Thursday, November 5, 2009

Post Game Show: Blogiversary Edition

I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep during that live blog last night (I guess that would make it more of a dead blog, since no one showed up either *rim shot) but every so often, I keep getting woken up with announcers yelling "What a shot!" Turns out Taylor was going for 118 and I was sleeping through the whole thing (it was 65-2 when I went to bed) but in the end it turned out again that his effort was for not, because Bangladesh got some hot batting and ended up winning by scoring 222.

I would like to thank everyone who has read this little corner of the internet for the past year, whatever your reason, it's your eyes that keep me typing on this page, I know I've failed you lately in being timely, and probably even being good at writing, so if you're still around, it'd be nice to know, and hopefully this winter will be a time to improve my writing and maybe turn a few fans onto this game that I've fallen in love with myself.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Zimbabwae v Bangladesh ODI 5

This game is also technically being played on my Blogiversary (since it's already tomorrow over there)


Links to watch:

http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/index




Invalidating your excuse with my mighty typing skills

Alright, so we're gonna try a live blog again. The video goes live at 9:25 Eastern tonight, so I'm gonna start the liveblog at 9:10, if no one is here by 10, I'm shutting it down again. It will be the last ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwae. Hope to see you there.

Monday, November 2, 2009

I'm back

And now that I'm back, there is Cricket on to be watched:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bangladesh-vs-zimabwe

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwae ODI, (and while we're at it let's welcome back Zimbabwae) I'll see if I can get a Cover It Live up, but the Blog will be open for now if anyone is around.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

No More Heroes



We have become the softest bunch of people in the world. People are railing on this woman for getting upset because she got screwed over on a bad call. I'm sorry I didn't realize that she was supposed to take bullshit lying down. CBS is who gets off the worst on this, because, they're the ones who the day before during the rain delay were showing a old Jimmy Connors match where Connors was telling the umpire he "needed to get his ass out of that chair" and what happens then, the crowd whistles and cheers wildly, really it's become a joke.

I think the most ridicilious part is the argument that she shouldn't do that because she's a "role model". Why do we even tell kids to try to live like someone else? They should be their own damn person, not follow in someone else's path, no one is perfect, and it's disgraceful if we hold it against someone.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

This Blog, and My Love of Sports Explained

Do you know what happens when you tell someone you write a blog about cricket? They usually ask you why cricket. Well why not cricket? Why should I cover baseball or football or basketball, hell there are thousands upon thousands of people already covering those sports (I left out hockey, because it is something that is occsionally touched upon around here). Anyways , I never had a solid answer, although I am a Boston sports fan (loosely, which will be explained later) I've lately found myself drawn deeper into more "obscure" sports, for which I often receive ribbings about (it's been called "My Canadian Football League on more than one occusion). I wondered what it was that made me enjoy stuff like Cricket, and the CFL, and Rugby. And then I came upon this letter to the editor. But before I print it, a little background:

For some inexplicable reason, there has been debate in the letters to the editor section of my local daily paper (The Providence Journal Bulletin) about whether or not Dennis Eckersley is a good color commentator for Boston Red Sox home games (how this ended up next to the Republican hate speech du jour, I do not know). Anyways, the clearest insight, and probably part of the deeper explanation of my love of sports, came from a name named Leon Urban, who I will now let take it away:


In their evaluation of Dennis Eckersley’s baseball announcing, Fred and Trish DeWolfe hit the nail on the head by noting that “it’s not all about him” (“Dennis is a delight,” letter, July 5).
Having a captive audience, few sports announcers can resist self-promoting (staged?) gimmicks, such as “We Love You” signs, and so on. Incidentally, in its wisdom, the Los Angeles Angels
[Of Anaheim] do not permit such signs in the stands.
Self-promotion is rampant in the media. Clueless news readers have bloviated themselves into huge multimillion-dollar salaries they fear to lose, and too often become the news themselves.
Dennis Eckersley promoted baseball — the game, not just the NESN home-team propaganda. Very refreshing. He reminded viewers that there are other good teams and players in the American League, as there are in the National League.
Many of the guys I grew up with knew every starting lineup in both the American and National leagues. True, they were only eight-team leagues. Radio and TV announcers made this learning easy by relating pertinent information, nearly every inning, from around the two leagues: scores, homers, winning pitchers, etc. And such information was given in a tone meant to promote the game, not to incite fans to behave like fools in the stands or in bars or in living rooms.


