here's your chance, ICC

[timmyj51]

here's your chance, ICC

With the 20/20 World Cup coming up next year in South Africa Inspirationless Cricket Council has
a chance to bring off one of the biggest promotional coups in the history
of the game: namely, invite a team of Yank pro baseballers to represent
the USA. Perfect type of cricket for them. Perfect type of cricket for American
sports fans. But Speedo and gang can't be bothered since they're too busy
scrounging around the back alleys of Dubai trying to find
some blackmarket booze.

 

[Wilbix]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

TO be honest, I think your idea is a decent one. However, I don't think the 2020 World Cup is the place to do it, as it would make a mockery of the event. It would be neat to see some kind of event between baseballers and cricketers though.

 

[Iggy]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

if it was a good idea, no way would the 20/20 WC be the place for it. why not get a team to visit the states and play your all-star team? there would be a better chance for USA media coverage that way too.

 

[techno-union]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

That's assuming it would be easy to make the transition from top-class baseball to top-class cricket. I don't think this is the case, I'd say the current USA cricket team would be easily better than any team made up of baseballers.

 

[Wilbix]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

The biggest issue for the baseballers to deal with would be bowling. Bowling requires a unique motion that is very different from 'pitching' in baseball. Other than that, it should be a reasonably easy transition. May have to give the guys some pills to numb their hands up - wearing a glove makes you soft.

 

[Chandu]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Would have to rid the bodies of baseball players of steroids. Steroids aren't allowed in cricket.

Or at least that's what they tell us about Shoaib and Mohammad Asif. Hmm. Come to think of it, Barry Bonds would make a great trainer for the Pakistan national team after he retires.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

The biggest issue for the baseballers to deal with would be bowling. Bowling requires a unique motion that is very different from 'pitching' in baseball. Other than that, it should be a reasonably easy transition. May have to give the guys some pills to numb their hands up - wearing a glove makes you soft.

Bowling would be a huge issue. Having some baseballers try out in a Twenty20 tournament would be interesting but would they be able to bowl?

They'd also be very suspecible to the yorker.

Would have to rid the bodies of baseball players of steroids. Steroids aren't allowed in cricket.

Or at least that's what they tell us about Shoaib and Mohammad Asif. Hmm. Come to think of it, Barry Bonds would make a great trainer for the Pakistan national team after he retires.

Or Jose Conseco.

 

[Wilbix]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Many of the 'big hitters' in baseball often have a very vertical swing which they use to drive the ball. The only problem is that you wouldn't get three chances to hit it right, if the bowler is accurate.

The best hitter for the task may be somebody with great bat control like Ichiro Suzuki. He is much better at making contact, placing the ball, and such, and he is restricted to the 90 degrees of space in front of him. If you let him play shots like a square cut, he could be quite good.

 

[timmyj51]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

"That's assuming it would be easy to make the transition from top-class baseball to top-class cricket. I don't think this is the case, I'd say the current USA cricket team would be easily better than any team made up of baseballers."




Wrong! A month or so of intensive training/coaching in cricket (provided by
the ICC) would turn any top-class baseballer into a decent cricketer. We're
talking about twenty overs here, less than two overs per batsman. No
doubt at all top baseballers could last two overs against the world's
best bowlers.
True, the bowling would be a problem. Baseball pitchers probably couldn't
pick up bowling in a month so the US team would have to rely
on ex-pat bowlers. A big handicap but the baseballers would be
terrific fielders. The more I think about it this is an idea who's time
has come. Nothing at all crazy or far-fetched. (And BTW, it would
have to be the 20/20 World Cup. Only way you could get pro baseballers
interested is by promising them a world stage for their skill). What someone has to do now is
get Speedo and Kennedy to get their heads out of the Dubai camel crap.

 

[theswami]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Lets compare: Cricket= batting, throwing, fielding and running..Baseball= batting, throwing, fielding and running.. whats the issue. In one month of intensive training any baseballer can play cricket. The US is filled with guys who can throw 90 MPH and hit a ball over 400 feet, not to mention run extrememly fast and throw a ball from the outfield with extreme accuracy. Any second rate baseball catcher would make a superb wicket keeper.

Please do not over complicate or overglorify the skills needed to play Cricket, especially bowling. I am an American and the only "difficult" thing to learn is to keep your arm straight and getting side on. In fact, getting side on is more difficult that keeping the arm straight. All you need to do is put a bat on the ground and tell the guy to jump over it with his left foot and land on his right foot side ways. The rest is purely pratice. That takes about 1 day to grasp that concept. In one month, you have a flame throwing American who will be having the opposing batters soiling their whites in the crease. Just think about the pace attack the USA would have ( guys 6 '6'' who easily top 90MPH every ball) In my opinion most of the pacemen would regularly top 100MPH most of the time. This is not to slight any other countries capabilities but the USA has the best athletes and more of them than anywhere in the world.

