HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: etxjdry@caddie.ericsson.se (El Burro Grande)
Subject: Poll: more votes please
Reply-To: etxjdry@caddie.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Telecom
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 15:29:13 GMT


Hi,

I have received quite a lot of answers on my poll now. The problem is that most of them are from USA, Canada, Australia, England, Finland and India. I would like to have more votes from specially Africa (only one so far - from South Africa), South America (only two), more from Asia and Europe (and Scandinavia - only the Finns have responded yet).


The rules:
Reply to this post with the five team sports you think are largest in your home country/ the country you live in and also note what country.

 With large I mean you should consider the sports that got most coverage in media and not with the most performer. You should also consider the national league coverage rather than national team.

With team sport I mean a sport that is performed on an arena of some kind with two teams. I don't consider the kind of sports there you can have teams meeting the others teams on an individual basis, for example as in table tennis.

I will leave up to your own judgement on sports I don't know about. Included in this post a list of sports I consider being suitable - but your free to include other sports.

Since people in the same country will have different opinions on which sports are the largest in their country I will make an average list for all countries. 

Hopefully this will give some kind of indication on which sports are the most world spread and end all the flaming discussions on this issue.

Deadline will be 30/8, replies after that won't be considered. please also don't include too long comments.

Here's my list for Sweden:

1. Football (soccer)
2. Ice Hockey
3. Bandy
4. team Handball
5. Basketball

(I don't consider volleyball since the national league coverage is very small though the natioanl team received much more coverage than the basketball national team lately. Of course other Swedes probably have anothet opinion.
Bandy is a sport that is very popular in Sweden, Finland and Russia. Shortly it can be described as a combination of Field Hockey and football played on ice.)

List of suitable sports:
Football (also rugby, american, australian, gaelic etc.)
Hockey (Ice, Field, Roller)
Polo (water, Horse)
Handball
Volleyball
Bandy (also indoor)
Baseball, Softball, Cricket, Boboll
Basketball
Freesby
Lacrosse
Underwater rugby

This  is all I can think of now. Must be more so don't mind if your soport isn't included.


John Dryselius

Reply to: etxjdry@caddie.ericsson.se



Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: shamim@bellcore.com (Shamim Naqvi,MRE-2E342,829-4813,,21272)
Subject: Eng/Pak 3rd ODI 
Reply-To: shamim@bellcore.com
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Morristown, NJ
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 22:43:13 GMT

I hadn't heard anything about the English team for the 3rd ODI tomorrow at 
Trentbridge against Pakistan so I called some friends and this 
is what I heard. 

England have retained only four of the players from the Oval test team: Stewart, 
Gooch, Lewis and Smith. 

The new comers to the England side are Fairbrother, DeFreitas, Dermot
Reeve, Illingworth, Lamb, BOTHAM and HICK.  (I've forgotten a couple of
names.) I am not sure if Gower is in the side. 

For Pakistan, Miandad has a stomach ailment and is doubtful for
tomorrow.  Inzimam will play as will Ejaz Ahmed who recently got back
in the team.  Yes, the same Ejaz who played in the WC.

I can see Hick getting a chance because TCCB can not afford his
failure. As Gooch said "we have a lot of investment in him." The idea
perhaps is to give him a chance for the tour of India where the gentler pace
bowling and slower pitches will not expose Hick's limitations of
technique against fast bowlers. If he comes good,  the TCCB thinking
goes, it may give him the confidence to play the quickies also. I had
actually predicted his return in a posting a few days ago.

But being 2-0 in the series, I expected England to start building the 
middle order batting for the Indian tour. And I do not see Botham and 
Lamb in that role. 

	--SAN

Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: carter@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: re: oldtimer again
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 09:08:50 GMT

