Brian Lara Needs A Hug

Now this is the real U19 Action.

2010-01-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

I mean it has to be right, it's the only U19 Tournament I've seen that's got more defection issues that a whole Cuban Oylimpic Team: http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2010/content/story/444043.html. Meanwhile action today (tomorrow?) has started with four first round games. In game one, they're currently in a break, as Afghanistan went 118 all out in 49.2 overs. The rumor I am hearing is that India will bat one handed in their innings just to make it fair (this is of course totally made up by me). In match number 2, Canada (RELIVENT TEAM ALERT) put up 201 in a full 50 overs, with Zimbabwae still to bat. In match number 3 (which is also probably the match of the day, Ireland put up 216/6 against South Africa, which has players that have played in international settings against much better teams than u19s, so it will be interesting to see how they respond. In the fourth match of the day Pakistan (which obviously has to be one of the favorites of the tournament, put up a 297/7 which the West Indies must have quite the confidence in being able to top, since they won the toss and elected to bat first.

However, I think the biggest news will come at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, when for the first time since I've created this blog, an American Team will step out into an international tournament , they open their tournament up against Austrailia, and would probably have to be considered to be in the group of death (since it's also the Ireland-South Africa group) but hopefully they can put on a good face for Americans, and I know I for one am proud of the team for even making this far. So good luck USA!

Post Game Show: Blogiversary Edition

2009-11-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

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.

Zimbabwae v Bangladesh ODI 5

2009-11-04T18:04:00.000-08:00

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

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwae ODI 5

Invalidating your excuse with my mighty typing skills

2009-11-04T12:33:00.001-08:00

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.

I'm back

2009-11-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Bangladesh v Zimbabwae

No More Heroes

2009-09-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

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.

This Blog, and My Love of Sports Explained

2009-08-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

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.

The Canadian National Rock Championships Part 1

2009-07-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Nuts..

2009-06-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

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 : (

What's Next Dave Richardson? The BCS?

2009-06-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

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.

BLNAH: Now Predicting the Future with Bad Puns

2009-06-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

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.

You Can't Beat a 96

2009-06-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Be Afridi, be very Afridi

2009-06-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

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:

Wow...just...wow..

2009-06-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Maybe this blog should really be called...

2009-06-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

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.

Number One Stunnas

2009-06-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

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.)

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

2009-05-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

...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

A Small Rant and a Big Surprise.

2009-05-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

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

2009-05-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

*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!

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

2009-04-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Can anyone cut the WICB a check?

2009-03-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

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.

I Can't even belive this happened

2009-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

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

Well so much for that liveblog..

2009-02-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

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.

Catching you up on England-West Indies

2009-02-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-01-31T21:26:00.000-08:00

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.

This is Cricket-Fielding

2009-01-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

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.

This is Cricket- Catching

2009-01-17T20:57:00.000-08:00

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).

This is Cricket- Wicket Keeping

2009-01-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

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.

This is Cricket-Batting

2009-01-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

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.

This is Cricket- Bowling

2009-01-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-01-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

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.

...We Interrupt this Intermitten broadcast

2009-01-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

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!

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

2009-01-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

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.

It's That Time of Year

2008-12-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

Brian Lara Needs a Hug Would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and other various holidays too numerous to mention here, and a happy and safe New Year, and we'd like to send out our wishes with a little video tribute

2008-12-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

Okay okay, so it took a couple of days (and a campy coming of age movie, and an ongoing snowstorm) but I'm back on my feet, so we're ready to dive back into this.

Last Weekend New Zealand and the West Indies got washed out enough that they ended in a tie. This week is whole different story, as apparently Chanderpaul has lit his bat on fire and is simply dominiating the competition and going for 400 RUNS He's sitting off the stumps on 100, as WI is currently 258/6 after 91 overs. To top it off, they are still in their first innings, so it looks like the rout is on, and New Zealand learned nothing from the beat down they took at the hands of Austrailia three weeks ago..

In India, India is on their 1st innings as well, after 72 overs and the end of day one they're going at 179/1, but it is an incredibly slow 179, as the batsmen have combined to see 400 bowls between them, which I'm sure is making for miserable spectating.

Austrailia is picking up right where it left off three weeks ago with New Zealand, only this weekend's whipping boy is South Africa. Austrailia currently has a 322 run lead, and has 3 wickets in hand still in the Second innings, so it's probably all over but the crying for that one.

