Kritik und Anregungen » rock and sock `em

Scorecards record what happened. Television shows us how. Commentators and analysts try and get to the why. They throw light on field placements, the set-up and the kind of delivery. We are told that the batsman was in perfect position. Or that he was caught off guard. Each delivery carries a story, and most stories a verdict. Was it a good ball or a bad ball? Was the shot on or was the batsman lucky? Every ball bowled is followed by an outcome. And these outcomes invariably beget a range of judgements.Players tend to see these mini-stories differently. For one, they are armed with more information - on the vagaries of the pitch, on atmospheric conditions, on the state of the ball, on the opposition - all of which makes it harder for them to deal in certainties. There are simply too many permutations for them to juggle.Players are also generally reluctant to see each ball as a discrete event. They understand that a good field setting doesnt become a bad one if a nick flies through a gap; that a terrific spell of bowling can produce a raft of runs and no wickets. They grasp the role of randomness. That on some overcast days the ball wont swing, that on some chilly days it will hoop around like never before. Many players are comfortable accepting that some events are beyond explanation.Which is probably why some of the best cricketers prioritise procedures over results. Opening bowlers can be fastidious about picking the right ball from the set the umpires hand them. Many bowlers have favourite ends. Some love to run upwind. Some obsess over shine, relying on their team-mates to take care of the ball. They are precise about fields. They pay attention to rhythm, to what their body tells them, and to repeating the same routine over and over. The canny ones make minor adjustments to confuse the batsmen. At some point, the stars align. The polish on either side of the ball is just right. So is the state of the pitch and the dampness in the air. The feet land in the optimal spots on the crease. The fingers grasp the seam at a perfect angle. The wrist cocks. The ball finds a length… and kisses the bats edge. A fielder is alert. A wicket falls. This is no standalone event, yet it is the wicket that is in the scorecard. And often the detail that endures most in memory.Our cover story this month - a chat between former England swing bowler turned cricket writer Derek Pringle and swing bowler turned leading England wicket-taker, James Anderson - deals less with what happened and more with the how. The focus is not so much on Andersons spells and his record haul of wickets; that is enshrined in the record books. Pringle is more interested in exploring the craft of swing bowling - in wobbly seams, in bowling dry, in maximising a helpful pitch, in adjusting to different conditions, and best of all, on sussing out batsmen. The answers are all Andersons, of course, but it is clear that the questions are from an old hand, one who understands the joys and challenges of swinging the ball and getting it to talk.There are more delights in store in the August issue, which also marks the Cricket Monthlys second anniversary. We return to 2004, when Muttiah Muralitharan went out to prove that his action was indeed legit; we rewind to 1992, when Wasim Akram and Co conquered all before them in England; and we head further back to 1976 to assess the grovel series and its subtext. Elsewhere, two writers debate the possibility of cricket being an Olympic sport. And another tells us of the trap that cricket fans routinely fall into: ignoring randomness and probability at each stage of a game. Fake Air Max 90 For Sale . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. 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BOSTON -- Boston College is going a long way to try to earn its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory in 21 months.The Eagles are heading to Dublin to play Georgia Tech on Saturday, and coach Steve Addazio is hoping things go better than they did when they went 0-8 in the conference last season. To turn things around, BC will fly 3,000 for a home game.Im excited about being in a new country, BC quarterback Patrick Towles, who had been to South America a couple of times on mission trips, said after the Eagles last practice on campus before flying out on Tuesday night. But we arent looking at it like (tourists). Were looking at it as an opportunity to win a football game.Boston College will be visiting Ireland for the second time, having beaten Army 38-24 at the old Lansdowne Road stadium in 1988 -- the first American football game played in Europe. This wont even be the first game abroad this season: California beat Hawaii last weekend in Sydney.Addazio said playing in a foreign country has its challenges, including jet lag and a loss of useful practice time. The coach said the team will go straight to practice from the flight after it arrives on Wednesday morning, in order to get acclimated to the five-hour time difference between Boston and Dublin. The practices after they arrive will be more like walkthroughs, he said.ddddddddddddWe cant get off the plane and have a hard, `rock and sock `em practice. That cant happen, Addazio said. Its forced us to really accelerate everything. When I mean everything, I mean everything.Unlike a bowl game, where there is often time to be a tourist built into the schedule, this one is all business. Towles said there are a few hours of family time on Thursday night.Youre going there to win a game, Addazio said. There will be a couple of things planned to give them some experience of a different culture and different country. But in the same breath, youre pretty structured with your time so there wont be a lot of that.Running back Myles Willis said he is also excited to see his Atlanta high school play a game there -- one of six U.S. high schools to take part in the American Football Showcase. It will be the first time I get to see them since I left Atlanta, he said.It will be Willis second time out of the country; he also went on a road trip to Montreal with some friends.He said he doesnt know what to expect from Ireland.Thats the best part, he said, because everything is just new.---AP college football website: collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '