Cricketers get their asses handed to them by their own countrymen

wyk

When it comes to cricketers and baseball, you hear it all the time -

"I can hit a full toss for sixes anytime!"

Cricketers love to flaunt their ignorance of baseball. Well, the proof is in the pudding. In October of last year in Taunton as Britains test cricketers took on their best baseball players, they finally learned to appreciate the nuances and difficulties in fielding and batting in baseball.

The cricketers lost 21-1. They hit zero sixes. And this was VS the English national baseball team, which is not on par with your average American college baseball team, let alone a varsity or minor league team.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article4887575.ece

I don't bother to get into the arguements much anymore, but it is refreshing to see there is proof that they aren't the batting gods they think they are.

WYK

mike65

Baseball = rounders.

Cricket = proper game.

Mike

zuutroy

I'd like to see a hurler take BP....

wyk

mike65 wrote: »

Baseball = rounders.

Cricket = proper game.

Mike

Maybe someday I'll be slow enough, and old and sick enough to have the skill it takes to play a 'proper' game...

Until then, I'll stick with ML baseball, which has little in common with gaa rounders; but that's a cricketer flaunting his ignorance again. They're good at that.

WYK

wyk

zuutroy wrote: »

I'd like to see a hurler take BP....

The cricketers actually didn't do too bad in BP. But when they had to face an opponent whom mixed up their pitching in a match, they realized a Baseball was much more dificult to hit than a cricket ball.

"Giles ... did acknowledge that in baseball “hitting is a difficult skill”. "

And on Fielding:

"In cricket, fielders have decisions to make when throwing the ball but unsure how to reconcile their instinct with a foreign sport, Trescothick's men rushed throws to incorrect locations. “When we play cricket we know the percentages when we throw it in from the field,” "

Fielding conditions and requirements in Baseball can change in a split second. You have to be able to adjust to having up to 4 runners on the field with different objectives, and your fielding varies depending on the count, the batter, and the base runner. Both batting and fielding are more complicated in Baseball than in Cricket in practice.

The problem with Cricketers is their arrogance gets in the way of their judgement. So occasionally you have to remind them that it's a gentlemens game, and that real men usually stick to more athletic endeavors.

I don't mean to say one game is better than the other. I just mean to say that cricketers, in general, are absolutely clueless when it comes to the sport they like to criticise the most. I can only assume they enjoy the taste of their foots in their mouths.

WYK

randomer

wyk wrote: »

When it comes to cricketers and baseball, you hear it all the time -

"I can hit a full toss for sixes anytime!"

Cricketers love to flaunt their ignorance of baseball. Well, the proof is in the pudding. In October of last year in Taunton as Britains test cricketers took on their best baseball players, they finally learned to appreciate the nuances and difficulties in fielding and batting in baseball.

The cricketers lost 21-1. They hit zero sixes. And this was VS the English national baseball team, which is not on par with your average American college baseball team, let alone a varsity or minor league team.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article4887575.ece

I don't bother to get into the arguements much anymore, but it is refreshing to see there is proof that they aren't the batting gods they think they are.

WYK

What if the same two teams were to compete at cricket? It would be funny to see the baseball players react to a short pitched ball aimed at their ribs!

robinph

Doesn't really prove much unless they played both games.

Iompair

I'd have to agree, get them to play a game of Cricket and then draw some conclusions.

wyk

robinph wrote: »

Doesn't really prove much unless they played both games.

And our buddy Iompair stated:

I'd have to agree, get them to play a game of Cricket and then draw some conclusions.

Here's the canundrum, at least for cricketers:

Americans don't care. We don't. It's your game. It's a lovely game, Cricket. Enjoy it. I usually do when I catch it. But -

When you start jumping up and down, stating how much more talented, how much better your cricketers and batsmen are, then go on and on and on about how "any batsman could hit a full toss", how much more skill is required in cricket, etc. etc. and well... it get's old. Hell, it got old the moment the first cricketer posted such nonsense on the internet. Sooner or later you KNEW some batsman was going to have to go head to head VS an American Baseball pitcher. And now here we have stone cold proof that your average batsman can't even hit a British baseball pitcher that wouldn't make it in the minor leagues in the US, let alone a major league bench warmer. I would have preferred the cricketers at least put up a fight. At least then I would have had some more respect for the game coming out of it.

