THE ASHES 2015

[honestbroker1]

England are the victors by 8 wickets ...

2-1 to England in the series.

[Truthiness2]

Well, that feels better

[honestbroker1]

The pattern, so far, is that on a seaming pitch, England play the better game.

On a flat pitch, Australia play the better game.

So far, we've had two seaming pitches and one flat pitch: score, 2-1 to England.

Trent Bridge is likely to be a seaming pitch, but England will sorely miss Anderson ...

[Truthiness2]

The pattern, so far, is that on a seaming pitch, England play the better game.

On a flat pitch, Australia play the better game.

So far, we've had two seaming pitches and one flat pitch: score, 2-1 to England.

Trent Bridge is likely to be a seaming pitch, but England will sorely miss Anderson ...

Well thank goodness Finn is back in form.

Who will replace Anderson? Please don't say Wood. And please tell me Lyth will be taking up hairdressing.

[Truthiness2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/33735374

Ashes 2015: Eight areas that will decide the series

[Chinagirl]

England are to be congratulated on a deserved win. Australia's batting was awful, and bowling not that crash hot either.

Trent Bridge is going to be interesting, especially if Australia could level the series, making the match at the Oval REALLY interesting ....

[honestbroker1]

England are to be congratulated on a deserved win. Australia's batting was awful, and bowling not that crash hot either.

Trent Bridge is going to be interesting, especially if Australia could level the series, making the match at the Oval REALLY interesting ....

The Oval is generally a flat pitch ...

[Carana]

What's a seaming pitch? Was someone trying to stitch it back together?

[Carana]

Just as HB predicted - Aus all out for nothing and England half out - but in a much better situation than Oz. Well done Anderson!

I notice HB listens to the radio commentary. So do I - with the TV on mute. Quality of the commentary is far better than TV. Only person I can't stand is Boycott - always so full of himself and knows better than anyone else.

Good job too. Sounds a bit rude for family viewing.

[Carana]

I was only teasing... I'll back out. ;)

[honestbroker1]

[Carana]

The wicket is the rectangular area in the centre of the pitch (playing field) between the stumps. The bowler bowls the ball from one end of the wicket, it bounces on the wicket, and the batsman hits the ball from the other end of the wicket.

Right, got that. A wicket is a patch of earth within the overall game area. So how does anyone lose a wicket? A dangerous game indeed if the main part of your playing area keeps getting swallowed up.

[Carana]

Is there any reason why they wear shin shields in particular? I'd have thought that a different part of the anatomy might be more vulnerable.

[honestbroker1]

The wicket is the rectangular area in the centre of the pitch (playing field) between the stumps. The bowler bowls the ball from one end of the wicket, it bounces on the wicket, and the batsman hits the ball from the other end of the wicket.

Right, got that. A wicket is a patch of earth within the overall game area. So how does anyone lose a wicket? A dangerous game indeed if the main part of your playing area keeps getting swallowed up.

Not earth, grass, but specially prepared grass, mown and flattened with a heavy roller so that the ball will be consistent in its bounce and not do unpredictable things other than by the skill of the bowler, who can impart "spin" on the ball, or make it "swing" (through the air in its trajectory towards the batsman).

Not sure what you mean by the playing area getting swallowed up?

Losing a wicket can happen in any of a number of ways.

If a bowler can hit any of the 3 vertical sticks of wood, known as stumps, behind the bowler's legs, that is out bowled.

If the ball hits the batsman's pads (without first hitting the bat) and if, in the opinion of the umpire, the pad impeded the path of the ball onto the stumps (taking into account height and width) the batsman is out leg before wicket (or lbw.

If the batsman hits the ball in the air to a fielder (without it first touching the ground) the batsman is out caught.

If a batsman attempts a "run" (that is running the 22 yard (or about 20 metre)-long stretch of grass that is the "wicket" and the fielders return the ball to the stumps and hit the stumps before the run is complete, the batman is "run out".

Those are the main forms of dismissal, and any would mean that a batsman's participation in that part of the game ends.

When all except one of the batsmen in the team batting are out, the whole part of that phase of the game ends, and the other side have their turn to bat.

[Carana]

A+ for effort, HB, but a bit too much at one go ;)

Ok, so a wicket is a patch of mown grass. I just tried to check on YouTube, and I think I've gathered what it is, but the clips are all fast-moving for people who already have fathomed what the game is about.


So... some guy runs up to this bit of mown grass and throws a ball not towards the guy with the bat, but onto this bit of grass, and the ball is supposed to bounce up and get whacked by a bat... Is that right so far?

ETA: I've just read that it doesn't have to bounce... Okay, so a bit like tennis.