 
 First of all, congratulations to Pakistan on a well deserved victory
  both the last test and the series. I'm a bit late with this but I
  can't always get on the computer. The physicists seem to prefer to
  use it for things like Monte Carlo simulations of lepton- quark deep
  inelastic scattering events. Funny lot! I've always found that the
  cleverer the person the less well balanced their outlook. I've always
  been very well balanced, indeed, when drinking our local brew, if you
  weren't well balanced to start with, you tended to fall over before 
  really appreciating some of its finer points.
    As an ex village cricketer it's very difficult to imagine what facing 
  a bowler of Waqar's pace is like, but I was given an idea of it when
  talking to Patrick Moore, the astronomer and TV personality. Apparently
  he was a keen amateur cricketer and once played in a charity match where
  he had to face the bowling of Frank Typhoon Tyson, fresh from his triumphant
  tour of Australia. 
    Frank had promised not to bowl too fast, and Patrick says to the 1st ball,
  he played what he thought was a perfect forward defensive, and indeed the
  ball hit the middle of the bat, which it tore from his hands to demolish
  the wickets and send the bails flying past the keeper. I think Frank just
  grinned and said " Sorry, I thought you played a bit"  
   Have a nice day
    Dick
 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket,soc.culture.pakistan
From: ahmad@seas.gwu.edu (Aftab Ahmad)
Subject: The Best Captain (Re: Pakistan: 200 not out.......
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 14:53:01 GMT

In article <16AUG199221281018@zeus.tamu.edu> m0a1530@zeus.tamu.edu (ABBAS, MUSTAFA) writes:
>there is hardly any doubt about the best captain for pakistan. Based on 
>statistics, yes, miandad is best but QUALATIVELY imran is surely the 
>best. In fact, arguably the best captain for any country. Isn't (or 
>wasn't) he?.



	No doubt Imran's name comes to mind when the word cricket
	or captain is spoken or read. His capabilities as a captain
	have been absolutely outstanding. But if I have to vote for
	the best captain ever, I will say Mushtaq Muhammad. He was
	the first one who really thought about a stratgy to win and
	even take risk for it. Also in his era have we seen the
	trend of pacers getting on its way in Pakistan. I regard him
	the best ever captain, in Pakistan cricket.

aftab ahmad
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: shamim@.bellcore.com (Shamim Naqvi,MRE-2E342,829-4813,,21272)
Subject: Re: Mushtaq sets for Somerset
Reply-To: shamim@.bellcore.com
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Morristown, NJ
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 12:43:41 GMT

In article 14AUG199208271446@vxcrna.cern.ch,  hasan@vxcrna.cern.ch  writes:
>Another interesting thing -- and also somewhat puzzling to me -- is that while
>the great Abdul Qadir performed so well in the Pakitan's tours of '82 and '87,
>he was to my knowledge never sought by any English county (now I may me wrong
>in this, so please correct me if I am ), at least not in the manner in which
>MA has been. >
>	Hasan
>

Not many people are aware of this but Abdul Qadir the magician was actively and 
heavily sought by the counties. Tony Lewis wanted him to play for Glamorgan and 
asked him several times. There were two basic reasons why AQ didn't take any 
of the offers. The first was his absolute conviction that if he played county cricket, 
the batsmen of the world would be able to "read" him. Second, Imran never wanted 
AQ to play for the same reasons and AQ and Imran are very close friends. 

The greatest weapon for a leg spinner is the ability to deceive the batsman. 
Once you can read him (you still have to play the ball, of course) he becomes 
a less difficult proposition. And the only way to read a leggie is to play him and 
play him and play him. 

Unfortunately, for AQ, last year he did express a willingness to play county cricket. 
But the demand was greatly reduced (recall that AQ had lost his test place) and 
of course he also injured his achilles tendon.  There are some who maintain that 
one reason for dropping AQ and playing Mushtaq is that AQ had become a known 
commodity through familiarity. 

It is also the case that in the eighties no one believed that a spinner was useful. 
It is only recently that spinners have made their way back into test and ODI sides. 
Remember, Imran used to play AQ in OD games and it was considered exotic. 
My favorite were the games where he played both AQ and Mushtaq together
at Sharjah and won the games. Nobody could believe that two leggies were 
being played in the same OD match!

	--SAN
From: v124t66l@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Sudip K Mazumder)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Subject: Re: Jimmy Amarnath - India's best ever batsman?
Date: 15 Aug 92 04:26:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Aug14.220916.4311@news.Hawaii.Edu>, venki@mpg.phys.hawaii.edu (N. Venkateswaran) writes...
> 
>	The header says it all. I am sure Gavaskar fans will surely 
>	disagree with me. But consider this:
> 
>	Most of Gavaskar's (and for that matter Vengsarkar's) big scores
>	were scored against weak bowling attacks. Gav failed against
>	Marshall & Co in WI, Imran Khan & Co. in Pak and did not play
>	Lille and Thomson when they were at their best.
> 
>	As for amarnath who can forget his batting in Pak, WI and World
>	cup in 1982? [...and the one run in 6 innings in the '83 series
>	with WI? :( ]
> 
> 
>	If only politics had not interfered with Jimmy's career....








