there was a timer on the screens. The new over wasn't allowed to start until the timer had got to zero.

[Discordant Resonance]

Not sure where to put a general cricket post, but recently Kerry launched the first women's cricket team in Munster, and played opposition from the Pembroke club in Dublin. They play at scenic new grounds at the Spa, near Tralee, which have been jocularly dubbed "The Oyster Oval":

[Ray de Galles]

Lovely photo, there must be far more fitting threads for it than one about the fucking hundred though.

[Etienne]

Northern Superchargers (women) are in a thriller with Southern Brave. Brave are the best team in the competition, and would have been expected to win, but are surely going to lose now, needing 80 runs off 35 balls and with 6 wickets down. The thrilling element is that Superchargers have to limit them to 99 or less in order to scrape into the playoffs on NRR. 66/6 off 65 balls at the moment.

[Etienne]

Ah well. As soon as I posted that, Brave went 44.6.1412.44.224 and have reached 100 with 20 balls left.

[Janik]

And then only scored 25 off the final 20, so fell 20 short anyway. An everyone loses result with a very anti-climatic final few minutes.

[Janik]

Not sure where to put a general cricket post, but recently Kerry launched the first women's cricket team in Munster, and played opposition from the Pembroke club in Dublin. They play at scenic new grounds at the Spa, near Tralee, which have been jocularly dubbed "The Oyster Oval":

Hmm, I see some lost (sunk) balls issues with that ground location, however scenic. The street cricket local rule of "out if you hit it into X's garden" would be called for regarding straight driven sixes from a particular end. And when selecting a fielder for deep mid-on/-off, only chose people know for maintaining a good sense of their general position on the ground even when their eyes are skywards. Or offer those headings to that spot armbands (aka water wings to our North American chums).

[Satchmo Distel]

Have a rule that all overs are bowled from the end facing the water, as shown in the photo? The batsmen can cross at the end of the over.

[Janik]

Could do. But there is still some potential issue with someone doing a ramp on a bouncer. Or you could just keep a greater number of replacement balls available than normal.

I suspect cricket balls don't float, so the old Shrewsbury FC solution of someone in a rowing boat won't work.

Looking at the far bank finding enough flat land that isn't on the waterside is probably an issue. So the ground is likely located in the right place. And a workable solution to the spalshdowns can be found, I'm sure.

[ursus arctos]

Baseballs float for long enough for this to be a thing at the San Francisco Giants' home ground

[Janik]

Even assuming the buoyancy of cricket balls and baseballs is identical in the first place, I doubt the teams playing could afford either that many ball retrievers, or fewer canoes but each with powerful enough rowers to achieve the same speed of capture. Very few are likely to do it out of altruism, which is exactly not what is motivating the people in Frisco Bay.

[ursus arctos]

Completely agree, of course

I do wonder about relative buoyancy,

I believe that the cork centre is larger in a baseball and that the lacquer would also make the cricket ball less buoyant,

I'm also not at all sure that the ball would be usable after a dip (unless that was very short).

[longeared]

Thrilling finish to the Eliminator - the Skips wanted 22 off the last four balls, then Sciver hit three consecutive sixes, but McGrath got her yorker in the right spot and they could only manage a single and the Pombears* go through. Same final as last year it turns out.

*Southern Brave, apparently

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/theoldbatsman/status/1572513114758971393?s=21&t=PFzkAg6wkIkPmogsgXavvw

[Etienne]

Adam Collins says:

To be clear, the 2023 Ashes have been long slated for June/July because Aust are committed to South Africa (quite right after stuffing them around big time in early 2021) for a full ODI series in August ahead of the October World Cup. Unusual but sensible - scheduling is complex.

The franchise sale article is paywalled.

But yeah, I assume that the TV deal for The Hundred were predicated on them having August to themselves even if nothing else was at stake.

[Etienne]

It's been noted that the Franchise owners in the SA T20 league, and the Caribbean one are now almost entirely Indian - and they are extending the unofficial boycott on signing Pakistani players to those leagues. It's pretty disgraceful. I think it's very bad that Pakistani players aren't signed for the IPL, but there's at least a basic rationale there. But why the hell shouldn't Pakistani players be able to earn money and get t20 experience playing in South Africa or the West Indies. It's no surprise that they seemed tactically second best to England in the recent series when their players get less chances to develop their skills.

[ursus arctos]

Very much so.

It is shameful, and further evidence of the extent to which the chauvinism and cronyism of the Modi regime is increasingly being reflected in cricket.

It is particularly disappointing to see the boycott embraced by the Indian owners who do not already have IPL franchises.

[Etienne]

Tess Flintoff scored the fastest 50 in WBBL history, off 16 balls. Even more impressive, it was largely scored against Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown - two top class international bowlers. She's only 19.

[Ray de Galles]

I thought this thread was just about the fucking hundred?

[Etienne]

I'm not sure which thread is the appropriate one for international franchise T20.

[ad hoc]

Is this the right thread? The title would suggest yes... Badalona Shaheen of Spain have just hit the highest ever total in the European Cricket League. 229/2. And, in case you weren't aware (and why would you be?), the ECL is a T10 league. 229 off 10 overs is... well, quite a lot.

(in reply "Men in Blue" scored a not inconsiderable 174)
https://www.ecn.cricket/scores-fixtu...11162022218466