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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Black Wolf on July 11, 2013, 09:20:38 am

Title: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 11, 2013, 09:20:38 am
I don't know who else is watching, but holy ****, Ashton Agar, 98 runs at number 11! I reckon the rest of the team owes him the test match after that performance. :)

Of course, I have no illusions - odds are that this will be one of the many, many amazing debuts that eventually fizzle into mediocre to decent careers once the opposition teams do their homework. But it's sweet while it lasts. :D

Who knows, this may yet prove to be a closer series than most people are predicting. Shame I wont get to watch much if it on England time. Anyone else following?
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: StarSlayer on July 11, 2013, 10:27:47 am
/me has no idea what sport BW is talking about, probably cricket...

/me checks "The Ashes" in Google...  yep its cricket.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Fury on July 11, 2013, 10:40:05 am
Anyone else following?
Not following you at all.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: MP-Ryan on July 11, 2013, 10:41:54 am
I have two University degrees, and yet I have never managed to figure out cricket, despite attempting to read the rules and watch it multiple times.  The game seems incomprehensible.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Gray113 on July 11, 2013, 10:53:02 am
I watched the ashes with an English flatmate last time it was on. I made a point of buying a case of Victoria bitter and no other alcoholic beverage just to make sure he had nothing else to drink. Even the novelty of this wore off after ten minutes and I went to find something more interesting to do.

Cricket is one of those incredibly boring sports that seems like people can only watch when they are drunk. I'm supprised its not more popular in the US.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Lorric on July 11, 2013, 11:00:46 am
I have two University degrees, and yet I have never managed to figure out cricket, despite attempting to read the rules and watch it multiple times.  The game seems incomprehensible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwkuo7mG9wU#t=13m26s  :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: karajorma on July 11, 2013, 12:53:42 pm
I would be following it but for the fact I'm in China and obviously they don't care much about it here.

I really need to make some friends from a country that cares about cricket!
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Luis Dias on July 11, 2013, 01:06:44 pm
Do you mean that game from planet Krikkit? That game was awesome. Little dangerous thou
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Klaustrophobia on July 11, 2013, 02:27:28 pm
the only good thing about cricket is hearing the aussies complain or brag about it.  it's so bad even the americanized version is all but dead.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Phantom Hoover on July 11, 2013, 03:20:21 pm
I'm pretty sure I've played cricket and I have no idea how it works.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 11, 2013, 04:02:37 pm
I'm not convinced it does work, rather nobody argues the rules because they don't understand them.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 11, 2013, 05:20:00 pm
/me has no idea what sport BW is talking about, probably cricket...

/me checks "The Ashes" in Google...  yep its cricket.

This isn't just cricket - this is the Ashes. The greatest rivalry in world sport and the only cricketing prize that really matters for either Australia or England.

And if you foreign mob can't figure it out, well, bad luck to you. You can go back to your nice, easy games and leave the fun stuff to the grown-ups. ;)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Klaustrophobia on July 11, 2013, 05:34:11 pm
The greatest rivalry in world sport

*cartman laugh*

wait, i can do this now
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: StarSlayer on July 11, 2013, 05:55:04 pm
You can go back to  your nice, easy games and leave the fun stuff to the grown-ups. ;)

When I swing a stick around I prefer someone to be on the receiving end. :p
(http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/phot-jif/54th-All-Japan-Kendo-Champ2006-2.jpg)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on July 11, 2013, 06:22:55 pm
I went to sulk and play XCOM after Haddin's dismissal.

Came back to see what was going on and witnessed Agar's first six. Sat down and watched until lunch break, then had to go to bed because ungodly early start at work this morning. But, what a ******* legendary partnership that was.

And VB is terrible. I was drinking Tooheys Old. :P
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 12, 2013, 05:39:09 am
The greatest rivalry in world sport

*cartman laugh*

wait, i can do this now

I stand by it. There's no other competition between two nations that has been running this long, that stirs up this much passion, and that so dominates its game as the Ashes. Just about everything done in Australian and English test cricket is done within the framework of how it will prepare the team for the next Ashes. Other series, the world cup, the world rankings - these all matter, but they all play second fiddle to the little urn. And it's been this way for well over a hundred years.

And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Mongoose on July 12, 2013, 11:46:33 am
I once tried to understand cricket, until I found out that matches can last for days for some undefined reason.  I think my brain broke at that point.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 12, 2013, 11:51:56 am
And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.

