And slightly on that topic, am I the only one who, when A-Rod is mentioned, automatically thinks of Andy Roddick? I've never heard of that other guy.

He's dead anyhow.

ok in a bad mood here, but perhaps we should leave the cricket to Emma huh?

But hasn't Emma gone to Foo Camp this weekend? Could Hadyn not mention cricket when it's summer? Although I suppose rugby has started its season now.

Another set of supposedly wondrous new rules is…

And giant bats?

We can't stop here, this is bat country!

Actually, administering random psychoactive drugs to the players before they took the field could be interesting. It could be a game of guessing what they're on based on their behaviour, a bit like those old experiments with spiders on…

I always thought it was something to do with his hair

That can't be. I have all of his hair, in a little box.

"Why does everyone hate Martin Crowe?"

I always thought it was something to do with his hair

Dude, I really don’t think you have any idea how cricket will capture the hearts and minds of England’s children.

The ashes are coming up, and I don’t need to tell you how big the last win was in 2005.…

Please back it up though with some stats better than n=1.

I've seen reports from Britain showing a correlation between free-to-air coverage and participation but since I can't find it then I can't call on your statement either :). Of course even with…

If it's essentially invisible to children in over 50% of households, of course the number of players is going to decline.

Because it's a Well Known Fact that we can't do anything that's not shown on TV.

I call bullshit, I grew up in a non-sport-watching household and still managed…

With this scenario you'd have the captain have to decide "do I think I can get the other side all-out or do I need to bowl Daniel Flynn's over now?"

I like your suggestion of ten bowlers in ODIs, Stuart. At the rate the ICC is flailing about these days,…

I love cricket, but as a tailender myself I always find it odd that everyone has to bat but not everyone has to bowl.

Same as Softball. And Baseball (National League anyway, if not the American League).

And isn't it weird how everyone is allowed to shoot at the goal…

Richard, that's a classic.

Yes, loved the bit with Inzamam muttering to himself at the end.

I'm guessing by the mist outside my window, that we aren't going to be seeing a result in the Rose Bowl today. Which is a shame. And even more of a shame if you are a fan of portents because so far it's been foreshadowing the men's games.

Uncanny

And people sometimes ask.... "Why does everyone hate Martin Crowe?"

LOL No they don't.

4 wickets instead of 3

If anyone saw the match on Sunday, the wickets were basically as wide as 4 anyway.

Actually 20/20 emerged out of the martin crowe invention cricket max
which was even more wizz bang with bonus points and the like.
h 2 innings per side of 10 overs
max zone for extra points
and the dum dum moment 4 wickets instead of 3

And people sometimes ask....…

Also: can't be out first ball.

Which, again, might save Chris Martin the occasional blush.

I reckon the power-plays should be tip-and-run. Or maybe 5 overs of one hand, one bounce.

Snap! The very suggestions I made over on a similar topic at the Dropkicks.

Also: can't be out first ball.

Somehow cricket needs to be more like Blurnsball. Or was that what Cricket Max was?

I reckon it should be more like Calvinball, never played with the same rules twice. Although you could argue that with the advent of powerplays, supersubs, and umpire referrals, that's essentially what's happened.…

This would give the 31 players (did I mention that bit) the opportunity to keep the games going for…

But getting 7th formers to explain it would be a worthwhile subject.

I believe it actually requires multiple PhDs in the topic of Chaos Theory. And a supercomputer based inside a planet run by mice.

[The British Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls (snigger)] challenged pupils to come up with new ways to extend the reach of cricket and to use the sport to raise standards across the school curriculum.

It's barely worth mentioning, but of course we all know that…

4 wickets instead of 3

And giant bats?

It was centrifugally armed (by the spin induced after release from the dispenser) and fired when the spin decayed below a certain threshold

Meaning no one wants to play wicket keeper.

Somehow cricket needs to be more like Blurnsball. Or was that what Cricket Max was?

But getting 7th formers to explain it would be a worthwhile subject.

The BLU-24/B "Orange" was a small air-dispensed anti-personnel fragmentation bomblet. It was centrifugally armed (by the spin induced after release from the dispenser) and fired when the spin decayed below a certain threshold. When dropped over dense jungle arreas, this arming and…

1st: 1,000,000,000 championship points.
2nd: 10 championship points.
3rd: 2 championship points.

Then you'll see people actually going for it, instead of getting mid-way through the season and going…

Also, they could play Rock music in the breaks between overs.

Ooh, now that'd keep Haddin back from the stumps a bit.

Speed up their over rate too, I reckon.

My idea for cricket is as follows...

For rugby, so as to make teams rely upon scoring tries, instead of relying on penalty kicks, penalties should be worth 20 points. People would stop cheating and then everyone would actually have to work to get over the line :-)

You know what would make that even more exciting? If at random intervals the ball just, y'know, totally EXPLODED. Awesome.

Ooh, now that'd keep Haddin back from the stumps a bit.

I reckon the power-plays should be tip-and-run. Or maybe 5 overs of one hand, one bounce. Although judging by…

I propose to call this new format Mega Cricket Xtreme.

You know what would make that even more exciting? If at random intervals the ball just, y'know, totally EXPLODED. Awesome.

One innings of five (power play) overs each, and an increase in points from 4 to 10 for boundaries, and from 6 to 20 for hitting it out of the feild.

This would make cricket more exciting for the younger fans, which is…