They bought football, Carruthers, so let's see how they like CRICKET

July 14, 2006 1:55 PM

Cricinfo. The most extraordinary database and news site of the game of cricket, with records going back over 200 years. [much more inside]
posted by athenian (16 comments total)

Cricket started as a village game in England, and was exported by the British Empire around the world. It has a rich history and symbolism - from the villages that compete to be the 'first place cricket was played', through to the 'Bodyline' series. It has given England some classic images: the players in white on the village green, or the weather-vane at Lord's (showing Old Father Time removing the bails from the stumps, as umpires do to mark the end of a game).

Cricket is also the ultimate statto's sport, with people like the BBC's cricket stats expert Bill Frindall making entire careers out of analysing current games and historical trends.

Cricinfo, a website that has been around for a few years now, is a delight for historians, stattos, and the follower of the modern game. It has comprehensive match reports, blogs and live scorecards covering matches in all the cricket-playing countries (including one recalcitrant colony). Its current coverage extends down through the English counties (mine's Sussex) and their equivalents elsewhere. It also has ground, player and official profiles.

But the thing that really makes it the best of the web for me is its historical database, which stretches back to the dawn of the game, and allows you to browse year by year across over two centuries, as well as compare the records of all 3,000 players who have represented their country. The earliest record is an incomplete scorecard from Duke of Dorset's XI v. (the village of) Wrotham, played at Sevenoaks on 31 August 1769. Two hundred years ago today, a team representing Surrey lost by 6 wickets to a team representing the rest of England, in a match at Moulsey Hurst. T Walker of Surrey top scored, with 49 not out in Surrey's second innings. One hundred years ago, Kent were just relaxing after thumping the West Indies by an innings and 14 runs.

If you don't remember Brian Lara scoring 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994, you can see the match scorecard, a ball-by-ball analysis, and even a statistical analysis.

And finally - though I could go on for hours - the earliest game whose result is recorded is from June 1772, just as Thomas Jefferson was leaving university. Hambledon (in Hampshire) beat an All-England team by 62 runs over two days at Guildford Bason. They played again the next day, and Hambledon won again.
posted by athenian at 1:56 PM on July 14, 2006

athenian : "And finally - though I could go on for hours"

Fortunately, Metafilter is a limited-overs blog.

***

[cue comments about Americans not understanding this bizarre game]
posted by Gyan at 2:09 PM on July 14, 2006

[this is good]

Both for the Cricinfo link and the (unlabeled) more inside information. Well played, athenian.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:28 PM on July 14, 2006

Hey, I'm American and I love cricket! (I was in England during Ashes last summer. How exciting!)

Great post, athenian!

!
posted by muddgirl at 2:30 PM on July 14, 2006

I read in a Northern Indian cook book about how it was very difficult for the English to understand Indian cooking. The recipes are not set in stone, and change on such esoteric things as the time of day, and the personalities of the guests who are coming to dinner. The book went on about how the fastidiousness of the English to unchanging habit and routine was something the Indians could not understand – but the one thing that the English undertook that seemed to have some of the esoteric-ness so familiar to the Indians was cricket.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 4:22 PM on July 14, 2006

Fan-fucking-tastic.

But (unless I missed it) I can't believe you, a Sussex man, didn't link to their Wisden Almanack section.
posted by jack_mo at 4:27 PM on July 14, 2006

Comparison Between Cricket and Baseball (^)
posted by Jimbob at 5:34 PM on July 14, 2006

the best place to check the updated cricket scores when your local t.v. stations aren't showing the match!

Exactly so.
posted by Wolof at 6:59 PM on July 14, 2006

This is great. Pity it's raining here.

So when do we start the Metafilter Ashes insult-o-rama. It's never too early to start y'know.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 7:54 PM on July 14, 2006

I got the ISP I used to work at to be a Cricinfo mirror back in the day (97 maybe?) - Made for good speeds when I cared about Cricket back then. Don't think they are still the local mirror though.
posted by sycophant at 9:09 PM on July 14, 2006

So when do we start the Metafilter Ashes insult-o-rama. It's never too early to start y'know.

Yeah, that was fun last time. The guy who was drawing some analogy with a 200 year old massacre in India by the British that I had never even heard of, apparently to make some point about English fairplay was a solid-gold riot.
posted by bifter at 2:10 AM on July 15, 2006

Nice link, thanks athenian, I hadn't heard of Cricinfo, but good luck with the post.
posted by tellurian at 3:07 AM on July 15, 2006

How on earth has cricinfo not been posted on the blue before? *mind boggles*

A mefi ashes insult-o-rama sounds great! I laughed when I heard that Socceroos fans were taunting the English fans at the World Cup with ditties like "Shane Warne's rooting all your women, doo-dah, doo-dah..."
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:06 PM on July 15, 2006

"Rules? It has rules?

Why spoil it with rules?"
posted by baylink at 8:57 PM on July 15, 2006

Can't blame him for preferring them to the choice back home, eh Ubu? ;-)
posted by bifter at 5:04 AM on July 16, 2006

I think it says more about the desperation of the English women for some *ahem* hot male action.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:05 PM on July 16, 2006