National football teams. Myth - Busted.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 13, 2013, 07:25:21 am
And world sport, remember. So don't go bringing up Random State vs. Random City Grid Iron or the Green Sox vs the Blue Sox in baseball or anything like that. They don't count.

National football teams. Myth - Busted.

You're completely missing the point. I'm talking about a rivalry. Two nations, one sport,  and all other concerns within that sport are secondary. You can be number one in the world rankings, win the one day world cup, whitewash every other series - nothing else matters if you don't bring home the Ashes. And the only reward - the only reward anyone cares about - are the unquestioned bragging rights you get for the next two years. When we have the Ashes, you win all the cricket arguments with the Poms. :) And it's been that way since the nineteenth century, and still will be that way a hundred years from now.

It is the greatest rivalry in world sport, and it's brilliant. :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 14, 2013, 01:06:52 pm
Dude, until you go to war over a call, you've not remotely reached the level of the Greece-Turkey rivalry.
(Because that happened.)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Klaustrophobia on July 14, 2013, 04:40:45 pm
well if you want to restrict "rivalry" to a regular contest specifically between two sides, then yes i suppose the ashes is the biggest rivalry.

i also think it's kinda dumb to discount non-national level competition.  local levels are where the fiercest rivalries come from.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: karajorma on July 14, 2013, 07:14:31 pm
Non of those dominate the sport as much as The Ashes though. Which is kind of Black Wolf's point. You don't get many local teams who won the cup but feel it was worthless cause they lost to another local team in the opening stages.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Lorric on July 14, 2013, 07:30:24 pm
While I'm not interested in cricket, I am interested in this concept. I don't understand how let's imagine England win the Ashes and Australia win the World Cup, England's win would be the greater achievement? How could beating one team mean more than beating all of the teams? What If Australia destroyed England in the group stage then destroyed them again in the final of the World Cup? Would England still have the greater achievement? Also, the World Cup is only once every 4 years.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 14, 2013, 11:56:16 pm
Non of those dominate the sport as much as The Ashes though. Which is kind of Black Wolf's point. You don't get many local teams who won the cup but feel it was worthless cause they lost to another local team in the opening stages.

Again, until you've gone to war over a match, you've not really managed to capture the kind of passion some European nations have over their football rivalries.

Or hell, in the last seven days a player got knifed in mid-match in South America, causing the crowd to storm the field and stone the knifing party to death, and then draw and quarter them. Anybody ever done that over the Ashes?
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: The E on July 15, 2013, 02:52:53 am
While I'm not interested in cricket, I am interested in this concept. I don't understand how let's imagine England win the Ashes and Australia win the World Cup, England's win would be the greater achievement? How could beating one team mean more than beating all of the teams? What If Australia destroyed England in the group stage then destroyed them again in the final of the World Cup? Would England still have the greater achievement? Also, the World Cup is only once every 4 years.

I am not sure how the relative popularity of Cricket and football looks like, but given that "The Ashes" is a singular event that is only played between England and Oz, the relative impact of winning (or losing) the Ashes is much, much greater for the fans of the sport.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 15, 2013, 05:03:23 am
On the actual topic - stayed up late (by my standards when I'm in the field for work) to watch Haddin and Pattinson come oh, oh so close to a massive upset. Haddin looked close to tears on his way off the pitch, poor bastard. It's the top order that lost the match though, no question. There'll be some changes for sure for the next one, I'm thinking at the very least Cowan will go out for Kawaja.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: karajorma on July 15, 2013, 07:54:54 am
Again, until you've gone to war over a match, you've not really managed to capture the kind of passion some European nations have over their football rivalries.

Or hell, in the last seven days a player got knifed in mid-match in South America, causing the crowd to storm the field and stone the knifing party to death, and then draw and quarter them. Anybody ever done that over the Ashes?

What you're missing is that The Ashes are really a sporting rivalry, not a different rivalry carried out under the guise of being about a sport.

When England play Australia at football, no one really gives a ****.

Besides I'm English, so let's ignore how silly it is to attempt to tell me that football fans can sometimes go too far.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Lorric on July 15, 2013, 08:03:13 am
Besides I'm English, so let's ignore how silly it is to attempt to tell me that football fans can sometimes go too far.

I know why you're saying that, but since HLP is multinational, I want to point out this has been all but wiped out now in English fans. I say it because plenty of people still believe English fans are dangerous.

