So you prefer WoW-gnomes to garden-gnomes?
Are all those requirements also for immigrants or long term visitors who aren’t interested in citizenship? Trying to understand what people said when I was working in a factory near Birmimgham was quite hard enough, I don’t need to add cricket to it!
Land transmitter? Winter Hill, presumably? Right near my house.
I’ve certainly never heard Cheshire mentioned on North West Tonight. Nothing must happen there. Although, when you’re competing with shootings and stabbings in Manchester and Liverpool…
How close are you to Levenhulme (I don’t really know about the south of Greater Manchester*)? Nothing posh about that place. I thought parts of Wigan were bad…
Cheshire seems to fall between the three stools of Granada (“Granadaland” being what that TV region was sometimes called), HTV Wales, and the Midlands. So we had a choice of new stories between Mrs Miggins’ cat getting stuck up a tree in Sutton Coldfield, the latest stabbing in Droylsden, or highlights of the Eisteddfod poetry contest from Llandudno.
I have heard it said that Sheffield is not actually classed as a “northern” city and technically it’s in the Midlands. I don’t buy that myself, mainly because it’s in Yorkshire.
The same goes for Oxford. Is it in the Midlands or the South ?
Hmm. I can see that if I ever do manage to [del]weasel my way into[/del] make my way over to the UK for a period of work, I’m going to have to learn a whole new set of idioms.
Just tell them you’re foreign, they’ll make allowances!
Rayne Man, these days Oxford counts as Thames Valley. Wherever that is.
Something does happen in Cheshire…occasionally. Why I 'member old Jack being hit by a golf ball while cycling along Altrincham road past the golf club.
Poor old bugger was knocked clean off his tricycle and ended up having to receive the kiss of life from “big” Doris the barmaid from The Old Hall pub and Restaurant.
He recovered and could often be seen loitering near the golf club shouting “Betcha can’t hit me again”.
LEVENSHULME is quite a distance from me old chap, not nearly as posh as wot we are
If I am to be regaled with cricket info, I need sustenance. <looks for at least a half pint of lager and sits down>
Ok-here are my questions:
how many men on a team, active on the field? Baseball, IMS has 9.
Why are there no female players?
I must say I do like the fashions–is the sport more about the sportswear than the game? (I’m fine with that)
I understand there is a wicket. That’s the 3 posts with the weird wooden thingies on top. Is the point for the pitcher (or whatever he’s called) to knock those off? Or is the point to have the batsman (ha! I know a term!) to hit the pitched (bowled, whatever) ball into what I would call the outfield?
Does anyone at any time run around and do something other than stand in front of wickets?
Is it scored like tennis. If it’s scored like tennis, I’m giving up NOW and drinking heavily. Sambuca. On the rocks. On second thought-I’ll start on the sambuca–I dimly remember something called a century–it’s MORE complicated than tennis…
The whole Rutland, Thames Valley, guy getting hit with golf ball thing made my head hurt. How do you ever find your way home again? Do any of you really know where you are? 
Sign me up for cricket instruction as well. I am determined to understand it. 
11 on a team, the batting side has two on the park.
Rachel Heyhoe-Flint?
No, it’s mostly about lying around on the grass, with a carry-out to hand, and watching. Obviously there are higher county and international levels above my local village competition, but tbh the drunk sunbathing is key.
Yes! I’d have a look at the BBC cricket site .
Oh yes, see above.
It’s more complex than tennis, but is much friendlier towards aniseed-based drinks, lying about in the sun with the gentle whack of willow upon leather…
You’ll need to ask a southerner about this. NB chowder is a northener.
Cricket? What’s the problem? It’s like baseball, except with two bases. And you score a run every time you get to a base. And the bases are always loaded. And when you get to first base, you go round again. And it’s only one strike and you’re out. But it’s only a strike if it actually hits the wooden things. Or would have if your leg wasn’t in the way. Otherwise you can stand there all day and never be struck out. Oh, there are no walks either. If the pitch is outside the strike zone, the batting team immediately scores a run. And the entire team bats in an inning, but there are only two innings each.
