Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 28.10.2006 at 16:09

Written by [user id=3056] on 26.10.2006 at 20:00

I told an American about the time my friend hit a clown in the face with a cricket bat. His response? "Cricket? Learn to play baseball, ya f**kin' Limey."

I guess cricket is just underappreciated accross the pond. As is slapstick humour.

Ah well almost everythign is underappreciated across the pond. What those Yanks don't realize is that without cricket they won't have their poor man's version of it, called baseball. At least cricket it played by many more people around the world than baseball.

And it's played by better people! But I'm not sure if cricket pre-dates baseball. Cricket was invented after the colonization of America, so was baseball (or it's lame cousin, "rounders") around before this? Someone do some research on this! Or at least google it. I'm too high.

@ Señor Three T - The research you asked for

This page : http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/HISTORY/

It says that the first evidence of cricket being played dates from 1550

This page : http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbaseball.htm

Dates baseball as early 1800's

Damn, my entire theory of the subcontinent teams going through to the semi-finals has been trampled into the dirt. India were throroughly beaten by Australia yesterday, but fortunately for me, that's a contest in which I can hedge my bets! India screwed up royally against the Windies, so I figured they didn't deserve my full support. Pakistan bowled well at first against the Proteas, but then gave it away, and then had one of their collapses. They were lucky to get to 89. England did well against the Windies, but as usual, they won the one match that didn't count.

Written by Judas on 30.10.2006 at 12:32

England did well against the Windies, but as usual, they won the one match that didn't count.

We are saving ourselves for The Ashes, you git...

Written by [user id=3056] on 31.10.2006 at 02:05

Written by Judas on 30.10.2006 at 12:32

England did well against the Windies, but as usual, they won the one match that didn't count.

We are saving ourselves for The Ashes, you git...

Thats the sad part of it, England seemed to have no regards for the Champions Trophy and i think they will be more happy to win the Ashes(which hey wont) than even the World Cup.

Neways sad to see India crash out of the Champions Trophy, the aussies were just too good.
We missed the trick aganst the West Indies in the earlier match

How abt South Africa for winning the Champion Trophy now

Well, my predictions of the three subcontinental teams in the semis together with Australia has also gone down the drain.
But IMO the iCC should do away with the Champions Trophy. What's the use of a trophy such as this when you already got a the World Cup, and btw, there is far tooooooo much one day cricket being played.

Final between West Indies and Australia.

Like I said... dark horse are West Indies. They managed to reach the final of the Champions Trophy two times running now. What an upset it will be if they win it again... I hope Australia wins but it might be a god thing for cricket (especially in the Windies) if the Windies manage to win it and get far in the World Cup next year.

A very fine batting performance by Chris Gayle yet again, he was their guiding force while chasing down South Africa's competitive total of 258. Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, beware! Having said that, if McGrath bowls like he did against New Zealand, the Windies will have a hard time scoring runs. It's all set up for a cracker of a final!

I think Aussies will rip apart Windies in the final just as in the DLF cup....but as i have been wrong abt everything i thought abt theis champions trophy i wudnt bet agnst Windies winning

The ironic thing abt the Windies is that they used to dominate World Cricket earlier by there deadly pace in fast bowling and now a days they do so by change of pace to a much much slower pace

I find cricket to be quite boring and frankly, I hate it, mainly because of the amount of aussies who follow the damn thing.

That was one strange match, that final. The Windies got off to an amazing start, courtesy of the in-form Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but then they all collapsed. Australia did bowl and field quite well, but the Windies just self-destructed, as they frequently do. Australia, apart from the early wickets of Gilchrist (who needs to get into good touch for the Ashes) and Ponting, cruised to the paltry target. More interesting than the match was the fact that it rained in Mumbai at this time of year!

