Category Archives: Cricket

International cricket is divided into three forms of the game, which are becoming more distinct with each passing year. The shortest, and newest form, is Twenty-20 (or T20), which is less than a decade old, lasts about three hours, and consists of 120 balls for each team. The next form is One-Day cricket, which has been in existence for nearly forty years and lasts about eight hours, consists of 300 balls for each team. The third, and oldest form of the game, is First-Class or (when played between nations) Test cricket, and can last up to five days. This site divides its blogs into these three categories, and then sub-divides the categories between the rules of each form of the game and news and thoughts about each form.

Clash of the All Too Human

After some last-day heroics from Matt Prior, about whom we’ve already waxed lyrical on these pages, the England cricket team managed to draw their three-Test series with New Zealand, 0-0. It wasn’t meant to be this way: England are currently ranked … Continue reading

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Evander and Lomke

We gave a presentation to about 30 folks on Right Off the Bat at Sts. John and Paul’s Church in Larchmont, NY, on March 20th. We had a blast and the audience was very appreciative. Here’s a photo of us … Continue reading

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The Debut to End All Debuts

You’re a batter who’s reached the age of twenty-seven, scoring freely and often in the minor leagues, and yet you’ve been prevented from entering  the majors because the guy you’d be replacing is a slugger of such renown that to … Continue reading

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The Barmy Army: An Explanation or Expletive

Many of our earnest baseball fans will be under the impression that cricket is a stately game watched by sedate elderly gentlemen and ladies wearing hats, sipping tea and eating cucumber sandwiches, and occasionally muttering “good shot” under their breath … Continue reading

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Matt Prior—Unsung Hero

Like his teammate Jonathan Trott, England’s Matt Prior is not a sexy cricketer—not least because their stocky, balding frames makes them character-actors rather than leading-man material on the cricketing stage. True, Prior’s not as dour and workmanlike as Trott; but … Continue reading

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All-Day Games

Time was—say, fifteen or twenty years ago—that you had to wait until Summer to watch a game of cricket. Sure, you might be able to listen on the radio to a crackling broadcast of a game on the other side … Continue reading

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Do Your Homework

The longest and most deeply held rivalry in the history of cricket is that between England and Australia—a contest known as “The Ashes.” Since 1877, these teams have been duking it out: barring two world wars, when the countries were … Continue reading

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The Babe and the Don

It was a meeting made by Destiny: the greatest cricketer of his generation shaking hands with the greatest baseball player of his—Don Bradman and Babe Ruth. Both were transformative individuals who embodied a kind of excellence that was larger than … Continue reading

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Dhoni Takes the Helm

The Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh (M. S.) Dhoni is a phlegmatic individual. But then you’d have to be, given that you bear the weight of 1.2 billion passionate fans’ expectations on your shoulders. Unlike many cricket captains today, Dhoni … Continue reading

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Rwanda Gets a Cricket Pitch

In a further sign of Rwanda’s tilt away from Francophone to Anglophone cultural norms, a cricket pitch is being built near the scene of a massacre during the devastating genocide of 1994. Naturally, the chap building the stadium and pitch is … Continue reading

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