mjazzg Posted July 5 Report Posted July 5 21 minutes ago, JSngry said: MLC season starts today. Willow is on it and it is on Willow My son and I are going to an evening match on July 14. I "had to" buy a yellow T-shirt to represent our "local" team. I probably need to buy new T-shirts anyway, in all colors! Better shopping through sports. Will expect full review of the game and the food Quote
JSngry Posted July 5 Author Report Posted July 5 The food, yes...the website says : https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/fanfaq Can I buy food and drinks in the venue? Grand Prairie Stadium: Yes, food and drinks (including alcohol) will be available for sale at the venue. The food available will be a mix of cuisines ranging from ballpark classics (fries, hot dogs, etc.) to south asian favorites (biryani, chaat, etc.) to authentic Texas BBQ! So I'm like, half of me wants to stay in my seat and watch the match while the other half of me eats and eats and eats. Win-win, that would be! Quote
mjazzg Posted July 6 Report Posted July 6 (edited) 11 hours ago, JSngry said: The food, yes...the website says : https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/fanfaq Can I buy food and drinks in the venue? Grand Prairie Stadium: Yes, food and drinks (including alcohol) will be available for sale at the venue. The food available will be a mix of cuisines ranging from ballpark classics (fries, hot dogs, etc.) to south asian favorites (biryani, chaat, etc.) to authentic Texas BBQ! So I'm like, half of me wants to stay in my seat and watch the match while the other half of me eats and eats and eats. Win-win, that would be! Heaven is a MLC match Just checked the TSK squad, some good names in there. Captain is (was) a super player Edited July 6 by mjazzg Quote
JSngry Posted July 6 Author Report Posted July 6 They got beat rather handily last night... The match we're seeing is against MINY. Nicholas Pooran, who I guess is a kind of Babe Ruth figure. Watching the match last on TV. The players were mingling with the fans and signing autographs. You don't see that these days in other sports. Nice! Quote
mjazzg Posted July 6 Report Posted July 6 1 hour ago, rdavenport said: New York look a strong side. Pooran is one of the hottest tickets in T20 cricket, as is Rashid Khan. Kieron Pollard is getting on now, but would be one of the absolute legends of the T20 game. Washington have three big Australian stars in Maxwell, Head and the famous cheat Smith. Aren't we meant to have forgiven him..? Never! Quote
mjazzg Posted July 7 Report Posted July 7 1 hour ago, rdavenport said: Exactly, Warner can do one as well. Bancroft one could almost feel sorry for. And the bowlers, they must've known. Agree, Bancroft was set up by senior professionals Quote
JSngry Posted July 7 Author Report Posted July 7 Huge, especially since the "punishment" was egregiously underwhelming. The Astro are still stained as "cheaters" by many fans. Quote
JSngry Posted July 8 Author Report Posted July 8 Sign stealing is "ok" if it's done on the field as part of the on-field alertness. What the Astros did was far beyond that. They used technology in a systematic way. Way beyond normal Spy vs Spy gamesmanship. That's more like Mafia shit. Ball tampering otoh...part of the game as long as you don't get caught. Some very high profile players are rumored to have done it, but they didn't get caught, so... There's a latent criminality in every competitive endeavor, a with it comes lines that are generally agreed on that shouldn't be crossed - past a certain point! Quote
JSngry Posted July 12 Author Report Posted July 12 Still a bit mind-blowing that in cricket, not only is the bowler allowed to pitch directly at the batter, but that the batter is OUT (wicket) if the ball hits him without him hitting it first! These pitches are (generally) not the 90+ mph as routinely found in baseball, but they're still coming in pretty damn hard, some of them are. I've seen quite a few in the mid-80s, more than fast enough to hurt. No wonder the batters wear all that padding! My understanding of baseball is heightening my appreciation of both the similarities and the differences between it and cricket. Quote
mjazzg Posted July 12 Report Posted July 12 (edited) When I first got into cricket, 50 years ago, the batters wore very little protection, usually a box to protect manhood and maybe a guard on their leading arm, no helmets. At that time the West Indies ruled supreme in no small part to a stable of frighteningly fast bowlers who all bowled 85mph+. There's great footage of batters trying to avoid getting hurt and failing. Express bowling has been a weapon unleashed for decades, back in the 30s there was a very famous series between Australia and England known as "Bodyline Series" because England used their quicks to target the Aussie batters. It was seen as ungentlemanly and caused diplomatic ructions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline Photos show batters with no external protection. Express bowling is a wonderful thing to witness live and is an important tool in a team's armoury if available. It belies the genteel image that some people apply to cricket. Sadly, it has caused death, most high profile recently when an Australian international Phil Hughes died having been struck on the side of the head below his helmet protection, in a domestic game. Edited July 12 by mjazzg Quote
mjazzg Posted July 12 Report Posted July 12 This is one of the most (in)famous duels between an England batter and a fast bowler Michael Holding, known as "Whispering Death" is probably the greatest fast bowler I've seen Quote
