cricket joke !

For the Brits and other cricket afficionados,

An expectant father rang the hospital to see how his wife was managing in labour.
By mistake he was connected to the Lord's cricket ground.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Fine," came the answer, "We've got three out and hope to have the rest out before lunch.
The last one was a duck."

Hi Krystyna,

I have another one:

What father and son used to play test cricket for Pakistan?

Answer: Miandad

Not sure if many of our french friends will get these cricket jokes???

BobS

Hi Bob,

I like your one about Miandad !

And I think we will be doing a lot of explaining to the amis français !

Hi Krystyna, Bob,

Thanks for the jokes.
Very difficult: I'll have to investigate and study cricket jargon! Fortunately Internet is here!

Hi everyone,

Regarding Krystyna's joke -

At cricket, a duck is a batsman's score of nought (zero) dismissed.
In the past, they said duck's egg refering to the shape showin a 0.

Of course, it's rather funny to get a duck while the guy is expecting a baby-boy or baby-girl...

Gosh! Things look scientific at cricket

Duckworth-Lewis method a mathematically based rule that derives a target score for the side batting second in a rain-affected one-day match

When referring to the Prince of Wales's (the future Edward VII) score of nought on 17 July 1866, a contemporary newspaper wrote that the Prince "retired to the royal pavilion on a "duck's egg"". The name is believed to come from the shape of the number "0" being similar to that of a duck's egg. The Concise Oxford Dictionary still cites "duck's egg" as an alternative version of the term.

Nowadays, they use the terms: Diamond/Platinum duck, Golden duck etc.
They also speak about a pair, a "pair of spectacles" or a "pair of ducks" for a (0–0) scoring for the batman.

Hi BobS, Krytyna, everyone,

LOL

BobS a écrit:... What father and son used to play test cricket for Pakistan?

Answer: Miandad...

Mohammad Javed Miandad Khan (Urdu: محمد جاوید میانداد ) (born June 12, 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: جاوید میانداد) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played between 1975-1996. He is the Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket. He has served as a captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He is widely known for his big Six against India in 1986 where 4 runs were required out of 1 ball.[1] After his playing career, he has remained the coach of Pakistan cricket team at various occasions, as well as held positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board. He had three coaching stints with the Pakistan national team.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javed_Miandad )

Usandad???

There's another one:

Anwar Miandad (born March 11, 1960 in Karachi) is a former Pakistani first-class cricketer who played mainly for the Habib Bank Limited cricket team. He is a younger brother of Pakistan's leading Test run scorer Javed Miandad and had two other brothers play Quaid-i-Azam Trophy matches. An all-rounder, he also took the field for Karachi and the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan during his career.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Miandad )

Hi Gerard,

Some interesting research on the Miandad family - thank you! I had only heard of the one Miandad to play test cricket - hence the joke. Only one Miandad has in fact ever played test cricket for Pakistan but it is a father and son combination if you read it phonetically as ME - AND - DAD!!

I have told this joke to a few cricket fans and they think it is a serious quiz question, think a long time then give up and at first take the answer seriously until I explain it to them. As we say in England when it takes somebody a long time to get a joke: "it takes a while for the penny to drop" - a reference to old vending machines I assume!!

Hi Bob,

Yes I got the me-and-dad.

I had forgotten the test cricket and only remembered cricketer.

~~

Sorry.
Way more serious point:

He is a younger brother of Pakistan's leading Test run scorer Javed Miandad and had two other brothers play Quaid-i-Azam Trophy matches

There's something I don't understand in the sentence.
To use the superlative, you say the youngest. When there are only 2 persons/things, you say younger, right?
If there are 2 other brothers, why, grammatically speaking, is it written "a younger brother", please?

~~ edit
Another grammar question if I don't bother you yet?
> had two other brothers play Quaid-i-Azam Trophy matches
Does this mean "had two other brothers who played..."?
"had... play": what's this tense?
Thanks.

Hi Gerard,

In this case I assume that he had more than one younger brother - hence he is a younger brother.

Purely hypothetical example:

There are 4 brothers.

Brother A is the oldest. He is 32 years old

Brother B is a younger brother of brother A. He is 30 years old.

Brother C is another younger brother of brother A. He is 27 years old.

Brother C is the youngest brother of brother A. He is 25 years old.

Is that clear now?

Cristal clear, thanks Bob!
Sorry I asked a silly question.
It's written a younger brother and not the younger brother (in case of 2)...

Hello everyone
Thank you for cricket jargon explanation, I now know what a duck is .

Hi everyone,

Further to Gérard's information, the ducks are graded depending on what ball the batsman gets out on !

duck = the batsman is out without having scored a run, no matter how many balls he faces

golden duck = the batsman is out on the first ball of the first "over" he faces

diamond duck = the batsman is out without facing a ball, mainly by being run out (complicated !)

platinum duck = the batsman is dismissed on the very first ball of the "match"

Despite that I know a bit about cricket, it doesn't change the fact that I hate it, and it is the most boring game on earth !!!

Hi Krystyna, hi everyone,

Krystyna, it sounds you are an expert at cricket! It looks like Australia won the cup

To other members: Here I'm teasing Krystyna as Australia lost early this year (my niece laughed at Australians a few weeks ago)

Hi Gérard,

Australia can't be good at everything all the time !

Rugby : YES
Swimming : NOT BAD
Tennis : the days of world supremacy are OVER
Cricket : the days of world supremacy are fast FADING

I think you're not that good at pétanque either...

LOLOLOL ...

And what about handball?

What about it ????

Unlike Krystyna I do actually like cricket and do go quite regularly to watch county cricket in England - mainly to watch Surrey and Middlesex. Surrey usually play at the Oval in Kennington (south of the Thames river) and Middlesex usually play at Lords. However, Surrey have one match each year in Croydon at Whitgift school which is very close to where I live - it is in south London. If any Polyglottes are in London over the summer, I could take them along to a match possibly and try to explain the rules (which would not be easy).

Krystyna,

Are Australians good at this?

Handball is the only sport in which the French are good: World champions, European champions and Olympic champions.
Nothing to do in rugby!! The French are not good!!

Hi Bob,
It would certainly make for an entertaining afternoon ... trying to explain the rules of cricket to French spectators.
However, better you than me !

Hi Gérard,

So, so, so, finally I understand why France is not good at Rugby !
They try to play it like handball, and forget to run forward with the ball, but keep passing it back to the other team !!!

Krystyna, don't be nasty! We're doing our best but maybe, we didn't understand the rules.

Gérard, I'm NEVER nasty !!!

guys, it's really fun to read your exchanges
Please carry on!