Maybe it comes from standing upside down:
Hussey ton sets up stunning win for Australia
Hussey declined the charity singles being offered by Yousuf and instead looked to pierce the boundaries with drives that seldom left the carpet. He entered the nineties with back-to-back cover-driven fours off the bowling of Danish Kaneria and sealed his first ton of the summer with a glorious straight drive off Umar Gul. Hussey punched the air in delight upon reaching the milestone, acutely aware of the innings’ importance in the context of the match. Siddle, meanwhile, batted with tremendous discipline and restraint to raise his highest Test score of 38.
Oh. It seems that this was an article about some class of sport.
Never mind.
We bloody won, from looking like losing, to eeking out a draw, to winning.
Hell yeah.
It really isn’t any more arcane that some of the things you hear in baseball. Just that we are used to baseball.
And baseball has rules.
We never talked like that playing rugby.
How does that old saying go? “Rugby is a ruffian’s sport played by gentlemen; football (soccer) is a gentleman’s sport played by ruffians.” LOL. Is this
your backhanded way of letting us know you are, in reality, a real “gentleman.?’” ‘Cause if you IS one, you’re in the wrong place–we’re only gentlemen by act of Congress.
And God only knows what the enlisted types here consider themselves–probably superior.
We always used to say it took a college education to break it, and a high school education to fix it. For those of us with college, we’d put those skills to use in other ways.
Humbly honored to be in the presence of said gentlemen Virgil, humbly honored.
Heh. After considering MANY possible replies… I’ll just opt for silence.
Yep, anything said to the Wardroom folks will just make it worse.
You Ossifers would be lost without us.
QM, I do believe that there would have been far fewer planes carrying bombs & bullets without us worker bees!
Yeah, we were always gentlemen. That’s why we always bought a few pitchers of beer for the visiting side. We also always ate our dead and the beer helped wash ‘em down. Like Crocodile Dundee said, “Tastes like shit, but you can live on it.”
I have to say I am (happily) astonished to read a cricket commentary on this usually military themed blog!
Australia beat Pakistan in a totally unexpected fashion after four days of the cricket match, and there are pleas for Mike Hussey, the top scoring batsman for Australia, to be either canonised by the Pope or made Prime Minister of Australia forthwith.
A large percentage of the sports mad population here is somewhat affected by drink after many impromptu celebrations.
Reports are that the Pakistani team’s homes have been set on fire and all their livestock BBQ’d in the resulting charcoal grill.
The 42 “Laws of Cricket” are highly classified and not to be released to anyone other than members of the British Commonwealth. Sorry.
CMSPete, I was stationed in England in the USAF just as they were introducing the “limited over” matches. (The 1st Int. limited over, precursor to today’s 20 series matches, was played while I was there in ’71) But the 5daytest-5series matches were still the norm. As British summer days are so long (it being up relative close the Arctic Circle), good light lasts until at least 10:30 pm “The Beeb” would carry them all day late into the evening. Got my fill of Cricket back then I did. Since then I’ve moved on to more exciting fare–like watching paint dry.
(Seriously, Cricket is an acquired taste for we Yanks, but I must say that by the end of my tour I began to appreciate it’s finer points (well, SOME of them, anyway–would probably still be considered functionally illiterate Cricket-wise by true affectionados)
Here. Maybe this will help…
http://static.cricinfo.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/EXPLANATION/CRICKET_EXPLAINED_AMERICAN.html
By gawd he won the “Man of the Match” award to boot!
And well deserved it was… of course he’ll have to share the financial spoils with the rest of the team…
Virgil, dear … In my eyes, you’re all gentlemen. Congress, on the other hand, is struggling for ‘common decency.’ And losing.
Marianne
Wot I like is that nowadays via TV we get endless slow motion replays with ‘infra dig’ different cameras to fill in the endless ennui of real life test match play. But this was a good ‘un.
Boy, you’re right about that, Spaz. Modern technology really DOES change one’s appreciation of certain sports. Hockey is another example. With today’s big screens and clear reception one can really follow the puck–unlike the early days in the 50s with small B&W screens and lot’s of “snow” sometimes so bad seeing the puck was all but impossible. And instant replay & multiple camera angles have helped ALL sports,also, IMHO.
Well I was commissioned as an “Officer and a Gentleman”, but it is my understanding that in this day and age Congress no longer considers us “Gentlemen”.
A relevent quote from the master, G.B. Shaw (1856-1950)…
…”The English ( and by extention their spawn throughout The Commonwealth…my words)…are not very spiritual, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity”…case closed. Best
Those were excellent quotes Snake Eater. I need to become familiar with Mr. Shaw again, it has been awhile since I’ve read any of his works.
Regards,
…and its corollary from ole GB…” Baseball has the great advantage over cricket of being sooner ended”…that Irishman certainly had his way with the English language. Best
GREAT GBS quotes Snake! You’re right, case closed, Q.E.D! LOL.
I always enjoyed cricket growing up in Oz. A sport you could turn on in the mid-morning and go about your day’s chores, stopping in every now and again to watch a few overs. We went to a couple of matches and not much compares to relaxing on the grass with a cooler of beer, a sunny day, and nowhere else to be…oh, and the cricket was great, too. Almost as zen as baseball, almost.
“on the grass.” What?, no old-style wooden/cloth folding lay-back lawn-chairs?
My ‘lost in translation’ earlier post did not mention ‘stump cam’, ‘hot spot cam’ (showing contact of bat on ball with infra red) and the sound of any ‘snicks’ enhanced with lip readers telling us about the naughty bits (sledging). I’ll stop now. TV is the way to watch.
I know that I am reading the English language in that passage, but I have absolutely no clue what it says.
The words are English, the language isn’t.
Mostly I have no clue about the US military jargon used on this Blag (to persuade someone to give you something you want by talking in a clever way), so we are quits. ‘Stump cam’ is a mini camera installed top of middle stump – it takes a beating. ‘Hot spot cam’ shows any heat generated on a cricket bat by the ball striking it – even if contact slight on edge of said bat. A special microphone can record slight sounds of such bat/ball contact to also differentiate between glove/bat/ball contact. If ball contact with helmet that is usually obvious, especially when batsman or close fielder falls to the ground. New feature are zoom cameras to watch lip movement for lip readers to decipher captain’s instructions to his team (or worse). Sledging is ‘verbal abuse’ of the opposing team.
To quote Robin Williams, “Cricket is baseball on valium.”
…and Thomas Jefferson, “A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.
— Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785
I recognized the Cricket Talk immediately. I have no remembrance of the meaning, however.
Congrats to Oz on the win.