That second paragraph is what really stands out in my mind, I live in the middle of "Red Sox Nation" I'm supposed to live and die by this team, but often I don't care. The joy of being a fan has been sucked away by this expectation that the team will always do well, and the team does well on behalf of the fans, and if the team sucks, then they are personally failing many of the people who "root" for them. But when I'm watching Cricket, that isn't there, I'm learning little things about every man who steps out onto that pitch, there are 22 people who after that day has ended, I will probably know a little more about, and in between I'll watch an exciting sporting event where men aren't out to promote themselves, but they do it for love of country, or for team pride (yeah some of them do it for money, but that's how society is, and you have to ignore it) I don't get announcers with agendas, I get announcers that are trying to teach me something, or tell me the story of the match, and it's that, that true understanding that sees me the fan as more than a dollar sign, that makes me love cricket, and want to share that experience with everyone who reads this.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Canadian National Rock Championships Part 1

This was not the big surprise I had in mind. Instead, I was starting to get the idea of a Rock N' Roll Olympics. Then I came to Canada, and quite frankly Canada knows how to rock. So I am running in a new direction instead, I'm gonna leave it up to you guys to help me decide what basically amounts to the best rock band of Canada that we've heard of. So far, I found 12 bands I think are worthy of vying for this honor, but I am open to other ideas, so here's what I want to do, I am going to post the 12 bands as I have seeded them, you will have until Wednesday at noon to either

A) Argue for a band to be moved up or down (but, it would also help if you made an argument for why the band that is being punished (or rewarded) is doing so.

B) Adding a seed that you believe I left off the list (excluding the two exceptions I will explain at the end, although I will let you try and talk me out of those exceptions if you are good enough)

C) Instead of just adding a seed, taking a band that is not seeded, and changing places with a band that is seeded (again, I would prefer arguments for both sides, not just for the band that you want to be added)

With all that said, here are the 12 nominees I have for Canadian National Championship of Rock n' Roll:

1) The Guess Who
2) Rush
3) Our Lady Peace
4) Theory of a Deadman
5) Arcade Fire
6) BTO
7) Steppenwolf
8) Loverboy
9) Gordon Lightfoot
10) Three Days Grace
11) Arcade Fire
12) The Tragically Hip*

As you can obviously see, the Bare Naked Ladies, and Nickelback were left off of this list. It is my opinion that BNL are more of a folk rock band, than a traditional mainstream rock band. I would also argue that Nickelback is pop rock and that wasn't what I was going for (otherwise, you're gonna have to include Avril Levigene and Sum 41, and I had no intention of doing that).

* The Tragically Hip have gotten themselves intentionally buried by me, because I don't really like the band, and I also don't really like the fact that their fans think me sub-human for my opinion, so therefore, they start in the basement, and it will take some damn good arguments (and probably youtube videos) to get me to move them up that list.

So there you go, have fun with it, and I'll be back with my decisions on Wednesday.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Nuts..

Due to unforseen circumstances, the suprise I had in mind is going to have to be postponed, I might have it ready by the end of the summer, I can't say for certain, sorry for anyone who had their hopes up : (


Thursday, June 25, 2009

What's Next Dave Richardson? The BCS?

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/410448.html

Dave Richardson and Adam Gilchrist would like to see I-A and I-AA Test Cricket (suck it, bowl and playoff divisions). The feel that people stopped watching the cornerstone of the game is that the games are no longer competitive enough, because there are too many bad teams playing not enough good teams. Ignoring the fact that the sport is biased towards India and England (and occsionally Austraila, except when they piss it away like at the 20/20 Worlds), I don't see how keeping the "bad" teams away from the "good" teams would improve the sport at all. If England wants to no longer play Zimbabwae that's fine, but how do you know you're not killing the sport in Zimbabwae because you're taking away showing those people what they could become?