Though it will be improper to compare the greatness of Amarnath and Gavaskar
yet I quite frankly think that Amarnath did not get his due. I think ever
since the helmets were introduced Amarnath became one of the finest players
of fast bowling perhaps better than Gavaskar. The helmets made a lot of 
difference for Amarnath because now he could curb his natural urge to hook 
any rising delivery ( of course who can forget the hooks he executed against 
MArshall and Co.). Having said the same I think one can not say that Gavaskar
(sorry if I interpreted you wrong) was of the next best category. Scoring
10000 runs and 33 centuries (I guess it is OK) is not a joke and proves the
merit of the batsman beyond doubt.


Sudip
Xref: sparky rec.sport.cricket:14360 soc.culture.australian:3931
From: vnesiah@usc.edu (Deep Third Man)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket,soc.culture.australian
Subject: Aussie tour of Lanka
Date: 17 Aug 1992 08:45:51 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

Could we please have some scores and periodic reports if possible?

Please?

- Vasee
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: svb0224@zeus.tamu.edu (BALIJEPALLI, SRIDHARREDDY V)
Subject: Vengsarkar's Record
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 02:50:00 GMT

         Career Record of Dilip Vengsarkar:

         Tests:

         116 tests, 185 innings, 22 not outs, 6868 runs, 166 highest score,
         42.13 average, 17 hundreds, 35 fifties, 78 catches.

         Break up of test centuries :

         5 against England : 103 Lord's 1979, 157 Lord's 1982, 126* Lord's
         1986, 102* Leeds 1986, 137 Kanpur 1984-85.

         6 against West Indies : 157* Calcutta 1978, 109 Delhi 1978, 159
         Delhi 1983, 102* Calcutta 1987, 102 Delhi 1987, 100 Bombay 1983.

         2 against Australia : 112 Bangalore 1979, 164* Bombay 1986.

         2 against Pakistan : 146* Delhi 1979, 109 Ahmedabad 1987.

         2 against Sri Lanka : 166 Cuttack 1986-87, 153 Nagpur 1986-87.


         One Day Internationals:

         128 Matches, 120 innings, 19 notouts, 3508 runs, 34.73 average, 
         105 highest, one hundred, 23 fifties and 37 catches. 

         Hundred : 105 against Pune 1984-85.





Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: pvr@argo.rice.edu (PVR Narasimha Rao)
Subject: Re: Indian Cricket:--> JOKE OR WHAT????!!!!?!?!?
Organization: Rice University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 09:45:49 GMT

In article <4220017@hpcc01.corp.hp.com>, mtc@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Mark Cousins) writes:

|> This is Pankaj Shah, posting from a friend's account.  If you choose to reply
|> directly to me, please mail to pshah@cup.hp.com.


	[comments on the drawbacks of Indian cricket (like bad pitches, other
	aspects of domestic cricket, which are hindering the progress of
	talented youngsters (with a few outstanding exceptions)) deleted]


|> By the way, Mr. Rao, I believe you are the only one who thinks that the 4-0
|> whitewash in Australia was not a case of the Aussies dominating the Indian


I am sorry that you chose to to misrepresent me here.

Of course, Aussies "dominated" throughout the series (except in the third test).
But, there is a BIG difference between "dominating" and "outplaying".


All I said was:


"There is no doubt that Indians were totally outplayed in the first 2 tests
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[in the last few years, they got used to losing the first test without any
fight :-(]. At Sydney, even after losing almost one whole day's play due to
rain, they went so close to winning the test! Though they lost the next 2
                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tests, it is arguable whether they were really "outplayed". If only Azhar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
decided on the last day of each of those 2 tests to settle for a draw, the
results could've been different (I am not criticizing Azhar's decision).
Anyway, there are no facts here, only opinions prevail and let's not get
into any debates."


|> team.  And, IMHO, Azhar did not have much of a choice to play for a draw in
|> the fourth test.  I don't think he'd have lasted as long if he had not gone
|> for his shots.  I do not recall the last time he played a "slow" innings,
|> perhaps someone recalls . . .