Written by Judas on 06.11.2006 at 12:00

That was one strange match, that final. The Windies got off to an amazing start, courtesy of the in-form Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but then they all collapsed. Australia did bowl and field quite well, but the Windies just self-destructed, as they frequently do. Australia, apart from the early wickets of Gilchrist (who needs to get into good touch for the Ashes) and Ponting, cruised to the paltry target. More interesting than the match was the fact that it rained in Mumbai at this time of year!

I saw some interesting stats that out of 23 ODI finals played since 1999 Australia has ONLY lost 2

The Ashes start tomorrow! Can't wait to set the score straight with the Poms, you lot have blown your own trumpet for quite long enough, and it's time for the hallowed urn to come back to the true owners! I've got money on the series being unwinnable for England by the time I return to Australia, on the 18th of December. My Dad has tickets for the first 3 days of the Brisbane Test, so as I write he would be preparing himself to get to the Gabba. I, on the other hand, will have to stay up all night to watch, but I wouldn't miss it for the world! COME ON AUSSIES!!!

Great start by the Aussies 346/3 Ponting 137* (whihc is btw Ponting 32nd century) Hussey 63*

ALso currently playing The Netherlands - Bermuda for the Intercontinental Cup
The Netherlands 378 all out (Ryan Ten Doesschate 138 btw his second consecutive hundred in the Intercontinental Cup)
Bermuda currently 209 for 5 (Ten Doesscahte 3 for 65 in 23)

And concerning the Ashes... finally the BBC has the highlights again so will be watching them tonight on BBC 2 at 00.20

India lost to South Africa
Yeah am supporting the Aussies too...GO AussieS!!

Written by Valar on 23.11.2006 at 13:18

India lost to South Africa
Yeah am supporting the Aussies too...GO AussieS!!

Lost? You mean they were slaughtered, skittled out for 91 mwahahahaha (sorry, I always love those sorts of scores)

@Ozman: That was a piss poor performance from India, it's not as though they could blame the pitch or anything, it's just substandard batting against some quality fast bowling. Mind you, it is in South Africa, and India are incapable of winning there, or anywhere outside the subcontinent anyway.

But the Aussies are going great guns, I'll be watching yet again tonight from midnight for day 2. Note to Steve Harmison: learn to bowl.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 23.11.2006 at 13:25

Written by Valar on 23.11.2006 at 13:18

India lost to South Africa
Yeah am supporting the Aussies too...GO AussieS!!

Lost? You mean they were slaughtered, skittled out for 91 mwahahahaha (sorry, I always love those sorts of scores)

yeah actually slaughtered, we need to d some thing radical if we are gonna win even a single match....

I think I will just keep my head down for a few days

That was indeed a rather dismal display of 'bowling' by Steve Harmison.
The other bowlers were not much better either.

I wish I could support the Aussies , but I'm not allowed to , so I just have to hope for the best.
But that is part of being English - you always have to hope for the best.

I'm surprised India did so badly - they are usually much better than that.

Written by hanna of steel on 23.11.2006 at 15:40

I think I will just keep my head down for a few days

That was indeed a rather dismal display of 'bowling' by Steve Harmison.
The other bowlers were not much better either.

I wish I could support the Aussies , but I'm not allowed to , so I just have to hope for the best.
But that is part of being English - you always have to hope for the best.

I'm surprised India did so badly - they are usually much better than that.

Like cricinfo said that irst ball of the sereis by harmison which was a wide wide wide stopped by Flintoff in the slips was just as bad as the start of the 94/95 Ashes campaign with DeFreitas first ball being a long hop to Hayden....
I am now surely getting up at 00.20 to watch the high (or in your case, low..) lights of the first day. (gotta get to work at 4 a.m. so I should be sleeping instead but what the hell.

Written by hanna of steel on 23.11.2006 at 15:40



I'm surprised India did so badly - they are usually much better than that.

Actually yes and no, i mean as it is they have a very poor record vs the south african in southafrica, they have lost some 14 out of 17 games vs those guys....
And yes cause you would have expected them to giv a fight by scoring closer to the total. I mean losing by 147 is shameful.