 

[Wilbix]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

It isn't a case of overglorifying the skills of cricket, it's a matter of baseball players not having developed those specific skills. Just because a pitcher can throw a pitch 90+mph, he does so by pushing off a rubber and creating a whip-like action in his arm. He does not use his pace from running and a straight arm to generate that pace, so they will have trouble with bowling.

In the case of the catcher, I think this is the biggest misconception of similarity between the two sports. The catcher is very much a stationary position, squatting behind the plate and waiting for the ball to be thrown at them. They only move their glove to catch the ball, occasionally going to their knees to block a low delivery. The amount of movement and athleticism required of a wicketkeeper is much greater than that of a catcher, and being able to read the line and bounce of a delivery is another difficult skill. I could never imagine any catcher making a diving catch like the one the NZ keeper made yesterday.

finally, sure the batters can hit the ball 400+ feet, but that is a ball thrown between knees and waist, and across the plate. Most cricket batsmen could do that with a full toss as well. Make a baseball player play a ball that bounces and moves off the seam, and it will be a very different story.

 

[Bluto11]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

"That's assuming it would be easy to make the transition from top-class baseball to top-class cricket. I don't think this is the case, I'd say the current USA cricket team would be easily better than any team made up of baseballers."




Wrong! A month or so of intensive training/coaching in cricket (provided by
the ICC) would turn any top-class baseballer into a decent cricketer. We're
talking about twenty overs here, less than two overs per batsman. No
doubt at all top baseballers could last two overs against the world's
best bowlers.
True, the bowling would be a problem. Baseball pitchers probably couldn't
pick up bowling in a month so the US team would have to rely
on ex-pat bowlers. A big handicap but the baseballers would be
terrific fielders. The more I think about it this is an idea who's time
has come. Nothing at all crazy or far-fetched. (And BTW, it would
have to be the 20/20 World Cup. Only way you could get pro baseballers
interested is by promising them a world stage for their skill). What someone has to do now is
get Speedo and Kennedy to get their heads out of the Dubai camel crap.

are you kidding me?

baseball players could pick up cricket in "a month or so" with intenzive training? riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

i have a buddy who plays Aussie rules here in Chicago and is helping some of the kids of Aussies on the team learn to play baseball. He pretty much has to completly purge everything they know about hitting a cricket ball from their brains before they even get close to hitting a baseball

 

[timmyj51]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

If Australian cricketers can't pick up baseball that's their problem. We're talking about Yank baseballers
picking up cricket.

 

[Ljp86]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

If Australian cricketers can't pick up baseball that's their problem. We're talking about Yank baseballers
picking up cricket.

Yeah, cause they could learn it so much quicker.

You've lost all credibility.

 

[Langarne]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

i have a buddy who plays Aussie rules here in Chicago and is helping some of the kids of Aussies on the team learn to play baseball. He pretty much has to completly purge everything they know about hitting a cricket ball from their brains before they even get close to hitting a baseball

The transition from cricket to baseball is actually a lot easier than the other way around. In the late 60's a few Australian cricketers in Lawry, Chappell brothers etc took up baseball and took to it quite naturally. However, it must be noted that these guys are batsmen. The technique involved suits batsmen particularly the more aggressive ones down to the ground. In fact I think most one day specialist batsmen around the world would be licking their lips at facing baseball pitchers.

The bowling transition for baseballers would be much harder because of the mechanics. A pitchers entire technique would have to be broken down and re started from scratch. Here's a run down of what my thoughts are on what would be required to turn pitchers into bowlers.

1. Body conditioning. Most baseballers appear to me to be too much on the heavy side, and even the ones that aren't would not be conditioned for bowling. Extreme aerobic training daily. Sandhills, repetitive 200m sprints, kneels, anything to get their aerobic fitness up because from what I've seen, most pitchers wouldn't last 10 overs let alone a test match and once they slow down, so does their pace and it would just become party time for batsmen.

2. Mechanics. Most bowlers today at whatever pace they bowl, and at international level if you can't bowl 130 kph you won't get a gig anyway, but all bowlers have to be able to generate some amount of swing, and this is where they'd have to spend at least 6 months at a cricket academy before they even got to grade cricket level. Shoulder positions, wrist positions, side on movement, movement off the seam, reverse swing, line, length, controlling bouncers, pitching bouncers with side movement, you name it.

