Posted by When we wrote about what it’s like to be Virat Kohli, we didn’t for one minute think that there would be any overlap with what it’s like to be Mike Gatting.
Turns out there is. Virat Kohli and Mike Gatting both do a thing where they make an astonished face after being bowled by a leg-spinner.
Here’s Kohli’s ‘I’ve just been bowled by Adil Rashid’ face.
Virat Kohli is cricket’s greatest source of reaction .gifs. For that we should be grateful.
#batdrop
Maybe Kohli, mistook the ball for a bar of chocolate and stepped away from the stumps, in horror, thus resulting in his dismissal ?
I predict 30 years of comfort eating.
It was a wonderful reaction and I am so glad you chose to cover it today.
I myself today snapped another surprisingly suitable visual for your pipeline, KC, which I whizzed across to you not five minutes since.
he pulled out another face just moments later https://i.imgur.com/wLwQSam.png
Those of you who like reading about the picnics without caring which form of cricket, if indeed cricket at all, was involved, might enjoy this morning’s offering: Daisy and Ged’s visit to Wimbledon last week:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2018/07/12/wimbledon-ladies-semi-finals-day-on-centre-court-12-july-2018/
Hundreds News! (via legsidelizzy):
The Hundred will have ten-ball overs. Each bowler can bowl up to 20 balls in total but the ten balls from each end can be bowled either by one bowler or two bowling five each — and it will be the captain’s decision
How do we tell apart a 10-ball over shared between two bowlers, or two 5-ball overs played without a change of ends? Does it count as “T20” cricket?
I think The Hundred was designed at least in part in order to drive statisticians mad.
I wonder if they have to bowl in sets of five, or if they can intermix? Can they both pretend to bowl at the same time (one over, one round?), and hide which one is holding the ball?
To the extent that any of this “Hundred” stuff makes sense, this proposal makes sense.
To help Bail-out get his head around it, think of it is a game where an innings comprises 20 * five ball overs, in which two five ball overs are bowled from one end, then two from the other end until 10 such blocks of 10 balls have been bowled. It is permissible (but not required) for the same bowler to bowl both of the two consecutive overs from the same end, as long as that bowler does not exceed his maximum allocation (four * five ball overs).
It adds a little tactical subtlety to the short form game. It is a yet shorter form.
I don’t think it simplifies the game for those with limited interest or cognitive ability, but then nothing will (other than an altogether simpler bat and ball game – perhaps rounders.
I have always found sexagesimal/senary pleasing enough for games, but then I am a cricket and tennis lover so grew up that way.
For statisticians with limited powers of mental arithmetic, moving to the uber-decimal 100 balls will help, not hinder, I suppose.
But 100 is not as divisible as 60/6 stuff, as the Sumerians and Babylonians worked out long ago…and now the ECB has stumbled across the phenomenon too – well done them.
Now where’s Virat Kolhi’s “I might have to bat against Rashid in the Tests despite him not playing any red-ball cricket” face?
Talking about faces, the chap in this article’s first photo appears to have borrowed Ged’s.
I was quite shocked when I first saw this. At first I thought it must actually be Ged, as the subject was the replacement of fun and spontaneity with statistics. It was also on the BBC, and Ged has always seemed to be the sort who could casually get on the BBC from time to time. But on the other hand, it was also concerning popular culture and cool people, both of which would surely mitigate against Ged’s involvement (I hope).
All these considerations were rendered superfluous by the later photo of the individual in question, in which he is seen wearing a “T-shirt” and a baseball cap backwards. Also, they refer to him as George. Although spookily, the article does say that George had the most obscure music taste, and that he was “irritatingly proud” of this.
If Ged has ever worn a baseball cap backwards, and if there is photographic evidence, I think we should be told.
Hipster Ged, OMG.
I have been known occasionally to rotate my cap, but only if the sun is directly behind me and therefore I feel the need to protect my neck from the sun.
In such circumstances, the sun is in precisely the wrong position for photographic purposes…
…so I think you’ll struggle to find photographic evidence.
As for planning my fun time in a statistical, geeky stylee – forget it.
A gif of the ball and Kohli’s reaction: http://i.imgur.com/ymKi6Ev.gifv
Is the hover caption a new addition? Or did I miss it the first time around? Either way, splendid, and a testament to the excellence of Levi’s comment.