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tomrutherford

Listed below are comments made by tomrutherford between Saturday, 20th December 2008 and Tuesday, 3rd February 2009.

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Gearing up for the Super Bowl 3:04pm on 03 Feb 2009 Re #15 - Yes, the game stops a lot for US ad breaks. Personally I quite like this as it allows some in-depth analysis from the studio team, or from the American commentators when not in commercial.

A typical regular-season NFL game (Super Bowl is different because of the extended half-time) take around 3 hours to complete. This is comparable to the major US summer sport, baseball, but it seems slightly long from a UK perspective because we're used to seeing soccer / rugby games completed in around 2 hours from kick-off to final whistle
Ask Bearders #185 11:38am on 30 Jan 2009 #167 etc, the catch is only valid as the batsman hit the ball at the first attempt. If the ball had initially come off his pad to the close fielder, and had only hit the bat after being touched by the fielder, then a not out decision would have been correct.

#166 - The ECB has a long-standing arrangement with the players that only every other year will a tour span Christmas. Part of the deal for returning to India after the Mumbai attacks was a guarantee that the players would be home for Christmas, and for this to happen, they clearly had to leave shortly after the end of the final Test.

The ECB acceded to the BCCI's request for a schedule of 7 ODIs and only 2 Tests - England's preferred itinerary was 5 ODIs and 3 Tests.
Ask Bearders #185 09:33am on 26 Jan 2009 #157 - For a run out to be valid, the ball must have been touched by a fielder (including the bowler) after being hit. Therefore, if the ball hits the stumps direct, without having touched anybody, a decision of Not out is correct, as is the case if the non striker deflects the ball onto the stumps (assuming the deflection was accidental - otherwise an appeal for obstructing the field should be upheld).

If the bowler has touched the ball which then breaks the wicket with the non striker out of his ground, the non-striker should be given out.
Ask Bearders #185 2:14pm on 14 Jan 2009 #61 - There are actually 32 players who have captained their country on Test debut. The most recent one (apart from the inaugural Tests for Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) was Tony Lewis, who skippered England against India on his debut in 1972.
Ask Bearders #185 12:02pm on 14 Jan 2009 #59 - Adam Hollioake was LOI captain of England during a period when he was, at best, on the fringes of the Test side.
Ask Bearders #185 5:04pm on 12 Jan 2009 #7 - The very first LOI was not planned, but instead hastily scheduled to partially replace the Melbourne Test of that year, which was abandoned to to persistent rain.

The Association of Cricket Statisticians has defined a "List A" game as being one which, in addition to other criteria, is originally scheduled for 40 overs or more. There is a slight inconsistency, in that an LOI can be reduced by rain to 20 overs before play starts, making it effectively a T20, and in some competitions matches can be reduced to as few as 10 overs/side, but the definitions are reasonably clear.
Ask Bearders #184 3:16pm on 12 Jan 2009 #128 - short answer, no.

Taking the introduction of independent umpires (the term "neutral umpires" is redundant, as all umpires are neutral) as the start of 1993;
in the period 1877 - 1993, home sides won 430, and lost 297 Test matches, a won:loss ratio of 1.44.

Since 1993, home sides have won 308 Tests, and lost 193, for a won-loss ratio of 1.60.

Taken in isolation, the introduction of independent umpires would appear to have helped home sides. However, in something as complicated as Test cricket, there's always a significant danger in ascribing causality to events, when there are many other potential factors that could explain the slight increase in home sides won:loss ratios.
Ask Bearders #184 1:21pm on 12 Jan 2009 124 et al - PortoIan isn't quite correct with his interpretation of the Lost ball Law. The 6 run penalty is only applied if the ball is lost within the field and while in play, so if the ball is hit out of the ground / into a river etc. the normal boundary allowance is all that's scored. If the ball can't be retrieved, then play continues with a spare ball, in the same way as if an existing ball had gone out of shape.

The Lost ball law was introduced to the game when cricket was played on much rougher, less well-kept fields than is generally the case today. At the last major revision of the Laws, ahead of the 2000 code, there was discussion of removing it, but the provision was retained to cover the situation of a ball (for example) going down a goalpost hole when cricket is played on a ground that in the winter is used for rugby / soccer.

Tom, Edinburgh
Ask Bearders #184 09:58am on 07 Jan 2009 #92 - I don't have a comprehensive list, but Martin Bodenham certainly isn't unique. Steve Bucknor, the world record holder for Test umpiring appearances also refereed a World Cup qualifying match in the Caribbean.
Ask Bearders #183 3:34pm on 20 Dec 2008 The leading wicket taker in ODIs is Wasim Akram with 502.

5 players have taken more than 500 wickets in Tests - Muttiah Muralitharan leads the list with 756 (including the ICC Super Test), followed by Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh.

There are unlikely to be any additions to this list in the immediate future as, apart from Murali, the leading active wicket-taker is Makhaya Ntini, with 374 victims.

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