You may now sit down and shut the hell up. Because, unlike those insecure cricketers with their unsuppressed feelings of inferiority, most Americans do not give a damn what sort of skill it takes to play cricket. It's not our game, never was, never will be. It's YOUR game. And YOU can enjoy it. We do not care what sort of skill it takes, or how good your batsmen are, or how nice the tea is, or how well-pressed your jumpers are. All we care about is a chance to stop the incessant whining and crying coming from the cricketers when it comes to baseball. Grow up, and go home. In the meantime, we'll go about enjoying our game, and by and large, ignoring yours.

Cheers mates,

Wes Y. Keller
Dublin Spartans

wyk

randomer wrote: »

What if the same two teams were to compete at cricket? It would be funny to see the baseball players react to a short pitched ball aimed at their ribs!

Happens all the time in Baseball. Only, unlike Cricket, a batter has no armor in Baseball other than a small plastic helmet without a face guard, and the balls are pitched at a much faster speed consistantly. Yeah...you..uh..you actually bother to study anything when you criticise it? Just askin...coz...yeah..I don't see it. But, then again, this would be typical of a cricketer, in my experience.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200810133614819

That first ball is 94 mph, a speed rarely reached in cricket, but commonplace in Baseball. In fact, the other night I watched a match where Papelbon threw 7 pitches in a row, all over 98 mph. Unlike in Cricket, a pitcher in baseball isn't relieved after 6 bowls. He can throw as many as 100+ pitches before being relieved.

WYK

robinph

Don't have a clue what any Cricketers may have said previously about Baseball. But it certainly sound like WYK is spouting the same about Baseball players being so much better that they are accusing Cricketers of doing against Baseball.

Heard the same guff plenty of times before between various similar sports, the biggest one that I'm aware of where they actually do anything about genuinely proving who's best is between the Aussie Rules and GAA Football, and that just proves that proffessional sports people are usually going to be better than amatuers.

randomer

wyk wrote: »

Happens all the time in Baseball. Only, unlike Cricket, a batter has no armor in Baseball other than a small plastic helmet without a face guard, and the balls are pitched at a much faster speed consistantly. Yeah...you..uh..you actually bother to study anything when you criticise it? Just askin...coz...yeah..I don't see it. But, then again, this would be typical of a cricketer, in my experience.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200810133614819

That first ball is 94 mph, a speed rarely reached in cricket, but commonplace in Baseball. In fact, the other night I watched a match where Papelbon threw 7 pitches in a row, all over 98 mph. Unlike in Cricket, a pitcher in baseball isn't relieved after 6 bowls. He can throw as many as 100+ pitches before being relieved.

WYK

Did I actually criticise?

I watched a MLB game last week and the pitcher was pitching consistently at less than 70mph. I think there was mention of nuckle balls or something.

Do we have pitchers in Ireland pitching at 90+ MPH?

I recently saw a cricketer bowl 7 deliveries in a row all over 90 mph. But who cares?

The arguments that you are putting forward are pretty poor. The two sports are different. There are a set of skills required to play Baseball. There are a set of skills required to play cricket. Some of the skills are similar.

I know a native english speaker who also speaks French. I know another native english speaker who also speaks German. If they were to have a competition to see who would be better at speaking French, who would win? That is essentially the competition that this thread was created to discuss.

wyk wrote: »

Maybe someday I'll be slow enough, and old and sick enough to have the skill it takes to play a 'proper' game...

Until then, I'll stick with ML baseball, which has little in common with gaa rounders; but that's a cricketer flaunting his ignorance again. They're good at that.

WYK

What is ML Baseball? Is that Major League Baseball?

wyk wrote: »

Cricketers love to flaunt their ignorance of baseball. Well, the proof is in the pudding. In October of last year in Taunton as Britains test cricketers took on their best baseball players, they finally learned to appreciate the nuances and difficulties in fielding and batting in baseball.

You appear to be very good at "flaunting your ignorance of cricket".

wyk

randomer wrote: »

Did I actually criticise?

I watched a MLB game last week and the pitcher was pitching consistently at less than 70mph. I think there was mention of nuckle balls or something.

There are about 6 or so different pitches most pitchers have in their inventory. Wakefield is one of the very few that can throw a knuckleball. In order to work, it has to be at about the 65MPH area. Here's some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckleball

Do we have pitchers in Ireland pitching at 90+ MPH?

