NY-FLA (USproCricket)[R]

[JeffStar]

ALL OUT- Ten Comments of the Game
FAST'n'FURIOUS ACTION
Florida Thunder 1-89 (12 ov)beat NY Storm 10-88 (19.2 ov)

so i ventured out to watch the first ever pro cricket game in the USA. as a rookie to cricket i was full of excitement; the best way of giving my review is just listing them-

-Fast'n'Furious is the motto of the league. Well, they had the furious part right away, the game started 57 minutes late b/c someone forgot to bring the wickets... no joke.

-Now the Fast part, that would be Florida's batting and how fast it took them to get beat NY, 12 overs only.

-Here comes the puns, (just call me the 'big pun' for the rest of this post). Florida provided an ample amount of "Thunder", crushing numerous fours and adding a a few sixeroos (is that even a word?). One six in particluar crackled past the seating level into the food stand area (you get it, crackled b/c of thunder??)

-had to throw in a aussie word as the stadium announcer was aussie, as well a Colin Miller, a bowler on FLA who did quit well. His new nickname, and pun#2, Thunder From Down Under.

-ok, back to the game, NY is really really bad. Their batting was mediocre, and their running seemed to be coached by a blind man. countless times they were run out for miscommunications.

-the crowd- not bad, louder than last game and slightly more as well. 500 is my guess. they also seemed a bit drunker (what else was everyone suppose to do besides drink for a 55 minute game delay)

-my camera didn't work too good last night, it had a hard time focusing; much like NY's strategy throughout the game.

-will i go to more games to watch my local NY storm? well first maybe they should switch their name from Storm to something like the "NY light summer breeze". Sure, i will problably go again, but after watching NY play twice, it seems like they will be the Gold Coast Seagulls (defunct team of NRL) of the League- people show up to watch the other teams do good.

-still no announcement on the new tv network's launch.

-final thought- not a bad time, got to see some cricket in a stadium in NYC, which could never be a bad thing. a good experience overall, i hope people will give this league a chance. thats my 10th thought, i am All OUT!!! (jeez, how cheezy!)

 

[PY]

Nice review, please keep them coming as me and I'm sure several others are interested how cricket goes over the pond.

What were other peoples' reactions to the game? Were there many newcomers other than yourself? Did they and you enjoy it?

To me, this strengthens the case of having one of the WC games being played in the US during 2007 just to give Americans the taster of world-class cricket.

 

[JeffStar]

What were other peoples' reactions to the game? Were there many newcomers other than yourself? Did they and you enjoy it?

there seemed to be a few other 'newbies' there, but the majority seemed like seasoned fans. people knew when a good play happened (applauded) and knew when something bad happened (heckled/laughed). i enjoyed myself, like i said earlier the only setbacks were the delay of start time and the 'crappiness' of the NY team.

and as promised, so pics

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=j46i8vu.198kz0b2&x=0&y=3ip29l

 

[one_dayer]

lol good stuff

It must be odd seeing Cricket being played in a Baseball stadium.

 

[kwigibo]

It's Colin 'Funky' Miller, for the uninitiated.

 

[JeffStar]

http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/JUL/009414_USA_02JUL2004.html

a review of the match, with deb quoting a certain individual's review of the match

btw, for the record, the Seagulls, as i wrote are a NRL [national rugby league] of australia.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Does this mean that Cricinfo have been scouring CW for news?

 

[marc71178]

Looks like it - interesting that...

 

[ReallyCrazy]

good review jeffstar! and also you are famous now

 

[JeffStar]

Does this mean that Cricinfo have been scouring CW for news?

actually i think its from another forum over at uscricket.com, he frequents there (as well as i do). the problem with that forum is that no one has to register to post, so everyone is name "anonymous".

oh, and thanks ReallyCrazy, maybe i will pop up there again!

 

[Mister Wright]

What were they playing on? It looked like hession to me.

 

[JeffStar]

here's my latest installment, enjoy....
--------------------------------------------------
All Out
7.7.04
Hey, NY Wins!
-jeff thompson

So 3 games have been played, New York has won and an even bigger shocker, the procricket website has been updated!

-SF won their inagural match- which started at 6pm, not 7 silly kids- by 8 wickets. interesting tidbits from the game, a six became an out b/c the spot where the fielder caught the ball had no boundry line, so the umps first said six, but then decided if the line was long enough to continue to his spot he would have been out.

-the SF game had a few hundred fans, and if any of them made the cross country flight, they would have noticed a person looking just like Florida Thunder's Aussie Colin Miller playing for Texas. Well, thats because IT WAS! the league is allowing people to play for various teams through out the length of the season. doesn't that make ProCricket more of a exhibition series rather than a League?

-NJ (5-145) Beat FLA by 5 wickets in 18.2 ov (and they had Colin Miller!) The Fire were led by Shawn Riley getting 35 runs. 1200 fans saw this game.

