So ... England whupped the Aussies

[joggerjayne]

... scoring 500 runs ...

... and got a draw.

This is why Cricket just doesn't make sense.

[bibblebub]

And it only took 5 days.

[joggerjayne]

Yes.

I'm trying to come to terms with Cricket, but it seems a bit of a waste of 5 days.

At Netball, we could have held an entire tournament in that time ... AND had a winner!

I went to Lord's about a year ago to watch Sussex against somebody or other (Hampshire?) in the Final of some cup thing or other, and that didn't take 5 days.

Okay, when I say "watch" it ... we were in the pub mostly, but you know what I mean.

[bibblebub]

They do have one-day internationals, which are usually 50 overs per side, as well as the relatively recent 20Twenty games (or is that twenty20?) which are over in about 3 hours.

Draws happen in football leagues and qualifying groups and a team can get praise for salvaging something from the game. All that's different is the timescale.

[joggerjayne]

Yes, I suppose so.

And the "standing around".

I'm surprised the fielders in cricket don't take their iPhones, and play games or something.

[bibblebub]

And then there's the radio commentaries - some piddlingly minor thing happens and they talk about it for ages and refer to it years later, whereas in the non-cricket world it would be forgotten very quickly. It's has its charms at times but mostly as an anachronism.

[joggerjayne]

Yes, there was a seagull in the outfield, and it got hit by a ball, or something like that.

=0(

That must have been a while back.

[joggerjayne]

Actually, that wasn't a "minor thing" ...

... at least, not for the seagull.

[joggerjayne]

Well, they didn't score the same munber of runs ... or get the same number of wickets ...

... and they had 5 days to sort it out.

=0/

[Sqad]

JJ.....;-)

[rowanwitch]

It's a boy thing...make it as complicated as possible so they can pat women on the head and go 'there there dear' when we comment that the rules are by any sensible definition DAFT.... girl logic....team with the highest score at the end of 5 days wins...

[joggerjayne]

rowan ...

So men invented this daft game, just to be patronising.

[bibblebub]

someone has to make the tea

[rowanwitch]

no but I suspect they see it as a bonus....

[joggerjayne]

You might get draws in Lacrosse, but I don't think teams often "play for a draw".

And the game last 50 mins, not 5 days.

(Level A/B games, before anyone picks me up on the length of the game).

[Sqad]

JJ......I have a certain amount of sympathy for your comments and that is why 3 day test matches and one day test matches are becoming so popular but, there are two aspects of the game and not one as you suggest.

Scoring runs is one aspect and bowling the opposing side out is another one, so as we couldn't bowl the Aussies out in the allotted time, then we didn´t "whupp them"

Rowan.....again I have certain sympathies with your point of view, "totting up" the scores at the end of the game would be unfair if one side had been exposed to the vagaries of the weather and of the pitch.
In other words, the result of the match might well be determined by the toss off a coin at the start of the game.

[missnemesis]

>>In other words, the result of the match might well be determined by the toss off a coin at the start of the game<<

Sqad pardon my ignorance but how the flump does that work? :-/

[joggerjayne]

But in Golf, for instance, different players who start at different times have to play in different weather conditions.

(except in the Ryder Cup, when they decided it was a bit wet, and they all went in for a cup of tea).

[joggerjayne]

missnemesis ...

Maybe the Captains say to each other ...

"Forget the cricket. I'll flip you for it!"

=0)