England bowled out Australia on day four to win by an innings and 157 runs and retained The Ashes for the first time in 24 years. Now I'll have to find something else to write about.
I was busy this afternoon and missed the hour and a half of action. Australia, trailing badly, was swinging for the fences and recorded at least two sixes, which I've never seen.
Next up, the ICC World Cup of cricket, being played on the Indian sub-continent, in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In World Cup play, each side bowls 50 overs, and the matches usually last one day, but can extend to two days if rain or other delays occur. I like Test cricket better, because every player is involved and the possibility of a draw keeps things interesting. Plus, you have to get the other side all out, which is more challenging than just scoring more runs in 50 overs than the other guys.
Pitchers and catchers report in only two months!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
PROFESSIONAL DRIVER, CLOSED COURSE
I'm watching The Ashes on an Indian feed of the Australian Broadcasting Company, and there is a Mentos ad where a monkey and a donkey are walking along and come upon some Mentos. The monkey takes a Mentos, and offers one to the donkey, who refuses. The monkey then quickly evolves from a monkey to a proto-human, to a caveman, who then invents fire and the wheel, and puts the donkey in a chariot and makes him carry him.
At the bottom of the screen reads a disclaimer: "Donkeys are not meant to be work animals." Wait, Indians have to be warned about using donkeys as work animals, and you are selling them Mentos?
At the bottom of the screen reads a disclaimer: "Donkeys are not meant to be work animals." Wait, Indians have to be warned about using donkeys as work animals, and you are selling them Mentos?
DAY TWO, TEST MATCH FOUR
No Ashes for the Aussies this year. Jonathon Trott recorded a century, and England closed play on Day Two with 444 for 5. They have a whopping 346 run lead, and now have only to decide when to turn things over to the hapless Australian batsmen for the coup de grace.
I missed almost all the good action, which happened after the lunch break. Before lunch, the Aussies recorded a couple of wickets, and then Kevin Pietersen and Trott took over for a long slog while the Australians waited for a new ball to be put in play. Apparently, a new ball makes bowling easier, but you wouldn't know it by Jonathan Trott. The Aussies did bowl out Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell after lunch, but Trott just kept on trucking. He's at 141 and counting.
Also after lunch, Australian captain Ricky Ponting managed to get himself fined 40% of his match fee for haranguing umpire Ranjan Madugalle after Pietersen had been ruled out for an apparent wicket that was later rescinded after replays showed that the ball had not touched his bat. Ponting kept after Madugalle, mostly in frustration at the Aussies dwindling chances, wagging his finger at one point. This is all pretty unseemly behavior in cricket, and Ponting could be suspended by the ICC, the sports governing body. Obviously, the ICC has never seen Bobby Cox.
I also missed a rare occasion when running makes a difference in cricket. Trott hit a short ball and took off, and had to dive to make it to the other wicket before being run out.
There was also an interesting no-ball called when I was asleep. Mitchell Johnson had gotten Matt Prior out on a catch by the wicket keeper, but Johnson had run too far into the seam when delivering the ball, and Prior was given a reprieve. Absolutely nothing went right for Australia yesterday, basically.
Somewhere, Andy Zaltzman is feeling the same way I did when the Patriots clinched home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs yesterday.
I missed almost all the good action, which happened after the lunch break. Before lunch, the Aussies recorded a couple of wickets, and then Kevin Pietersen and Trott took over for a long slog while the Australians waited for a new ball to be put in play. Apparently, a new ball makes bowling easier, but you wouldn't know it by Jonathan Trott. The Aussies did bowl out Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell after lunch, but Trott just kept on trucking. He's at 141 and counting.
Also after lunch, Australian captain Ricky Ponting managed to get himself fined 40% of his match fee for haranguing umpire Ranjan Madugalle after Pietersen had been ruled out for an apparent wicket that was later rescinded after replays showed that the ball had not touched his bat. Ponting kept after Madugalle, mostly in frustration at the Aussies dwindling chances, wagging his finger at one point. This is all pretty unseemly behavior in cricket, and Ponting could be suspended by the ICC, the sports governing body. Obviously, the ICC has never seen Bobby Cox.
I also missed a rare occasion when running makes a difference in cricket. Trott hit a short ball and took off, and had to dive to make it to the other wicket before being run out.
There was also an interesting no-ball called when I was asleep. Mitchell Johnson had gotten Matt Prior out on a catch by the wicket keeper, but Johnson had run too far into the seam when delivering the ball, and Prior was given a reprieve. Absolutely nothing went right for Australia yesterday, basically.
Somewhere, Andy Zaltzman is feeling the same way I did when the Patriots clinched home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs yesterday.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
TEST FOUR, END OF FIRST DAY
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy vey. The Brits racked up 157 runs and haven't taken a wicket at the close of Day 1. If the Brits win, they retain The Ashes, because even if the Aussies were to win Test Match Five, it would be a 2-2 draw, and you have to win outright to take The Ashes away from the current holder. It's like the Ryder Cup, without Miguel Angel Jimenez's cigar, or his fans.
It's looking pretty bleak for the Men Down Under. They were batting everything right into the hands of the English defenders and looked completely overmatched. The 98 run total was the lowest for Australia in Melbourne EVER. The Australian announcers were claiming that the pitch was great for bowling, but then Alastair Cook (not the late Masterpiece Theatre guy) and Andrew Strauss went out and are on their way to centuries, which means scoring a hundred runs or more. It's amazing to me how much the weather makes a difference. Cricket is very much like golf in that subtle changes in the surface make enormous changes in scoring. The Brits won the coin toss and elected to bowl, because it was cloudy and they felt they could make the ball move better and "miss bats" as they say in baseball. By the time the English started batting, the sun had come out and the pitch had presumably dried, making it harder to spin the ball and easier to score.
The only strategy possibly left for the Brits is to decide how many runs are enough. Recall that the match goes five days, and mo matter how many runs England scores, if they can't bowl out the Aussies again by the end of the fifth day, we'll get a draw and have to proceed to Test Match Five in Sydney. It shouldn't be a problem to get the Australians out again by New Year's Eve, but stranger things have happened. With the Aussies at 98 runs, you would expect the Brits to stop at 400 to 500 runs, if it goes that far.
It's looking pretty bleak for the Men Down Under. They were batting everything right into the hands of the English defenders and looked completely overmatched. The 98 run total was the lowest for Australia in Melbourne EVER. The Australian announcers were claiming that the pitch was great for bowling, but then Alastair Cook (not the late Masterpiece Theatre guy) and Andrew Strauss went out and are on their way to centuries, which means scoring a hundred runs or more. It's amazing to me how much the weather makes a difference. Cricket is very much like golf in that subtle changes in the surface make enormous changes in scoring. The Brits won the coin toss and elected to bowl, because it was cloudy and they felt they could make the ball move better and "miss bats" as they say in baseball. By the time the English started batting, the sun had come out and the pitch had presumably dried, making it harder to spin the ball and easier to score.
The only strategy possibly left for the Brits is to decide how many runs are enough. Recall that the match goes five days, and mo matter how many runs England scores, if they can't bowl out the Aussies again by the end of the fifth day, we'll get a draw and have to proceed to Test Match Five in Sydney. It shouldn't be a problem to get the Australians out again by New Year's Eve, but stranger things have happened. With the Aussies at 98 runs, you would expect the Brits to stop at 400 to 500 runs, if it goes that far.
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