OT: Cricket World Cup
As a distraction from the NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments that won't be featuring Michigan teams, I wanted to start a thread on the ongoing Cricket World Cup. I don't think that I have previously seen a cricket thread on this board and wanted to gauge if there were any other cricket fans amongst the mgofaithful.
The 2015 CWC is down to 4 teams. New Zealand play South Africa tonight and India face Australia Wednesday night. I am rooting for New Zealand to win the World Cup but would be ok with any team other than Australia winning it. Who are you rooting for?
Rooting for India, but don't think they'll win it all despite their current streak. I'd be happy with beating Australia and getting into the finals
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The semifinal against Australia will be a big test for the revitalized Indian bowling lineup that has been on a tear during this World Cup.
Think Aus will win. Got a bit too much of everything batting and very exciting young bowlers. And of course Starc.
The winner of this will win it all I believe. Here's to a great match and another sleepless night...
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I agree that the winner of the Aus-Ind match will be the favorite in the final (as they will be the home team or the de facto home team). It would have been different if the final were being played in NZ instead of at the MCG.
You have to put chocolate on them.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:06 PM ^
Actually I had crickets lightly fried and salted in Thailand and they're good. Quite similar to peanuts actually. A little oily, salty, and crunchy.
USA USA USA oh wait we suck at this sport
Mostly because my boss will stay up all night watching these matches and it makes my life super easy when he's both tired and in a good mood!
I know nothing about Cricket, but while I was checking on NCAA scores, I clicked on some Cricket WC highlights links just out of curiosity.
I was surprised how easy it was for me to follow what is going on. There really are a lot of similarities with baseball. I am clueless about the terminology, but if I ignore it and just watch the events on the field (and the reactions of the crowd), I can follow what is going on.
(I especially like the light-up wicket. When did they start that?)
I work in the Technology field. If you work in the Technology field, you get to know a lot of people from India. The cricket WC is big deal to them. I had dinner with several coworkers at an Indian restaurant, and all the TVs were on the Cricket WC.
I find that cricket is quite easy to explain to an individual who knows baseball. There definitely are similarities. I think the lighted bails/ stumps were introduced a little over 2 years ago.
How long do these matches take? Are they multi-day affairs?
There are 3 versions of the game:
1. Tests - played over 5 days, 7 hours/ day
2. One Day Internationals - 7 hours
3. T20s - 3 hours
The world cup consists of One Day International contests lasting ~ 7 hours each.
Cricket is for the sporting gentleman who is not looking to exert himself too much.
They stop for both lunch and tea if it is the longer 5 day version.
That is amazing.
It's amazing to me that they can last so long in the television age. (I suppose if it were an American game, we'd have found a way to shorten it to make it fit into prime time.) It's refreshing in a way.
So if you're attending a test match, do you get a ticket that lets you into the stadium for all five days?
One can purchase tickets for individual days or a pass for the entire test (at a discounted rate).
T20 was introduced about a decade ago and is made for TV with its 3 hour duration and faster pace. The five day version is for purists and the One day version played in this World Cup is a balance between the other two.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:09 PM ^
I watched a match here in Korea at the Asian Games that was only a couple hours. Was that T20 or do events like those have different rules as well? It's certainly not something I'd watch for 5 days, but it was cool for a couple hours, especially with a bunch of Nepalis going wild.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
T20 and ODI are both "limited overs" - basically, each team can only face a certain number of balls to make as many runs as they can. First class matches (the 5-day matches - called Test matches when international teams play) are where you don't stop batting until 10 of your 11 batsmen are out - and each team bats twice.Outside of the ten major countries and the uppermost levels, you can have each team only bat once but that's hardly ever televised.
If after five days of a first-class match both teams haven't finished batting twice, the match ends in a draw. Which is anticlimactic, but it really is a test of stamina and skill and so is entertaining to watch. In T20, since getting out matters so much less than getting runs, batsmen just whack the ball as hard as they can. ODIs are a nice compromise - there are enough balls that not getting out matters, but the rate at which you score is also important and there is always a result to the match.
