Test Cricket - Information

[Stefano]

What do those abbreviations mean? For example:

Batsmen:
CD Collymore (RHB)

Bowlers:
Shabbir Ahmed (RFM)
Danish Kaneria (LB)

What do RHB, RFM, LB mean? I would say that R stands for Right and L for left. Are there any other abbreviations?

Then, have a look to this page. It is the scorecard of the test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. For example, Pakistan 1st Innings. Why is there a * next to Inzamam? Why is there a + next to Kamran Akmal?

 

[tooextracool]

What do RHB, RFM, LB mean? I would say that R stands for Right and L for left. Are there any other abbreviations?

RHB= right hand batsman
RFM = right fast medium
LB= leg break

Then, have a look to this page. It is the scorecard of the test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. For example, Pakistan 1st Innings. Why is there a * next to Inzamam? Why is there a + next to Kamran Akmal?

*=captain
+=keeper

 

[tooextracool]

Sometimes, yes - sometimes no.

nope he bowled well throughout the test. he was also played extremely well.

He wasn't poor overall, he was good for 1 Test and poor for 2.
And he was poor for the 2 he was poor for because of injury.

and incase you havent realised, being poor for 2 and good for one, means that you are poor overall
and please show me where you heard of this 'injury', because i certainly havent heard of it. he was declared fit for the first test, and you've already claimed that he was, and i certainly dont remember him getting injured during that test.

Christ, do you seriously believe that? The number of times Murali has played when unfit is untrue, and this was one of them. The reason for that is incredibly obvious - with him, Sri Lanka can beat anyone, without him they struggle to match most people, especially away.

no, whenever hes come in unfit at the start of the match, hes always bowled just as well as hes ever done. and this case is completely different, because he was clearly fit.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

What do those abbreviations mean? For example:

Batsmen:
CD Collymore (RHB)

Bowlers:
Shabbir Ahmed (RFM)
Danish Kaneria (LB)

What do RHB, RFM, LB mean? I would say that R stands for Right and L for left. Are there any other abbreviations?

For batsmen, R stands for right and L for left (and HB for -handed batsman).

For bowlers, it's a little more complicated.

R usually stands for right-arm, and L for left-arm, especially for the seam bowlers (they're the ones who don't try to turn the ball with wrist/finger movements, but just attempt to get it as a high speed as possible, and also try to get the ball to land on the seam so that it gets awkward bounce).

There's different pace categories - usually four (correct in order, might be slightly off in the speeds):

F (fast) - 145+kph (90+ mph) - bowlers like Harmison, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee
FM (fast-medium) - 130-145kph (85-90 mph) - bowlers like Flintoff, McGrath, Pollock
MF (medium-fast) - 120-130kph (80-85 mph) - bowlers like Pathan, Naved-ul-Hasan
M (medium) - 100-120 kph (70-80 mph) - most bowlers in the County Championship.

So RFM would be right-arm fast-medium. Grammatically, that doesn't really make sense, but never mind.

Then you've got spinners. They're classified in three main categories:

OS - off-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from leg to off stump, away from the batsman. Usually done by means of your fingers, hence also known as fingerspin. Bowlers such as Harbhajan Singh.
LB/LS - leg-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from off to leg stump, into the batsman. Usually done by a flick of the wrist, and may also be called wrist-spin. Bowlers such as Shane Warne.
SLA - slow left-arm. Spin action again, but this time with your left arm (so that someone using his fingers would turn it into the batsman).

Then there's also LBG - leg-break googly - when you have a leg-spinners action but can turn it the other way (away from the batsman), which is known as a googly. And there's also SLC (slow left-arm chinaman), dunno how much it is used these days, but it's a slow left-arm bowler with a leg-spinners' action.

Feel free to comment, btw, I'm only 98 % sure on the details here...

 

[viktor]

the classifications for spinners are true if the batsman is left handed. (go back to C_C post for what a right handed and left handed batsman is)

 

[Richard]

Okay that's two mods now (Neil and I) who've told you guys to just leave it alone in this thread but you refuse. The only thing stopping me from closing this thread is that Stephano asked me not to so I'm going to leave it open but can people please try to stay on-topic and not be so fixated upon having 'right of reply' to an argument completely irrelevant to this thread?