As for England/Australia, I don't know if they've ever even met in a competitive fixture, and the odds are long for that to happen.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on July 15, 2013, 09:30:23 am
While I'm not interested in cricket, I am interested in this concept. I don't understand how let's imagine England win the Ashes and Australia win the World Cup, England's win would be the greater achievement? How could beating one team mean more than beating all of the teams? What If Australia destroyed England in the group stage then destroyed them again in the final of the World Cup? Would England still have the greater achievement? Also, the World Cup is only once every 4 years.

Missed this before - yes, if Australia won the world cup, but lost the Ashes, England would have had the greater achievement, because the World Cup (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_World_Cup) is a one-day tournament, and do less prestigious generally than a test victory. But also, in large part, because - again - there is no prize in the game that matters the way the Ashes matter.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Lorric on July 15, 2013, 09:52:34 am
While I'm not interested in cricket, I am interested in this concept. I don't understand how let's imagine England win the Ashes and Australia win the World Cup, England's win would be the greater achievement? How could beating one team mean more than beating all of the teams? What If Australia destroyed England in the group stage then destroyed them again in the final of the World Cup? Would England still have the greater achievement? Also, the World Cup is only once every 4 years.

Missed this before - yes, if Australia won the world cup, but lost the Ashes, England would have had the greater achievement, because the World Cup (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_World_Cup) is a one-day tournament, and do less prestigious generally than a test victory. But also, in large part, because - again - there is no prize in the game that matters the way the Ashes matter.

I'm a big fan of international football. More than any other sport or club football. But if what you say is really true, I can consider the idea that it's the biggest rivalry in the context of national teams in World sport. Even if I don't care about it, it's kind of nice that my country is involved in it. I think importance in terms of prestige and how much it matters to the fans beats how much violence is involved in something. Real sports fans don't go around cracking heads open. Those people aren't fans, they're scum. Thugs. Trash. There are rivalries in International football, some pretty intense ones, but I can't imagine anyone trading in a trophy for a victory over their top rival.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on November 20, 2013, 09:39:16 pm
The Ashes has kicked off again in Brisbane today, and once again Michael Clarke is in fine form, getting Done for One. Current score is 5/108 with Stuart Broad having four of those wickets.

Yeah, the state of Australian cricketers has left me somewhat despondent.

(I was gonna create a new topic but then I remembered this one was here)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Veers on November 20, 2013, 09:49:53 pm
Haven't turned it on yet, but might wait until we're all out and see what reply we have in our bowling attack.

I'm so out of touch with Cricket, got no idea.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on November 21, 2013, 10:32:53 pm
Wow. All I can say at this point. That and Go Nathan Lyon! :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on November 21, 2013, 11:25:59 pm
This has really been a bowler's test so far. The only real notable performance I've seen from any of the batsmen was Haddin, and that came as a bit of a shock. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets promoted a little bit after his first innings. It was a bit disappointing that he lost his century, but then again, he lost it because he was dumb and he took a risk he shouldn't have.

Johnson is bowling beautifully, Lyon not far behind. I honestly expected this to be Harris's innings entirely but I'm pleasantly surprised. I saw Lyon bowl at the NSW vs Tas game a few weeks ago and he was doing alright then, but his bowling today is far more threatening. Of course, Stuart Broad is bowling expertly as well, but as an Australian it's my duty to grumble about this. :P

EDIT: I hope Broad isn't the hope that England is pinning everything on, or the team is going to collapse if he fails. Eight wickets sets a dangerous precedent, similar to Agar's 98 runs earlier in the year. Then again, he is batting well for someone so late in the order, so we'll see how it turns out.

A tad disappointed that we couldn't force a follow-on, but that's just my pride talking.

Also, quack for Prior. :D

EDIT2: England's done for 136. Wow. Australia have a 159 run lead to build on. Let's hit some centuries and not let those poms force a draw. :P
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on November 22, 2013, 12:13:53 am
Im surprised your shocked at Haddin scoring runs.
Its good to see Lyon get some wickets, hopefully he gets even more next innings.

The concern now is that we have a tendency to bat miserably in the second innings when we have a bit of a lead.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Veers on November 22, 2013, 04:14:20 am
England all out for that?