I mean let's just look at what the two divisions would probably look like (these are based entirely on my assumptions, and Test Results as of May 18, 2009)

I-A:
1) Austrailia
2) South Africa
3) England
4) India
5) Whoever is currently hotter of Pakistan and Sri Lanka

I-AA
1) Whoever is cooler of Sri Lanka and Pakistan
2) The West Indies
3) New Zealand
4) Bangladesh
5) Zimbabwae

There are only 10 teams to choose from in the entire world, and instead of trying to level the playing field and expanding the oppertunities to more teams in the world, they would rather narrow it down and keep the teams they don't like out of their "good game". It's a disgrace and a joke and I hope it never comes to fruition.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

BLNAH: Now Predicting the Future with Bad Puns

I told Sri Lanka to be Afridi, but apparently they decided not to listen, and Pakistan (if they could put the guns straight up into the air in celebration instead of at each other, I'm sure the ICC would appreciate it) are your 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Champions. I would tell you the man of the match, but you should already know by now, but in case you don't here's the title of the Cricinfo article:

"Afridi fifty seals title for Pakistan"

So go crazy folks, Afghanistan and Pakistan have one the last two international cricket tournaments, up next, we clearly need an Iraq-North Korea final.

Friday, June 19, 2009

You Can't Beat a 96

Really that is all there is to it, this is a Sri Lankan team they played in group, and lost there, and nothing really changed between that meeting and today's. I have to say, I'm proud of how far the West Indies have come, they have a shot to take 3rd place, all they have to do is step up and become a different team than the one that already lost to South Africa. That being said, this was a fine performance from the West Indies. They really did give it everything they had, and when the tournament goes home next year, we will not be looking at a #11 seed. Good luck against South Africa, and maybe we'll get a "We're Number Three!" chant.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Be Afridi, be very Afridi

Copyright AP
That's Shahid Afridi in the middle of the picture. Come Sunday, you might want to remember that name. You might also want to remember the numbers he put up against a South African team that was 5-0 in this tournament, and had been making teams look very very bad for the past two weeks:
51 runs off 34 balls (8 x 4, 0 x 6)
4 overs bowled, 16 runs allowed, 2 wickets.
Afridi does not really need me to sing his praises (he's got his unoffical Youtube fan club for that). But whoever wins today between Sri Lanka and the West Indies had better come full force on the 21st if they want to put up any serious contention against the man who knows this title is his for the taking.
I'll have my thoughts on WI-SL after it's over, but we all know to say Go Windies!
and since I don't have anywhere else to put it, here's a great song to get you amped up for the game:

Monday, June 15, 2009

Wow...just...wow..

I didn't get to see the end, I had to leave for work early. The whole time I was at work, I was convinced they lost, I was writing a post in my head about how impressed I was, how except for Chris Gayle, this wasn't the team I'd been following with great disappointment since February, that they proved themselves out there, and they certainly weren't going to be #11 when they went home next year. I was ready to complain about how I hate the Duckworth-Lewis Method. Only I got it all wrong.

I wasn't alive in 1980 (I'm only 23 after all) I always thought it was exciting when Al Michaels yelled about believing in miracles, but it had never happened in real time, I've never even seen that game in real time, even on a replay. But out there today two of the Windies classiest acts Chanderpaul and Sarwan got the job done. Most people have a number they will never forget, and will always bring them smiles: 61, 14-14, Dywane Bravo will probably enjoy that 66* for a long time, but for me, I will never forget one simple pair of numbers 19* and 17*

It's too bad Brian Lara wasn't there, he probably would have been looking for someone to hug.


*this isn't actually a footnote, in Cricket if there is a star next to the run total it means they are not or were not out.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Maybe this blog should really be called...

Brian Lara Needs Some Time Away From England. Because goodness gracious, we're gonna do it again people! England beats India today 153-150, knocking them out of contention (they still have a match against South Africa, but it's meaningless at 0-2), leaving the match between the West Indies and England (the 19th meeting of any type between the two since February) as a elimination match. Do the West Indies have what it takes to get show that the upset over the defending champs wasn't a fluke? Can England recover from their own thrilling victory over India? Will Chris Gayle take off his funneral shroud and play some cricket? Will anyone watch the irrelivent Sri Lanka-Ireland undercard (as Ireland is also eliminated from competition)? All these answers and more will be revealed by the end of the day tomorrow, if you can find it, enjoy it, it's gonna be a great match.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Number One Stunnas


Image via AP

(#11) West Indies 156/3 (#1) India 153/7

That with Chris Gayle being held to 22 runs off of 28 balls (a terrible rate for one of the world's best players).

