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Sunday 2 May 2010

Rain did not stop play

I spend most of this afternoon and evening watching the ICC T20 cricket matches on the television whilst I worked on the latest draft of the wargames rules I have based on Joseph Morschauser's 'Modern' period wargames rules.

N.B. For those readers who do not know what the ICC T20 is, it is the International Cricket Conference Twenty-Twenty cricket competition. So far
  • New Zealand have beaten Sri Lanka
  • West Indies have beaten Ireland
  • India beat Afghanistan
  • Pakistan beat Bangladesh
  • South Africa beat India
  • Australia beat Pakistan
Tomorrow sees
  • Sri Lanka play Zimbabwe
  • West Indies play England
This competition is this cricket fan's idea of heaven; it is fast, fun, and the results are always interesting.


And now back to the rules ...

In the light of my recent and growing interest in the interwar era, I have decided to optimise the latest draft of the rules for that historical period. I can field armies that include Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery as well as Armoured Fighting Vehicles in the knowledge that the latter can make a difference on the battlefield but will not dominate it.

I have opted to use 100mm/4-inch hexes and 20mm scale figures, vehicles, and equipment because I have a large amount of Hexon II hexed terrain and a large collection of suitable figures (including a large box of unpainted Hotspur Spanish Civil War figures that I discovered this weekend).

I hope to play-test the rules tomorrow and to make them available in PDF format later this week.
Oh, and the comment about the rain refers to the fact that it has been raining almost all day in South East London, but that this has not stopped me enjoying myself.

6 comments:

  1. I have heard Cricket described by an Englishman as . . . "the only game where even the players don't understand all of the rules".

    I'm sure that that is a facetious remark . . . but I've tried reading various explanations of the game and haven't made much sense of them.

    I think that cricket may be something that you have to grow up watching (or playing) . . . and not something easily learned only by reading about it.


    -- Jeff

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  2. How can you lose 5 wickets in an over and still win a game. Gotta keep an eye on the Aussies.

    I'm more tempted to get Sky. Even 5Live Sports Extra didn't have commentary.

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  3. Bluebear Jeff,

    In essence Cricket is a very simple game; the sublety is in the way you play it.

    I cannot ever remember 'learning' how to play Cricket, although I did undergo many hours of skills training at school (e.g. how to hold the bat correctly; how to play certain 'strokes' using the bat; how to bowl the ball in different ways). I learned mostly by playing ... badly!

    At school it was the Summer sport, and when I went to my secondary school at the age of 11, my school was a Cricketing school. It had its own dedicated ground, and every Summer we had 'Cricket Week' where we would go and watch games between our school and other good local sides (e.g. other local schools and the local County 2nd XI).

    The number of countries that play Cricket is on the rise. The USA has a team, although it did not qualify for the T20 this time around. Many of the players are immigrants from Cricket-playing countries, but I understand that there is a growing number of native US players.

    It was interesting to see that Afghanistan has a team in the T20 this time. The players learned to play whilst they were refugees in Pakistan, and have now returned to play in their home country.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Trebian,

    The last over that the Aussies faced was amazing to watch. I have never seen a side's batting collapse like that, even in very low-level quality club games! It ranks alongside Sir Garry Sober's 36 off a single over as being Cricket that you just HAD to see!

    I am very lucky in that my wife is even more of a Cricket fan than I am, particularly of the T20. When we got married she almost came up the isle with her arm in a sling, having hut it whilst playing Cricket with her pupils at school.

    I think that this T20 competition is going to be a lot more open than some of the pundits said it was going to be. I would not like to say who will win at the moment as there are several sides who could do it.

    All the best,

    Bob

    PS. We decided to add Sky Sports to our 'cable' package just for the Cricket. It was worth the money because it has given us something other than the election news coverage to watch!

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  5. Is T20 cricket's equivalent of DBA? It sort of looks like the real thing, is over quickly and is good for a laugh.

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  6. Trebian,

    I had a similar thought about equating T20 with DBA ... but after I saw yesterday's games I am not so sure about it being 'good for a laugh'; some of them were taking it very seriously indeed!

    All the best,

    Bob

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