International sports bar

[SuburbanFarmer]

What is taking a wicket?

[Montegriffo]

What is taking a wicket?

Getting someone out.
I've been over on PF.com trash talking with the Australians and now they are only 29 runs behind with 3 wickets still in hand. God dammit I should have remembered that pride comes before a fall.

[Montegriffo]

This may help, I've just lifted it from PF.com where it was used by a nice Aussie girl to explain cricket to the Americans over there.

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

Believe it or not that actually makes perfect sense.

[Montegriffo]

Well, a possible 50 run lead for England turned into a 26 run lead for Australia thanks to a score of 141 from the Aussie captain Smith giving them a first innings score of 328. Still a tightly poised match which could go either way. England finished the day on 33 for 2 so a lead of 7.

Intersting facts about American cricket from Wiki...

The Canadian cricket team in the United States in 1844 was both the first official international cricket match and the first official international game of any sport. The match between the two national teams was billed as "United States of America versus the British Empire's Canadian Province".[1] The match took place between 24 and 26 September 1844 at the St George's Cricket Club's ground at what is now 30th Street and Broadway (then Bloomingdales) in Manhattan.[2]

Canada won by 23 runs. The game was watched by between 10,000 and 20,000 spectators and around $120,000 worth of bets were placed

Cricket was being played in British North America by at least the beginning of the 18th century.[2] The earliest definite reference to American cricket is in the 1709 diaries of William Byrd of Westover on his James River estates in Virginia.[3] By the American Revolution, the game was so popular that the troops at Valley Forge played matches; George Washington himself joined in at least one game of "wicket."[4] John Adams told Congress that if leaders of simple cricket clubs could be called "presidents," the leader of the new nation might be called something more grand.[5] Cricket continued to develop slowly as a recreational sport as America gained independence in 1783

As late as 1855, the New York press was still devoting more space to coverage of cricket than to baseball

It may have been during the Civil War that baseball secured its place as America's game.[14] An army making a brief stop at a location could easily organise a game of baseball on almost any clear patch of ground, whilst cricket required a carefully prepared pitch. Baseball began to poach players and administrators from the world of cricket. Nick Young, who served for 25 years as the president of the National League, was originally a successful cricketer. It was not until the Civil War that he took up baseball because "it looked like cricket for which his soul thirsted."[15] It has been suggested that the fast-paced quick play of baseball was more appealing to Americans than the technical slower game of cricket.[14] This natural tendency toward baseball was compounded by terrible American defeats at the hands of a traveling English side in 1859, which may have caused Americans to think that they would never be successful at this English game.[16] By the end of the Civil War, most cricket fans had given up their hopes of broad-based support for the game. Baseball filled the role of the "people's game" and cricket became an amateur game for gentlemen.

[Montegriffo]

The science behind swing bowling ( changing direction in mid flight)
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 58645.html

Let us first look at some of the fundamental flow physics that will help to explain all three types of cricket ball swing. As the ball is flying through the air, a thin layer of air called the "boundary layer" forms along the ball's surface. The boundary layer cannot stay attached to the ball's surface all the way around the ball and it tends to leave or "separate" from the surface at some point. The location of this separation point determines the pressure, and a relatively late separation results in lower pressure on that side. A side force or swing will only be generated if there is a pressure difference between the two sides of the ball.

So the ideal ball for swing bowling is one with a prominent seam, one side smooth and the other rough. The fielding side should examine the new ball and choose the side with the shallower or less rough embossment and religiously polish that side throughout the match. The other side should be allowed to roughen during the course of play, but it should be kept as dry as possible.

Even if the seam gets completely bashed-in, a ball with a contrast in surface roughness can be swung. So how do you tell what type of swing a particular bowler is producing? Make note of the seam orientation and swing direction. If they are coincident, it is conventional swing; if opposed, it is reverse swing and if the seam is pointing straight down the pitch, you have just witnessed contrast swing.

Similar to a curveball in baseball but more variation in the direction and distance of the curve.

[Montegriffo]

Right guys, I'm going to need instructions for a damn good raindance.
England were bowled out for 195 in their 2nd innings . Australia need only 170 to win and are on 114 for no wickets leaving only 56 needed on the last day.
It's going to take an act of God to save the match. Unfortunately there are no tempests forecast so first blood to the koala botherers.

[StCapps]

Snowing in the Grey Cup, that's so Canada.

17-8 Stamps, at the half.
Argos Suck.

[StCapps]

Bo Levi Mitchell is such an idiot, throws a pick when in range for a game tying field goal, Stamps choke, 27-24 Argos.

[Smitty-48]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgoes!!!

[StCapps]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgoes!!!

That was a legit hilarious choke, the Stamps are such chumps and the football gods made them pay for their idiocy.