That being mostly the same West Indies team that is coming off an embarassing performace against England, in both Test and ODI's.

That team being ranked next to last for the 12 teams in the tournament, and have come flying out of the gates ever since.

I won't lie, I don't know when the new ICC rankings come out again, but I can tell you one thing, they won't see the West Indies in 11th place, even if they did lose to South Africa just before I started to write this.

Dwayne Bravo was the star of the show going for 66 runs (anything above 50 is a pretty good effort for 20 overs) as well as bowling four of India's seven wickets.

That's right Fidel Edwards, Number One Stunners

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Alright I'll say it, I'm a bad blogger, it's been exactly three weeks since my last post, and here we are in the middle of the international tournament of the year (since we're in a down year for the ODI tournaments) the ICC World Twenty20 Championship (..of the World). I want to mix things up a little, so lets try this in FAQ form.


Q: Who qualified for the tournament?
A: The top ten teams in the ICC's world rankings, plus the top two finishers from the Qualifying Tournament. However, because it is a corrupt political entity, Zimbabwae was forced out of the tournament. and was replaced by the third place finisher in the Qualifying Tournament. This is how they're ranked.

1) India
2) Pakistan
3) Austrailia
4) New Zealand
5) South Africa
6) Sri Lanka
7) England
8) Bangladesh
9) Ireland
10) Netherlands
11) West Indies
12) Scotland

Q: Wait, 12 teams, how do you set up a single elimination tournament that way?
A: You don't. Instead, they have four pool groups each consisting of one first tier, one second tier, and one third tier team. You go by ranking. So you get four groups that look like this:

1-8-9
2-7-10
3-6-11
4-5-12

Q: What have we missed so far?
A: So far you've missed the pool play I just mentioned.

Q: Any Suprises?
A: Austrailia went quietly into the night losing to the West Indies 172-169 (in a match where WI only sent 5 batsmen to the stumps), and losing to Sri Lanka 160-159 (this time only 6 Batsmen for SL). The Netherlands were elimnated in heartbreaking fashion when they were only able to put up 93 runs against Pakistan to allow England to move on to the Super Eight.

(and let it be stated here that I am glad for Bloggers autosave feature that allowed this to still be here when my computer shut down on me)

Q: Super Eight? What's that?
A: The Super Eight is the second round of the competition and it started today (South Africa 114-England 111, and New Zealand 198-Ireland 115 for those keeping track at home) It is two groups of four (the first and second place finishers from the four opening round pools. Each plays the other three in the pool, and the top two from each pool move onto the semi-finals.

Q: Anything else we should know?
A: If you want to learn about cricket, 20/20 is probably the best way to do it, it's the shortest game, has the fasting pacing, and is the only version of the sport played at night. If you've gotten into the sport at all through this, first off that's nice, cause hey, I've accomplished something. Second, you might want to take the next step up, and learn about Net Run Rate, which is the first tie-breaking tool, and will save you a lot of confusion (if you're good at math). Finally, enjoy the games! They're in England, so you can have cricket with your breakfast (Game one Tomorrow starts at 6:30 EDT, and Game two starts at 7:30 PDT, so there are options for everyone.)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

You Can't Be Me I'm A Guest Star..

...however I am not riding on the top of a cop car. Anyways "Dave Schultz" (quotes are part of the copywrite they tell me) has a new post up, most of which was written by yours truly. No I was not the one who erased question 25, yes I was on the one who forgot to close my parenthesis, and Sara Decosta is a story you had to be there to understand (although they are up for the hockey hall of fame as I was taught by Facebook, and I encourge you to fan them) so here you go, learn something about me, and nothing about cricket.

http://hammerrules.blogspot.com/2009/05/readers-challenge-next-episode.html

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Small Rant and a Big Surprise.

