Rants and Raves

## *150*

Geoff has a long standing position that players should not celebrate reaching 150 when batting as it is Not A Proper Milestone. Final Nerds regularly sit on ‘150 watch’ as a player approaches 150 to monitor whether the celebration will trigger Geoff’s rant.  150 in other contexts (wickets, games, caps etc) will also bring up a reference to this position and whether celebration is allowable for other milestones. The argument seems to be that a player has already celebrated a 50 and then a 100 so the 150 celebration is moot?

## *213*

Known as “The Final Word Number” or cricket’s “Golden Number”, 213 appeared a statistically unlikely number of times in early Nerd Pledges.  This became so noticeable that Geoff eventually did an entire 23 minute long ‘Statman’ segment on 213. This is particularly impressive as he links the statistics, one degree of separation at a time.  The segment begins at 1:22 of Season 8, Episode 7 and we highly recommend a listen.

## The Nature of Causality

It’s not usually explained as this on the pod, but Geoff will occasionally tee off on the subject of the ‘could-have-beens’ of cricket: ‘*oh, what if they’d declared earlier / later?’  ‘it had/n’t rained?’ ‘so-and-so was/n’t dropped*?’ etc. It’s difficult to sum up as it is a philosophical position founded on the nature of time, existence and the universe, but it fundamentally boils down to the idea that we don’t and can’t know what might have happened in that alternate universe as conditions would be different. For all we know the result would in fact have been worse.  An early version of this shows up in one of the Facebook videos from 2015.  If you still don’t understand, just keep listening as it will come up again.  It fits quite nicely with Geoff and Adam’s interest in *Quantum Leap*.

## The TFW First XI

TFW has a number of favourite players, not always adopted for obvious reasons. A combination of what Adam and Geoff like, a certain hipster element and a general vibe, TFW favourites do share a certain energy. The current teamsheet (in alphabetical order):

* Maeva Douma - Maeva is a Cameroonian cricketer who dismissed four batters in one match — even better, in a single spell of 4 overs of the match — by running them out at the non-striker's end. She is TFW’s modern day mankad hero.  (See Vinoo Mankad below.) Maeva was interviewed on Season 10, Ep 22 - the interview is also on YouTube here.
* Tich Freedman - leg spinner, holder of many records, shows up in Nerd Pledges (or at least, Nerd Pledge explanations) surprisingly often.
* Clarrie Grimmett - the spinner’s spinner, robbed by Don Bradman, Frank *BLOODY* Ward and possibly the nature of causality of any number of records.
* Jodie Hicks - the ‘thanks for coming’ player’s player. Jodie Hicks came to TFW attention as a player for the Sydney Sixers who basically never got a bat (or was out for a duck) and didn’t bowl.  Jodie’s performance in Sydney grade cricket and lack of opportunity to perform in the Big Bash was reported on regularly by Jono Haylen, until the sad news recently that Jodie has (perhaps unsurprisingly) returned to AFL to play with GWS.
* Dean Jones - Adam loves Deano with the pure love we have for a childhood hero who (mostly) hasn’t let us down, and so do a number of the Nerds. Adam’s obituary for Deano captures the emotions of a generation.  You can also listen to the Story Time ep recorded just after he died: Bring Back Deano.
* Vinoo Mankad - if Glenn is the patron saint, Vinoo is the martyr to the cause. TFW and Final Nerds love sporting behaviour, respect, inclusion and all that stuff, but think The Spirit of Cricket is often used as pusillanimous nonsense in order to serve the status quo (i.e. racism, the patriarchy etc).  A mankad - where the bowler runs out the non-striker, covered by Law 41.16 - is and always has been a valid form of dismissal and batters out of their crease at either end deserve whatever comes their way. TFW loves to see it — and by association, the reputation of Vinoo Mankad — reassessed as solid cricket tactics without any of the ‘unsporting’ grumbles that go around when it is used. (See also: Maeva Douma above.) Mankad’s family prefer the term not to be used for this type of dismissal because of the negative way it is viewed by many in the cricketing world, and so the pod is now more likely to refer to it as Law 41.16 or running out the non-striker, even though we feel it is something to celebrate.
* Glenn Maxwell - patron saint of TFW, generally revered for his style of play (#Maxwellball), independent approach to cricket and willingness to be himself. Not all Final Nerds are Glenn Maxwell fans, but there is a vocal majority and the minority who don’t get it generally have the sense to sit quietly to avoid being stoned for heresy.
* The Nawab of Pataudi, aka ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, aka Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi — besides how much fun his title is to say, the Tiger is a former Indian cricket captain whose achievements include:
	+ 1,068 runs as Winchester school captain in 1959,
	+ debuting for Sussex at 16, and
	+ returning from permanent damage to his right eye at the age of 20 to play 46 Tests and 310 First-class games. Nawab is a title so there are several other Nawabs, some of which are explored in Story Time 56 – Yeah Nawab (this is a play on the Australian yeah-nah response).
* Shane ‘Watto’ Watson (SRW) - while some of us (well at least one Nerd) have always appreciated Watto, Geoff and Adam admit that what started as an ironic appreciation of his cricket grew into sincerity (as these things do, take note edgelords). This is epitomised in Geoff’s "Pretty Hate Machine" piece, perhaps best appreciated as the bookend to Geoff’s 2013 YouTube Ashes Diary entry “Hey Watson”, where Geoff pleads with Watto to gain a fuller understanding of both the LBW rule and DRS. Watto turned up regularly in early Pledges, and Geoff and Adam still know his key stats.