I am not talking about Azhar's knock. In the second innings of both the tests,
Indians went for it right from the beginning instead of settling for a draw (esp
in the 5th test). They tried to keep with the required run rate. They took risks
throughout. However, as I said, there is no point in debating over these things.


|> Pankaj Shah;  pshah@cup.hp.com;  (408) 447-4658.


--------
PVR Narasimha Rao
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: haridas@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Ramesh Haridas )
Subject: Gavaskar question
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 23:54:32 GMT

How many test matches did it take Gavaskar to score 1) 10,000 runs
and 2) 30 centuries ?

Thanks,
Ramesh
-- 
Ramesh Haridas                              | E mail: haridas@uiucvmd (Bitnet) 
University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign| r-haridas@uiuc.edu (Internet)
"finger haridas@uiuc.edu" for more info	    | rh56022@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu (NeXT)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: ccrob@uqvax.cc.uq.oz.au
Subject: Re: Aussie Bowling
Organization: The Prentice Centre, Uni of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 02:40:39 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.015512.13106@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au>, s1172217@giaeb.cc.monash.edu.au (Mark Smith) writes:
> There is Paul Jackson, left arm orthodox that has now moved to Qld from Vic to
> further his career,

Unbelievable, here I am in the heart of sunny Brisbane, and I hadn't heard.
Serves me right for hibernating during winter.

> I do agree that the Aussies are taking SL a bit lightly, leaving out Hughes
> and blooding a youngster such as Martyn when the squad is only 13 is asking
> for trouble, you can bet Merv will be back when the WI's arrive for this
> summers tests, hes very consistent and career figures are suprisingly close to
> Mcdermott's.

It was a bloody stupid decision in my (not very important) view. Merv mightn't
be the most talented bowler around, but he's a hard worker and isn't afraid to
try things. Plus he's got a lot of guts. He's put some big efforts in on lots
of wickets - from lively Perth to feather-bed Adelaide.

(Prabhakar reminds me quite a bit of Merv - wonder if they're related).

> Mark.

--
Rob.

Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: andyc@is.morgan.com (Andrew Coad)
Subject: Re: Mushtaq sets for Somerset
Organization: Morgan Stanley - IS
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 12:49:38 GMT

In article <14AUG199208271446@vxcrna.cern.ch>, hasan@vxcrna.cern.ch  writes:
|>  Does this mean that the English cricket is seeing a revival
|> of leg-break-googly bowling after an almost total neglect of well over 20 years.
|> Any comments.
|> 
|> 	Hasan
|> 
I for one certainly hope so. Variety in bowling is one of the great attractions
of cricket for me and leg spinners have been in the twilight for too long. The
last leg spinner that I can remember in English county cricket was the Aussie
Kerry O'Keefe who also played for Somerset and it was not unheard of for him to
bowl an entire side out. Does anyone recall any other leggies playing regular
county cricket in the last 20 years, 30 years?

Andrew Coad
Morgan Stanley
New York
(212) 703-2379
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: ramana@unislc.uucp (Ramana Ramachandran)
Subject: Re: Graeme Wood the run-out expert was Re: opening pair
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 15:15:27 GMT

Iam not sure,but I do remember miandad running out 2 (?) persons then got 
himself run out.He then came as a runner for Imran and got him run out too!!!
Boy that must have been very embaressing!!! Anybody remembers the details???

ramana
From: pmc5@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Paul M Corballis)
Subject: Re: On playing swing bowling ......
Reply-To: pmc5@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Paul M Corballis)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 13:53:53 GMT

In article <13AUG199220413029@ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu> diwadkva@ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu (Vaibhav A. Diwadkar) writes:

[Lots of interesting stuff on the perception of swing bowling deleted]


>Regards, - Vaibhav.
>
>BTW, if you are interested in more reading, any standard text in Perception
>should have a chapter(s) on the perception and action of events.  The 
>reference for the baseball study I alluded to is:
>
>Bahill, A. T., and Laritz, T. (1984).  Why can't batters keep their eyes on
>	the ball?  American Scientist, 72, 249-253.

For those intersted in this type of thing, there is another article 
on the perceptual aspects of batting in a recent issue of a journal
called "Perception".  The article is specifically about the perceptual
aspects of playing spin bowling, or more specifically flighted deliveries.
You know, the ones that mysteriously disappear from your (my) sights and
bowl you (me), just when you (I) thought an easy four runs was on the way!
If there is any interest in this, I'll post a review once I finish reading
it.