You think there aren't others who have points related to the debate (I know *I* do)? So why wouldn't people be posting them? Could it be that they're considering the purpose of this thread and then deciding not to soil its content with irrelavent minutae about a debate which could be had elsewhere? C_C is one of the most opinionated members of the forum (in a good way ) and he's stayed right out of a debate I'm sure he'd love to inject his two cents into. Can others please attempt to follow suit?

Corey, I ask you - how is a single post from myself and tec making it in the slightest difficult for either Stefano to ask more questions or for anyone to answer?

 

[marc71178]

Can I ask who are you to question the moderators?

 

[Richard]

So as of now no-one is allowed to even question someone of higher authority?

 

[marc71178]

I've lost count of the number of times you've been told to shut up by them and then asked why you should.

They moderate the forum, and their word goes.

 

[Richard]

And I've said otherwise where?
I'm also struggling to think of a single occasion where I've been told to "shut up" specifically.
Equally if no-one questions the mods there is no progress made.

 

[honestbharani]

Are you guys actually arguing about being told to "not argue"?

 

[Steulen]

Are you guys actually arguing about being told to "not argue"?

 

[vic_orthdox]

OS - off-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from leg to off stump, away from the batsman. Usually done by means of your fingers, hence also known as fingerspin. Bowlers such as Harbhajan Singh.
LB/LS - leg-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from off to leg stump, into the batsman. Usually done by a flick of the wrist, and may also be called wrist-spin. Bowlers such as Shane Warne.
SLA - slow left-arm. Spin action again, but this time with your left arm (so that someone using his fingers would turn it into the batsman).

I think we might have created one confused Italian here, my dear Scandinavian friend.

 

[honestbharani]

For batsmen, R stands for right and L for left (and HB for -handed batsman).

For bowlers, it's a little more complicated.

R usually stands for right-arm, and L for left-arm, especially for the seam bowlers (they're the ones who don't try to turn the ball with wrist/finger movements, but just attempt to get it as a high speed as possible, and also try to get the ball to land on the seam so that it gets awkward bounce).

There's different pace categories - usually four (correct in order, might be slightly off in the speeds):

F (fast) - 145+kph (90+ mph) - bowlers like Harmison, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee
FM (fast-medium) - 130-145kph (85-90 mph) - bowlers like Flintoff, McGrath, Pollock
MF (medium-fast) - 120-130kph (80-85 mph) - bowlers like Pathan, Naved-ul-Hasan
M (medium) - 100-120 kph (70-80 mph) - most bowlers in the County Championship.

So RFM would be right-arm fast-medium. Grammatically, that doesn't really make sense, but never mind.

Then you've got spinners. They're classified in three main categories:

OS - off-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from leg to off stump, away from the batsman. Usually done by means of your fingers, hence also known as fingerspin. Bowlers such as Harbhajan Singh.
LB/LS - leg-spin. Right-arm bowlers that turn the ball from off to leg stump, into the batsman. Usually done by a flick of the wrist, and may also be called wrist-spin. Bowlers such as Shane Warne.
SLA - slow left-arm. Spin action again, but this time with your left arm (so that someone using his fingers would turn it into the batsman).

Then there's also LBG - leg-break googly - when you have a leg-spinners action but can turn it the other way (away from the batsman), which is known as a googly. And there's also SLC (slow left-arm chinaman), dunno how much it is used these days, but it's a slow left-arm bowler with a leg-spinners' action.

Feel free to comment, btw, I'm only 98 % sure on the details here...

Obviously, all that is based on the assumption that the batsman is a left hander. If the batsman were a right hander, it is the reverse.


For instance, Harbhajan Singh is a right arm off spinner(Classified as OS). His stock delivery (his normal delivery) is the one that pitches on the leg stump or outside of the left handed batsman (off stump or outside if the batsman is right handed) and turns away from the bat of the left handed batter (turning into the batter, if he were right handed)



Similarly, Shane Warne is a right arm leg spinner (classified as LS). HIs stock delivery is one which pitches outside the offstump of the batsman, if he is a left hander (outside the leg stump of the batsman, if he is a right hander) and spins into the batsman, if he is a left hander (away from the batsman, if he is a right hander).