There isn't much to talk about in terms of cricket for the past weekend, England Obliterated the West Indies to finish a 2-0 test series sweep, and play goes on in the Indian Premier League, so I have a small rant for you instead:

With about 2:30 minutes to go in last nights game seven between Boston and Orlando, it was really nice to see all those "die hard" fans check out on a team that had been pouring out heart and soul all season, and making do with a lot of missing pieces. I'm not making excuses for them by any stretch, and I won't say I personally expected them to win the title, but this team was 2 games removed from a 14-2 that put them up 3-2, and 3 games removed from a thrilling buzzer beater that tied the series at 2. Why are you walking out? Why are you quiting on them? That was a disgusting display on your part, and I hope to hell you burned your contract for season tickets cause you don't deserve them, get the fuck off my bandwagon.

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest, it's time for the surprise, which is to keep your eyes peeled around here between June 23rd and July 1st for something exciting and new!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

I'm Still Alive, and the happy Afghan story no one is telling.

*blows the dust off*

Sorry about that, school and work have gotten the better of me lately, I often come home, eat dinner and go to sleep, so a month has flown by since I wrote anything (and I left an embittered taste in all of your mouths anyways) I'm back, and just in time, because The Qualifying tournament for the 2011 ICC World Cup just finished (yeah, that's how it is in the cricket world, we get shit done two years in advance) It's a good thing too, since 2015 qualifying starts up this month!

Here's the basic lowdown:

*Ireland won the tournament (I would like to do a serach for a "Bowl Me: I'm Irish" pin, but I don't think I'd get what I want)

*Canada came in second, and qualified for the World Cup (which is an ODI tournament held every four years) along with Ireland, Kenya, and the Netherlands.

*Along with the four Qualifiers Soctland and Afghanistan were granted ODI status for four years (which means they can play ODI's against test nations, which is two steps below full test status)

That brings me to the other half of the title. For a nation that has been suffering through so much strife and turmoil, the media has been jumping at the chance to say "Look at this, they're getting on the right track." They tried their hardest to do so in Beijing, only to have a very unlucky Afghan contingent in the games. Here we are six months later, and everyone has decided to completely ignore that the cricket team has turned it around so much, they've been told they're one of the 25 best teams on the planet, and get to play with the big boys, and get extra funding from the ICC, and NO ONE SAYS A DAMN THING. It's a crying shame, I congratulate you Afghanistan, that was an impressive accomplishment, I know you can do great things, and now you have four years to prove it!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Fundamentals of Blogging are strong...no they're not...

Before I start, let's go to the video footage:



I have a gold standard when I talk about hockey, it's when I'm talking to my friend Marylou. Do you dear readers know what that gold standard includes, we talk about the games, we talk about the players, we talk about upcoming games, we talk about coaches decisions. We occsionally talk about funny stories that happened while at the game (cause those are inevitable, like that guy who fell into the safety netting at a Yankees game, it was a major distraction, of course you're gonna talk about it even though it has nothing to do with the game). Do you know what we don't talk about? We don't talk about who was seen at the game, we don't talk about how she likes to look at the players at the game, and how "cute" they are, and for goodness sakes we don't talk about how we might have effected the game! (jinxes aside, but come on, everyone is supersitious) Oh yeah, we sure as fuck don't talk about fingernails. (see http://hammerrules.blogspot.com/2009/04/facedesk.html for details, because I refuse to give that story any more legs than I already gave it)

Do we really know why people read our blogs? sometimes I'm not so sure, hell I'm not even sure if anyone reads this blog at all anymore, but just look at that video above again. How would people take it if that was all I wrote about? How would you like it if I talked about how hot the women the camera guys panned to are? Because that's how it works, Cricket is a slow sport, and there has to be some way to fill the time, so they often just go to the crowd, and what do know you? You get a bunch of hot women dancing to the music (espcially in the West Indies) Now I don't know about you, but I have no intention of making my blog about anything other than cricket and the news that effects cricket. But sometimes I wonder if we take a look in the mirror and see if we're writing about what we really want to be writing about. I know as a reader, I turn to blogs because they're often the best source of information for either an obscure team (from my perspective) or the best general info source, and really I would hope that that's what people strive for, because, I think it's the best service we can offer to our readership. It probably won't make a difference, but it's what I've got to say.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Can anyone cut the WICB a check?

