Would I rather be a muppet or a joker?
November 12, 2007 at 12:08 am | In Cricket | 32 CommentsI don’t know.
Anyway, 5th day of the test has just started. So far the only difference in this post-Warne/McGrath era is that we’ll have 5 day tests instead of four.
I had a bit of a look at the highlights on youtube:
- That MacGill wicket was beautiful.
- Vandort is freakishly tall for a batsman.
- There’s been a few dropped catches/four byes. Haddin/Ronchi in for Gilchrist? Probably not yet.
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I was there yesterday, at the Gabba that is. I say the MacGill wicket: indeed it was lovely. A fairly frustrating day with all the rain otherwise.
Comment by Leesa — November 12, 2007 #
I say! An absolutely spanking dismissal.
Bad luck with the rain.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
I saw…that is what I meant….
It is monday morning, and I am at work….yuck.
Comment by Leesa — November 12, 2007 #
Don’t mind me, I was just engaged in poor quality typo related humour.
If it makes you feel any better it’s still Sunday here and I have tomorrow off for Veteran’s day.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
Hmmm….make me feel better? Not so much.
Comment by Leesa — November 12, 2007 #
Well, that was a spanking.
I wonder what will happen next? Will Atapattu go home?
Comment by Leesa — November 12, 2007 #
Bored at work Wockner?
I hope he stays.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
Yes. Yes I am. How can you tell? Is it the fact that I comment on your blog every two seconds? Or is it just because you know I do statistics and it is safe to assume I am bored.
Comment by Leesa — November 12, 2007 #
Whenever I see “spanking” in a cricket discussion, I think of Peter Roebuck. On one of the blogs I read regularly, he is referred to as Spanky.
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
How often do you see ’spanking’ in a cricket discussion?
Comment by Anita — November 12, 2007 #
Well, really I only see “Spanky”. I see that reasonably often.
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
This is me playing with quotation marks.
‘First attempt’
`second attempt’
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
Anita, how did you get your quotation mark to point in the wrong direction?
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
I think if you write ’spanking’ then delete the ’spanking part and write spanking’ on the other side that does it.
’spanking’
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
’spanking’
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
well now i’ve broken ’smart quotes’. Weird.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
’spanking’
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
‘First attempt’
’spanking’
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
‘Sanking’
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
’saning’
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
Looks like it’s capital letters. Also wordpress won’t let you post the same comment multiple times.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
‘Hmmm’
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
In the middle of a ’sentence’ this happens.
In the middle of a ‘Sentence’ this happens.
What about “Double quotes”.
What about “double quotes”.
Comment by David Barry — November 12, 2007 #
When I saw that you had 23 comments I thought that you had come of age as a blogger. Then I read the comments.
Comment by Geoff — November 12, 2007 #
I thought I would try to get back to the topic of the original post. Yes, Vandoort is unusually tall for a batsman but I don’t thing this is in any way inhibiting. I would explain the lower than average height of batsman by suggesting without any actual evidence that the taller one is, the more likely that person is to become a bowler. If as a cricketer you focus your energy on bowling, you are going to have less time to master the batting arts. This might also explain the lack of genuine all-rounders in the age of professional sport. Who has time (or the talent)to become a world class bowler and batsman?
Comment by Geoff — November 12, 2007 #
I think this thread has brought to light a lot of interesting facts:
*Leesa is bored.
*Dave calls Peter Roebuck “Spanky” and everytime he reads “Spanking” he sees “spanky”
*WordPress smart quotes don’t work properly.
I agree with you Geoff that most tall cricketers became bowlers and this would explain a lot of the observed lack of tall batsman.
But I feel that especially back when the ball actually swung and batsman didn’t wield tree trunks that it might have been an advantage to be short. Nowadays Hayden, Gilchrist and the like show that it doesn’t really matter.
More evidence for tall players not working on their batting is the old fast bowlers scoring all these runs in Australian 4 day cricket – maybe Bichel could have been a first class batsman if he’d worked on it earlier. And maybe if Watson had given up on bowling and prevented all these injuries he would already be opening the batting for Australia.
But I think a fair part of the reason for the lack of great all rounders is that it’s kind of like expecting someone to both be a great table tennis player and a great javelin thrower – they really are very different activities.
Comment by martinleslie — November 12, 2007 #
Watson is a hack. I bowled an over to him many years ago and he only hit me for four fours. He let the other two balls go! Not baggy green material.
Comment by Geoff — November 13, 2007 #
Speaking of tree trunks, I saw an article or something the other day refer to a bat that weighed “1.3kg”. Kilos??? Tell me what it is in pounds!
I think that cricket bat weights are the most strongly imperially-measured quantities. For most things I’m at least fairly bilingual, but my brain just refuses to accept metric for a cricket bat weight.
Comment by David Barry — November 13, 2007 #
Adam Gilchrist’s dad showed me a bat of his once-it felt more than1.3 kg(approx 2.9 lb) or is that approx 2lb 14oz
Comment by mum — November 14, 2007 #
Is Van Doort the tallest ever and was he inspired by Tom Moody
Comment by mum — November 14, 2007 #
I think I’d prefer to be a joker than a muppet
Comment by mum — November 14, 2007 #
This is becoming the longest post ever. I might never post again and we can just talk on this thread.
Geoff and ‘mum’: I’m impressed by both of your brushes with fame.
Will Jefferson is 6′10”. That’s pretty tall. Joel Garner and Buce Reid were 6′8” which might be the tallest in international cricket.
Comment by martinleslie — November 14, 2007 #