-Oh yeah, i mentioned the league's site has been finally updated, but something is still amiss over there. the have links to the past 3 games, but for example the NJ-FLA game lists both teams as NJ Fire. For the SF-TX game, the toss shows "Won by NY Storm NJ Fire Were Asked to Bat First", huh?? and since the standing aren't updated, i'll do it for ya:

San Fran.... HA! as i am typing this, apparantly so are they, the page was just updated (whew, saves me some typing)
http://www.procricket.com/standings.asp

-NJ (172-7), possibly tired from there recent win over Florida, fell to NY (won by 9 wickets in 19 overs). Congrats to NY, who seem to become a new team compared to the previous two games. they needed only three batters to win this contest with all of them making the half century mark or better(Hinds 58, Sylvester 50, Samuels 51). Sylvest got his 50 off only 16 balls, not bad at all. this makes me actually think at least one guy in the league will get a highly coveted century before this season finishes.

-Congrats to the league if unconfirmed reports are true that over 2000 people saw NY's metamorphasis into a winning team in NJ. if thats true, the league is moving towards a good trend- larger crowds.

-what do i wish for? why can't the players wear baseball caps instead of the bucket style ones? by switching, it would help prevent them from constantly getting blown away too. In other leagues they wear them in the ODI format (australia for example), and plus it would help with merchandising- i think people would be more inclined to buy a baseball cap right? talking about team names (was i??) i nominate NY's name to be switched to the 6er's. i think i will actually refer to them as that name for now on. i'll actually make that my question of the day (see below)

-i believe i will venture out to the NY-DC game on friday, my only request is that it starts on time. with the NY 6er's on a one game winning streak, and seemingly have found a batting order that will work, i am excited for the upcoming game. and i know you are all asking yourselves "will i take shoddy pictures of the game"- of course!

-Raza Zaidi of NJ says Central Jersey is the "cricket playing heart of the nation" read here-
http://www.c-n.com/news/c-n/story/0,2111,997199,00.html

-The news: Ajay Jadeja is returning home from the US without participating in American Pro Cricket matches after the Indian cricket board told players to keep off the event.
what i say: he did decent in the preseason match, but the effect of this i will leave to my more knowledgable fans. And that makes ten, so I am ALL OUT!

extra balls-
* USA expectedly beat Cayman Islands by 6 wickets in their first match of the America's Cup
* NZ is on a war path, not-beaten going into the Natwest series final over in England, watch out Australia (and USA too, he-he) in the ICC Champions Tourny in September
* Thumbs down to USA getting nixed for a world cup 07 hosting spot. come to think of it, the reasons are pretty valid

Question of the week- How about we change the name of the NY Storm to the NY 6er's? send replies to jeff@jeffstar.com

 

[JeffStar]

ALL OUT
Jeff Thompson
7.11.04

ok, back for another edition. so did i go to the NY game this past friday? no. why? b/c DC has the dumbest name i ever heard of.

just kidding, the reason i didn't go was, well b/c i had something else to do (the DC Forward name really is dumb though). anyway, time for some 'outs'

--do i want procricket to succeed? yes.
Do i get really really ****ed when NY played DC on friday, Chicago played San Fran on Saturday, and LA/SanFran today and the league's website has no updates or even scores listed. this league is really starting to give some credit to the 'bashers' on certain message boards.

--since i have nothing to comment on regarding USA ProCricket since nothing has been provided to me, i will comment on other cricket going ons. First New Zealand. Congrats to them on winning the NatWest ODI Series. They are going into the ICC Champions Trophy in September with full steam, and i am sure they will believe they can take first place in their group- which means beating Australia.

-- What does england have to do prevent more embarassment in the ODI format? i remember someone mentioning having more batters and bowlers (less all rounders). makes sense, right?

--Does anyone else think the triangular series in the Netherlands is crucial for Australia? to me it seems, they basically need to win all their games; otherwise it will not only give Pakistan and/or India the confidence going into the ICC Tourny, but an even more boost to their first round foe New Zealand.

--As for the other first round team with NZ and Australia: USA. someone send a distress signal please. Update- congrats to Canada-- NOT USA for winning the 2004 America's Cup. Canada defeated USA convincingly by 71 runs enroute to the title. The American team needs to do some serious thinking as to strategy and player selection as this is not a good sign of their preparation.

--The good news for USA (and Bermuda) is that they "most likely" qualify for the ICC Trophy in Ireland next year for coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. So you ask what does "most likely" mean? i have no idea, but thats what USCricket.com is reporting.

--Wicket Wackers. whats that? its the really addicting as well as easy cricket game that can be downloaded for free (demo version) on the web. they even have funny team nicknames that were somehow overlooked by the bosses at ProCricket such as Imperial Gangsters, Demons, Red Orbitors, and Bandits. oh yeah, don't forget Rio Bees as well. give it a try.

--Twenty20 will finally get played over in Australia with matches planned for Melbourne's Junction Oval next Australia Day... and i am all done for 8 outs today, blame it on........