Switch-Hitting - Apparently, There Is SWWT

[Limey]

"English" cricketer Kevin Pietersen switch-hit in a match vs. New Zealand, and smacked a couple of sixes (homers).  Now cricket's governing body is investigating whether or not it's legal.  IMHO: of course it fucking is.

FYI, the batsman has carte blanche to stand or move wherever the fuck he likes whenever the fuck he likes.  So I see no reason that he shouldn't be allowed to turn around and bat lefty or righty if he has the ability.  It is useful for the same reasons it is in baseball - you can limit or negate the bowler's advantage (real or perceived) by switching.

[Noe]

"English" cricketer Kevin Pietersen switch-hit in a match vs. New Zealand, and smacked a couple of sixes (homers).

And thus the Mike Piazza of cricket is born.

[BUWebguy]

Had no one in hundreds of years of cricket history ever thought of this before??

[Limey]

Had no one in hundreds of years of cricket history ever thought of this before??

Apparently not.  There's a horrific-looking stroke called a reverse sweep, which is used by many, and it involves making a left-handed swing from a right-handed stance (or vice versa).  It seems that Kev. is the first cricketer to actually switch stances.

I think the fuss is because no one had thought of it before.

[Bench]

I love reading cricket articles.

"The first six flew over deep square leg boundary (for a left-hander) at Chester-le-Street, while the second bore more of a resemblence to a Marcus Trescothick slog sweep over the ropes at long-on."

They must have a random word generator.

[Bench]

And thus the Mike Piazza of cricket is born.

And actual quote from the article: "He did actually come up the wicket and said 'I was thinking about doing that in bed last night'."

NTTAWWT!

[Limey]

I love reading cricket articles.

"The first six flew over deep square leg boundary (for a left-hander) at Chester-le-Street, while the second bore more of a resemblence to a Marcus Trescothick slog sweep over the ropes at long-on."

They must have a random word generator.

It is mostly a collection of words, but not random ones.  For example, "deep square leg" tells you exactly where the ball went out.  "Leg" means anything left of centre for a righty - and vice versa - i.e. anything that's pulled.  "Square" means anything perpendicular to the wicket.  "Deep" means "deep"!  Thus "deep square leg" is a dead pull shot that goes a long way.  FWIW, baseball does the same (e.g. "short/shallow CF").

I concede, of course, that you'd never hear "Marcus Trescothick" in any activity other than cricket.

ETA:  Here's a map of the common fielding positions.  It makes more sense if you see it like this, because you can see that there's basically a number of spokes on a wheel coming out from the batsman's position, that are then modified with "short", "deep", "forward", "backward" and the like.  Oh, and "silly".  I know...I know...

[tophfar]

whenever cricket comes up, this is always the first thing that i think of.  sad, i know.  but that was one wicked googly.

[Limey]

whenever cricket comes up, this is always the first thing that i think of.  sad, i know.  but that was one wicked googly.

Here's some good cricket shit, some reasons why I'm rarely impressed by a bare-handed play and, while this isn't a googly (it would spin the other way off the pitch), it's 2 seconds or pure evil.

[HudsonHawk]

And thus the Mike Piazza of cricket is born.

"England one-day captain Paul Collingwood, who was standing at the non-striker's end as Styris bowled, admitted: "I covered my eyes as soon as he turned his body around.

"He did actually come up the wicket and said 'I was thinking about doing that in bed last night'."

Quick, get Pizza Boy on the horn, I'm sure he's thought about "coming up the wicket" in bed too.

[BUWebguy]

Here's some good cricket shit, some reasons why I'm rarely impressed by a bare-handed play and, while this isn't a googly (it would spin the other way off the pitch), it's 2 seconds or pure evil.

Wow - I didn't realize cricketeers hadn't thought of using gloves yet, either.

[Limey]

Wow - I didn't realize cricketeers hadn't thought of using gloves yet, either.

Against the rules for anyone other that the wicket keeper (catcher).  You'd be surprised how rarely the top-class players actually drop a catch.

[tophfar]

Here's some good cricket shit, some reasons why I'm rarely impressed by a bare-handed play and, while this isn't a googly (it would spin the other way off the pitch), it's 2 seconds or pure evil.

to be honest i dont even know what a googly is.  does it have to break right, period, or just break back into the batter?  but that last one was pretty wicked, for whatever it was.

[Limey]

to be honest i dont even know what a googly is.  does it have to break right, period, or just break back into the batter?  but that last one was pretty wicked, for whatever it was.

A right-handed leg spinner will bowl a ball that spins away from a right-handed batsman; the idea being to induce a miss hit that can easily be caught by a close-in fielder.  If that same bowler spins the ball the other way, back into the right-handed batsman, that's a googly or "wrong 'un".  The idea of this is as a surprise delivery that may induce a catchable hit, a complete miss that can hit the stumps, or trap the batsman so that the ball hits his pads directly in front of the wicket - which should be given out by the Ump as "leg before wicket".

At the risk of attracting the attention of Mr. Happy and/or Spack, the same ball darting in towards a right-handed batsman, but delivered by a left-handed spinner, is called a "Chinaman".

ETA: animations of ball-flight.

[tophfar]

At the risk of attracting the attention of Mr. Happy and/or Spack, the same ball darting in towards a right-handed batsman, but delivered by a left-handed spinner, is called a "Chinaman".

And now we have brought two separate threads full circle with one post.  Our work here is done.