All of these matches will carry on into the weekend, and after that, it will pretty much wrap things up for the year (next weekend will see the second Test for Austrailia-South Africa, and the start of a Bangladesh-Sri Lanka series, and if you've gotten bored with your toys, you can spend a few hours on the 26th with New Zealand and the West Indies again as they play a 20/20 to wrap up there year) Hopefully we'll have a year in review (that we weren't in exsistance for most of) up sometime between Christmas and the New Year.

I'm still alive...

2008-12-16T13:47:00.001-08:00

...I'm just having a long bad week, I'll have something up by the end of the week.

One more thing...

2008-12-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

In case you hadn't noticed, I figured out how to put up a blog roll, so if I missed you from the list and you want to be on there, let me know.

Big Happenings (Way Far Away)

2008-12-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, well, we're only two days away from the start of two really big Test matches, but they're both going to be big for far different reasons. We're gonna take a look at this from east to west (since east games are going to start earlier in terms of our time) so off we go to...

...NEW ZEALAND where we find an NZ team that was absolutely brutalized by Austrailia last month and dropped all the way to 8th in the ICC rankings. The beneficiaries of that fall? Their oppoents, my friends and yours THE WEST INDIES who moved up to 7th and can maintain that spot with either a win or a draw lose, and they give a spot back to NZ, the previously mentioned Chanderpaul (seen here hitting a century against england)

will be looking to be the star this coming weekend for the West Indies, while Brendon McCullum will hope to continue to do his best and hope that he can get his side to rally around him much better than they did in that miserable Austrailia performance. From New Zealand we travel northwest to...

...India, where after the attacks in Mumbai, there were many open fears about wether this series would even be played, and whether or not the sides could be guarenteed their safety. After a team meeting the English side decided to go ahead with the tour, and look poised to make an impressive performance as one of the best teams in the world. On the other side, India will be carrying the weight of the emotional underdog, after so much strife and stress, how will the players cope? Will they channel that energy into the performaces of a lifetime? We'll find out soon enough. For those who wish to follow live scoring, WI-NZ starts at 4:30 AM EST on Wednesday, and England-India starts at 9. Good luck to all and enjoy the games.

What to Watch/Read/Ask Me About This Weekend

2008-12-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Well jeaz, this certainly kind of got off the cricket track for a while, so let's see if we can't get things back into gear by telling you what's going on in the circket world this weekend which is: One match. On Sunday (Saturday Evening our time) Tasmania will be playing New South Wales at Hobart in the Ford Ranger cup (the follow up match is a day night match, so I would guess they're playing 20/20) (nope actually looked it up and it turns out it's an ODI Tournament, so there you go) Also if you have a DSL connection or faster that is liked by the site you can go on ESPN360 to watch either this years Asia Cup, or the Stanford 20/20 for $10,000,000 tournament. Other than that, have a good weekend.

We're gonna step off to the side for a minute.

2008-12-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

I know, I promised this would be a circket blog, and it will continue to be a cricket blog, but honestly, Sean Avery made the world very clear to me. In a certain sense, I do think it's hilarious that he called her sloppy seconds, and the suspension is because that's apparently too offenseive for a newspaper (the Boston Globe edited it to [other girlfriends] which doesn't even really make any sense but I digress).

The question I want to ask of you dear reader (because as far as I can think of I have a mostly female readership) is I wonder how you would feel if you let someone get so close to you, and become such a part of your life, and let them get so close to you as an individual, walked away from you for some glorious moment and left you out in the cold and dark and gave you no answers and no satisfaction because something super-wonderful had come along. Me? I'd quite frankly be as super pissed as Sean Avery.

About (MUCH) Earlier Today

2008-12-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

So if like me, you were up way too late last night, you had a chance to catch the second match of the Test Series between Austrailia and New Zealand. Well it sure wasn't much to look at, as Austrailia, led by some insane bowling by Lee ( 9 wickets over 2 innings almost a personal Test best) made short work of them, and McCullum couldn't single-handedly carry New Zealand to force Austraila to bat again (not that it would have mattered, since Austrailia had batted 535 in the first innings) Austrailia won 2 games to 0 and thanks to the attacks in Mumbai, the cricket world will slowly start to come to a halt (the Champions League has been postponed due to the attacks, and no one is quite sure what will happen to other games worldwide, espcially those involving Indian players.

