US Plays Cricket (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

OK American sports fans—mark your calendars for next week.

The mighty Americans take on New Zealand on the first day Friday the 10th) of an international cricket competition. Now you might be forgiven if you think that this is some minor tournament where the Kiwis will show up with their ‘B’ or ‘C’ side, thrash the US and go home; but it is in fact the second most important international cricket tournament (after the cricket world cup) and all of the big boys will show up with their best players.

So the US amateurs will be facing a professional team (currently ranked third in the world)—and our guys are not nearly the caliber of even the better, non-international teams of the major cricket playing countries. It will be more or less like a reasonably good NCAA division II team playing a playoff caliber NFL team.

But more fun awaits on Monday, when the Americans take on the Aussies. The current Australian one-day team is ranked number one in the world and is also the reining world cup champions. They have won (I think) 12 straight one-day tournaments and are generally considered one of the best one-day teams to have ever played the game (though perhaps a bit in decline).

So this will be like a good recreational league champion playing the ’27 Yankees.

The team with the best record (single round robin) from each 3-team pool advances to the semi-finals. I would not expect to find any odds on the US chances.

Why do we do this?

 

[Grant B]

I am really heartbroken that they did not call me; I did play once in England and even scored a run (I think or so they told me).
But think of it this way Lew, for many years we beat the Bejesus out of the world in Basketball and now they finally beat us.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I actually hope that we never "catch up" in cricket. IMO, they can have the freaking sport and we'll keep baseball with games that don't go multiple days.

 

[Jan H]

I played a bit of it when I went to school in the UK. Tough game, especially when you come up against a good bowler. The strangest sensation was hitting what I thought was a foul tip and then having to run. We are going to get our collective ass kicked, but somehow, I won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[CharlesD]

The US beat Bermuda by 114 runs this summer

 

[Jonathan White]

That is test cricket which can last 5 days. The matches the USA are playing are one day internationals, which obviously last one day. There is also a new format of cricket called Twenty 20, which lasts about 3-4 hours.

 

[Lew Crippen]

And end in a draw.

 

[todd s]

Can you imagine if somehow the US team was able to beat the Aussie team?

 

[Lew Crippen]

Well, let’s look at the possibilities. The good news for the US, is that their squad consists mostly of foreign nationals—guys from the West Indies and South Asia, where cricket is taken seriously.

Richard Staple is from Kingston, Jamaica and has played in 23 List A (sort of the equivalent of a mix of Major League and Class AAA baseball) matches. He has an average of 18 (runs per innings—or times at bat we might say) Bowled (like being a pitcher) a bit—but really got creamed with an average 79 runs per wicket taken (3) (this would be the number of runs given up per out that he got). He is 35.

Nasir Javed is Lahore and is 34—he has played in 8 Limited A matches with an average of only 1.5 (looks like he is mostly a bowler—most bowlers, like most of our pitchers are not very good hitters). He has taken 14 wickets for at an average of 24.

Charles Reid (42 from Barbados) has played in 8 Limited A matches with an average of 16.25 and has taken 7 wickets at an average of 33.85

Zamin Ally Amin (41— Guyana)—7 Limited A matches, average of 4.25, 3 wickets at an average of 68.33

Howard Johnson (40—Jamaica)—5 Limited A matches, average of 2, 6 wickets for an average of 21.

Aijaz Ali (36—Karachi)—6 matches, average of 27

Mark Johnson (Jamaica—37)—7 matches, average of 17.42,

Leon Romero (30—Trinidad)—3 matches, average of 28.66

Naseer Islam (32—Pakistan)—no Limited A experience

Rohan Alexander (31—Jamaica)—8 matches, 36.85 average

Rashid Zia (30—Pakistan)—no Limited A matches—he is a wicketkeeper (catcher)

Steve Massiah (Guyana—25)—9 matches at 35.42 average, 3 wickets for an average of 23.33.

Clayton Lambert (Guyana—42)—84 Limited A matches, average of 32.86—5 wickets at 41.8. He has also played in 11 One Day International (ODI—these would be Major League games) matches and had a respectable average of 33.45. Clayton has even played in 5 test matches (the most serious form of cricket).

Imran Awan (25 from Pakistan)—no listed experience.


Some observers believe that the Australians are getting a bit old—which will make everyone happy as they are the benchmark against which all other teams compare themselves at both types of cricket. They won the last two cricket World Cups (2003 in South Africa and 1999 in England) and have pretty much swept everyone before them. Most of the players on the current squad were included in the last World Cup side and some in the last two. Listed as a comparison (and with some comments): I’ll give their ODI stats, which is against a higher caliber of team than the US stats. (Limited A includes both ODI and the next class down)

Ricky Ponting (30—the captain)—203 ODI matches at an average of 42.23. He is usually considered to be one of the 10 best batsmen in the world. Captained the Aussies in the last World Cup (the captain has a lot to do in cricket)

Adam Gilchrist (33—the wicketkeeper)—193 ODIs, average of 35.73. He is quite easily the best combination of offense and defense as a wicketkeeper in the world. He scores very quickly (important at this form of the game).