The best is one of the guys on the national team(whom, though he hold an irish passport, I think is Romanian of birth). His fastball is well into the 80's. I have enough arm to chuck one at about 70 mph. I used to do better, but I am 40, afterall. Back when I was a kid, playing 3rd base, and having to throw the ball for 120-140 feet to make most plays from 3rd, I could get it in there about 80 mph accurately. I used a lot of the whipping motions I learned as a varsity tennis player.

I recently saw a cricketer bowl 7 deliveries in a row all over 90 mph. But who cares?

I saw that a little while ago, too. But, as you and I both know, it is a rarety in the game to have a bowler that consistantly plows the groud at over 90mph all game long. And, frankly, it's difficult to fear a ball on the bounce that gets thrown into the dirt...

The arguments that you are putting forward are pretty poor. The two sports are different. There are a set of skills required to play Baseball. There are a set of skills required to play cricket. Some of the skills are similar.

I wasn't arguing the semblances. I was arguing the differences, and how many cricketers whom criticise Baseball aren't aware of them.

I know a native english speaker who also speaks French. I know another native english speaker who also speaks German. If they were to have a competition to see who would be better at speaking French, who would win? That is essentially the competition that this thread was created to discuss.

Not at all. It was created to answer all the cricketers (and there are thousands of them out there) that feel batting in baseball takes no skill. That's all. And perhaps to bait with some trolling. Verstehen Sie? Comprene, mon amis?

What is ML Baseball? Is that Major League Baseball?

Yes, sir.

You appear to be very good at "flaunting your ignorance of cricket".

Hrm, I would take that to heart, but you've not given any examples of such 'ignorance'.

WYK

wyk

robinph wrote: »

Don't have a clue what any Cricketers may have said previously about Baseball. But it certainly sound like WYK is spouting the same about Baseball players being so much better that they are accusing Cricketers of doing against Baseball.

Heard the same guff plenty of times before between various similar sports, the biggest one that I'm aware of where they actually do anything about genuinely proving who's best is between the Aussie Rules and GAA Football, and that just proves that proffessional sports people are usually going to be better than amatuers.

Well spoken.

WYK

djimi

As a cricketer I thought the same as most cricketers when I tried baseball at first (I actually played a couple of games at the end of last season with you Wes ), ie, its only a full toss, how hard can it be to smack out of the ground, but man is it tricky to hit that thing! The baseball behaves completely differently in the air to a cricket ball, to the point that when it passes the bat it is not at all in the same place you would expect it to be in were it a cricket ball. Id think of my 10-12 at bats, I only got 3 hits, apart from a couple of walks the rest were stuck out swinging.

Have to say tho, I loved the challenge of batting in baseball, so much so I hope I can get some more games next season. Ill hit that damn thing out of the park if its the last thing I do!!!

wyk

Then you'll remember I did a lot of missing, too. One thing I learned is you're not gonna do well after a night of drinking. Last time out I couldn't even really 'see' the ball until my 3rd at bat due to putting in new contacts that morning(they often take a while to set in for me). When I finally could focus, I got the signal to bunt! WTF!? Well, at least it was a great bunt! Not a great run,tho. But it got our man to second.

BTW, here's some interesting news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_pirates_million_dollar_arm;_ylt=Aj6xIWaxf7GLyQdnu_Iy82ms0NUE

I dunno if these guys played much cricket, if any. But they have great arms for not playing baseball most their lives.

Anywho, I am now safely back in Texas, and enjoying the off-season batting cages. I look forward to being in the Central Texas adult league next year. If I am lucky, I'll make second string...

WYK

djimi wrote: »

As a cricketer I thought the same as most cricketers when I tried baseball at first (I actually played a couple of games at the end of last season with you Wes ), ie, its only a full toss, how hard can it be to smack out of the ground, but man is it tricky to hit that thing! The baseball behaves completely differently in the air to a cricket ball, to the point that when it passes the bat it is not at all in the same place you would expect it to be in were it a cricket ball. Id think of my 10-12 at bats, I only got 3 hits, apart from a couple of walks the rest were stuck out swinging.

Have to say tho, I loved the challenge of batting in baseball, so much so I hope I can get some more games next season. Ill hit that damn thing out of the park if its the last thing I do!!!