Cricket World Cup on ESPN+

[I forget whether non-Cornell sport go here or in JSID, but I seem to recall there was an NFL thread here once.]

For those of us who have ESPN+ for Cornell hockey, they're showing all the matches of the (50 over) Cricket World Cup from India. Most of the games are day/night matches with a starting time of 4:30am EDT, so there's quite a lot of play to see in the breakfast/morning time.

Hosts India are off to a great start with three convincing wins, including dominant performances against Australia and Pakistan. Defending champions England are in trouble against Afghanistan in their third match at the moment, having already lost to New Zealand in their opener before defeating Bangladesh.

With the news that (20-over) cricket will be an Olympic event in Los Angeles 2028, this is a chance to get some familiarity with the game.

with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

The version that takes forever is test cricket. That one goes until 9 batters per side are out, no matter how many pitches it takes. And usually, they go through each side twice before declaring a winner.

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

The version that takes forever is test cricket. That one goes until 9 batters per side are out, no matter how many pitches it takes. And usually, they go through each side twice before declaring a winner.

Once, on a visit to a British university, I joined in a game of cricket. The thing I remember most is mid-game we took a break for tea. The chocolate cake was delicious. What a civilized sport!

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

Is 150 minutes really a game length?

That approaches tolerable.

Trotsky

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

Is 150 minutes really a game length?

That approaches tolerable.

The last few years, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB with a silent W, apparently) has been running something called "The Hundred" where each side faces 100 deliveries (just for fun, they're not divided into overs, although effectively the overs are 10 balls each with an optional change of bowlers midway). Part of the idea was to shorten the game further by making each innings 20 balls shorter, but mostly it seems to be different for the sake of being different.

Test cricket really is the most beautiful form of the game, but five days of 6+ hours of play is really a big commitment. It's more like following a pennant race than a single game. For someone who watches test and 50-over cricket, watching Twenty20 feels like eating junk food (sort of like a homerun derby where you're trying to get a big hit on every ball). And The Hundred is actually sponsored by a junk food company.

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

The version that takes forever is test cricket. That one goes until 9 batters per side are out, no matter how many pitches it takes. And usually, they go through each side twice before declaring a winner.

Or not, as the case may be. Part of appreciating test cricket is realizing that a draw can be an exciting result. (Nitpick: it's actually 10 batters that have to get out. Each side has 11, and there have to be two batting at any time, so when 10 have been retired, the innings is finished.)

jtwcornell91

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

The version that takes forever is test cricket. That one goes until 9 batters per side are out, no matter how many pitches it takes. And usually, they go through each side twice before declaring a winner.

Or not, as the case may be. Part of appreciating test cricket is realizing that a draw can be an exciting result. (Nitpick: it's actually 10 batters that have to get out. Each side has 11, and there have to be two batting at any time, so when 10 have been retired, the innings is finished.)

My bad. I thought is was 9 of 10 retired.

Oh and to add, if you've ever seen the Caribbean 20-overs tournament, you'd think again about test cricket. I'd love to attend one of those matches.

Jeff Hopkins '82

jtwcornell91

Jeff Hopkins '82

upprdeck
with the time Cricket takes to play.. How do they even get it done in the 2 weeks of the olympics.

As he said, it's "20-over" cricket. An over is 6 balls thrown, so 20 overs is 120 balls bowled per side. Think of it as a baseball game with only 120 pitches thrown to each team.

The version that takes forever is test cricket. That one goes until 9 batters per side are out, no matter how many pitches it takes. And usually, they go through each side twice before declaring a winner.

Or not, as the case may be. Part of appreciating test cricket is realizing that a draw can be an exciting result. (Nitpick: it's actually 10 batters that have to get out. Each side has 11, and there have to be two batting at any time, so when 10 have been retired, the innings is finished.)

My bad. I thought is was 9 of 10 retired.

Oh and to add, if you've ever seen the Caribbean 20-overs tournament, you'd think again about test cricket. I'd love to attend one of those matches.

And we all love 3 on 3 hockey. Maybe we could get a junk food company as sponsors for overtime.

I gotta say, during the COVID MLB season I realized that, even as a purist who hates every innovation since batting helmets, I could get used to 7-inning games.

3-PA minimum. Pitch clock. 100-games RS.

There is no problem in baseball that can't be solved by less baseball.

Trotsky
I gotta say, during the COVID MLB season I realized that, even as a purist who hates every innovation since batting helmets, I could get used to 7-inning games.

3-PA minimum. Pitch clock. 100-games RS.

There is no problem in baseball that can't be solved by less baseball.

I spent my formative teenage years going to amateur baseball games, so I got used to seven innings a long time ago.

jtwcornell91

Trotsky
I gotta say, during the COVID MLB season I realized that, even as a purist who hates every innovation since batting helmets, I could get used to 7-inning games.

3-PA minimum. Pitch clock. 100-games RS.

There is no problem in baseball that can't be solved by less baseball.

I spent my formative teenage years going to amateur baseball games, so I got used to seven innings a long time ago.

I watch the Little League World Series every summer. 7-inning games work fine for me. I'm also good with a 10-run rule.

But let's eliminate the 3rd and 6th inning, just to make them confused.