In the news

Oh yes, it's all a big lark when the decisions go one way but when they go the other ... it's just not fair.

Hi John,

working in a kind of multicultural environment in Public health,I can assure you that the Australian TV news is frequently the laughing stock in our tearoom.I remember fondly coming here a week or so after 9/11 when we had had nothing else on the news in Europe for days,and the feature on Channel 9 news was that some guy had robbed a Post Office in Croydon.....Priorities i guess in a nation of surfbums....

Well you just have your priorities all wrong :o)

Torrid discussions of the match held sway at work today as the lone Strine argued with the Indians; the Arabs & Venezuelans looked on in bemusement and the few Pakistanis just chuckled quietly.

Don't recollect Kenya nor Scientology nor Darfur being discussed; then again Scientology probably isn't allowed here.

Well, if you think that's bad, you should be around for the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl ... football ... American football ... sort of like rugby ... not like soccer ... uh ... the other football ... at all.

Okay, who is going to explain cricket?

..Okay, who is going to explain cricket?
Posted by: John Pieret

Well I could make a poor attempt if you really want, it is a fairly simple game.

Could you explain American rounders?
I understand it is called baseball in the USA, for some obscure reason. I believe that there are two groups each with their own slightly different rules who manage to have a "World Series" to which only North Americans are invited :o)

Just the thing for John Pieret - DM's explanation of cricket: http://www.dangermouse.net/cricket/

All the more reason to be worried about any sort of content filtering on the internet in Australia. Where could we get real news from without it?

Explain baseball? Why any true-blue boy is born knowing how to play baseball! How else can you explain someone being able to hit a round ball, sometimes traveling nearly 100 miles per hour (er ... 161 kilometers per hour) with a cylindrical bat and actually have the ball travel in the opposite direction sometimes for up to 400-500 feet (um ... 122-152 meters ... opps ... metres). It's in the genes, I tell ya (or at least in the receptors for those steroid thingies).

As for the rules: one of your nine opponents throws the ball as hard as he can in the vicinity of your body. If you hit the ball with the bat, you run to first base and, if the ball hasn't been thrown there by the fielders before you arrive, you're safe. If you can run to second base without being "tagged" by some opponent with the ball, do so. Repeat with third base and with home base (where you started from). If you make it all the way, you have scored a run. If you have to stop on a base to avoid being tagged, wait to see if your teammate who is up next can hit the ball. If so, repeat previous steps. The rest is nuance.

Ah, I see. It's a kids' game. We used to play tag with balls too.

Re: #5

Hey, I'm an American and I like cricket. It's a batter's game without foul territory, where runs are scored by pairs of batsman exchanging places across a rectangular strip of turf in the middle of a sporting green while the ball is in play. Batters make outs by being caught or by failing to properly protect their stumps, etc. Balls are 'bowled' in an overhand delivery that bounces the ball in the general direction of said stumps. I've been fortunate enough to play a few games when I was younger, and I greatly enjoyed it.

Having said that, I have to take exception to the jibes at our national pastime. Major League Baseball is not exclusively a North American club. There are players from Australia, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Curacao, Japan, Korea and Taiwan in addition to a huge contingent from the Caribbean, notably the Dominican Republic. Many of these players are stars in a professional league with a great tradition. There is no comparable professional league in cricket, and the implied criticism of MLB is unjust, especially when one considers that only 10 nations have even been granted Test status in international cricket and that historically countries outside North America such as Mexico and Japan have conspired to prevent their country's best players from playing in MLB.

I'll be more provocative: hitting a baseball, especially one thrown up at the armpits, with a round bat is more difficult than protecting the stumps with a flat bat. MLB is a better pro game than cricket. If Ichiro Suzuki was allowed to use a flat paddle to hit the ball, he'd average a century.

Let's see: cricket playing nations include England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and the game is played in Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, The Netherlands, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, and Zambia, all of whom are associates to the ICC, the governing body.

Like to revisit that claim?

[I love sports wars. Nothing depends on them.]

Ah, I see. It's a kids' game.

Wasn't that pretty obvious from the emotional and intellectual capabilities of the players?

Many of these players are stars in a professional league with a great tradition. There is no comparable professional league in cricket

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I think that the Test and County Cricket Board might have a comment or two to make about your claim Scott not to mention the profeesional associations in Australia, New Zealand, The West Indies and so on and so forth...

...Having said that, I have to take exception to the jibes at our national pastime. Major League Baseball is not exclusively a North American club. There are players from Australia, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Curacao, Japan, Korea and Taiwan in addition to a huge contingent from the Caribbean, notably the Dominican Republic. Many of these players are stars in a professional league with a great tradition. There is no comparable professional league in cricket, and the implied criticism of MLB is unjust, especially when one considers that only 10 nations have even been granted Test status in international cricket and that historically countries outside North America such as Mexico and Japan have conspired to prevent their country's best players from playing in MLB.

I'll be more provocative: hitting a baseball, especially one thrown up at the armpits, with a round bat is more difficult than protecting the stumps with a flat bat. MLB is a better pro game than cricket. If Ichiro Suzuki was allowed to use a flat paddle to hit the ball, he'd average a century.
Posted by: Scott Hatfield,

My comment was aboout the "World Series" being limited to clubs (not people) from North America.
Given how well the USA faired in the last baseball World Cup, yes I did happen to watch it:O). I fully understand that lots of countries have baseball leagues and produce exceptional rounders players who are then wisked away to play for USAian teams.

I guess your stick ball player being able to play cricket better than a cricketer is on a par with claiming that an american football player would do very well at Rugby (Union or League) or even better Aussie rules.
Don't think so :o)

Please note: the reverse situation also applies; especially as Aussie rules and Rugby players would be unaccustomed to all the padding American football players wear.

Speaking of baseball, please congratulate the once-and-future manager of the Darwin Finches.