Huh, guess the tables have turned then. I know what I'm doing when I get home from work tomorrow. :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on November 22, 2013, 06:40:08 pm
Im surprised your shocked at Haddin scoring runs.
Its good to see Lyon get some wickets, hopefully he gets even more next innings.

The concern now is that we have a tendency to bat miserably in the second innings when we have a bit of a lead.

I'm more shocked that he's the only one scoring runs. Haddin's a good batsman, but I'd be expecting Watson, Warner or Done-For-One Clarke to be outperforming him.

Although with that shocker Watson just hit, he deserved to be caught. Your prediction on the second innings batting might be right on the money.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on November 22, 2013, 07:12:15 pm
I was disappointed that Rogers got out for little, I was hoping he would get some runs.
That was typical Watson getting out there (I how they had the replay of him replying to the sledges of the English guys as he walked off....you could clearly see him say "F*** off mate")
About ten years ago our problem was chasing down ~100 runs or less in the second innings now however its become building on first innings leads. However you just can't tell with us until our tail order come in given they score all our runs now.

Banking on us giving them a 350-400+ run total to chase down, although we need to bat out the day here.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on November 22, 2013, 07:37:41 pm
I think, and I might be wrong here, that Clarke will probably push as hard as he can today, then declare at the end. That will give him two days to get out the English, which is two days he will need since the poms play stalling tactics and will try and force a draw. Either way, I'm hoping for interesting cricket but I don't think the next two days will deliver it.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on November 22, 2013, 07:43:26 pm
I was going to say but forgot to, we need to keep England within a sniff of victory otherwise they will just play out the draw.
If that occurs it will be all we hear about till the next game.
Of course if we were in England's position we would do the same thing. But that's another story.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on November 24, 2013, 04:24:15 pm
Hurray victory! Last two days have been absolute crackers, which I'm very much happy for. Not too happy about this business about sledging on the pitch but eh, at the end of the day it's about the cricket.

Adelaide can't come fast enough.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on November 24, 2013, 04:44:11 pm
I reckon the next test will be the one that will shape the rest of the series.
I missed large sections of the last two days flicking between the V8 Supercars and the cricket but I was lucky that I managed to see most of the wickets.
As for the sledging it always happens and will always happen. However tell a number 11 batsmen that your gonna break his arm seems a bit far.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on December 16, 2013, 05:03:57 pm
Bumping cause its the morning that Australia will win the Ashes for the first time since 2007!
Woo
Looking for a Nathan Lyon 5 wicket haul.
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on December 16, 2013, 06:05:09 pm
Yep, should be. Ful credit to Stokes and all that, but one guy can't turn around this kind of momentum. An Aussie urn inside of three tests - I don' think anyone was predicting that a few weeks ago. :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Mongoose on December 16, 2013, 06:30:24 pm
This thread reminds me: the YouTube LPer cr1tikal did a video on a cricket game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es5_a1prcAo), and I figure you people who actually understand the sport would find it hilarious.  I was about as lost watching it as he was playing it myself. :lol:
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Hobbie on December 16, 2013, 07:14:53 pm
It was really funny yesterday.

Four, Six, Two, Four, Six, Six, declaration, first ball from Harris to Cook, diamond duck.

(http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/4352/c2rk.gif)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Veers on December 17, 2013, 12:02:41 am
Very amusing listening to him rant and rave about all the No Balls and sh*t. tehehe.

Makes me want to dust off whatever old Cricket Game I've got and play it... (nearly)
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Black Wolf on December 17, 2013, 12:11:50 am
And there it is! The urn is back where it belongs. :D
Title: Re: The Ashes 2013
Post by: Boomer20 on December 17, 2013, 03:44:29 pm
Top marks to Stoke for being the only Englishmen to get a hundred. Gonna be interesting final two tests as I reckon that hundred gave them a bit of momentum towards the end (too little too late).
But urn is ours and lets go for a 5-0 whitewash.

This thread reminds me: the YouTube LPer cr1tikal did a video on a cricket game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es5_a1prcAo), and I figure you people who actually understand the sport would find it hilarious.  I was about as lost watching it as he was playing it myself. :lol:

That is very funny, I loved how he was using baseball terms for cricket. Does anybody have the game he was playing, it looked pretty crap. Then again cricket games haven't been that great since cricket 2004 IMO and the best of them all was Shane Warne Cricket 99 (Or Brian Lara Cricket 99 if you lived outside of Australia). It kinda went downhill after that.