A Fairer side to sport

Not long since I got back in from gaming, I put the telly on and there's Yet More Cricket on there ! This post will be a kind of live-blog ... and it's growing as I see more of the game :-)

However, instead of the men toiling in vain on an unresponsive pitch, I'm taking my first chance to see England's women playing in their World Cup. The two England opening bowlers (bowlers take it in turns in cricket) are Katherine Brunt and Isa Guha.

The differences between men's cricket and women's cricket shows up straight away in the form of the impish Isa Guha. She must be only about 5 foot 4 if that, so there's a complete contrast to the 6 foot plus guys who play in the men's team. However, there's more energy going into her bowling than you'd see from a Steve Harmison or a Ryan Sidebottom (both those two are in my bad books). The diminutive frame bustles up to the stumps and there's a whirl of arms and legs as she sends the ball down. It's effective too, she hasn't given too many runs away and has picked up a couple of wickets. Oh - she looks far prettier while in motion in the field than she does in that Cricinfo link !

It's good to see when the skillful player does much better than the power player :-)

Another thing that's kinda good to see are the batters wearing caps and hats instead of helmets :-) Good because it's nice to see a pretty face on the screen. "Kinda" because as someone who has been hit on the head, I'll always get nervous when I see people not wearing a lid. The bowling speeds aren't too threatening (70mph max, whereas most male fast bowlers send it down at 85-90mph) but a lid is always a good idea in case freak things happen like the two times I've been hit on the head while batting.

Seeing the hats brings back memories of me batting in a wide brimmed floppy hat, with everyone on the field knowing that at least one bowler would try and knock it off :-) Cricket can be an uncompromising game, with it being accepted that bowlers will try to physically intimidate batsmen by bowling the ball short so it'll bounce up to throat or rib high. It's a fun challenge, you can get hurt but it's easier to whack the short balls a long way :-) I knew the hat was a bullseye target every time I wore it ! And the helmet is the same thing in the level of cricket I'd be playing. A bowler won't intentionally go out on the field to hurt opposing players but they'd absolutely love it if they knocked a helmet off :-)

The Indian batter bringing up the hat memories is one Mithali Raj, who is bringing a touch of elegance to proceedings, cleverly piercing the field when guiding the ball to an unguarded boundary.

I'm not going to be able to watch much more of this game due to having to work tomorrow but I've been enjoying what I've seen so far. It's a very different type of cricket to the men's game which relies far more on Brawn instead of Brain. What I'm seeing at the moment is bowlers containing the batswomen by being smart and out-thinking them.

Still wondering why the bowlers are only hitting about 65mph max, you'd think they'd be a bit quicker. Maybe it's the shorter distance they run up, male fast bowlers need to really sprint in to hit 85mph. Trying that longer run is something I tried, however all I got for it was a groin tear ! The key physical differences between men and women aren't really in how the shoulder is built, so I'm very curious as to why the speeds are so much lower. However, what they miss in speed is made up for in skill at making the ball do what they ask it to, I reckon I'd have a lot of trouble getting runs against these girls.

Did I mention anywhere that these girls are far better to look at than your Ian Bell's and your Owais Shah's ? They are definite proof that lady sportspeople can still look great, without needing to turn themselves into Amazons in order to do well in their game.

For lots more info and a few updates on how things are progressing, here's a link to the Cricinfo site for the tournament. Plus I've sprinkled a few player links through the post, so you can see some of what I see :-) However, judging by how my Sky picture is breaking up due to the Apocalyptic Rain outside, I think it's bed time (that and it's now 1am). But there's still time for one last link - here's Isa Guha again trying some not-so-feminine wiles on an umpire :-)

PS In case the Bell and Shah links make the ladeez think all cricketers are ugly, my Evil Ex only watched cricket if James Anderson was on as she thought he was highly cute and a Monty Panesar celebration will always make the hardest of heart crack a grin.