India-Pakistan-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka has a combined middle class of close to half a billion people. Plus India almost comes to a halt during any cricket game. So companies will spend to get in front of those eyes. India's prominence in the cricket world coincided with them opening their economy back in early 1990s. Thankfully the quality of the game itself improved in India as well.
50 over cricket or ODIs are probably the best imo. That's what I used to watch whenever I visited relatives back in India.
Test cricket is slowly getting phased out although they are trying to make a world cup of test cricket in 2017 I believe.
Except if you follow The Ashes. And the way the ICC carries on with everything down to Test and Associates, test will be here a long, long time.
Think they'll cut ODI's to 40 overs next.
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I'm rooting for India, despite the fact that they are a bitter rival of the team I was rooting for (Pakistan).
I predict an India v. New Zealand final, but I don't see New Zealand winning it all, notwithstanding the fact that they put up almost 400 in the quarter-final. Guptill's 237 was a freak occurence.
would be great. With ties to both countries, I'd be cool with either country winning at that point. That said, I'm pulling for India to take it all.
A country of 4.5 million vs. a country of 1.25 billion? That's wild. Sports is fun in that way.
Let's go India! Defending champs all the way!
I was there about a month ago and have to root for my recent host country. Also, there will be no lack of appreciation for a victory if India wins. They love cricket.
Going with the underdog South Africa
I think Australia will win the match because they are first alphabetically.
Being Indian, I'm obviously rooting for them with everything I've got. And others are completely right when they say India absolutely loves cricket. It's the only sport they care about. I read a news report once about ordinary people vandalizing the houses and cars of cricket players years ago when they lost in the group stages.
Also New Zealand makes me the most nervous opponent wise, but that would be a hell of a final.
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March 23rd, 2015 at 10:12 PM ^
One of the best days I spent traveling in India was when there was a strike in Kolkata. Hardly any cars and lots of guys playing cricket on side streets.
I am from Kolkata. It's nice to see someone traveling to that part of the world.
When were you there and what brought to you there?
Kolkata spectators have very a volatile history with sports, especially cricket.
starting on March 1 and the cricket world cup was on every TV we saw. So, while drinking cocktails each evening, we tried to follow the game and learn what it was all about. Basically, it's a strange game from another age, but it is interesting to follow. Any game played for 7 hours where batsmen can score 100 or more points and have to retire because their team ran out of "overs" is weird. We never did figure out what a "maiden" is. The people in New Zealand are very fired up about their team, so I hope they win it.
An over consists of six balls (or pitches). A maiden is an over in which no runs have been scored.
The use of the word "maiden" just made it way too obvious for us to figure out. That explains why maidens seemed to be pretty rare when the bowlers stats were displayed.
You got the most important part right: drinking.
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Australia. Family roots. Host nation. Plus our bowlers are better than yours. And that top six...
Love the sport. Absolutely magnificent.
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I agree that on paper, Australia arguably have the best team.
They do, the worry is that they dont have that batsman superstar to carry them if needed (though Smith could end up being that guy).
Agree with above, really like Dhoni and his way of runnig his team.
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really have the seamers to f up india, plus india has not really been tested (aside from SA)
India getting good play from top 6 but have not really been tested aside from SAfrica. really dont know what to expect against aus but it should be a solid match.
I generally regard india as lazy as fuh, but the bowling/ fielding has been a great - dhoni really driving success
Dhoni is a great leader and one can definitely see the improvement in India's performances under his captaincy.
ZImbabwe and Bangladesh tested them more than SA.
Yep, the Ind-SA match was unexpectedly one sided. It definitely gave India the belief and confidence. Should be a good game against Australia.
I was sure that 303 was not a daunting task for SA. Thankfully, they collapsed. I think that match gave this Indian team the belief it needed for this deep run. They have already exceeded the expectation. The only issue is it's the end of a very long trip down under. Hopefully they have enough in their tanks to push through the end.
When was the last time that the South African batting did not collapse when put under pressure? SA's best hope has always been to bat first or to restrict their opposition to a really low score when batting second.
A few days ago vs. SL. :)
Question should be: when was the first time SA batting did not collapse under pressure?
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SL batted so poorly that the SA batting was never put under pressure.