The Ashes Test

G'day!
England and Australia just finished a 5 day test of cricket in Adelaide, South Australia.  That is, one game of cricket that lasts 5 days.   This is the second (Test Two) of an annual five match series, a huge rivalry, called the Ashes Test with the winner taking home an urn filled with ashes from long ago burned wickets.

Australia had their innings first.  (Innings is singular and plural. Each batsman gets their innings and each side gets their innings.)   They got about 100 - 130 runs between their 10 batsmen.  (I don't know how many; that was before I got here and started watching.) Then England had their innings.  One guy, Pietersen, got 227 runs.  He batted for hours on Days 2 and 3.  It's rare for a batsman to even get 100 runs so 200+ is quite an achievement.   After a rain delay and  the first 5 batsmen, England was ahead by 375 runs.  So they declared.  That means that they think they can win the game without batting any more.  This was on early on Day 4, Monday, I think.

This game was scheduled for 5 days.  They try to play from 11 am until 6 pm with a 40 minute break for lunch after 2 hours and a 20 minute break for tea after another 2 hours of play.  If it rains, the game is delayed with a tarp pulled over the pitch.  If one team has not won by the end of the 5th day or if the game has been declared and the opponents have not finished their innings, the game is a draw.  A tie.

So in this case,  Australia had to make at least 375 runs to tie England.  But then England still gets their last innings.  So Australia's best chance is a draw.  If it rains, Australia is unable to bat or finish their innings and the game would be a draw.    All of Australia, including me, were hoping for rain.  So Australia had their batsmen go to bat.    They batted all of Day 4 and ended with 7 outs.  We hoped for rain.  They started batting on Day 5.  We hoped for rain.  It didn't rain.  They finished batting their 10th batsman.  They came up 70 short so England did not have to bat any more.  England won.  So 5 England batsmen made more than 500 runs.  Australia batted 20 innings (10 batsmen twice each) and came up 70 short.  I have no idea what the total number of runs was and can't find where to find it.  I looked online.  I guess the number of runs doesn't matter; just which team won.

I learned a little more about the game.  The ball is bowled overhand by the bowler.  They can do it slow in a standing position or they can bowl it fast by running to get some speed and then throwing the ball.  The same ball is used throughout a team's innings.  If for some reason, the ball is unable to be used (rare), the umpires dig through a bag of used balls to come up with a ball as similar as possible to the ball that was in play.  Sometimes a ball is worn out.  I'm not quite sure what happens then.

The reason a ball can be worn out and  why the pitch or field is so important is that the ball can hit the ground before it reaches the batsman.  I didn't get that the first time 'round.  So that makes it much harder cuz you don't know how the ball will bounce.

Both brothers are into cricket.  They checked the TV regularly to see how Australia was doing. They were surprised and very impressed at how much I did know about cricket.  They've tried to explain the game to Americans before and were only partially successful. They were happy to fill in the gaps and explain strategy. Test 3 of the Ashes Test Series is in Perth and starts Thursday, 16 December.    I'll still be here so I will probably be watching it.  Try watching it and see if you can figure it out.

Cheers!
Cyn