Friday Film on Saturday: Cricket Explained

Seems the sport of cricket is back in the news. Here the Canadians explain the game to those of us who haven't understood its appeal.

Sports Headlines I Thought I'd Never See: Improving Cricket Safety

Unaware as I was about a worrisome rash of serious injuries in the sport of cricket (a game whose intricacies still elude me), I was shocked by by The Economist's headline Improving cricket safety: Better cricket helmets are no substitute for good batting technique:

The best way to face this kind of bowling is to watch the ball and sway out of the way. This is a skill that responsible coaches still teach. To this end, Mr Cook and Mr Trott are right to trust in their abilities. But even players of the calibre of the English duo make mistakes, and the sport does not need to lose any more great players to injury. Cricket is at its best when it is combative and aggressive—and when all 13 players leave the field healthy.

You see the real problem, right?

No game can be played safely with 13 players on a side.

Triskaidekaphobia should not be denied.

Besides, I understood only 11 players were on a side. Of course, that's a Wikipedia reference, so ...

UPDATE: Well,of course, "batting" in cricket is done in pairs. 2 (batters) + 11 (fielder, etc) =13 on the field at any given moment. Still, there is that 13 thing.

Breaking Cricket News

Photo of a well-dressed ref from here

I gather this is bad for England but probably good for Pakistan and South Africa: BBC Sport - Pakistan v England: Gul and Ajmal complete series whitewash:

It completed England's seventh losing whitewash in Test cricket and their first series defeat since 2009.

For the uninitiated, cricket is a sport of some sort which has rules of some sort and is as alien to the American mind as U.S. football is to yak herders in the areas where yaks need to be herded.

Except, of course, it is less physical . . . than either yak herding or American football.

News of Rugby Union stuff from the BBC here. Rugby is different than cricket.

Cricket News

The BBC reports, you try to figure it out England v India.

Sample:

415 - Ind 465-6 Lip-smacking stroke from Kumble, smearing Tremlett through point for four, and that's the Hampshire paceman's 100 conceded. Kumble picks up one more with another carve to point, where Pietersen fields. I go back to what I said before - isn't KP anonymous in the field for England? Vaughan treats him like the wheezy kid at school who you try to keep as far away as possible from the ball.

Let me add that I am stunned to see the U.S. on the map as a "cricket playing" country.