Pseudo-Cricket

[Seeker]

There are many aussies, Kiwis, and Brits in my complex here and one of 'em just a got a cricket back from home, so we played cricket all day.

Not real cricket, of course, we took out the concept of runs where one actually runs and just considered runs 'as done'.

If the bowlers suck as much as we did, the game just goes on and on and on, even if the wicket is two boxes stacked and pretty wide.

Oh, and we very quickly learned NOT to use the ****ing real cricket ball. Baseballs work well enough and we were not trying to brain the opposition (unless a brit was batting).

Beginning today reminded me of Braveheart:
Hey Pat, do you wanna play cricket?
Do I get to kill the English?
Of course!
Be right down!

[DanS]

Do the aussies, kiwis and brits in Korea also play baseball?

[Cort Haus]

1. Mel Gibson is a twunt.
2. A baseball is an unsuitable device for playing cricket with. I don't expect you blokes to be swinging the ball when bowling, but at least the seam would give a vaguely competent bowler a chance to spin it, and so tilting the balance in more in favour of the bowler.
3. Don't judge a game by the ineptitude of the players.
4. Did I say that Mel Gibson is a twunt?

[Wezil]

Can you elaborate on the Mel Gibson bit for me Cort Haus?

[KrazyHorse]

The seams on a cricket ball don't seem (hah) to be that much smaller than those on a new baseball.

Used baseballs often have much more prominent seams because the leather wears down, meaning that it's much easier to throw a curveball with an older ball

(at least...that's what I've heard....not that I would ever have switched out the game ball for an older ball when I was a little league pitcher...)

[duke o' york]

But the seam on a cricket ball is far more pronounced, and raised around the circumference of the ball, so that the bowler can deliver it in such a way that he knows which way it will spin. Using a worn baseball, on which the seams are S-shaped, would not have anything like the same effect.

Although given the reported skill levels of the participants, I don't imagine this makes any difference whatsoever....

[duke o' york]

DP

Er, I don't like cricket, I love it!

[KrazyHorse]

While I don't doubt that the details of the ball's movement would be different, the direction of spin and direction of movement should be the same in both cases.

It's really, really easy to throw a big, hanging curve with a baseball. I could do it when I was 12 years old, and I wasn't throwing much above 45 mph at that age. I haven't gotten in front of a radar gun since then, but I can probably throw 60-65 mph now, and the size of the curve increases ~ linearly with speed (if I'm estimating the relevant factors correctly).

[KrazyHorse]

Didn't the giant round bulge in your pocket give the game away when you tried to switch balls

There's a lot of places to hide a ball on a field. And you can't see a ball when it's being held in your glove. And our coach was a total douche who knew what was going on and would collaborate to distract the umpire.

[KrazyHorse]

Plus you throw the ball into the dirt once or twice and it doesn't look suspicious any more that it's dusty.

[KrazyHorse]

Interesting. Looking it up, it appears as though typical fastballs for the little league world series is ~55-60 mph. Makes sense. I was always the best pitcher on the team (and in little league this meant that I was starting pitcher for >75% of games) but I wasn't any better than the best pitcher on any of the other teams.

[duke o' york]

But spinning a cricket ball requires using the seam so that it takes a radically different direction when it rises from hitting the ground.

Swinging a cricket delivery, on the other hand, involves shining one side of the ball so that it moves faster through the air than the other, and swerves towards/away from the batsman.

Plus, the delivery of a ball is completely different in the two sports, and the vast majority of all cricket balls hit the ground before arriving at the batsman (particularly in the two forms of attack described above), so it is the position of the seam when it hits the ground that makes the difference to the angle at which it reaches the batsman. Swing bowlers release the ball with the seam at an / angle to ensure the ball moves off the ground in a direction the batsman won't expect, which spin bowlers usually release the ball with the seam horizontal, to gain the maximum movement from the bounce and confound the batsman.

Having said all this, if you can give any tips to pitching a curveball in softball, I'd be most grateful. It's a lot tougher underarm...

[KrazyHorse]

softball curveball

Unless you're one of those freak women who's been playing since very young, forget about it. I would be lucky to throw more than 30 mph underarm.

[KrazyHorse]

(and that would be with no accuracy, unlike a baseball fastball, which I can still probably get into the strike zone pretty consistently)

[duke o' york]

Forgotten about, but if anyone has any pitching tips then I'd be glad to try my hand at it. Our first-choice pitcher is good, but he is now playing short-stop because we don't have a decent chance of winning the vast majority of our games and our first-choice SS is injured.

It needn't be the classic baseball curve, but anything to prevent the opposition from knocking it to Saturn would be useful.