The World Cup: Good and Bad.

[Alviro Patterson]

lol arthur the theme tune bit cracked me up... i quite like it to be honest

WDL Bob's Beat - not my type of music but a fine theme tune noneoftheless, therefore I put it in the "Good" category.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Good point Al about the grounds. Not much the Aussies can do though as all their grounds are huge. Kiwi grounds were perfect though for the small games.

[Durhamfootman]

which does not disagree with what I said

SKY did a segment last year where they took bats out of the lords museum that were actually used by players during the 70s, 80s and 90s and it was visible to the naked eye that those bats were smaller than modern bats

I repeat, because modern bats are using lighter technology, they can retain the same weight as old bats whilst still being bigger, this enables a bigger sweet spot which means timing isn't as important

its the same principle we have seen in golf clubs , club heads are significantly bigger than they were 20 years ago without being heavier, which creates bigger sweet spots

I have a sneaky feeling that the world record distance a cricket ball has been hit was achieved a long time ago using a very old brown willow bat (is that right?). I seem to recall Luke Wright trying to beat the world record, a couple of years ago, with a modern white willow bat (is that also right?) and not even getting remotely close. My guess would be that an old fashioned brown willow would have been much smaller than their modern counterparts, yet were fashioned from an extremely dense piece of wood that could ping a ball much, much further than is achievable today

I might have misremembered the whole thing, of course

[Durhamfootman]

I do that sometimes

[Arthur Crabtree]

It might be that they were replicating Albert Trott's feat of hitting the ball over the Lord's pavilion. I looked this up, I thought it was Gilbert Jessop.

There are different issues. How far the biggest hitters can hit the ball, and the commonness of sixes. The number of sixes increased massively in this competition.

There was more incentive back then. Over the ropes was a four, out of the ground was a six.

Got a feeling A. Trott was related to IJLT.

[rich1uk]

which does not disagree with what I said

SKY did a segment last year where they took bats out of the lords museum that were actually used by players during the 70s, 80s and 90s and it was visible to the naked eye that those bats were smaller than modern bats

I repeat, because modern bats are using lighter technology, they can retain the same weight as old bats whilst still being bigger, this enables a bigger sweet spot which means timing isn't as important

its the same principle we have seen in golf clubs , club heads are significantly bigger than they were 20 years ago without being heavier, which creates bigger sweet spots

I have a sneaky feeling that the world record distance a cricket ball has been hit was achieved a long time ago using a very old brown willow bat (is that right?). I seem to recall Luke Wright trying to beat the world record, a couple of years ago, with a modern white willow bat (is that also right?) and not even getting remotely close. My guess would be that an old fashioned brown willow would have been much smaller than their modern counterparts, yet were fashioned from an extremely dense piece of wood that could ping a ball much, much further than is achievable today

I might have misremembered the whole thing, of course

and where have I said that players didn't hit the ball far with old bats ?

this is really starting to annoy me , the point isn't how far players hit the ball with newer bats when they time it right , a well-timed shot should be rewarded

the point is that the changes and bigger sweet spots allow players to be rewarded when they don't time it properly and I don't think players should be rewarded with mis-hits and top edges going for 6 with the sort of regularity we now see

[Arthur Crabtree]

Which is why the number of sixes matters more than the distance of the furthest of them.

[Aidan11]

I'm going to be controversial here and say I didn't like the flashing stumps.

Well not so much the stumps as the bails. Because they have electronic stuff in them to make them flash (you can tell I'm not too technical), the bails are heavier. This meant that on a few occasions the ball trickled onto the stumps and didn't dislodge the bails when without those lights the bail could easily have been dislodged resulting in a wicket.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Good choice. Definitely should be mentioned.

[Durhamfootman]

do we know for certain that the bails are heavier?

[Aidan11]

do we know for certain that the bails are heavier?

They mentioned it on the commentary in the final. The ball did trickle onto the stumps a couple of times in that match and the bails remained intact. It's possible they may have done anyway but the extra weight, however slight, wont have helped.

[Durhamfootman]

the reason I ask, is that I thought the flashing stuff worked pretty well when it came to runouts. it made it much clearer to the naked eye. I was also surprised that I quite liked it, because I don't normally like the jazzy stuff

[Alviro Patterson]

the reason I ask, is that I thought the flashing stuff worked pretty well when it came to runouts. it made it much clearer to the naked eye. I was also surprised that I quite liked it, because I don't normally like the jazzy stuff

LED stumps have certainly enhanced the matchday experience, allowing spectators who sit from afar to react that bit quicker to what's happening in the middle.

I'd like to see the LEDs extended to boundary ropes, to aid decisions where if fielders have touched the boundary with ball in hand.

[Durhamfootman]

that sounds like a good idea, although ropes tend to move around a bit. I don't know whether that would affect it or not.... although I guess these sorts of things can generally be resolved

[Albondiga]

that sounds like a good idea, although ropes tend to move around a bit. I don't know whether that would affect it or not.... although I guess these sorts of things can generally be resolved

I'm not too serious about this but many years ago I hit a six at a place called Kings Kerswell in Devon. It was a big hit but made much bigger when it landed in a goods train bound non stop for London. I was using something called a Surridge
"21 inch" model. This was an overall short handle bat with a long handle fitted in to a compressed blade 1 inch shorter than normal with thicker edges.