The Cricket, and maybe some other sports as well

[Killdozersnakeboy]

And in the end South Africa win it at a canter, after 2 days and 1 session. You won't see a match like that again any time soon.

I've not read the report but I'm assuming they were playing on an appalling wicket?

[Johnp]

And in the end South Africa win it at a canter, after 2 days and 1 session. You won't see a match like that again any time soon.

I've not read the report but I'm assuming they were playing on an appalling wicket?

Apparently not. I've only read, not watched (alas), the story and the wicket seemed alright. The Cricinfo report did mention a number of wayward shots in quick succession, which seems to be this sequence:

RT Ponting    lbw b Philander              0    23    12    0    0    0.00
MJ Clarke*    lbw b Philander              2    16    6    0    0    33.33
MEK Hussey    c Prince b Morke l          0    1    1    0    0    0.00
BJ Haddin†    c †Boucher b Philander    0    14    3    0    0    0.00
MG Johnson    c Amla b Philander         3    20    12    0    0    25.00
RJ Harris       c Smith b Morkel            3    7    7    0    0    42.85

Vernon Philander got Man of the Match with 8-88.

EDIT:

Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla played with poise and power in the chase, demonstrating that the Cape Town surface was far from the treacherous strip it had appeared when the Australians batted a second time.

[Good Intentions]

Here is a video highlights package - worthwhile watching. The Australians in particular made some terrible shot selection against excellent bowling on a helpful, but by no means demonic pitch.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

Thanks for that. Quite incredible stuff. I've not seen anything like that before and as a NZ'er I've seen a fair few batting collapses in my time. Clearly the pitch was favouring the bowlers but there was also some great bowling and some of the worst batting you'll see. That shot by Haddin was the sort you'd expect to see from a 10 year old with a too large bat.

[Johnp]

Here is a video highlights package - worthwhile watching.

Thanks for the highlights, GI. If I had access to live cricket at home, my life might grind to a halt.

That shot by Haddin was the sort you'd expect to see from a 10 year old with a too large bat.

I liked Cricinfo's description:

an ugly smear at a ball nowhere near the line or length to attack

[coldforge]

India 631/7d v West Indies 66/4

*sigh* yeah...

[Good Intentions]

Well, you must be overjoyed at the West Indian batting in the second test.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

Stunning stuff. Virender Sehwag get's 219 off India in a one dayer. That constant middle-of-the-bat sound sums it up really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbm1urx-aZc

[Good Intentions]

It seems the way New Zealand competes in test cricket in the face of their constant batting collapses is induce collapses in their opposition.

[reebty]

A start of maybe 50 yesterday could have changed all that, but no, it had to rain.

[Killdozersnakeboy]

Australia collapse all out for 136. NZ close the day at 139 for 3 in the second innings. I can't remember when NZ last beat Oz in a test match. Pretty sure it hasn't happened in the last 15 years or so. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

[Good Intentions]

More pertinently, they haven't beat Oz in Oz since 1985, back when Hadlee was in his pomp.

[Good Intentions]

Great work, NZ, losing seven wickets in a session, fantastic going. /slowhandclap

The Ockers to chase 240 with two days and two sessions to do it in. I have to say that if they don't make the chase they should probably be pilloried. I know it's almost twice what they scored in the first innings, but surely you can grind a victory if you need to score at about 1 run an over the course of eight sessions. Starting after lunch on the third day you're also unlikely to face either a greentop or a disintegrating wicket.

[justinh]

Man, cricket is a total mystery to me.  Noob question--what is a "test" match? 

[Good Intentions]

A proper international match. The traditional form of a cricket match is two teams each batting two innings, which at the top level takes a maximum of 5 days (we've had a spate of test matches finish on the fourth day the past few months, but they are restricted to 5). These days they also play international matches in two shorter formats, one where there is only one innings which is restricted to 50 overs, (takes about 3 hours a side, for 6 hours total) called ODIs (one day internationals), and more recently, one innings each restricted to 20 overs (Twenty-20, or just T-20, takes 3 hours all up).

They all have their good qualities, but test cricket is undoubtedly the richest form of the game (with a history stretching back over 130 years), and traditionalists will relish pointing out that now that T20 has been around for a bit, it seems that even the best batsmen can't handle a ball which is delivered with the slightest bit of guile, perhaps because they aren't used to playing with a bit of patience and application rather than swinging like a participant in a baseball home run derby.

Cricket also probably appears mysterious because the tricks you do to flummox the batsmen are pretty much black magic.

[Good Intentions]

Well, Australia manages to collapse its batting slightly more calamatiously than NZ did and New Zealand win their first test on Oz soil in 26 years. Extraordinary spell from Bracewell, but you have to feel for Warner who did everything he could to see Aus through only to watch helplessly from the other end as his partners got knocked off in a burst.

[Thermofusion]

Man, cricket is a total mystery to me.  Noob question--what is a "test" match? 

I hate to disagree with Username: Good Intentions, but allow me. It's a bit like chessboxing, in which the aptitude of both mind and body are evaluated to provide a more complete picture of the contending teams' abilities. After each inning of "cricketing", players withdraw from the "cricket pitch" to a row of desks in the corner of the stadium. There, they are administered a multiple-choice, general-knowledge examination that investigates proficiency in a wide variety of academic, historical and cultural topics. After these tests are taken, the answer sheets are fed into a Mark VII Compu-Grader Test Scanning Device, and the batting order for the next inning is determined by the grades outputted to the attached Mark VII Dot Matrix Printer Module w/ optional Solenoid Ratchet Drive Muffler (SRDM) Noise Reduction Module (proprietary), and physical play resumes. After the following inning, another test is taken, then another after the next inning, with tests growing increasingly difficult each cycle. Play continues in this alternating pattern until everyone runs out of #2 pencils, or Earth reaches perihelion, whichever comes first.

[Good Intentions]

Not bad for a foreigner, but you left out the part of nurturing the shine on the new ball.

[justinh]

Can it get any more exciting?

One of these days I'll take it upon myself to watch a match, for at least a couple of hours--and see if I can glean a deeper understanding. 

[Good Intentions]

Get any more exciting than what? The end of this last test was nail-biting stuff, where Aus was first cruising towards victory, then suddenly were dumped onto the edge of defeat, then slowly looked to drag themselves towards victory again, only for New Zealand to drive the point home and squeak through a win.

Playing cricket would do better for getting a grip on what is happening, that or watching a lot of it with someone who knows and loves the game. When I said that part of the sport is black magic, I wasn't exaggerating by much. A skilful bowler makes the ball deviate from an elliptical path in two dimensions (a top-class spin bowler can do three), which you get to appreciate with careful study, or by being beaten by that deviation yourself.

[Good Intentions]

Click this link and see one of the more remarkable bits of fielding you're likely to see.

[Johnp]

The most incredible. Awesome.

[Good Intentions]

Not only did India get trounced by Australia, but now their captain MS Dhoni has picked up a one-match ban for India's slow over rate. It's well-deserved, and slow over-rates is something test cricket really needs to address, but you can't help but feel sorry for a guy for being punished for time-wasting after losing a test match in less than half the time allowed.

[YojimboMonkey]

I'm watching a stream of the Blackhawks game from Sweden. Ever heard a NASCAR commercial in swedish? There's a market for NASCAR in Sweden? weird.

[Thermofusion]

Do they drive Fjords?