When its cloudy the balls swing in the air. That's why there are in-swingers and out-swingers !

Gee. this thread appears to have turned into an Oz cricket reunion! And Johnj-thanks for the tip on the Roshanarra CC-as far as seeking out the old colonialist watering holes, Spygirl just KNOWS that she will hit the jackpot in Delhi-it's full of them!

Sorry about the Antipodean takeover, Spygirl. But in the spirit of the double entendres that have started to infest this thread can't resist recycling a story about the time the legendary Australian Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam visited a Savile Row tailor to have some suits made up. When the deferential tailor began his inside-leg measuring he asked "And on which side does Sir dress?", whereupon the imperious Whitlam boomed, "Both sides, comrade! Both sides!"

Spygirl. Let us know which cities you will travel to in the future and we will do our best to get together with our Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cricket mates here in Sydney so as to provide advice. They will inform us about all the great clubs and places that have been built upon that traditional colonial foundation that only cricket can inspire. In the Northern Suburbs of Sydney for instance there is a cricket competition between teams of cricketers who have migrated here from those countries or who represent companies from those countries while residing here on a transient basis. As a payback for the port in Lisbon I commend for your indulgence the methode champenoise called Omar K which is made at vineyards to the north of Mumbai.

I came to this thread to pop in a note to EnglishOne to thank him for his Memphis trip report form last year.

It's a great thread, I love it.

And: it looks to me as if someone who'd red the thread might like to watch the Indian movie Lagaan (is it mostly in English? I think so), in which there is a quite long cricket game. Which I enjoyed without understanding it at all.

Gee-I didn't even see these last posts (it's that Oz time difference)-that was cute, Neil! And thanks also, SydneySteve-I'm trying to get my India itinerary together for the early part of 2005-I will for sure let you know-hopefully, some of these cricket clubs in Delhi will allow non-member visits?

And Elizabeth: hadn't heard of this movie-but will look for it-I'm sure I'd enjoy it!

I feel I need to provide a more detailed explanation as to the reasons why cricket balls swing, but I will leave that for a later time. Tell me JohnJ, do you attend practice sessions ? I would be interested to drop by when I get back. that way I might be able to tour India or wherever with the Golden Oldies next year.

Spygirl
The roshanarra is in the middle of the chaos that is old delhi...it was pretty run down.Like everything else in India it could use a good coat of paint.
Steve
I play sats with the Collaroy club in the Manly Warringah park comp.I coach an u-15 side and practice(sort of) with that club.

The Lindfield masters guys (both teams) practice most friday evenings at Hassall park nets at Mona Vale Rd St Ives.If you go up there and they are coming out reasonably well, then tell Stirling that Jacko has signed you with the legends.
masters cricket is good...a tad tougher than golden oldies.Our home ground is Acron at St Ives.Stirling plays mostly at his ground at Mandalong..have you been up there?

Did you see the note on the thames walk thread...take a detour to the old hamptonians ground and check it out for us.Dean Rd Hampton.

I will definately check the oval out for you but it wont be until late September. This is a big trip ! I will email you from my Blackberry when I make contact with the oval. Now the question I have is, are you the Jacko I once knew at UNSW or not ? A few years back I played cricket at at the primary Club ground with my old mate Bob Mansfield. He was kind enough to catch AB for me three times in Grade Cricket.

Steve, I've never caught AB myself, but if I'd ever been in danger of contracting it I'd be grateful for a mate who'd take the fall for me. I hope he didn't pass it on to his other good mate, the PM. If he did, thank your lucky stars you missed out.

I have played cricket with the PM but will only provide description of that privately. He does actually bowl reasonable off spinners.
As my mate Jacko knows, Bob was our wicketkeeper at UNSW and he knew how to read my inswingers, being of course outswingers to our old friend from Mosman.

Kind of on the subject, when the aussie rules is played on the cricket grounds like MCG , what happens to the cricket area ? Is it dropped in later?
I suspect it gets hammered by studs etc, here in UK we wouldn't dream of playing footie or rugby on top of a cricket pitch. Just a thought. Perhaps you aussie guys know the answer.

