Category Archives: Cricket

Farewell to The Wall

Rahul Dravid, for sixteen years the seemingly impregnable foundation of an extraordinarily talented Indian batting line up, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 39. He hadn’t had a particularly successful recent tour of Australia. But … Continue reading

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Going Viral (We Hope) with Keats Injured Playing Cricket

On this date (almost), a Great Poet recorded his failings in a late-winter, spring-training game of cricket. This would be March 19, 1819: 193 years, roughly 70,500 days (counting Leap Years like this one), or 1,692,000 hours ago for the … Continue reading

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Cricket versus Baseball versus Cricket (and I Hope Nothing Bad Is Being Said)

ROTB received a fascinating article from number-one fan of this blog, Ron Kaplan, on the history of cricket in Israel. Noodling around the subject, I (Evander) discovered the video, below. For baseball fans, the footage shows some of the action … Continue reading

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Baseball versus Cricket versus Baseball

Many thanks to Ron Kaplan for the entertaining video, below. It is “baseball-centric” for sure. But it does objectively go into the physics and biology of batting, in each sport. Incidentally, “the news” regarding a baseball batter not being able … Continue reading

Posted in Baseball, Cricket, Right Off the Bat Website | Tagged | 42 Comments

Equal Opportunity Sinners

Because cricket and baseball can be as ignoble as otherwise, this article by Rob Steen on whether cricket can learn a thing or two from baseball in stamping out match-fixing is worth a read. Steen skates over baseball’s less than … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens

It’s the prodigious writer’s bicentennial. And we at ROTB cannot think of a better way to celebrate than to read Chapter 7 of Pickwick Papers, where the Dingley Dell Cricket Club takes on All-Muggleton. And if that doesn’t baffle you, here’s … Continue reading

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Slaughter!

In May of last year, India were ranked the best cricket team in the world at the longest form of the game, Test cricket. England were a close second. What a difference nine months make! Shortly after triumphing in the … Continue reading

Posted in Australia, Cricket, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Test Cricket | Leave a comment

“Ulysses” (at 90) Meets “Who’s on First?”

Ulysses, the 20th-century masterpiece by James Joyce (whose favorite cricket player was Arthur Shrewsbury, who had a striking resemblance, Joyce thought, to his Zurich-based artistic confidant, Frank Budgen), turns 90 today—if my (Evander’s) math is anywhere close to correct. Although … Continue reading

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Evander (Not Holyfield) Meets and Greets Baseball Players and Cricket Fans

The scene today was Fairfield, New Jersey, the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Route 46 East. I arrived with my pre-1974 Yankee Stadium seat to add some autographs and to promote Right Off the Bat. The Crowne Plaza was hosting a … Continue reading

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The Mighty South Africans

For the last couple of years, a joke has been muttered by those begrudging the England team’s success that the only reason it wins is because of all the South Africans in the side. Captain Andrew Strauss, batsmen Kevin Pietersen … Continue reading

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