Sometimes, leg spinners are also classifed as LB, which stands for leg break, which is the same as Leg spin for all intents and purposes.


BTW, there is no rule that a leg spinner should only bowl leg spinning deliveries. He can very well bowl an off spin delivery if he can, but usually, the change of action required to bowl an off spin delivery makes it easier for the batsman to read the ball being bowled. Therefore, leg spinners bowl a special sort of a delivery that spins away from the left hander after pitching (much like an off spin ball) without much change in their action. This is called a googly.


The reverse happens with an off spinner. That delivery is called as the "doosra".


Hope that helped.

 

[Steulen]

I think we might have created one confused Italian here, my dear Scandinavian friend.

Confuse him some more

Doosra: LS bowled by OS
Flipper: no lateral spin, bowled by LS
Armball: no lateral spin, bowled by OS
Chinaman: OS bowled by SLA

would that be about right?

And what ever happened to OLA (orthodox left arm spin)? Has that one been dismissed from the abb ranks?

 

[honestbharani]

Well, Stephano, The Chinaman is when a left arm spinner bowls wrist spin... His stock delivery is the one which pitches around the leg stump and moves away from the batsman, if he is a left hander (pitches outside off stump and turns back in to the batsman, if he is a right hander). He, too, can bowl a delivery which spins the other way (i.e) pitches outside off and turns back in to the batsman, if he is a left hander (pitches outside leg and spins away from the batsman, if he is a right hander) and it is generally called a googly as well.


So, in general, both finger spinners (right arm off spinners and left arm orthodox spinners) and wrist spinners (right arm leg spinners and left arm chinamen bowlers) can bowl deliveries that spin in the opposite direction to their usual deliveries. With finger spinners, it is called the "doosra" and with wrist spinners, it is called the "googly". When wrist spinners bowl a quickish, faster delivery that simply skids on off the pitch without too much turn, it is called a flipper (the word was invented by Shane Warne) and when the finger spinners bowl a similar delivery, it is called an armball.



I am sorry if I confused the hell out of you, mate. I hope someone can do a better job of explaining this than me.

 

[Stefano]

Thanks for all your replies. I have just finished to watch the second Test Match between India and Pakistan. I really enjoyed it! Now, I will watch the 6th ODI between those two teams.

Another thing: in all team sports, the man who sets the strategy for the game is the head coach. For what I have understood, in cricket the captain has a bigger importance. Is that right?

-----

Just one little thing: my name is Stefano, not Stephano. It is strange: almost all non-Italians write my name with PH.

 

[Swervy]

Thanks for all your replies. I have just finished to watch the second Test Match between India and Pakistan. I really enjoyed it! Now, I will watch the 6th ODI between those two teams.

Another thing: in all team sports, the man who sets the strategy for the game is the head coach. For what I have understood, in cricket the captain has a bigger importance. Is that right?
-----

Yeah pretty much...i cant think of another sport in which the captain of a team has so much influence. However, I think these days the influence of a coach is becoming greater. There does appear to be more of a pre-game 'gameplan' involved these days.

I might suggest that the fact that the actual playing area of the game being so far from where the coach is,is a factor in why the captain has to make more decisions regarding the actual play than a game like football or rugby...although with the constant substitutions that take pllace these days, the coach can have more influence with message sending etc

Thats just my opinion anyway

 

[Richard]

Indeed - it's encouraging to see cricket at last coming up-to-speed.
Hopefully eventually the ridiculous ban on Cronje\Woolmer-like communication-systems might be rescinded.
Are coaches banned from touchline yelling in rugby and football?

 

[Swervy]

Indeed - it's encouraging to see cricket at last coming up-to-speed.
Hopefully eventually the ridiculous ban on Cronje\Woolmer-like communication-systems might be rescinded.
Are coaches banned from touchline yelling in rugby and football?

Its a tricky one isnt...would the Cronje Woolmer type of thing detract from the game? The art of captaincy is one of the more intruiging parts of the game, but it seems silly not being able to get communication straight from the coach when it can be relayed via the guy bringing on drinks or whatever.