A bowler has to be able to generate all these things whilst still being able to bowl fast enough to knock a batsmans block off. And I haven't even touched on the art of wrist and finger spin. Anyone who has ever seen Warne and Muralitharan turn the ball and continually bamboozle batsmen on flat, dead lifeless pitches will tell you that this is an art that is years in the making.

3. Fielding. This is an area they shouldn't need any training in although baseball fields IIRC are much smaller than cricket fields (although thats changing thanks to the ICC's love affair with the sub-continent) and they would be doing a hell of a lot more running. But the throwing actions is something they'd be good at. One of the Australian fielding staff members has a baseball background and has been beneficial in that regard.

Anyway, there are some minor things.

 

[Langarne]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Lets compare: Cricket= batting, throwing, fielding and running..Baseball= batting, throwing, fielding and running.. whats the issue. In one month of intensive training any baseballer can play cricket. The US is filled with guys who can throw 90 MPH and hit a ball over 400 feet, not to mention run extrememly fast and throw a ball from the outfield with extreme accuracy. Any second rate baseball catcher would make a superb wicket keeper.

Please do not over complicate or overglorify the skills needed to play Cricket, especially bowling. I am an American and the only "difficult" thing to learn is to keep your arm straight and getting side on. In fact, getting side on is more difficult that keeping the arm straight. All you need to do is put a bat on the ground and tell the guy to jump over it with his left foot and land on his right foot side ways. The rest is purely pratice. That takes about 1 day to grasp that concept. In one month, you have a flame throwing American who will be having the opposing batters soiling their whites in the crease. Just think about the pace attack the USA would have ( guys 6 '6'' who easily top 90MPH every ball) In my opinion most of the pacemen would regularly top 100MPH most of the time. This is not to slight any other countries capabilities but the USA has the best athletes and more of them than anywhere in the world.

Nobody has overglorified the techniques and abilities of cricket. It's just that this post of yours is that far deluded, wrong, idiotic and ill informed that it really is beyond belief. You have 6'6 guys who can run fast, throw rockets and throw a baseball at 100mph huh? Thats great mate. You've just described a district cricketer in Melbourne by the name of Allan Wise. Only difference being that Wise can "bowl" that fast too, and move it, and swing it, yet can't even get considered for a Victorian contract because he's not even good enough to play for the state let alone the country. As for athlete business where cricket is concerned, read my post above. Wish some people would at least look as though they're trying to get a grasp of what they're talking about!!

 

[timmyj51]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

"Only difference being that Wise can "bowl" that fast too, and move it, and swing it, yet can't even get considered for a Victorian contract because he's not even good enough to play for the state let alone the country."




Baseballers who can pitch 100 mph and move, swing, the ball around
are dime-a-dozen in Yank pro baseball but even this isn't good enough to get a job in the majors.

 

[Wilbix]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Baseballers who can pitch 100 mph and move, swing, the ball around
are dime-a-dozen in Yank pro baseball but even this isn't good enough to get a job in the majors.

um, not really. There are precious few who can throw it at 100+ mph. Even those who can are not able to move that pitch, it runs pretty much straight. A breaking pitch is always a lot slower than a fastball.

Please just stop this and go away. It's getting quite irritating.

 

[theswami]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

um, not really. There are precious few who can throw it at 100+ mph. Even those who can are not able to move that pitch, it runs pretty much straight. A breaking pitch is always a lot slower than a fastball.

I agree that there are not many who can throw 100MPH in US baseball but I think that top level athletes in the US will actually get more pace from a Cricket ball than a baseball. Again, it requires intesive training, which isn't available in the US.

If Shane Warne is looking for a new challenge why doesn't he as well as other retiring Aussie & English Cricketers move to the US and open up Cricket academies. Sooner or Later someone is going to hit the jackpot in the US with Cricket. As it is now Indoor baseball facilites are starting to be used by some Cricketers during the Winter for net sessions. Sad to say that the ex pats who have the skills don't do this already but guys like Warne, McGrath et al, could really cash in on something like this and at the same time leave a new legacy on top of the ones that they already have

 

[theswami]

Re: here's your chance, ICC

Wish some people would at least look as though they're trying to get a grasp of what they're talking about!!

Dude, This is a discussion forum and everyone is entitled to their opinion without getting insulted. FYI, I'm not just making absurd comments to inflame you, I have walked the walked my friend and against all odds have succeeded in learning and playing this great game along with maybe 10 other Americans in all of the USA. Maybe someday this will all be hashed out on the cricket field if the US can ever get their sh*t together. Cricket is so great because it is not just state against state but nation against nation. Life would be a whole lot simpler if instead of war, countries settled thier disputes on the pitch instead.