Edit: You know since the second half wasn't really my original idea or thoughts, I figured I should give credit to the story it came from (since I don't write for the New York Times)

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/380239.html

This is a PSA..sort of

2008-11-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

http://wraparoundcurl.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/paint-it-black/

This is the sad story of the 21st century, large corporations think the internet is taking all their money away, because they don't understand how people use it for an informational tool (yes I'll play devil's advocate and say there are people who are doing legimate damage to legitmate industries, but the sporting industry is not one of them) we live in a world where ESPN is set to take over the BCS, and it takes our freaking president to get us any movement on a college football playoff, and their worried about private photos and accounts of the game. I know I don't have your expressed written consent but your rules say I can't even talk to my friend about the game, are you going to check every conversation I have? It really is becoming a joke, and I hope we get some clear answers soon, keep up the good fight Wrap, you've got a lot of people on your side.

2008-11-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

On behalf of everyone (all one of us) here at Brian Lara Needs a Hug, we wish you and yours a very happy American Thanksgiving, and a very happy Thursday to everyone else.

Hope to have something new up by the end of the weekend.

Bats Balls and Wickets

2008-11-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

So it's been a few days, sadly, unless you really really love Austrailia and the Indian Subcontinent, you haven't missed much, as they're the only ones who are getting any action in to speak of (as I write this we have Austraila-New Zealand and South Africa-Bangladesh test matches taking place live) so I thought it would be nice to delve into some of the more bells and whistles aspects of the game, mainly, what they play with.

The way I've always described cricket bats is they're a cross between a faternity paddle and a field hockey stick. The batted side is flat, and the opposite side is curved to help get lift under the ball. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Cricketbatparts.jpg)

Balls are filled with cork in the middle and wrapped with a hard leather shell (I'm not sure how to convert that into a more recognizable form, so we'll just go with wikipedia) the hardest throwers can throw it 85 to 90 mph ON A HOP. In case I failed to mention the ball has to bounce once before it reaches the batsman, otherwise it's a no ball (the throw doesn't count and the batting team is awarded a run) (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Cricketball.png)

Wickets are esstially the bases for cricket. They look like the wickets you would use to play croquet, only there are three of them lined up together and on top of them rest two bails, which allow you to know when the wickets (or stumps) are balanced. If someone is to cross out of their zone, you can get them out by jarring the wickets and knocking the bails off (the offical name for an out is "the fall of a wicket")

In order to get an advantage on running out a hit, the batsmen will step foward when they swing at the ball, so if they miss and it knocks the wicket over they will be out, because they were definately outside of the box.

The West Indies

2008-11-12T08:17:00.001-08:00

Well if you're an American, then I've got news for you. Your circket side sucks. But don't despair yet, because I have some good news for you. If you want to see good cricket, not only do you not have to go that far for it, but you get to take a tropical vacation to do it! Welcome to the only Test Playing Nation that isn't really a Nation at all, The West Indies!

The West Indies have players from every single island you can think of down there, even Cuba. They play hard cricket, they play good cricket (can't be a Test Nation without good cricket) and they have some of the greatest fans anywhere in the world. West Indian Cricket is what got me into the sport in the first place, and I have to say, that if you want to have a good time watching a game, the West Indies are the place to start.

I missed something...

2008-11-08T15:23:00.001-08:00

You know, it dawned on me that it would probably help if I explained A) how teams can score, and what a Cricket field looks like beyond "a glorified bocce court". In premise cricket works a lot like baseball (quite frankly, baseball is a cricket rip-off geared towards people with short attention spans) Cricket fields are giant circles with a rectangle in the middle (like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Cricket_field_parts.svg/545px-Cricket_field_parts.svg.png) The bowler runs up from one side reaches the line, and bowls, and it's the batsman's job to try and hit it, the next part is highly based on strategy, as the fielders have to guess where the batsman will try and hit the ball (there are no set positions, in fact there are actually more rules as to where you can't stand than there are to where you can) on the outside of the big circle is a barrier, probably about three inches high. When the batsmen hits the ball he takes off running towards where the ball was just bowled from, he has a team mate who starts from where the batter bowled and starts running the other way, every time they reach the opposite side, that's one run.

They can run back and forth as often as they feel it's safe, there are three exceptions to the rule:
1) If the ball is caught on the fly, then that's a fall of a wicket (an out) and there is no running (cause the batsman is out, so his partner no longer has a partner).
2) If the ball rolls all the way to the barrier, or clears the barrier on the hop, that's a barrier, and it's worth 4 runs. Here are a bunch in a row:

3) If the ball clears the barrier on the fly, it's a six. Shivnarine Chanderpaul shows us how it's done in dramatic fashion.