http://content.cricinfo.com/wiveng2009/content/current/story/397177.html

The West Indian team is threating to boycott the fifth ODI against England this Friday, unless the West Indian Cricket Board comes to an agreement with the West Indian Players Association about payments for previous overseas trips the team has made. The WICB is clearly in dire straits along with the rest of the world, although even moreso since the Board decided to jump head first into the cookie jar Allen Stanford offered them that quickly came apart at the seems. At the same time, I don't blame the players in the least. Just like everyone else who got trapped in a Ponzi scheme, there were sure to be other investment oppertunities available, they just happened to take the easy way out. And it's not like the West Indies are bad, although they lost game four, they took the Test Series, and have been doing a remarkable job in the last 5 plus months, and they deserve to be rewarded for those efforts. I hope there is some kind of conclusion that makes it easier for both sides and leaves no lasting hard feelings, because it's a slippery slope for both sides.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

So I'm not sure if yesterday's post was clear enough, it doesn't really look that clear to me, I've been sick this week, so my writing is not really at its best. With that in mind, I thought I might turn to what I find to be a very reliable source when it comes to unraveling complicated news like this Sri Lankian Cricket Team attack, because really, it's not just about Sri Lanka and Pakistan, it's about all of the Indian Sub-Continent Cricket Playing nations, can we really be sure that any team can be safe in any of those countries now? With all that said, I turn it over to NPR, who had a terrific report this morning explaining exactly what happened, and what kind of effect it will have on the game.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101408045

Edit: So I failed to mention, you should click that listen now link to get it to play.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I Can't even belive this happened

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-pakistan-cricketersattacked&prov=ap&type=lgns


The Sri Lankian Cricket Team was attacked outside of the stadium in Lahore Stadium today. Clearly this was an attempt to strike deep into the heart of Pakistani culture and security. It's baffling upsetting news that goes to the root of how important cricket can be around the world. It would be like if one of the World Baseball classic teams was assulted outside of the RN Centre. It's sad, and I for one hope the criminals are brought to full and swift justice.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Allen Stanford Faces Fraud Charges: BLNAH Wonders How Stupid He Could Be

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090220/ts_nm/us_stanford_41

Not that you know who Allen Stanford is. I won't lie, it was supposed to be part of a suprise, the Stanford 20/20 is my favorite tournament, in fact, it's the tournament that introduced me to cricket in the first place. Now with these charges leveled against him by the SEC, plus other issues that arose from the Super Series, it all comes to question wether or not we've seen the last of the Stanford 20/20, and what it means for West Indian Cricket as a whole. Personally I find myself very disappointed by all the developments, I had to read the first story I found mentioning it in the paper twice before it sunk in. I still find myself in a "Say it ain't so Joe" way of thinking, I'd like to hope the best, because really, I think Allen Stanford was the best chance we'll see in a while to have Cricket come through in America

For a look at the shooting star story of Allen Stanford, I'd recomend this story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220/ts_afp/cricketwisengusfinancefraudstanford_20090220100551

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Well so much for that liveblog..

Turn out the lights and go to bed people, there is nothing left to see of the English Test Cricket Team. They must really like snow ball fights, because they layed an egg against the West Indies today, to the tune of 51 all out. Their highest scoring batsmen had 24 runs...let that soak in... two centuries, a 96....and the best they could come up with when it mattered most was...a twenty-four. 2009 clearly looks like it's going to be the year of The West Indies, as they are not slowing down from the manhandling they gave New Zealand last November-December. There is an ODI next weekend, it might be much of one, but I might try to get something up for that. Other than that...enjoy the rest of your weekend...the English sure won't.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Catching you up on England-West Indies

It's the middle of day three as I write this (they're taking their tea break in about an hour) In England's first Innings, which took all of day 1 and most of day two, they went 318 all out, which is a half-way decent score, given the Jamican heat (and leaving Snowy England) and since the late afternoon of yesterday, it's been the first Innings of the West Indies who currently stand at 235/4 which is looking like a very good pace, Chanderpaul and the youngester Nash (only in his 4th test) are at the stumps and Flintoff and Panesar are doing the bowling are doing the bowling (with Flintoff and his two wickets doing most of the work) We'll be sure to keep you up to date as things progress.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

