bigsteve Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 OK so its not proper cricket but its good entertainment! The groups seem very well matched, particularly with Australia's poor form. I really hope one of the lower ranked team's make it through to the Super 8. England v Scotland would be ideal :mrgreen: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 I'm afraid i've not got a lot of confidence in England. Same old story - we're taking off form players and injured players. How the hell Michael Vaughan can be expected to take part in a world cup when he's missed a whole season of cricket is beyond me. He's not had chance to prove his fitness or form. Whats even more annoying is that someone that's been in the team all year is going to be forced to miss out to accomodate him. My money is on Australia. Don't be fooled by their bad form. They rise to big games - and when they're playing well, they're unstoppable. Even when they play bad, they're better than most teams. I also quite fancy Sri Lanka - they always perform well in the world cup, and they've always been a decent one day team anyway. They're a damn good fielding side too now that Trevor Penney has been out there working with them. I must admit, I fancy Scotland to surprise people and put up a good fight. They've only got two professional players, so they won't be expecting much - they'll just go out there to enjoy themselves, and to raise their game to try to earn professional contracts with clubs, and because they'll always be the written off, so they'll have a point to prove. Its quite possible they could win a few games if they raise their game, and other teams lower their game because they expect Scotland to be an "easy game". Warwickshire had that attitude against them last season, and Scotland thrashed them in a Sunday league game. Dougie Brown is their key player. He's good with bat and ball, so if he can keep fit, he'll be a threat. He's 37 now but still a damn good player. He used to be in the England side a few years ago, so he can't be that bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Can anyone name a player who has played Cricket for both England and Scotland? First correct answer gets a fiver! Edit - apart from Dougie Brown! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Can anyone name a player who has played Cricket for both England and Scotland?First correct answer gets a fiver! Err, I think Briggsy has answered that one :wall: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 ...other than Dougie Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 ...other than Dougie Brown Ah right...thinking cap on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thinking cap off...Gavin Hamilton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 While we're on sporting trivia, is cricket in a minority where it allows players to 'swap' allegiance between countries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 While we're on sporting trivia, is cricket in a minority where it allows players to 'swap' allegiance between countries? Gavin Hamilton & Dougie Brown didn't really swap countries, Scotland are an affiliate country which means they don't play regular ODI games & take part in smaller events alongside the other affiliate teams like Canada, USA, UAE etc. If Scotland & England were in the same tournament I imagine they would have to play for Scotland as that is their home country, however in Test matches & ODI 'England' is basically representative of the UK, we've had Hamilton & Brown (Scotland), Croft (Wales) & Joyce (Ireland) all play for 'England' so it's not really a matter of swapping countries, just playing for whoever you're eligible for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 On the subject of swapping countries I know it's very popular in swimming, Sarah Powe switched from South Africa to Germany when she moved their & married a German guy & Zoe Baker switched from GBR to New Zealand when she moved out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Cricket does have a funny system, but in a way, its quite a good system as it encourages younger players that like cricket in other countries, but don't get to play it, because their country isn't a cricketing nation (such as France). They can come over to England, play in County Cricket for 3 years, and then remain loyal to that country by representing them internationally. Kevin Pieterson is South African, but learnt his game over here and remained loyal to this country by choosing to play for us - which has benefitted our team. Graeme Hick, Robin Smith, Min Patel, Nasser Hussain, Monty Panasar, Andy Cadd***, Trevor Penney and Markus Trescothick are some of the best examples of foreign players that have qualified to play for England over the years. Scotland are what I call a "dual-purpose" team. They are allowed to play both County cricket and International cricket - but have to abide by the rules for those types of Cricket. When they were playing county cricket a few years ago, they had English, Indian, African and players of other nationalities playing for them - but they AREN'T allowed those players when they play international tournaments - they then have to field their Scottish players. In the case of Dougie Brown and Gavin Hamilton - well, they've both played for England, but because its not been in the last 5 years, they were able to play for Scotland again. If they had played for England at a competitive level within the last 5 years, they'd not have been able to play for Scotland - this is to prevent players from "coming and going" to different international teams that they might qualify to play for. As Tom says, because England are the only professional team out of the four home nations, anyone in the UK qualifies to play for them - AS LONG as they've not played competitive international cricket within 5 years (ie, test cricket or one day internationals). Dougie Brown and Gavin Hamilton could have played for England if they'd been called up because they've been playing their County cricket here, but Scotland were also able to call them up because they've not played a competitive England match within the last 5 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Such a simple system in the UK isn't it :confused: I think its more to do with having 4 'home' nations than anything else - even more if you count Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, etc! These all count as seperate countries in the Commonwealth, which helps Glasgow's bid to host the 2014 Games a bit of a helping hand There is a huge assumption around the world that Scotland, Wales, etc are a part of England. It actually became easier to say we were from England on our travels a few years ago than bother explaining it all. (Even more confusingly so, that I am, but the gf isn't) Confused? So were all the foreigners that we met! If you really want to get confused, read the page below from Wikipedia that explains that NO bank notes are technically legal tender in Scotland, even Scottish ones! WTF is going on??? :confused: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_banknotes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Its weird how some think that some countries are part of another. Many people associate New Zealand as part of Australia, or Canada as part of the USA - when actually, they're countries within their own right. There are some places that bend the rules completely. The balearic islands (Majorca, Ibiza, etc) are near to Spain, and are clased as Spain, but then you've got the Canary Islands, which are nowhere near Spain, and bordering Africa - but yet they're also Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I wonder how many people knew where the Falkland Islands were until a certain fruitless invasion :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Thinking cap off...Gavin Hamilton Congraulations to Steve who indeed wins that 5 pounds. Check your inbox matey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Thanks very much - quite prepeared to share my prize. Check your PMs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart F Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Another piece of cricket trivia for you: Former Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper Andy Goram once played cricket for Scotland. He had to stop though when Rangers manager Walter Smith told him he couldn't play both. More info on his cricket career at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goram On the subject of the world cup, I'm really looking forward to Scotland V Australia on Wednesday. Will be great to see the Scots up against great cricketers such as McGrath & Ponting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Didn't Ian Botham play football for Southampton too? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Good stuff Stuart - never knew that! Aus v Scot is a prospect I'm hoping to keep up to date with at work! While we're talking cricket trivia, anyone know which countries competed in the 1st international match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Didn't Ian Botham play football for Southampton too? :confused: I know he played football for someone thought it was Sc***horpe though personally. Phil Neville was classed as the finest young english batsman of his generation by the coaching staff at Lancashire, making a hundred on debut for the second XI, of course though given the choice he chose football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 John Blaine (Scotland/Norhants) used to play for Falkirk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 John Blaine (Scotland/Norhants) used to play for Falkirk They should have had David Blaine - he's better in the box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 While we're on sporting trivia, is cricket in a minority where it allows players to 'swap' allegiance between countries? Clearly no-one knows or isn't bothered but it was Canada vs USA! The first official TEST was of course England vs Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Sadly it wasn't to be for Scotland today. Blain had some good bowling figures though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted March 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Really sad news about Bob Woolmer, but now, apparently, he was murdered :confused: WTF is going on with this world that leads someone to kill another person, apparently because of a cricket game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.