mjazzg Posted July 12 Report Posted July 12 Came out of retirement didn't he? And there's a great photo of him in 1968 with bruises all over his body caused by Holding's predecessor Wes Hall. Quote
mjazzg Posted July 12 Report Posted July 12 4 minutes ago, rdavenport said: If a bowler bowls a ball which does not pitch (hit the ground) before it reaches the batsman, it is known as a full toss. If a full toss reaches the batsman at waist height it is a no-ball. When a fast bowler bowls a full toss which reached the batsman at waist high or above, it is called a "beamer", which is both a no-ball, a cause for a warning from the umpire, and very much frowned upon if they could be considered deliberate. You don't get many deliberate beamers in cricket, they're usually the result of a misfire on the bowler's part. Full tosses are usually dispatched to any part of the park the batsman wishes, although in club cricket the full toss is a deadly delivery. The batsman's eyes light up as he throws the bat at it, quite often resulting in him spooning a catch or missing it completely and being bowled. I took many of my club cricket wickets with full tosses. 😄 Quote
mjazzg Posted July 12 Report Posted July 12 Just now, rdavenport said: That's the one, I couldn't get it to display earlier. Tough those Yorkies Quote
JSngry Posted July 15 Author Report Posted July 15 Had a great time! Food was excellent. We has a lamb curry basket that was quite tasty and very generous in portion size. Spice level was surprisingly pretty mild. I could have gone up several notches, but the flavor was good The match itself was really fun. TSJ batted first and had a good run. 176 runs iirc. Not overwhelming though especially with Poorham batting 3rd But - we got him out on a wicket in a relatively few overs and with no big slugging After that, our bowlers brought there A-game. Lots of singles and dot balls for a lot of overs. It was fun to see the bats foiled like that. MINY came alive after about 15(?) overs and suddenly started walloping 4s & 6s, but the math was against them by that point, and our bowlers kept it under control. I had a blast, really. So e parts of the game were easier to follow on TV, but the longer I sat there, the more they came into focus. And the crowd, whoa! Totally family friendly. Kids, parents, and grandparents all together. Beer was sold and consumed, but there were no drunken expletive spewing like you often find at other sporting events. That was really nice. The only thing I didn't like was the attempts at "Americanization" if the experience, lits if loud sound bites between every pitch, and a PA announcer who was stuck on excited. Not sure that was needed, but it's their business plan not mine All in all, a truly wonderful sporting experience. I'd definitely do it again! Quote
mjazzg Posted July 15 Report Posted July 15 Sounds great. The 'Americanizations' are all part of the T20 game here too, to attract the non-cricket crowd. I've always had great experiences with South East Asian crowds at cricket, raucously supportive but always with humour Quote
JSngry Posted July 15 Author Report Posted July 15 It was the family thing that really warmed me. Everybody from babies to very senior Senior Citizens. Quote
JSngry Posted July 15 Author Report Posted July 15 Dude, I played club dates and rich kids weddings for so many years that if I go through my next 30 lifetimes without encountering even one more rowdy drunk, that would be fine with me. Rowdy and vulgar is the worst, especially when there's kids around... Oh, one thing that I never knew was that bowlers change ends every over. Laugh all you want at that, but in TV there's always a commercial when that happens. Quote
Ken Dryden Posted July 16 Report Posted July 16 I worked a party where the local Steinway dealer hosted a reception in a private club to showcase Vladimir Horowitz's next to last Steinway grand piano. He traded it in for a new one a few years before his death and dealers had the opportunity to display it for a day. At least two idiots attending the party put their drinks down on it. Quote
mjazzg Posted July 16 Report Posted July 16 19 hours ago, JSngry said: Oh, one thing that I never knew was that bowlers change ends every over. Laugh all you want at that, but in TV there's always a commercial when that happens. Tricksy sport this cricket...but I'm not laughing because I hadn't thought before how someone new to it on TV would see that or not. Bowlers have preferred ends at most grounds they play on regularly Quote
mjazzg Posted July 16 Report Posted July 16 36 minutes ago, rdavenport said: Well, to get even more confusing, in The Hundred, a bowler can bowl two "sets" (there are 5-ball sets in The Hundred, rather than 6-ball overs) consecutively, from the same end. And the Hundred is ridiculous, as that indicates Quote
JSngry Posted July 21 Author Report Posted July 21 Ok, this is cool - at the game Sunday night, my son bumped into a friemd of his who's working with the MLC TV team. Tonight he tells my son that he's putting in requests for two sets of two comp tickets. One for the final regular season match (in which Texas plays), and then one for the first playoff game (in which Texas issomewhat likely to play. Glad to go to one of the two, delighted if both come through! Oh, what's a good rule of thumb as to when a match is likely out of reach? Is there one? Quote
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