Michael Clarke (23)—30 ODIs, average of 43.35—17 wickets at 29.17 average

Jason Gillespie (31)—73 ODI—average of 13.11—112 wickets at 24.19. He has injury problems, but is a feared fast bowler when healthy.

Ian Harvey (32)—73 ODI—average of 17.87, 85 wickets at 30.31.

Matthew Hayden (33)—97 ODI—average of 42.12. He is usually ranked in the top ten in the world in batting.

Brad Hogg (33)—50 ODI—average of 20.64—54 wickets at 31,35

Michael Kasprowicz (32)—25 ODI—average of 21.33—37 wickets at 25.72

Brett Lee (28)—86 ODI—average of 14.5—152 wickets at 22.19. He has suffered some loss of form recently, but when bowling well he is one of the three or four fastest bowlers in the world.

Darren Lehmann (34)—104 ODI—39.44 average—44 wickets at 25.34

Damien Martyn (33)—153 ODI—40.97 average—12 wickets at 58.66—he hardly ever bowls.

Glenn McGarth (34)—190 ODI—4.08 average—286 wickets at 22.56 average. He is getting a bit old and is not as fast as he once was—also he has some injuries—but when healthy is one of the best bowlers in the world.

Andrew Symonds (29)—98 ODI—average of 35.79—74 wickets at 35.35

Shane Watson (23)—24 ODI—average of 38.25—18 wickets at 37.22


So you can see that even though the Australians are considered old, they are still younger than the Americans. And even their least experience player is far more experience than any of the Americans.

It may be interesting to see the Americans—but it won’t be close.

And did I mention that the Australians are generally considered the best fielding side in the world?

 

[andrew markworthy]

It's a deal old boy. You keep your version of rounders and leave the difficult games to the bits of the Empire that didn't spit the dummy over taxes without representation.

On a far more serious note - I doubt if the US team can beat anything from the Antipodes, but against some of the lesser cricketing nations (e.g. England if the selectors are having one of their periodic bouts of insanity), they might stand a chance.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Andrew, I assume that you did that deliberately. If you think that you had to explain, ‘knickers in a knot’, this one will really take some doing.

Some of us might occasionally use the word ‘knickers’ and a still higher percentage might know (or guess) the meaning.

I have never heard the term ‘dummy’ in the States (as you used it). It is possible that our neighbors to the north may have caused the term to drift south, so I could be wrong.

 

[Jonathan White]

When was this last bout of insanity? Need I remind you that England have really improved over that past two years and next year we might even win the ashes.........well I can dream.

 

[Eric Kahn]

I actually wish I could watch some Cricket without having to subscribe to a whole season package, I have never seen a cricket match other than the commercials for the dish network package

 

[andrew markworthy]

Oops, sorry, I was rather tired and my Americanese awareness circuits had clearly switched off for the night when I typed 'spit the dummy' which actually is an Australian piece of slang. It means to act in an unreasonably petulant way.

 

[Devin U]

It is gaining speed here in the us. I know of one league near me (Phoenix area) and may try out for one of the teams. Around here, in speaking to the team capitan, the teams consist of mostly India, Pakastani, and Sri Lankan ex-pats, with a few Aussies and Brits as well. I would be about one of 3 or 4 Americans that play that picked up the game abroad (while living in the UK for me). I dont know about the makeup of any other league or the national team, but from what I understand, there is a coach in LA who taught the game to a bunch of ex ganster South Central kids who play some amazing cricket.

 

[andrew markworthy]

All the standard jokes about cricket apart; seriously guys, if you take the pains to learn the rules (which really aren't difficult if you watch a game for even a few minutes), watching cricket is a great way to spend a lazy summer's day. The whole idea is to spend the time relaxing and between deliveries (i.e. the equivalent of pitches) you chat to your neighbours, do the crossword (The Times cryptic, naturally), drink beer (chilled lager if you really must) and have a good time. If you're going for thrill a minute action, then you're utterly missing the point.

And if you get really into the game, you'll see why Brits smile indulgently when Americans go on about how there are so many fascinating statistics about baseball.

 

[Jonathan White]

Twenty 20 is thrill a minunte, basically it is twenty overs each and everyone just lets rip. A great introduction to the sport. Can't wait for the first international next year between England and the Aussies.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Jonathan - yes, I agree. I was talking about 'typical' cricket (even the one day matches); I'd forgotten about 20-20.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I’ve been to a lot of cricket in both Adelaide and Sydney and to both test and one-day matches. I’ve never seen Twenty 20.

My wife mistakenly went along to a ODI (England v Australia) in Adelaide, thinking ‘how long could it be?’ She thought perhaps a bit longer than a baseball game.

 

[Jonathan White]

I don't know if they play it in Australia yet, it was developed in England and due to the success of it has started to spread around the world. India and South Africa have tournaments and I think it may be played in New Zealand.

Twenty 20 is actually part of the Uk's Olympic bid for 2012, if we get the games it will be included.