There will be Cricket at a decent hour! (as long as you don't live on the west coast)

Well, since I picked up a nice reference (Thanks Schultzie!) I thought it might be a good idea to you know...write something, and just in the nick of time! We have cricket that doesn't start at 11 at night and go to 4 in the morning! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the first Test (For this season) between The West Indies and England, at Kingston Jamica, will be starting this Wednesday the 4th of February, and go on as neccessary, ending no later than the 8th of February, each day will start at 15:00 GMT (which goes from 10-7 in the morning in the mainland US from east to west, 5 in the morning in Alaska, and 4 in the morning in Hawaii, but I don't think I have any Hawaiian readers) with these decent starting and ending times, I will do my best to get as much up to date information to you as possible, heck if it goes all the way to the 8th, maybe I'll do a live blog. For those who don't know England is one of the top teams in the world, and the West Indies have been up and coming lately, and battling for ground with New Zealand on the ICC rankings, so this should be a great match. And hey, maybe Brian Lara will be there.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

This is Cricket-Fielding

Finally, the last part in our series fielding, or what it takes to make that groundball only be worth 1 or 2 instead of 4 or 5.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

This is Cricket- Catching

Before I start today, I'd like to say that one of my favorite bloggers is in need of help, if you'd like the full story, go to http://www.midmajority.com/2009/01/the-sports-bubble.php#more and if you're able to do something, that would be awesome too, even if it's a google clickthrough.

Today, we're going to cover what happens if you make contact with the ball, but you don't do it well. That's right, it's all about catching (which, yes is all barehanded).

Friday, January 16, 2009

This is Cricket- Wicket Keeping

Well now that we know how the ball gets there, and what you're supposed to do if you've got a bat in your hand and the ball is coming at you, lets see what happens behind you if you miss the ball.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

This is Cricket-Batting

It seems like the next logical step after bowling would be to show what you do once the ball gets there, so here it is, batting. (Warning, this is not for those who hate 12-pitch baseball at bats)



Also, if there is anything that isn't covered in the videos, one should just ask in the comments, and I'll do my best to give you an answer.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

This is Cricket- Bowling

Now that we've had a chance to understand the basics, let's expand a little further, and discover how the ball gets from one stump to the other, and the many ways it can get there.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

This Is Cricket (Sorry if you were looking for Sparta)

After having a conversation with one of the readers of this blog last night, it has come to my attention that some of my readership may be just smiling and nodding in polite agreement and have no idea what I am saying at all. I would like to spend the rest of this week trying to allieviate that. So now for you, is part one of "This Is Cricket" where you will learn all the fundamentals of how to play the game.



Obviously you can go on on your own if you so choose, but I will spend the rest of this week putting up those videos one at a time, so hopefully people will be able to better understand what I'm talking about.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

...We Interrupt this Intermitten broadcast

I know, I know, this is a (poorly updated) cricket blog, but what can I say, I'm not just a cricket fan, and I got some very exciting news this evening, and hey I have a public outlet that (several) people read. So why not put the news out there: The Providence College Men's Hockey Team is Undefeated in 2009! That's right, they beat the UMass Lowell River Hawks 4-2 (http://friars.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/recaps/011009aaa.html) and have moved to 1-0-0 for the year. Unfortuneately, that means they're 4-12-1 on the season, and not a site for most eyes, but hey, it's a new year and they're going to turn things around, because 2009 is about CHANGE!

Friday, January 2, 2009

The End of the Year, at the Beginning of the Year.

I promised you a year in review between Christmas and New Years, but got busy/sick, so there is no review until now. Clearly the country of the Year has to be Austrailia. They finished 2008 at the top of the ICC rankings for both Tests, and ODIs. There were a lot of exciting tournaments this year, including the Stanford 20/20 (which got me into Cricket in the first place) the Asian Cup for 20/20, Qualifying for the ICC 20/20 Tournament in 2010 (which saw both America and Canada move on) There have also been plenty of quality matches, including the New Zealand-West Indies Test series, the England-India test series to get over the Mumbai attacks. All in all, 2008 was a semi-exciting year for Cricket (the falling apart of Zimbabwae excluded) and we should look foward to many bright things in the future.