A ten thousand word essay on Test cricket by an American

[legend166]

AKA - one of the best sporting articles you'll read this year:

LONDON - After the torture of eight disconnected hours, the plane lands at Heathrow. We're still rolling when I turn on both phones, hitting refresh on my email, burning at the twirling wheel. Effing phone and its thinking. The messages finally arrive but won't load. I curse all the way to passport control, trying not to run into people as I scan emails and texts. Immigration officer No. 1268 waves me down to the right.

"Why are you here?" she asks.

"The Test match between England and India," I answer.

"When does it start?"

"Tomorrow."

"When does it end?"

"Monday."

"Why does it last so long?"

"I don't know," I tell her honestly. "It just does."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/549101.html


Makes me want to watch some test cricket.

 

[L_W_P]

Fantastic read. Raises some great questions about the future of both cricket and people in general.

One thing did blow my mind though -

Robertson (the inventor of T20) and I find a bench where we can see a little corner of the green pitch. He no longer works for the ECB.

There's a new venture, Cage Cricket: an even shorter form of the game, or as he puts it, more democratic. He wants to take the final step in the evolution of cricket and completely remove teams. Six individual stars, in a plexiglass cube, where hits off different parts of the square result in different run totals. The bowler can score by getting someone out, as can the fielders. Losing your wicket costs you 40 runs. The game lasts 30 overs, and all six men get to bowl, field and bat. He sees basketball arenas and great swells of hype. "The guys will come in like prizefighters," he says. "Then we'll take that around the world. We're talking to India, the Caribbean, Australia, the States."

SUPER INTERNATIONAL INDOOR CRICKET!!!



WTF!??!

 

[Le Class]

What a great read.

Can't say I thought I would see the words "I'm gonna pick up a virtual hooker and then beat her to death with a pipe" in it however though haha..

 

[The_Reaper]

Fantastic read. Raises some great questions about the future of both cricket and people in general.

One thing did blow my mind though -

Robertson (the inventor of T20) and I find a bench where we can see a little corner of the green pitch. He no longer works for the ECB.

There's a new venture, Cage Cricket: an even shorter form of the game, or as he puts it, more democratic. He wants to take the final step in the evolution of cricket and completely remove teams. Six individual stars, in a plexiglass cube, where hits off different parts of the square result in different run totals. The bowler can score by getting someone out, as can the fielders. Losing your wicket costs you 40 runs. The game lasts 30 overs, and all six men get to bowl, field and bat. He sees basketball arenas and great swells of hype. "The guys will come in like prizefighters," he says. "Then we'll take that around the world. We're talking to India, the Caribbean, Australia, the States."

SUPER INTERNATIONAL INDOOR CRICKET!!!



WTF!??!

Says a lot about Twenty20

 

[Simple Jack]

Says a lot about Twenty20

QFT.

6 Giggles.

 

[Kyptastic]

I wouldn't worry about that too much. There's been a lot of double wicket competitions and 'CricketMax' and other things that they've tried, but nothing that isn't XI a side cricket has put much of a dent in traditonal cricket forms.

 

[Copernicus]

Good read. It's a shame the writer didn't follow through with watching cricket afterwards.

I think as long as England and Australia keep the faith on test cricket, the rest of the world will continue to follow. I really don't think there are signs of it waning in importance in either country.

 

[Rakuten06]

Good article, Ironically I also write two articles about cricket in my university's newspaper, explaining how cricket works with the basic rules and also Legends of Cricket (Warne, Lara, Akram) in an attempt to try to promote the sport of cricket in my university in the States.

 

[swingdog]

I thought this nicely captured the zen appeal of test cricket.

I love the fact that it's always on the telly or radio during the day and that you can dip in or out, rather than being forced to sit down and watch "entertainment".

It's the same reason that during the tests, the lunch and tea break entertainment gives me the shits. Having a beer, talking with mates, no, we need to flog Vodafone's latest lame marketing wheez with a bunch of idiots on the big screen.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

It's the same reason that during the tests, the lunch and tea break entertainment gives me the shits. Having a beer, talking with mates, no, we need to flog Vodafone's latest lame marketing wheez with a bunch of idiots on the big screen.

Well, that's why during the lunch and tea breaks you should grab your stubbies and head out into the backyard with your mates for a quick hit instead.

I'm sure the article was good but I stopped reading after a while; my attention span is clearly not as...

 

[The_Reaper]

I still think that test cricket is one of those things that you will never understand if you don't grow up with it.

 

[Tiff]

I still think that test cricket is one of those things that you will never understand if you don't grow up with it.

You're spot on.

This is an interesting read I guess.

He's still demeaning and irrelevant when he talks about the game and his facts are WAY off. Not a meaningful mention of Australia, it's as if LORDS has pretty much owned this sport since it's conception. LORDS isn't even the same ground. MCG anyone. Ashes anyone.