Cheers, Paul


Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: jka@ipsa.reuter.com (Jan Arendtsz)
Subject: AU vs SL, 1st OD INT'L, Brief Scores
Organization: Reuters Information Services (Canada) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 17:37:30 GMT

Summary of scores in the 1st One Day Int'l between SL and Australia:


Australia	247 for 5 wickets in 50 overs

	M. Taylor 94 (130 balls, 7 fours)
	T. Moody  54  


Shri-Lanka 	251 for 6 wickets in 49.2 overs

	A. Gurusingha 	53
	A. De Silva	105 (102 balls, 2 sixes, 12 fours)
	A. Ranatunga 	45* (20 off the 47th over bowled by
			     McDermott including 2 sixes)

Gurusingha and De Silva added 147 for the 3rd wicket. 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Jan Arendtsz                   email: jka@itcyyz.ipsa.reuter.com
  Reuters Information Services   Tel:   (416) 364-5361 (WORK)     
  Toronto, Ontario                      (416) 539-0404 (HOME)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
From: apm@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Andrew Merritt)
Subject: Re: Neutral Umpires ---> Pick your own !
Organization: Hewlett-Packard NSG-PWD, UK.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1scd1 PL4
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 16:58:45 GMT

andyc@is.morgan.com (Andrew Coad) writes:
(Andrew, please wrap your lines at <80 chars!)

:  Some replies to your posting have contested this point. But you are
: right. Remember that every pitch in baseball is a call of some type. Take
: the ratio of calls in baseball versus arguments to the calls in cricket
: versus arguments. i would strongly suspect that the calss-to-argument factor
: in cricket is higher than in baseball. Note also, that very few arguments
: occur as the result of a strike/ball call. 

I think the Test Match Special team were talking about this; one point they
made is that you only get a handful of run out decisions in a match, whereas,
as you say, the baseball umpire has to call each ball.  The baseball official
therefore has a lot more practice at calling close decisions, and is less
likely to get it wrong (in cricket, have you ever heard of an umpire's
decision on no balls being questioned (above club level)?).  Perhaps as
others have suggested, some form of practical training at calling run outs
could be instituted for umpires?

----
Andrew
Xref: sparky rec.sport.cricket:14481 soc.culture.sri-lanka:933
From: RAJA@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket,soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: Re: SL/AUS Test match D5
Date: 22 Aug 92 21:10:55 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <1992Aug22.132009.16726@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>,
sobitha@author.ecn.purdue.edu (Sobitha W Samaranayake) says:
>
>AUS beat SL by 16 runs !
>
>At the end of the third day SL had a lead of 271 runs.
>
>AUS 2-inn. 473
>
>SL 2-inn. 166

Another case of snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Poor guys must hav
e been scared out of their mind they were going to win one. What next Be the wo
rld cup champs.:-)

rajagopalan
From: pmc5@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Paul M Corballis)
Subject: Re: Aussie bowling
Reply-To: pmc5@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Paul M Corballis)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 14:59:45 GMT

In article <Bt7J3o.KJz@comp.vuw.ac.nz> John.Mcmullan@comp.vuw.ac.nz (John Michael McMullan) writes:
>
>Why does everyone think New Zealand is such a hard place to tour?
>We have a very nice climate in summer, appreciative crowds and
>reasonable umpires (at least I hope they are...)

All the above is true, or at least _I_ hope so too, but somehow, touring
sides seem to get beaten fairly regularly, at least until recently... :-(

Cheers, Paul

Organization: Doctoral student, Metallurgy and Materials Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.sport.cricket
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 23:31:07 -0400 
From: Alok Sharan <as56+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: New York Cricket (Pak vs ROW)

On 14-Aug-92 in New York Cricket (Pak vs ROW)
user Andrew Coad@is.morgan.co writes:
>Here is the info that I have:
> 
>Pakistan are playing ROW at Downing Stadium, Randalls Island New York of
>SPETEMBER 26th, 1992 start time 11.00 a.m. The teams are as follows:


There was another India-WI match that was supposed to have been played
at the same place in May 1992 and got cancelled because the "players
didn't arrive". I drove all the way from Pittsburgh to New York City to
watch this match, only to be told this. Downing Stadium is the most
pathetic and poorly maintained stadium that I have ever seen in my life.
The place is small, dirty and has a track that will make playing (and
watching) cricket unexciting. Avoid this match if you can.

Alok Sharan
Carnegie Mellon University