Official 2003 Cricket World Cup Thread

[OzMavs]

Most of you won't care.

Some might have a faint interest. Me, well I love the game. Between cricket, tennis and the Mavs, I am lucky to get any sleep at all.

Australia won their first game easily against Pakistan and play their second v. India on Saturday. A win would mean they are virtually assured of playing in the super sixes (2nd round).

[MFFL]

Forgive the ignorant question but what is cricket? Is it that baseball like game where they roll the ball?

[scooterj5]

WOOOOOOHAAA

Go Australia!

Not only will we win the cup, we will also win the impending lawsuit from the Paki loser.

[OzMavs]

Cricket is the game that baseball was originally derived from. It consists of two teams of 11 players. The teams take it in turns to bat. In one day cricket, the teams each bat for 50 overs (an over is 6 balls).
The team with the most runs wins.

The bowlers must bowl overarm, it is kind of like a pitching action, however the ball must not be bowled with a bent elbow, or it is ruled a throw. Unlike baseball, the bowler may take a run up.

Here is some more info:
About cricket
The Players
The players from a team are bowlers, batsmen, fielders and a wicketkeeper.
Batsman :
A batsman's job is to bat as long as he can and score as many runs as he can. He can play a long innings or a quick innings depending on team strategy.
A long innings is characterised by many runs: (above 60 runs in a game) playing as an anchor to the innings and usually lasts for the majority of the team's innings. He usually takes more balls and less runs, but that's allowed. The batsman facing the ball is the Striker, and the one at the other end is the non striker.
(Runs to balls ratio is the number of runs scored to the balls faced. It is called Strike Rate . It is usually taken per 100 balls. A score of 80.00+ is very good. i.e. 80 runs to 100 balls)
e.g.. you score 24 runs in 25 balls. Your Strike rate (S/R) is 96.00.
For Quick runs Pinch Hitters are used. Pinch-Hitters are batsmen sent to increase the scoring rate. They are expected to score more runs in less balls. They have a good strike rate and are capable of hitting big shots.

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Bowlers:
Top

A bowler's job is to get a batsman out. His other tasks include trying to get as few as possible runs scored off his bowling. A bowler bowls a maximum of 10 overs also called a "Spell" or ' Quota'. The bowler bowls a standard 6 balls in each over. He bowls more if there are illegal deliveries or extras (spoken of later). No bowler can bowl 2 consecutive overs. If a bowler bowls 6 balls where there are no runs scored of him, it is called a 'Maiden Over'. The bowler also is looked at his "Economy Rate". An Economy rate of under 4 is very good for a bowler. As soon as a bowler finishes his over he becomes a fielder and now fields the ball. Economy rate is calculated by this formula:
[(A divided by B ) multiplied by 6. ] Where:
A= Runs conceded by him ;
B= Total balls bowled by him.

e.g. Bowler gets hit for 30 runs in 30 balls. His econ rate is 6.00 , which is not good here.
There are two types of bowlers: seamers and spinners. A bowling run-up is, the distance the bowler runs before bowling the ball.

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Fielders:
Top

Fielders are players other than the wicketkeeper and the current bowler. Their job is multipurpose. a) To catch the ball from the bat directly hence dismissing a batsman. b) Stop the ball from going to the boundary c) throw the ball as fast as possible to the 'keeper or bowler to cut out the runs from being scored by the batsmen.


Wicket Keeper: The wicket keeper is a specialist fielder. He stands behind the batsmen, behind the stumps throughout the game. His job is to field the ball to catch the ball if hit by the batsmen; Collect the ball from the fielder to 'run-out' the batsman, and to 'Stump' the batsman. He is the only person empowered to stump the batsman. He is also the only person who is allowed to wear gloves.

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The Field:
Top

The field is usually circular or oval and is covered with grass. In the center there is a bare rectangular strip of land called the "Pitch". There is a 30 yard (2.74m) circle drawn from the center of the pitch. This is called the 'Infield' The part outside the circle is the 'Outfield '. The infield is important for the 1st 15 overs of the game. There is no limit on the size of the outfield. It averages 450 feet (137m) wide by 500 feet (150m) long.




The pitch is 22 yards long (20m) & 8ft 8in (2.64m) wide. It may be bare, have some grass, be hard, cracked or dusty or completely flat. at both ends 3 wooden sticks called 'stumps' are placed. They are also known as 'wickets'.

Note: (Wickets are either the 3 stumps or the number of batsmen dismissed. They are not to be confused with each other and used in context when necessary.)



On top of the stumps are present 2 small wooden sticks called 'bails' Bails connect the 2 stumps. There are a pair of wickets on a pitch. 4 feet inside the pitch a chalk line is drawn. This line is called the 'crease ' The crease is either the batting crease, return crease, bowling crease or popping crease. They are very important in context with the game. The Popping crease extends 6 feet (1.83m) on either side of the Pitch (sideways). Behind the popping crease a line marked 4 feet (1.22m) is the bowling crease. 4 feet behind that is the return crease.

At the end of the outfield there is a circular rope called the 'Boundary' The boundary is the outer limit of the field. If the ball is played along the ground and touches the boundary, 4 runs are scored. If the ball goes directly over the rope, it results in 6 runs.

FIELDING POSITIONS WICKET PITCH


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Special Note:
Top

The field is divided into two playing regions for a batsman depending on if he is left or right-handed. For a right-handed batsman, the region to the right of the batsman is called the OFFSIDE and the region to the left is called the LEGSIDE OR ONSIDE. For a left handed batsman, the region on his left, is his Offside and his right is the onside (leg-side).
A right handed bowler, if he bowls on the left side of the stumps, he is bowling "Over the wicket". If he bowls on the right side of the wicket, he is bowling "Around the wicket". For a left handed bowler, the reverse conditions apply.

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[MFFL]

I guess I'd have to see it to understand.

[OutletPass]

You would...MFFL...it's actually a very interesting sport...got to watch quite a bit in England a few years back...GO AUSSIES !!! (How's that for intra-board support)

[OzMavs]

Thanks OP!

Aussies smashed India last night, making them almost a certainty for the semi-finals.

[FlyinGK22]

Hail England!

[OzMavs]

Aussies are through to the final six quite comfortably. They should only have to win one of their next three games to make the semi finals. Go you good thing!

[OzMavs]

Final: Australia v. India.

I Won't miss a ball of it.

Go Aussies!

[OzMavs]

Oh, we won, by the way.

Australia 2/359 v India 234.

[scooterj5]

We dominate.