Meh.

 

[The_Reaper]

You're spot on.

This is an interesting read I guess.

He's still demeaning and irrelevant when he talks about the game and his facts are WAY off. Not a meaningful mention of Australia, it's as if LORDS has pretty much owned this sport since it's conception. LORDS isn't even the same ground. MCG anyone. Ashes anyone.

Meh.

It's a pity that the Ashes weren't mentioned

 

[Blessed]

it is an Anglo based essay.

Where is the Aussie influence?

Sunbury - Ashes

First test MCG

First one day international MCG

 

[Wallaby]

it is an Anglo based essay.

Where is the Aussie influence?

Sunbury - Ashes

First test MCG

First one day international MCG

The Poms did invent cricket in the form we now play (and ODI & T20 as well).

A Journo in an English sporting paper invented The Ashes - the 'Sunbury' thing is a very lame attempt to jump on a bandwagon. We'd call it an attention-seeking media stunt today. The Ashes legend was then ignored for at least 20 years until Plum Warner called his book of the 1902/3 series 'Quest for the Ashes'. The Sunbury Ashes are not the original Ashes.

The First Test was only classified as a Test match several years later when they were formalising the history - while it was an important match at the time, it wasn't seen as ground-breaking at the time. Also, at least 5 of the Australians were born in England.

 

[W.C. Fry]

Started reading it - about a 1/3 of the way through and seems like a pretty good read so far.

I personally think tests will be fine. Its the one day game that would be in the biggest trouble. That used to be about instant gratification. Now if i want that i would get my 20/20 fix.

Amercian sport is oversaturated. You play a hundred meaningless games in a season until the finals finally arrive (Even 22 rounds of AFL seems too much sometimes). Yet playing 5 meaningful games over 5 days is wierd? Quality over quantity

Sure i will go to most ODI's at the WACA still but god help me if i can remember what happened in last years match. If another test was on at the WACA this week i would go again. Doubt i would go to 2 ODI's in the space of a week though.

 

[The_Reaper]

Started reading it - about a 1/3 of the way through and seems like a pretty good read so far.

I personally think tests will be fine. Its the one day game that would be in the biggest trouble. That used to be about instant gratification. Now if i want that i would get my 20/20 fix.

Amercian sport is oversaturated. You play a hundred meaningless games in a season until the finals finally arrive (Even 22 rounds of AFL seems too much sometimes). Yet playing 5 meaningful games over 5 days is wierd? Quality over quantity

Sure i will go to most ODI's at the WACA still but god help me if i can remember what happened in last years match. If another test was on at the WACA this week i would go again. Doubt i would go to 2 ODI's in the space of a week though.

I remember every test match over the last decade at the WACA.
I remember bits and pieces of the ODIs- stuff like how one year Lou Vincent scored about 170.

 

[The Speaker]

You're spot on.

This is an interesting read I guess.

He's still demeaning and irrelevant when he talks about the game and his facts are WAY off. Not a meaningful mention of Australia, it's as if LORDS has pretty much owned this sport since it's conception. LORDS isn't even the same ground. MCG anyone. Ashes anyone.

Meh.

This is his second major article on cricket, and is a follow up to his first one - which was about cricket in India.

This was about the number one and number two countries in the world battling it out.

I didn't find it demeaning either. Sceptical perhaps.

 

[Carl Hooper]

I remember every test match over the last decade at the WACA.
I remember bits and pieces of the ODIs- stuff like how one year Lou Vincent scored about 170.

Only been to one ODI at the WACA.

Gillys last Aussie innings.. Smashed a hundred. Hard to forget that.

 

[Blessed]

The Poms did invent cricket in the form we now play (and ODI & T20 as well).

A Journo in an English sporting paper invented The Ashes - the 'Sunbury' thing is a very lame attempt to jump on a bandwagon. We'd call it an attention-seeking media stunt today. The Ashes legend was then ignored for at least 20 years until Plum Warner called his book of the 1902/3 series 'Quest for the Ashes'. The Sunbury Ashes are not the original Ashes.

The First Test was only classified as a Test match several years later when they were formalising the history - while it was an important match at the time, it wasn't seen as ground-breaking at the time. Also, at least 5 of the Australians were born in England.

Sorry you are wrong.

You have re-written history wrongly.

The game of cricket while invented in England was significantly refined in Australia with a lot of the laws being made in Australia in co-operation with the MCC.

The game in England was played 15 a side and no lbw and the captains umpired.

All those things were introduced in Australia.

The first one day international was played at the MCG in 1970-71 and significant refinement of that game took place during the Packer Revolution in Australia. Circles, field restrictions. If England was in charge of one day cricket, you would still be allowed to have all the fieldsman on the boundary line.