Muck

Spygirl - if you are in the US Lagaan shouldn't be hard to find, it was nominated for an Oscar one year. I've seen it in places like Blockbuster.

It probably is in mostly Hindi now I think of it, with English subtitles, but it is about colonial times so there are English characters in it. [I love Hindi/Indian movies, but that's a sotry for another day.] With your current interests I bet you'll like it and I hope you'll tell me what you think.

Muck
It is quite common (particularly with aussie rules which was designed to play on cricket ovals) to play football in winter and then cricket in the summer on the same oval.A challenge for groundsmen.The rugby players at my favourite cricket oval (north sydney oval) always complain of losing skin on the cricket pitch square.

Steve
I would be very surprised if I knew you at UNSW.I am afraid your level of cricket (and the names you drop) are a class above mine. I'm just a country kid with a modicum of intelligence and precious little style or class.MK-2 would have me down as a colonial drongo.
I do come from the same part of country nsw as Neville Emery who you may remember from shore.

Jacko - If you know Pymie, Gulgong, Henry, Yorke Marshall, the other Jacko(I thought he played 2's), Jimmy, Pratty, Jock, Rae etc., then you probably know me.
Yes this cricket thread certainly tests the gender of MkII by deductive logic. We should give her one last chance to explain to us the merits of a visit to the cricket museum at Lords. Obviously a bitter and twisted service industry type I think with little interest in the great game - rightfully sick of serving the riff raff.
Mucky, generally groundsman have to work hard at preparing the pitches for summer. Our climate here is pretty good in September - October and allows for preparation. The only time when pitch preparation becomes difficult is heavy rains in September which is not usual. It will be interesting if Telstra Stadium (Olympic Stadium) is used for cricket next year. In that case they will no doubt bring the pitch in and drop it in as they do entire football fields. The rugby thread will follow soon.

I am glad to see that this thread is still going. I am just back from India, I went for two days but stayed for four, and I can confirm that in the sub continent cricket is alive and thriving. We had four sports channels in the hotel and at any time, they seemed to showing cricket, not necessarily featuring India. I have been sitting in the Churchill bar of the Taj Land?s End watching England play the West Indies and the audience has been very active. When England declared, there was a lively debate between those who that thought the West Indies should send in the night watchmen and those who thought they should send in their openers. In the event, they sent in their openers and suffered for it. That was nothing to the debate that took place when England decided not to enforce the follow on! I have yet to learn the outcome of that one.

When India played Sri Lanka in the semi finals of the Asia Cup Cricket, the one-day tournament, the country came to a halt and I suspect hat it halted again today for the finals.

When the Pakistanis captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani the Times of India reported under the headline, ?Pakistan captures vital Al Qaida wicket.?

Spygirl asked for a report and I shall put something on the Asian board in a day or two, when I recover from this dreadful jet lag!

Tangata. Youre right of course. Cricket has never been stronger on the Sub-Continent and certainly our Australian XI is more likely to be tested by India than any other team in the game today. Here in Australia we have taken an interest in promoting cricket in that part of the world with coaching, sponsorship etc. In our grade cricket competition, here in Sydney, over the years we have had some very fine test players from that part of the world during our summer season. When I was playing grade cricket I learned a lot from them. I think cricket tourism, particularly for us Australians, will be greatly boosted when England rise to become a competitive force in cricket again and I hope that is soon.

Tangata, welcome back! You take as much time as you need to recover from jet lag, I shall be most interested to hear about Mumbai, but only when you're ready. I've been gone awhile from the board myself, and I see someone's calling my name over there! Okay, round two on Angkor Wat vs. Luang Prabang!

I lived one summer with friends in liverpool. Their attached house was across from a cricket field.
Mrs Slocum here, was so happy to gaze upon them each morning.

Elizebeth, I saw Lagaan, starring the Bollywood super star on the recommendation of a few friends in Mumbai(Bombay) My blockbuster vid store didn't have it. I rented it from my local Indian shop.