Question from a baseball fan...

[Leicester Fox]

Isn't there a new film coming out called the cricket factories? Danny Dyer's playing you and Vinnie Jones is Kev. I heard SS makes a cameo appearance in the Sussex lads too, played by Jason Statham. They wanted me to appear but Jessica Alba wasn't available to play my girlfriend so they cut my role out.

 

[Highlander999]

LOL, Joe. I can actually see Kev being Vinnie Not sure about me though

 

[nightprowler10]

Bob, in your quest in learning about cricket I hope you'll take a gander at the profile of a certain Philadelphian who quite possibly revolutionized fast bowling. I am talking about John Barton 'Bart' King. I think you'll find his story interesting.

 

[Broken Arm Bob]

So I've been playing the video game a lot lately, and I actually won a ten over match! I've lost the rest. Still, I think it's impressive, given that I've never watched a cricket game.

So about those wickets... Do they really shatter when the ball hits them? Do wood chips go flying in the air and get in players' eyes? Are there splinters in the dirt that the wicket keeper and batsmen have to watch out for? Does some groundskeeper have to come out and vacuum the pitch? Maybe these questions are ridiculous, but as a baseball fan, I really don't know...

 

[Dare]

So I've been playing the video game a lot lately, and I actually won a ten over match! I've lost the rest. Still, I think it's impressive, given that I've never watched a cricket game.

So about those wickets... Do they really shatter when the ball hits them? Do wood chips go flying in the air and get in players' eyes? Are there splinters in the dirt that the wicket keeper and batsmen have to watch out for? Does some groundskeeper have to come out and vacuum the pitch? Maybe these questions are ridiculous, but as a baseball fan, I really don't know...

Wickets rarely break, there have been occasions when they are broken by a fast bowlers but they never shatter.

 

[Broken Arm Bob]

So the wicket just falls apart? I guess that makes sense. It sure looks like it breaks, though.

 

[sohum]

So the wicket just falls apart? I guess that makes sense. It sure looks like it breaks, though.

Well, usually the wickets aren't planted firmly enough in the ground for the collision with the ball to break it. What you see normally is the stump being knocked back or the whole wicket flying out of the ground. When the ball hits the bottom of the wicket, it usually stays rooted in and the bails drop.

The reason for this is that the bowling in cricket isn't that fast, given that you have to straighten your elbow while bowling. The fastest measured ball ever is somewhere in the range of 101 mph, but most "fast" bowlers operate in the 90-95 mph range (out of the hand). As a result, the ball doesn't usually have enough momentum to destroy a stump.

In the few cases it's happened, I'm sure there'd be a few splinters, but since the area around the wickets usually isn't occupied by anyone, there's not that much danger. In the rare case splinters happen, I'm sure close-in fielders and the batsmen have the prerogative to move the splinters to a safe area (such as directly behind the wickets, for example).

 

[Broken Arm Bob]

So I've made up my mind... I'm going to root for New Zealand. What should I know about that team?

 

[Cricketman]

Daniel Vettori is the captain, he's a very wily spin bowler and a handy batsman too. The best batsman is probably Ross Taylor, who's a big hitter of the ball and is a very exciting cricketer indeed. They're currently playing a series against India, who are one of the better teams in World cricket.

Heres a link to Cricinfo's NZ page - Cricinfo - New Zealand

Are you from Chicago? I go there basically every month to visit family . Hello from Michigan!

 

[Ari]

So I've made up my mind... I'm going to root for New Zealand. What should I know about that team?

Good Choice!

NZ right now have a very young but promising side we are much better in the shorter forms of the game, the longer 5 day stuff seems to be work in progress right now but we are improving.

Daniel Vettori is the captain who leads from the front and is one of the best spin bowlers in the world and a handy batsman as well. We have some very aggressive and entertaining batsman such as Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder along with some good all rounders like Jacob Oram, James Franklin and Grant Elliot. Our pace bowling attack certainly isn't the quickest around but they do get the job done most the time from good line and length bowling. Some names to look out for there are Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien and Tim Southee.

I think one big thing to note about NZ teams is we have a lot of players who can both bat and bowl. We seem to have players right down to numbers 9 and 10 who can be handy with the bat and quite a number of our front line batsman can bowl a few overs as well.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Also, this:

Iain O'Brien's blog at Cricinfo.com


NZ are famous for their green-tinged pitches, their big hitting batsmen, their medium paced, dibbly-dobbly wibbly-wobbly bowling, and their incredible fielding. They are famous for being the underdogs, and for punching above their weight. Legends include Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Martin Crowe. Shane Bond, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Craig McMillan are other names to look out for. All the current names have been mentioned above.

Overall, a great team to support. Always entertaining.

 

[shravi]

Also, this:

Iain O'Brien's blog at Cricinfo.com


NZ are famous for their green-tinged pitches, their big hitting batsmen, their medium paced, dibbly-dobbly wibbly-wobbly bowling, and their incredible fielding. They are famous for being the underdogs, and for punching above their weight. Legends include Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Martin Crowe. Shane Bond, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Craig McMillan are other names to look out for. All the current names have been mentioned above.

Overall, a great team to support. Always entertaining.

You forgot Nathan Astle. What a player.

 

[nightprowler10]

So I've made up my mind... I'm going to root for New Zealand. What should I know about that team?

Its a pretty good choice Bob. Others will tell you more than enough about the current New Zealand team, though you should probably find out a bit about their past heroes as well when you have time. Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, Mark Richardson, John Bracewell are all big names you might be interested in reading about, Hadlee being one of the greatest bowling all rounders of all time.

 

[Therbs]

Hey Bob! Welcome to Planet Cricket. Did you know that Canada and the U.S. played the first ever cricket international? Something for you to brag about.In this season's baseball I'm tossing up between the Cubs (gotta love a choke) and the Jays (I went to one of their games one time). But then there's the Brewers. Any team named after beer making has to be a top pick.
Root for the Kiwis and then you'll learn to hate us Aussies. But they're a pretty good jumping off point. They'll give anyone a run for their money and there's nothing they like better than beating Australia. They're a funny mob.

 

[Broken Arm Bob]

Thanks everyone! I actually had a chance to watch the Twenty20 match against India via cricinfo's live scorecard late last week (It was only around midnight here on the US west coast)... I've played enough cricket video games to get a understanding of what was going on (I'm working on learning all the field positions), and was sitting on the edge of my seat during NZ's innings... When McCollum scored his last run, preventing the tie, I jumped out of my chair and cheered... Great ending. So much like the ending of a tight baseball game.

BTW, speaking of baseball, I found a picture on the Surrey CC website of a cricket coach catching a cricket ball with a baseball catcher's mitt! I know that using any kind of protective gear for the hands is frowned upon, except for the keeper, but when cricket players practice and warm up their throwing arms before a game (and I assume they do), then do they borrow baseball equipment to protect their hands for the real thing?