Simple!
AD+D ‘Temple of Elemental Evil’ gnomes, thank you!
As has been said, there is a Brummie accent.
I think it’s how strong the regional accent is that can cause incomprehension, rather than which one.
Actually you don’t need to know anything about cricket. Football (soccer) is by far the most popular sport here. Some way back is Rugby (Union probably bigger than League).
I’ll make a wild guess that it’s the valley through which the Thames flows. Now, what river runs through Oxford?
Couldn’t we ask the same of MLB?
Anyway: http://www.ecb.co.uk/womens/
And on edit: no way is union bigger than league, not at club level.
Just to add to the confusion, I used to live in London and play chess for the county of Middlesex (they also have a cricket team in the National league).
Middlesex has been abolished for over 30 years. :eek: We still have the teams, though…
‘By 1965 urban London had further expanded and almost all of the original area was incorporated into Greater London. Middlesex is still used informally as an area name and may be included in some postal addresses.’
We find our way by postcodes. See here.
‘To find out everything you could want to know about an area - from actual property prices to the neighbourhood’s favourite newspaper - enter a location in the box alongside and start browsing.’
I was born and bred in Coventry. When I was a lad the city used to be in Warwickshire. Then they invented a county called “West Midlands” and our city was transferred to this abomination. Most of us wanted to stay in Warwickshire. At that time it had both a very good county Rugby Union and Cricket team and we wanted to stay associated with them.
Cricket really is very simple… here’s how it goes:
*What? * I get the part about the laying in the grass (could we at least have a rug? And a picnic basket? Ta). Ok, so there’s a female cricketer. (I have no clue as to why there are no female baseball players, but it’s a good point. Women do play softball here–a complete misnomer because getting hit with one of those hurts!)
You are speaking gibberish. (I haven’t had that much sambuca, either).
WHY are there two of the batting side out on the field(sorry, park)? Does anyone ever catch the ball? How are the bases loaded–does one of the batting side start on base? How weird is that? Is that the notion of fairplay and all that? So, the pitcher (sorry, bowler) WANTS to hit the lil wooden thingies off the wicket? What happens when he does so-does he score a century or at least a point? Do they change sides then? How long is an inning? Why do these games go on for days? What is with the tea break (and why don’t more sports do it?)
I’m all agog over here. Don’t leave me in suspense–I may understand this yet!
I’m sorry your city got moved without your knowledge or consent–I blame Thatcher. Seems to me that this should have been mentioned in Parliment at some point. I’m sure you were a good Warwickshire lad–but who wants to be a good West Midland’s lad? No one-so up goes crime and you blame the Americans!
Hmmph.
And Middlesex is gone as well. How do you go on, then? You’re left with Highersex or Lowersex. Not acceptable…
They pre-load the bases, yes. And because, as I said, when you get back to first base you go round again, there’s always somebody on first base for the “pitcher” to pitch at. Catches are much the same as in baseball - catch a flyball and the batter is out. The bowler is trying to hit the wooden things, yes - instead of a notional strike zone, there is a physical object for him to aim at. If he hits it, the batter is immediately out - one strike and you’re out. Then, the next batter replaces him, until the entire team is out (well, all but one because you need two batters). And that’s the end of the inning (except it’s called an “innings”, for no logical reason).
One crucial difference I omitted, which explains why cricket takes so long - if you hit the ball, you don’t have to run. Very often, they don’t run because if the fielding team can hit the stumps (the wooden thing) with the ball before they get there, they’re out.
They have a tea break because cricket takes a long time and it would be barbarism to expect the players to go more than three hours without a cup of tea.
I completely agree re the barbarism. If the world stopped for tea more often there’d be fewer wars.
So, supposedly an outfielder (outparker?) could catch this ball, lob it to the wooden thingies (which must have some sort of odd British name–I’ll call 'em eggs), knock the eggs off and win the innings?
How does one bowl a century? And can I have one of those cute lil hats they wear? (if they still wear them)