@Ozman: Good to see you've got your priorities right.

Written by Judas on 23.11.2006 at 19:29

@Ozman: Good to see you've got your priorities right.

and if I don't support Australia I will get killed by the current coach of the Dutch national squad who is Australian and former opener for Queensland and 12th man during the 1992/1993 Ashes during the Brisbane (I think) test where he took two catches after having been on the piss until 4 a.m. the previous night.

What's his name? Chances are that someone I know will know him, Queensland cricket is like one big family, everyone knows everyone.

Incidentally, if your stats were right about the number of cricketers in The Netherlands, then it must be said that the team has done phenomenally well, considering that they've got less people to choose from than my local district in Brisbane!

Written by Judas on 23.11.2006 at 19:43

What's his name? Chances are that someone I know will know him, Queensland cricket is like one big family, everyone knows everyone.

Incidentally, if your stats were right about the number of cricketers in The Netherlands, then it must be said that the team has done phenomenally well, considering that they've got less people to choose from than my local district in Brisbane!

His name is Peter Cantrell and has been living in Holland for quite a few years now.

Ten Doesschate (the guy who scored the century is pro in England and half South African) Billy Stelling is South African by birth, 17 year old Kervezee is Namibian born DUtch and has scored a contract in England, Daan van Bunge was a MCC Young Cricketer and holds the record runs scored by a MCC Young Cricketer in a year. Bas Zuiderent is Dutch and an ex-Sussex player (he played there together with Murray Goodwin)

And is the sport growing there, as it is in France, or is it kept alive by the few faithful?

It's really novel for me, because I've been surrounded by cricket all my life, and even when I travel to France or other non-cricketing nations, I'm usually with Indians, Australians, or locals who have lived in Australia and so know about the game. Never have I been in a situation where no-one knows about cricket!

Written by Judas on 23.11.2006 at 19:57

And is the sport growing there, as it is in France, or is it kept alive by the few faithful?

It's really novel for me, because I've been surrounded by cricket all my life, and even when I travel to France or other non-cricketing nations, I'm usually with Indians, Australians, or locals who have lived in Australia and so know about the game. Never have I been in a situation where no-one knows about cricket!

The game is stagnant heere since the early 80s. IN the eighties there were also around 5,000 people playing it but then about 4,200 were Dutch. So as you can see, it is only thanks to foreigners living here that the number of people playing it is still 5,000. especially the influx of Pakistani and Indian players has helped a lot. But looking at the national squad a good thing is that not too long agao most players were foreigners and now the largest part of the squad is totally Dutch. But talented players have always been around. Now we have Alexei Kervezee (look out for him durig the World Cup), Daan van Bunge, Bas Zuiderent, followed closely by Mohammed Kashif, Pieter Seelaar, Mark Jonkman, Tom de Grooth and also a couple of players in the under 19, under 17 and under 15 squads. In the past we had such players as Paul Jan Bakker (used to play for Hampshire), Roland Lefevbre (also played for a county), André van Troost (also an ex-county player, and one of the fastest bowlers ever in the world, he was regularly clocked at 149 kph) Tim de Leede (still playing for the Dutch national squad but already 38) I am of course talking about purely 100% Dutch players here.


EDIT: oops of the current youthful promising players I forgot Peter Borren.

Any chance of it raining in Brisbane ?

Written by hanna of steel on 24.11.2006 at 16:13

Any chance of it raining in Brisbane ?

I hope not, hahahahaha

@hanna: Actually, I spoke to my parents and they said that rain has been forecast for day 5, meaning that if if it is washed out then Ricky Ponting will get crucified by the press for not enforcing the damn follow-on. His excuse was that he didn't want to tire out his bowlers in the first match, but hey, if you've got someone by the throat, why even think of relinquishing your grip?

But I don't think we'll need the whole day to bowl you guys out anyway, 1 session should do it.