Exciting finish to 1st Test

[Richard Hakluyt]

Nobody here is interested, but it is just possible that Gups will make a drive-by visit 

There has been some excellent cricket so far with the balance of power shifting between the teams throughout the match. It's the final day now with Australia on 174-6 and requiring 311 for victory.

Theoretically, especially with a pitch that the experts reckon is "difficult", this should be a win for England...........but the Aussie tail-end seems to be pretty formidable   

I reckon it is 50:50 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/23302781

[Syt]

I shall refrain from re-posting the Fry & Laurie cricket commentary bit.

[mongers]

Rather interesting so far. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Australia 291-9 as they go off for lunch 

[Richard Hakluyt]

.........and England win by 14 runs 

Incredibly close call for the last Aussie wicket, one could almost feel sorry for them..........almost....

[Grey Fox]

It's weird sport, especially you do your thing then I do mine and then we score thing.

I've never watch a game that wasn't from the Indian Pro League tho.

[Agelastus]

Heh, we won.

Almost makes me wish I was a little less miserly; watching highlights is in no way the same as watching it live.

Congratulations England.

And Grey Fox - how is it any stranger than Baseball which also has a multi-innings format?

[fhdz]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

[HVC]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

kind of like curling in that there's stuff moving and people get excited but you're not really sure why they're getting excited. I wanna like and watch it (I have a few Tamil friends who love cricket) but it's too "foreign" and I just can't follow along. plus it's like three days long lol

[fhdz]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

kind of like curling in that there's stuff moving and people get excited but you're not really sure why they're getting excited. I wanna like and watch it (I have a few Tamil friends who love cricket) but it's too "foreign" and I just can't follow along. plus it's like three days long lol

I watched one curling match and understood curling. After multiple attempts to understand cricket I still haven't been able to grasp it yet.

[HVC]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

kind of like curling in that there's stuff moving and people get excited but you're not really sure why they're getting excited. I wanna like and watch it (I have a few Tamil friends who love cricket) but it's too "foreign" and I just can't follow along. plus it's like three days long lol

I watched one curling match and understood curling. After multiple attempts to understand cricket I still haven't been able to grasp it yet.

i understand the basics, get the rock near the center, block the other rocks, but t seems like there's more strategy there that I'm not getting lol

[crazy canuck]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

On our trip to Aus a friend took the time to explain it all to me.  Now I enjoy watching it much more than baseball. 

[Viking]

I love cricket. I just don't understand it at all.

kind of like curling in that there's stuff moving and people get excited but you're not really sure why they're getting excited. I wanna like and watch it (I have a few Tamil friends who love cricket) but it's too "foreign" and I just can't follow along. plus it's like three days long lol

I watched one curling match and understood curling. After multiple attempts to understand cricket I still haven't been able to grasp it yet.

It's like baseball only with a few differences.

There are two innings (in one day cricket there are one innings)
In each inning all players get an at bat (not just three)
Each player has one strike
There is always a player on first base
When a hit is made the at bat player runs to first base and the man on first base runs to home plate directly (there are no second or third bases, plus first base is just in front of the pitchers mound)
The batsmen run back and forth between home plate and first base as many times as possible. A home run gives you 6 runs, managing to reach the back end of the field gives you 4 runs.
When 10 out of 11 players are out the team is out.
To keep pitcher attrition low each pitcher pitches 6 balls and is replaced by one of the other pitchers (usually 4 per team), after 6 balls the pitches changes location to the other pitchers mound behind home plate.
Whoever scores most points wins. The game ends if the team that is second at bat gets 1 point more than the other. If they don't need their second innings to do so they win by an innings if they don't need all their batsmen they win by x wickets (the x being how many batsmen were not out).

Apart from that its pretty much the same except the shape of the bat and the rules on hitting the player with the ball - perfectly legal, its the player that gets into trouble if he blocks the strike zone with his body.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Probably the best way to get a basic understanding is to see an amateur match, they are so much quicker apart from anything else. With the help of a friend who knows what's happening you'll soon get the gist.

But it is a highly technical game, especially in the full 5-day test version; so it takes a lifetime to understand the intricacies and it is a delight to listen to the experts 

I think it is fair to say that great cricketers require tremendous mental discipline; OTOH they can come in all shapes and sizes, which makes it a better game than sports where you have to be very big or very tall or whatever.

[katmai]

Exciting and cricket don't go together.