The first test, was and is the first test. By definition, it was in Australia because the English were unable to agree from a regional perspective between their counties at the stage.

The Ashes....the actual trophy or replica of the English Ashes....at Lords.

THE URN


..ARE the bails burnt in Sunbury...



So how can you call it a lame attempt when infact, the Ashes are the bails burnt in Sunbury..

You say 5 of the Australians were born in Enlgand....

Well 4 of the current Englsh team were born in South Africa....so nothing has changed there.

Not sure if you have ever read anything about the history of cricket but you clearly need to.

 

[Wallaby]

Sorry you are wrong.

You have re-written history wrongly.

The game of cricket while invented in England was significantly refined in Australia with a lot of the laws being made in Australia in co-operation with the MCC.

The game in England was played 15 a side and no lbw and the captains umpired.

All those things were introduced in Australia.

What? That's utter rubbish. England was playing formal 11-a-side cricket long before they were in Australia. yes, Captains used to umpire (as they did in most sports), and like most sports, they quickly introduced independent umpires. All these things were done in England years beforen there was any serious cricket played in Australia.

The LBW law first appeared in the Laws of Cricket in 1774 - I guess captain Cook must have got busy real quick after he got back to England.

The first one day international was played at the MCG in 1970-71 and significant refinement of that game took place during the Packer Revolution in Australia. Circles, field restrictions. If England was in charge of one day cricket, you would still be allowed to have all the fieldsman on the boundary line.

One Day cricket was invented in England in 1963. The first One day international was played in Melbourne to replace the 3rd test of the ashes series that was washed out. It was played at the request of the English touring party.

Fielding restrictions and circles were invented in South Africa and adopted by WSC. The main innovations created by WSC were colored clothing (cricket had been played under lights in the 1880s - not very successfully, admittedly). The main changes created by WSC was how cricket was presented on TV.

The Ashes....the actual trophy or replica of the English Ashes....at Lords.

THE URN


..ARE the bails burnt in Sunbury...



So how can you call it a lame attempt when infact, the Ashes are the bails burnt in Sunbury..

The Ashes were - 'The Ashes Of English Cricket'. They were mentioned after the 1882 test, representing the 'Death' of English cricket superiority, and the writer humorously suggested they would be taken to Australia. Obviously, nothing real was involved.

In 1882/83, after Ivo Bligh's team won the 3rd test, at a high society function, some society ladies burnt a stump and some bails (exact ingredients are a bit sketchy) and presented them to Bligh as a bit of a giggle. Bligh's team then lost the 4th test, and so drew the series 2-2, so technically should not have won the ashes at all.

Nothing more was heard of the ashes until 1903 when Plum Warner (and probably his editor) re-introduced the term. There were no physical Ashes. Then in 1928, Ivo Bligh's widow (or some relative) found the Sunbury Ashes hidden away in a cupboard, and presented them to the MCC. Somehow, over time, and mostly due to lazy journalists re-writing history, these have come to represent 'The Ashes of English Cricket'.

[/quote]

 

[King Elvis]

My cousin's girlfriend, who is Australian and a Rugby Union fan, knew nothing about Cricket prior to Christmas.

All the boys woke up early-ish on Boxing Day to start watching the Test, she came down a bit later...

"How long is this on for?"

"All day..."

"What, it lasts the whole day?!"

"Well, no... it goes for 5 days, today is just the first day..."

"Oh, ok... Which team do we play tomorrow then?"



We're used to it because we grew up loving up, but really, when you stop and think about it, a game that goes for ~6+ hours a day, for 5 days, and frequently doesn't have a result...

It's pretty awesome

 

[swingdog]

It's about the journey, man.

 

[Rakuten06]

It's about the journey, man.

I agree, I watched the Ashes in Australia last year, it was my first time ever that I watched a entire Test match live (I watched it on my PS3 because I don't have any access to cricket match on TV in the USA) and it was awesome because I can watch it after dinner (from 6 pm till 2 am)

So yeah, it's all the journey... if England get it done in three days

 

[The_Reaper]

My cousin's girlfriend, who is Australian and a Rugby Union fan, knew nothing about Cricket prior to Christmas.

All the boys woke up early-ish on Boxing Day to start watching the Test, she came down a bit later...

"How long is this on for?"

"All day..."

"What, it lasts the whole day?!"

"Well, no... it goes for 5 days, today is just the first day..."

"Oh, ok... Which team do we play tomorrow then?"



We're used to it because we grew up loving up, but really, when you stop and think about it, a game that goes for ~6+ hours a day, for 5 days, and frequently doesn't have a result...

It's pretty awesome

It's the length that makes it possible to be a proper test.