[honestbroker1]

A+ for effort, HB, but a bit too much at one go ;)

Ok, so a wicket is a patch of mown grass. I just tried to check on YouTube, and I think I've gathered what it is, but the clips are all fast-moving for people who already have fathomed what the game is about.


So... some guy runs up to this bit of mown grass and throws a ball not towards the guy with the bat, but onto this bit of grass, and the ball is supposed to bounce up and get whacked by a bat... Is that right so far?

bowls rather than throws.

A throw, in cricket, is prohibited and the difference is that the bowler must propel the ball, bringing his arm over his head and keeping his arm straight. If he kinks his arm, he can make the ball go faster, but that is illegal or prohibited by the laws of cricket.

Also, what is supposed to happen depends on perspective. Certainly, the batsman will attempt to whack the ball with the bat and will attempt to score runs (as I describe above).

But the bowler will hope not to give away any runs or (better still) get the batsman 'out' (in any of the ways I describe above).

[Carana]

You're trying to explain this to a 2-year-old, I'm afraid. LOL

Ok, so... so far a wicket is that all- important smallish patch of whatever on the ground.

And bowling a ball is a particular way of throwing it at speed in the vague direction of the opponent in the hope that he'll miss whatever he's supposed to do with it.

OK, so far.

[honestbroker1]

You're trying to explain this to a 2-year-old, I'm afraid. LOL

Ok, so... so far a wicket is that all- important smallish patch of whatever on the ground.

And bowling a ball is a particular way of throwing it at speed in the vague direction of the opponent in the hope that he'll miss whatever he's supposed to do with it.

OK, so far.

Pretty much, except that you'd ideally want precision rather than vagueness.

ETA: I think you are doing extremely well so far and I applaud your attempts to grasp this wholly counter-intuitive subject.

CG or Truthi might be able to explain certain concepts better than me.

[Chinagirl]

For Carana:

In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets — 1 chain or 22 yards (20.12 m) long and 10 feet (3.05 m) wide. The surface is flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the pitch. IWikipedia)

It can get confusing for the uninitiated when the term"pitch" and "wicket" are used interchangeably. The "wickets" are delineated at either end of the pitch by the three upright stumps, and it is this that the batsmen protect by not allowing the ball bowled by the bowler from knocking over the stumps.

At the beginning of each "innings" the batting side has ten wickets standing. As each batsman goes out in one of the various ways described by HB above, a wicket is lost, therefore we can say that there are " x wickets left standing" until all ten have been lost.

Some terms you'll hear from the commentators:

"He gave his wicket away.' Means a batsman allowed himself to be got out too easily. He didn't "defend his wicket" carefully enough.

"England won (the last match) by 8 wickets." Means the first two English batsmen made enough runs in their second innings to exceed the total runs Australia made in their two innings without the other nine batsmen having to bat.

You will see or hear the latest score like this, for example: 3/245. Means the batting side has made 245 runs for the loss of three wickets. "All out for 450" means the entire side made 450 runs during their innings. (Just to make things more complicated, Australia always quote their score as "245/3", whereas everyone else uses the regulation method I described above!)

[Chinagirl]

@HB: It will be fun when we get to explain the various fielding terms to Carana!

Silly mid-on (off)
Gully
Slips
Third man
Deep fine leg

Not to mention "square leg umpire"!!

[honestbroker1]

@HB: It will be fun when we get to explain the various fielding terms to Carana!

Silly mid-on (off)
Gully
Slips
Third man
Deep fine leg

Not to mention "square leg umpire"!!

Not to mention short-leg ...

Yes, that will be interesting ....

[Alibongo]

LBW

[Chinagirl]

LBW

Ali, I imbibed my love of cricket along with my baby bottles, yet I still have difficulty with the LBW rule!

[Chinagirl]

Carana, you asked why batsmen wear shin pads.

A cricket ball is bloody hard and when bowled at +/- 90mph it can also be bloody dangerous. You may remember that last year a young Australian cricketer was killed by a ball which hit him on the side of the neck.

They also wear a lot of other protective gear, including thigh pads (under the trousers), chest padding (under the shirt), helmet and padded gloves, and sometimes an arm guard.

And yes - they also protect that other valuable part of their anatomy you mentioned - it's called "the box," but even so it's excruciatingly painful when hit there! However, that doesn't stop the other players laughing when an unfortunate batsman cops one in that spot; nevertheless the fielding side - including the bowler who bowled the offending ball - usually surround the batsman (to preclude intrusion by the cameras) while he massages the painful area and the physio applies the magic spray!

Cricket is definitely not a game for sissies!

[Chinagirl]

A pretty good assessment, IMO.

Mediocrity – on both sides – making for a wildly unpredictable Ashes series

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2 ... MP=ema_632