## The Wisden Problem: Statistical Rounding and the Battle with Wisden

Adam thought he had found an error in Wisden statistics (see ST76- A brand new year), but it turns out Wisden rounds statistics down. The logic is that if you haven’t got the runs or wickets to earn that higher number, you won’t earn it by simple rounding. The Final Nerds are pretty evenly divided on this position, but Adam is determined to have it changed because all of maths works differently. Adam has actually argued this directly with Wisden editors but hasn’t changed their position… yet.

## Slow Over Rates

Slow over rates in test cricket are a source of frustration for many cricket fans. Geoff and Adam have spoken about this problem in several episodes (see, for example, Season 10, episode 10), and have analysed some of the possible solutions put forward by both fans and cricket administrators.

## First-Class Status *or* Smokers v Non-Smokers

Generally speaking, first-class cricket refers to either domestic or international matches which are played at the highest standard. Examples of this include Test matches, the English County Championship, the Sheffield Shield (“Mr Sheffield!”) in Australia, and the Ranji Trophy in India. There are some historical oddities regarding first-class status - some awarded the status when perhaps they were less than worthy, and games that have not been awarded first-class status when perhaps they should. These games are a source of both mirth and frustration for Geoff and Adam.

In Story Time 51 – Geoff learns algebra (13th June, 2021) Geoff and Adam explored another game which has been awarded first-class status. In 1884 the Australian team toured England. After the serious games had been played, the two teams pooled their players and two new teams emerged based on whether they smoked or not – the Smokers played the Non-Smokers.

In Story Time 66 – The Gentlemen of Philadelphia (17th October, 2021), Geoff dives into the story of Bart King and the Philadelphian cricket club, which represented Philadelphia between 1878 and 1913. Many of these games have been awarded first-class status, including eleven games against Australia, two against USA, and one against the English Residents (source). Earlier in the same Story Time episode Adam makes reference to an 1871 series between Married and Single men – another series whose first-class status is perhaps less than warranted.

The World Series Cricket “super tests”, which took place between 1977 and 1979, have not been awarded first-class status. This, quite rightfully, annoys Adam and Geoff. To paraphrase Geoff, how can the best facing off against the best, not be awarded first-class status?!

Smokers v Non-Smokers? First-class status. Gentlemen of Philadelphia v English Residents? First-class status. Married v Single men? First-class status. The greatest players of the era facing off against each other – no chance.