Essentially, that's it for all the ways you can score, and that was your first introduction to the West Indies team, who I will explain in greater detail next time.

Test Cricket and ODI's

2008-11-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

Since this site doubles as an explanation to the sport to people who have never even seen it before, it seems as though a proper explanation of the two types of cricket I have failed to mention so far goes in here.

ODI is short for One Day Interational, and is the most common version played on an international level. Unlike 20/20 which is one innings (yes the singular is plural, I've never tried to understand it either) with 20 overs (estinally overs are the baseball equivilent to an inning) ODI's have 2 innings usually 40 or 50 overs depending on the agreement between the two sides. From there, there's a coin filp (as there is in all forms of cricket) and winner decides to bat or bowl first. From there, it's standard cricket (which is complicated enough that it will probably get it's own post at some point).

Test Cricket, is simply put, what's killed any chance at all of cricket being a major sport in the west (with a notable exception I will cover next time). Test Cricket is the top level of Cricket in the world, unforuntately, one Test Cricket match can take up to 5 days to play. They only play during the day (20/20 is the only cricket that's played at night) and they stop in the middle of whatever they are doing once the sun goes down. It's required both teams wear entirely white during a test match, and since it istop level cricket, you actually need to show that you're able to play it, by winning your way up to the right, and being approved as a full member of the International Cricket Council of which there are currently only 10 members: England, Austrailia, New Zealand, The West Indies, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Zimbabwae. (for those who are curious the United States and Canada are associate members, and can only play ODI's if they reach World Cricket League Division 1, but for which Canada has an exception to play until next year).

The major problem with test cricket is it's never ever going to translate for tv, they play for 8 hours at a time, with one 30 minute tea break during the match, and an hour lunch break. How would you take any commerical breaks for a show that almost never stops?

South Africa V Bangladesh

2008-11-05T14:52:00.000-08:00

Well speak of the devil, I pointed out the exsistance of 20/20 Circket and it turns out there was a 20/20 match today between South Africa and Bangladesh (much like during the Olympics the best Cricket sides happen to be in time zones earlier than ours, so most major contests are done before we've even had lunch) and it also gives us the chance to look at one of the quirky aspects of cricket.

Like baseball, Circket has to stop for rain (since it's played on a glorified bocce court in most cases) unlike baseball, they won't make us wait 3 days before we can dertermine the winner, cricket has a method called the Duckworth-Lewis Method (D/L Method for short) in which if the game is interrupted for weather, a mathematical formula is used to determine how the team would have done if played under normal conditions in todays SA-Bangladesh match, the match was hampered by rain, and so the D/L Method was brought in to the final total. South Africa socred 118 runs in 20 overs in which they were assumed runs on three occsions due to the rain. Because of this, despite the 9 run difference, the final score states that South Africa won by 14 runs, because in ideal conditions, they would have scored more.

(final scores are determined by whether the winning team batted or bowled (pitched) first, if you bat first and win, you win by the difference in runs, if you bat second and win, you are said to have won by the number of wickets (outs) you had remaining)

This is all a very long way of saying South Africa 118 Bangladesh 109, and congrats to Abdur Razzak of Bangladesh as player of the match.

Time to get it off the ground

2008-11-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well it seems like while the iron is still semi-hot (http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1147466/index.htm) is the right time to get this off the ground so here we go: Welcome to Brian Lara Needs a Hug, I'll be your master of ceramonies, but you knew that already, I figured I would start this with the first entry in a list of 10 reasons that cross into A) Why an American is writing a blog about a sport Americans don't care about and B) Why you should care.

So the first reason is:

Because the Cricket Community is on the verge of trying to make you care about cricket.

Once we get past the fact that America was just let back into cricket less than 6 months ago, we have to realize that the United States really stands as Crickets last untapped major market, they have the British, they have Austrailia and New Zealand, the have the Indian Subcontinent, put together that's a lot of people. And why not add America to the list, they're supposed to be some of the greatest athletes in the world, why not give them a brand new challenge? Hell they even created a version of the game (20/20: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20/20_Cricket) that is supposed to overcome the fact that you think it takes too long to play.

So really the start of this blog asks two things: first, to give this blog a chance to grow into something respectable, and second, to keep open ears when the world cricket community comes knocking at your door.

Oh and so you know how this blog got it's title: