Me for Australian Wicketkeeper

It's time for Brad Haddin to go.

Tim Paine is injured, and the selectors seemingly don't want to play Matt Wade in test cricket yet.

So, I am going to offer my services.

I'm actually American though, and the never having played an actual match of cricket may be a problem.  I do, however, have a knack for catching important things before they hit the ground.  I also used to play baseball and know how to hit things with a bat.  I wasn't very good though, which is another problem.  I'm done with my college finals on the 16th.  This gives me plenty of time to get to Australia in time for the Boxing Day test, and learn how to play.

So come on selectors, I'm ready to represent my* country.

*-not my country

47 All Out Thoughts

Luckily I was not watching Australia manage to completely lose their minds the other day, as I was in class during that debacle.  After a few days of avoiding mainstream cricket media, I finally had a gander at the highlights and I would like to give some quick thoughts.

Domesticating a Cricket Fan

It didn't take much for me to become an Australia fan.

Cricketpalooza

The past few weeks in the life of an American cricket fan have been both great and disappointing.

Great for just the sheer amount of international cricket that has been on recently.

Disappointing for the fact that they've all been on at kind of bad times.

I can catch the end of the Australian-South Africa, Zimbabwe-New Zealand, and India-England matches, but I've been in classes for the most part.  I can watch the beginning of the West Indies-Bangladesh test days, while Pakistan-Sri Lanka is pretty much out of the question.

As frustrating as that is, that's kind of the problem with trying to watch this wonderful sport in America.

I'll be able to watch pretty much all of the Australia home tests, but other than that, almost everything is either too late, too early, or when I have class.

The ball-by-ball live text from Cricinfo and the like is a life saver.

As much as I would like to wake up early to watch the Australia-South Africa tests, it's just not feasable for me. That's no fun.

This Week in Cricinfo Pictures 2: Electric Boogaloo

I meant to write a post about the Twenty20 Champions League, but I forgot to when it was still going on.  But here's my feelings: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  So lets move on to more Cricinfo pictures.

This Week in Cricinfo Pictures

I've pointed out before that Cricinfo has some rather amusing pictures on it.  So I've decided to start a (hopefully) weekly feature on the blog called 'This Week in Cricinfo Pictures'. 

Appreciating Mike Hussey

Michael Hussey won all 3 Man of the Match awards in the Sri Lanka test series, and not suprisingly the Man of the Series award.  He may have gone through struggles not all that long ago, but because of his recent sucesses, he is clearly the Savior.

Debutant's Ball

I had my first cricket dream the other night. 

I was a batsman for New Zealand (I support Australia, of course, but I was playing for New Zealand in my dream...go figure).  I was making my test debut, coming in to bat.  I got bowled first ball.  Even in my dreams I suck balls at cricket.

A (Semi) Interesting Question/Concept Thingy

After a week in which I saw Australia pick up a test win (Yay!), I came up with the question while on a long car ride.

If you were to make a test team out of one player from all 10 test teams (2 from the team you support), what would it be?

As an Australian supports, I would pick 2 Australians and one from Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.

So anyway here's mine.

1. Tamim Iqbal
2. Tillakaratne Dilshan
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
5. Ian Bell
6. Kane Williamson
7. Tim Paine
8. Brett Lee
9. Dale Steyn
10. Ray Price
11. Wahab Riaz

I think it's sort of an interesting concept.  So, if anyone is out there reading this, your opinions please.

This Exists

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/image/191673.html?object=6282

I do not have any words.

England-India Team of the Series

I've been on vacation, but why not

1. Alastair Cook
2. Rahul Dravid
3. Ian Bell
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Matt Prior
7. Amit Mishra (Just as a batsman, I don't want him bowling.)
8. Tim Bresnan
9. Stuart Broad
10. Graeme Swann
11. James Anderson

That's all.

Some Stray Thoughts on the Past Few Weeks

I've been a tad bit busy and haven't really had time to talk things

First off, what else is there to say about Alastair Cook?  Not much really.  So let's move on.

The SAM Cricket You Tube Hall of Fame

One of the major assets in everyday life these days is YouTube.  It has been especially great for someone who is just learning about a sport like cricket.  I can't tell you how many centuries or five wicket hauls I've watched.  I've watched everything from the bizarre to the hilarious.  And I'd thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Thoughts on Australian Test Squad

If you'd like reasoned, informed opinions on the squad, I highly recommend The Baggy Green, a blog all about the Australian team, which I very much enjoy reading.

I've mentioned it a lot, but I'm very much an Australian fan.  While the first England-India test was probably the one I most enjoyed watching in my 9 months of watching cricket, I really just want to see Australia again.

And thankfully for me, that's coming!

Batting Average

Every once in a while, I'm gonna try and take a look at a cricket stat that intrigues me.  This post it'll be batting average.

Being a newbie to cricket, Don Bradman was one of the first people I found to read about.  It mainly came about through reading about different cricket stats, and seing just how insanely far he was ahead of everyone else in 'batting average.'

Coming from a baseball backgound, the term 'batting average' was very familiar to me.  It's the number of hits you get divided by the number of at-bats you have.  As time went on, I saw that batting average has its flaws.  The formula for cricket batting average is just as simple.  The number of runs you score divided by the number of times you get out.  But the cricket version didn't seem quite as flawed. 

Of course using it in a small sample size could give mixed up results.  But the players that have batting averages in the high 40s and 50s, over years of playing, are generally considered great players.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize it does have some flaws.  Bradman's 99.94 technically means he should score 99 or 100 every innings, but he never actually scored 99 or 100 runs in an innings.  His average is exaclty that, an average.  Scores way above that raised it, but scores below it lowered that.  In fact, he only has 3 scores within 10 runs of his average, one 102 and a pair of 103s.

Sachin Tendulkar averages 56.95 in tests, and does have a bunch of scores right around that number, but there are far more scores below that, and far more above that.

That got me thinking.  If the averages of an entire team were added up, how close could their score from an innings match up to it.

More Tim

I think I'm in love with Tim Paine.

Amped Up

For as much as I loved watching the Ashes, it was probably a little too early in my cricket-watching career to fully understand the meaning of the occasion.

Sure I knew that The Ashes is/are (I have no idea whether 'The Ashes' is supposed to be singular or plural.)  one of the most prestigious prizes in the sport.  And for as much as I enjoyed watching them, the way England dominated the series as much as they did, sort of made me take it for granted.

International Confusing Council

In my last post I wrote about the ICC coming to a compromise on technology, well short of what it should of been.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the only dumb thing they did.

ROBOTS!

First off, if anyone missed me writing this (although I can't imagine anyone did), sorry, I'm a lazy fuck.

A bunch of stuff has happened since I last posted.  England and Sri Lanka drew the third test and started playing their 157,561 match ODI series.  India beat West Indies in their 157,561 match ODI series, and then won the first test between the two.  Chris Gayle got a....interesting....haircut.

And the ICC almost did something good.

The Moment

A great deal of this blog has been about how I became a cricket fan.

I've mentioned that I fell in love during the first Ashes test at the Gabba back in November.

I've said that is the reason test cricket is my preferred format.

I've talked about how that's made me and Australia.

I haven't yet said that I can actually pinpoint the exact moment that I was in on this game called cricket.

Now I realize this is a little like the girl at the party putting up pictures on Facebook, while still at the party.  But I don't have a history of the game.  This was my first day in cricket.  Lets go back to that November night in Brisbane.

Opinions on Katich and Australia by an American

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a ton the intricacies about cricket.  I know the rules of the sport.  I've read as much history as I can.  I'd like to think my opinions are as informed as possible.

I think Australia dropping Simon Katich is perfectly fine.

I will make my new found love for the Aussies as known as possible. I have totally adopted them as mine. But some of the opinions I've had since I've started supporting them, have been a tad different than some of what I've read and heard from Australia.

I think giving Michael Clarke a shot at the captaincy was a fine choice. I've seen a ton of people that don't agree at all.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I'm gonna try this again.  I think the second England-Sri Lanka test is going to be draw.

Last time I tried this, I was proven wrong. Extremely wrong.

My Delayed Thoughts on England-Sri Lanka

I don't quite know what it is, but there is something oddly beautiful about a batting collapse.

Testing Patience

I've already wrote of my great love for test matches.  But sometimes they can be quite strange.

The Something About Morne XI

Sometimes I picture what it would be like to play test cricket.  Considering that I'm 19 and have never picked up a cricket bat or ball in my life, I'd say my chances are none to, well, none.

Which leads me to imagine myself as a selector. Listen, I know it's strange, but they're my dreams dammit.

So, here is the team I would pick to represent the fictional country of Something About Morne. 

Thoughts on West Indies-Pakistan

I felt like I needed to write something about the second test between the West Indies in Pakistan.

Not that anyone should particularly care about my opinion, there are plenty of better writers out there to read.

But for me, this match has only re-affirmed my love for this slightly absurd, but wonderful sport.

Gilly

I've mentioned it dozens of times already, but one of the major ways I've gotten into this wonderful world of cricket is watching old YouTube videos.

If there's one person, who I just can't get enough of, it's Adam Gilchrist.

Test Matches!

I've mentioned quite a lot (possibly once every post, I dunno, get off my back), that test matches are far and away, my favorite form of cricket.

Pakistan aims for their first ever test series win in the West Indies, starting tomorrow, in what is the first test since Pakistan battled New Zealand to a fairly even draw in mid-January.

I've talked a tad about why I prefer them, but never really expanded on this. Maybe, it's because, the first match I watched was a test. Maybe its because, it that first match I watched, I was home on Thanksgiving break, and needed it was on into the wee hours of the morning, which I stay up til anyway. Maybe, it's because it's the most traditional form of the game, and I like that.

Bond, Shane Bond

Every sport has its fair share of players who are dynamic for a few seasons, then for whatever reason are done.

In American football, amazing running back Ricky Williams retired for a few seasons to go smoke pot. He came back and was able to show flashes, but wasn't really the same.

In basketball, "Pistol" Pete Maravich drank his career away.

Very few athletes miss large amounts of time, and miss parts of their career of their own doing like Shane Bond.

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle scored 37 runs in one over earlier.

It sounds like something that should surprise me, but seeing some of the scores he posted thus far in the IPL, it doesn't.  At all.

Everything about Gayle fits perfectly together.  Of course someone named Chris Gayle, who plays for the West Indies, is an absolute maniac with the bat.  I prefer test matches, but watching Gayle flail around with the bat in T20s, makes them worth it.

While I love it, cricket can be a bit of a drag at times.  But watching Gayle trying to split cricket balls in two is a breath of fresh air.  The sport is better off for the Gayles and Sehwags.

So, there really isn't anything that Gayle could do to suprise me.

37 in an over? Sure. 

Get out on 99 with some absurd shot that no one in there right mind would go for? You bet.

Score 150 in a T20? Absolutely.

All of these things are possible for Chris Gayle, and I don't want him to ever change.

A Love of Brett Lee

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got into cricket via watching he latest Ashes series.  And by the end of that series, I had fallen for the Australian team.  And seeing them lose the series like that was frustrating, even for a new fan.  And then the ODI series started, and a certain bowler took the pitch, who didn't play in the test series.

More One Day Interzzzzzz

I sit here on my laptop with a window of Cricinfo's live text of the last ODI between the West Indies and Pakistan, and can't help but wonder why.  I could easily find live video of the match, but I'm perfectly content reading about it.

Every sport has its meaningless games, but it cricket it's just...different.

Cricket has the World Cup and the World Twenty20, so to play an overabundance of those matches during series, seems kinda absurd to me. 

I understand, different countries have different loves, as far as forms of the game go, but to me, test match cricket seems like the pinacle of the sport.  Do the West Indies and Pakistan really have to play a 5th ODI, considering that they're only going to play 2 tests.

Australia and England played 7(!) ODIs after the biggest test series of all.  Now by the time The Ashes were over, I was an Aussie supporter, and was I happy to see them win? Yes, of course, but that still didn't overshadow the fact that they got boatraced in the tests.

By all means, play ODIs and Twenty20s, don't get rid of them.  But the amount that they play seems mindnumbing at times.

Observations

• Chris Gayle is fun to watch.
• I'm not sure if Michael Clarke as Australia captain is going to work, but I really like him.
• I don't like the Indian team.
• The fact that the West Indies and Pakistan are playing 5 ODIs is ridiculous.
• Being an Australian supporter, I'm not a big England fan, but Ian Bell supports Aston Villa, so he's cool.
• Wickets are cool.
• Shane Warne is cool.
• Shahid Afridi is cool.
• I find test cricket so much more enjoyable to watch than One Day and Twenty20.
• I want to watch a test match.
• After watching old YouTube videos, I really like Shane Bond, wish he played longer.
• Virender Sehwag is fun to watch.
• If I was Australia, I'd throw Paine, Hughes, Khajawa into the fire, and play them from here on out.  What do they have to lose?
• Hashim Amla's beard is awesome.
• Don't know why I find it funny that between Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Mahela Jayawardene, that Sri Lanka have someone named Angelo Matthews playing for them.
• I don't like Kevin Pietersen.
• A Test Match World Cup would be awesome.
• I hope the USA team qualifies for the World Twenty20, I don't even care if they get boatraced every game.
• The ICC is a tad bit dumb.

Maybe Why I Love Australia

My first favorite sport is baseball.  It always has been, and probably always will be.  It has been engrained in me since I was young.  Both of my parents are gigantic New York Yankees fans, and once upon a time had Yankees season tickets.  So not suprisingly, I'm a Yankees fan.

When I started watching cricket, and I started reading about the history of the game, Australia sort of struck me as being like the Yankees.  A history of being great.  If you're not a fan of them you most likely hate them.  And some cool traditions that I love reading about.

The Fuck is an Indian Premier League?

As someone who had to figure out pretty much everything about cricket, there was very little I found more perplexing that the club/country conundrum.

Following soccer, I was very aware of the concept of national teams meaning a great deal to people.  But even then, there are many people that are club over country, hell I'm one.  Coming into cricket, and finding out that players are with the national team a crap ton amount of time, and a lot time times, might barely play for a club team was unbelievably confusing.  Not only that, looking at players' Wikipedia pages, a lot of them played for more than one club team during the same years!  What the shit is this?

I'd definitely heard of the Indian Premier League, leading up to its beginning a few weeks ago.  But of course, being a new cricket obsessive like I was, I wanted to read as much about it as I could.  The team names seemed a bit arbitrary and as it turns out, they sorta are.  In my few months watching, Twenty20 had been my least favorite form of the game, because there really didn't appear to be any strategy in it.  But I tuned in anyway, because it's cricket, and I needed my fix.

I decided I would root for King's XI Punjab, because they had Adam Gilchrist, and he was someone who I loved reading about and watching YouTube videos of in my primitive stages of learning.

So, I tuned in for a few games, and very much did enjoy the actual gameplay, but the whole thing is just, I dunno, arbitrary.  I can understand being Indian and supporting your hometown team, but as someone who is from America, I just can't get into it.  I'll still check in and see some scores and how some of the players I know are performing, can't say that I can truly get into this.  Get back to me in the later stages, IPL.

Why?

That's a good question.  Why would an American kid from Northeastern Pennsylvania write a cricket blog? 

Well, the story doesn't start off too long ago.  Back in November, I sat around my house messing around on my laptop. One of the windows I had open was Twitter.  Being that I'm a massive fan of soccer, specifically the English Premier League and Aston Villa, I followed many members of the English media.  It just so happened that on that November night was the beginning of The Ashes for 2010-2011 in Australia.  I had nothing better to do, so I though I'd check it out. 

By the time I'd shut down my computer that night I was hooked.  The strategy.  The strangeness of the referral system.  Trying to find out what the fuck an lbw was.

After watching all of The Ashes, several assorted ODIs, a few Twenty20s, and the World Cup, the sport of cricket has a new American obsessive.  I've grown a dislike of the Indian team.  I've grown a love for the Aussies.  I've grown a man-crush on Brett Lee.  I've laughed as South Africa choked.  Went nuts for Ireland's win over England.  Been sad for Pakistan.   Snickered at the name 'Morne Morkel.' But most of all, I've learned to love a fucktardly complicated sport.  Long live cricket!