Australian Domestic Cricket : One Day Cup
It's only early Spring here in Australia and the international cricket season hasn't kicked off here yet, but the domestic cricket season kicked off just over a week ago with the One Day Cup (50 Overs) and all of the Australian State Teams have now each played their first 2 matches. I particularly love this little known tournament for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's my favorite format of cricket as a grew up with one day games and today they are a great middle ground between Test Cricket and the popular T20s. Secondly it's a great form indicator for emerging players ahead of the Australian summer.
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When I mention form I am not just talking about the players either. It's also good to have a look at the cricket pitches on some of the major grounds to see what sort of shape they are in. Usually weather plays a factor in pitch preparations but here in Australia every ground has it's own slight nuance and difference that any respectable cricket nuffy would appreciate.
It's only early in the competition and it does stretch across the entire summer season here with games scheduled sporadically across October, November and December before taking a break and coming back after the T20 Big Bash to finish off in late February. However, one interesting thing to note so far is that last years finalists South Australia and Victoria (pictured above) have BOTH lost their opening 2 games so the competition looks wide open this year. A number of the more established domestic players are off playing in the Australia A matches in India, some are injured too and a lot of the big international stars are missing so there is some good young talent on show in these early games.
Here's the competition ladder after the first 2 rounds :-
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So if you're into cricket and want to get a feel for how the Australian summer is shaping up, check out the One Day Cup.
Hey @buggedout, been a while. Hope all is well.
I don't know anything about cricket, but have seen highlights of it on BBC. It seems somewhat similar to baseball in way. I think it would be fun to watch if I knew some of the rules and they had games on TV over here.
I'm well thanks. Hope you are too!
Yes, there are a lot of similarities between the sports and yet a lot of differences too. I found a good article talking about the linkages. Read it HERE
Thanks. I've bookmarked it and once Im done on here I will give it a read. Glad to hear your doing good.
Exciting to see young talent emerging in the One Day Cup a great platform for them to shine.
That is an interesting cup. I don't know much about cricket except that they are so popular there, also in India. We used to have guest who really wanted to watch the cricket, which was unfortunately could not get it broadcasted as it is not that popular here in my country. it was the time before the live streams. : )
!PIZZA !PIMP
I'm not even sure there's cricket here, I always wondered if it's exciting and fun to watch
OI! how's it down under?? :)
I've always been intrigued by this sport and I will watch it every now and then. One time I watched a game with an Australian guy I know here locally and he explained a lot of what is going on. I think for Americans to get involved with this sport we need to be assigned a "helper" that can sit with us and explain what is going on. Once we get a grasp on why we are supposed to be excited it is easier to enjoy it. I bet the reverse could be true for a game like American football and baseball as well.
That is definitely the way to learn any sport...and the passion for it can be very infectious.
!pimp