When fandoms collide in a sportive fashion...

[selenak]

English people on my list, pray tell me why my icon team loses this cricket match. The rest of you, especially if you like me have no idea how cricket works (except that Wellington claimed that cricket practice won the battle of Waterloo, or something), enjoy the multifandom insanity that vaznetti has wrought. It contains such gems like this:

Solo scores much faster than Adama, but is bowled out when Corleone comes back on. Han doesn't do so well against criminal masterminds, but at least doesn't end up frozen in carbonite this time.

Or like this:

When Sun comes in, Corleone decides to let Crichton bowl, and this freaks Aeryn out. Krycek comes on, knowing full well that if he doesn't perform, Adama will toss him out the airlock. He makes 4, which is pretty good for a man with one arm.

Or rhis:

When Wesley comes on to bat, Corleone brings on Buffy to bowl against him; Wesley reverts to his early season persona and is out for a duck.

(Considering that all the examples I picked are favourable to my team, I comprehend even less why we lose.)

Comments

[wychwood]

Hahaha... that's hilarious :)

If you actually have any desire at all to understand cricket, this page is an excellent and clear explanation of the basics.

With regard to your specific team when batting:
- Clearly Lee Adama performs badly against his father.
- Buffy doesn't make enough allowances for other people's limitations (to wit, Frodo).
- Angel broods too much,
- Kara is dangerous to her team when she thinks she has a plan, especially if she's working with Lee
- Pilot is talented, but restricted by his physical structure
- It looks as though Methos has problems with powerful women who don't like him flirting.

They don't discuss the bowling as much, but it's fairly clear that only miraculous intervention on the part of the commentator allowed the other team to win ;) So morally it was your victory.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

As long as there is a victory somewhere. I should make a post about taking the team to the pub afterwards, or do Cricket players do something else?

[wychwood]

No, no, I'm pretty sure they'd be more than happy to go down the pub *g*

Even vaznetti has admitted that her second innings was... suspiciously successful *g*

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Angel's far too bulky to be a good fast bowler, especially if it's latter seasons Angel.
Buffy's lousy at following the rules, or learning them.
Frodo's the size of a cricket bat and any spinner would get him out - plus he's an endurer not an attacking batsman or bowler.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

All good points. *nods in dawning understanding*

[kathyh]

I'd say it was because Bill Adama varied the bowling better and your team was flashy, but vulnerable to psychological manipulation by Capt. Bill. And how sad is it that I actually spent time considering this question...*g*.

except that Wellington claimed that cricket practice won the battle of Waterloo

I thought it was all down to Jonathan Strange...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I see. Then I have to wonder how come that my team`s Captain, i.e. Michael Corleone, didn`t use Sydney Bristow (also present in one of my icons) as one of the players, because that totally would have thrown Jack Bristow off his game and made up for Lee's disadvantage.*g*

[kathyh]

I didn't think anything threw Jack Bristow off his game *g*. Just goes to show that Bill Adama is a more canny captain than Michael Corleone (who never let family stop him I believe).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think it's done with cricket dice to determine the outcome of each ball. I know there's a Blake's 7 vs Babylon 5 cricket match at each Redemption con and I'm sure that's what they do there. Then the reporter fleshes out the results using the characters' personalities.

The batsman tries to hit the ball far enough for him and his partner (the batman at the other wicket) to make at least one run before the ball is either caught by a fielder (caught out), thrown onto the wicket before he's back in his crease (stumped) or just returned to the bowler. If they're back behind their crease (near the wickets) they're safe. If the ball reaches the boundary but bounces first, they don't have to run; it's an automatic 4 runs. If the ball passes over the boundary without bouncing, it's a 6. I think Wellington said he hit Napoleon for 6; I know Montgomery said that about Rommel.

Out for a duck means the batsman was got out before he even scored a run, so he has zero which looks like a duck's egg. If he's out on the first ball thrown to him, he's out for a golden duck, like Shane Warne in the last Ashes test.

Lovely link, thanks! I once had the Liberator crew play a game in one of the empty shuttle bays. :-)

Thanks for the explanations! And....

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. So who wins these B7 vs B5 matches?

Re: Thanks for the explanations! And....

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I can't remember. Vila was man of the match one time. :-) I think there are reports on Hermit. [goes to look] Ahah! Here's one! (http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Convention/Reports/Cricket.html) Blake's 11 won this one. :-)

Re: Thanks for the explanations! And....

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Blake's XI currently lead Babylon XI 3-1, but I'm six months behind writing up the last match.

Re: Thanks for the explanations! And....

[gelliaclodiana]

That's hysterical -- thanks so much for the link!

..

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Cheers! So, did you use dice for yours?

Re: ..

[gelliaclodiana]

No, we just talked it out between us (or really, my husband dictated and I questioned his decisions). ::hangs head in shame:: I didn't know cricket dice existed!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm impressed. Well played!

Here are some cricket dice links:

Backpacker brand (http://www.backpacker-backgammon.com/cricket.html)
Owzthat (http://www.compendia.co.uk/acatalog/Dice_Games.html) (scroll down)
eBay item (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CRICKET-DICE-GAME-IN-BOX-NEW-CELEBRATE-THE-ASHES_W0QQitemZ7178890631QQcategoryZ2906QQssPageNameZWD4VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

I'm tempted myself. :-)

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Fandom never fails to amaze me. *g*

Why didn't you put some Jedi on your team? Obi-Wan would be good with rules and I bet Anakin would perform well in most sports.
Also Zoe Warren would be good in a team, with her no-nonsense ambition.
I'm also thinking about Gul Dukat, but he would piss of Zoe with his arrogant flirting.

And no, I have no idea about cricket. *g*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a choice of players. vaznetti just picked them out of my icons.*g*

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

After commenting I realized that the players were picked from your LJ icons.

Too bad you couldn't have Sydney, Irina or Anakin on your team, who you have as icons. I think they would have been fairly successful *g*

[gelliaclodiana]

We were trying not to reuse players, so the Jedi ended up on sophia_helix's team, along with Harry Potter and the Dalai Lama.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

*laughs* So - was the Dalai Lama any good?

[gelliaclodiana]

We haven't played a match with that team yet -- but it looks like it will be very good. I do have some doubts about the Dalai Lama as wicket-keeper, but we'll see.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

No...no cricket knowledge here, beyond Dorothy Sayers' Murder Must Advertise and the like. But definitely enjoying reading that!