Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Well done England... there are few games that stick in the memory more than this one will for nail-biting finishes. New Zealand were very unfortunate but fortune favours the brave, and they simply didn't risk enough big shots.

With that and Lewis taking the record for British Grand Prix wins it has been a great weekend of sport... I really feel for RF two championship points and unable to convert but ND was a worthy winner given the bias of the crowd willing RF on, he stuck with it and won - and that's what the record books will show.

The cricket match was absolutely brilliant, edge of the seat action, and what a finish, Ben Stokes was worth his weight in gold. Well done England, you made us proud.

Fantastic match which gives us the hat trick of World Cups in Football, Rugby and Cricket. A record that I can't see anyone else beating.
Felt sorry for Federer, amazing to think that he is still competitive at 37. Borg and McEnroe never got to a final after the age of 25.
Formula One no interest in.

An absolutely outstanding game and I took a couple of quid off the poor bookies as well.

One of the best sporting event I’ve very seen in my aging years.

Congratulations England.

EnjoyingTheSun wrote:Fantastic match which gives us the hat trick of World Cups in Football, Rugby and Cricket. A record that I can't see anyone else beating.

Indeed ETS, fantastic match ... but with respect to the "hatrick", you have to acknowledge that outside of the Commonwealth (and a few other countries in the case of rugby) there is little interest worldwide in cricket and rugby. Other than England, the only other country that has a realistic chance of completing this particular hatrick of "world" cups is Australia ... moreover, aside from England, it's only Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand that would even want to have a chance of this hatrick.

If a Russian neighbour were to say to you that they have a similar hatrick ... albeit in handball, volleyball and ice hockey, would you be that impressed? Probably not. Furthermore, it's quite likely your Turkish neighbour might not have even heard of cricket and rugby ... but they could probably run cicles around you in basketball.

That said, the team did great yesterday ... as did the boys in 2003 and 1966.

I wrote:Other than England, the only other country that has a realistic chance of completing this particular hatrick of "world" cups is Australia

... albeit very slim chance.

iancrumpy wrote:

EnjoyingTheSun wrote:Fantastic match which gives us the hat trick of World Cups in Football, Rugby and Cricket. A record that I can't see anyone else beating.

Indeed ETS, fantastic match ... but with respect to the "hatrick", you have to acknowledge that outside of the Commonwealth (and a few other countries in the case of rugby) there is little interest worldwide in cricket and rugby.

Rugby I'll grant you is more a minority sport. I love to wind up rugby fans by pointing out it is a sport for people who can't play football, as illustrated by the fact it is dominated by a country with a population of less than five million. As for cricket, The International Cricket Council (ICC) state 125 countries around the world play the sport which certainly surprised me. But even if just India alone played it and it's massive out there, that's over one and a quarter billion people.
I think the accessibility of football and cricket is the thing that can only make them get bigger in even poor countries. Kids can have a fairly decent game of either with very little, fairly inexpensive, equipment (jumpers for goalposts) and have a game with four of you. American football, basketball, ice hockey etc not so much.

iancrumpy wrote:

I wrote:Other than England, the only other country that has a realistic chance of completing this particular hatrick of "world" cups is Australia

... albeit very slim chance.

Or France, they won the silver medal for cricket in 1900 so they have form . One of these days they'll win the rugby world cup. The big question is how much long can American teams domination of the baseball WORLD series last!

EnjoyingTheSun wrote:Or France, they won the silver medal for cricket in 1900 so they have form

EnjoyingTheSun_again wrote:The big question is how much long can American teams domination of the baseball WORLD series last!

All good points in msg 7 ETS, but I feel the "accessibility", you commented on, is primarily the accessibility to the appropriate playing surfaces :

A few years ago, I worked in an Omani school where about 10% of the students were from the Indian sub-continent. We had no grass to speak of at the school, but plenty of concrete surfaces. So, pretty much every day my Indian and Pakistani students were out playing cricket. It may have been with a tennis ball, but they were certainly enjoying themselves.

I also spent many years teaching at Turkish schools, where again there was only concrete to play on in the break-times. There, the two sports played were basketball and football. Of course the football played there in the school yard was slightly different to that in the UK - The boys (I'm sorry to say it was just boys) would always go into a tackle with over-riding thought of avoiding a fall to the ground. Aside from some of the prestigious private schools, Turkish students don't even have access to grass pitches for PE lessons. Across Turkey, there are though thousands of (maybe tens of thousands) of artificial "halı saha" pitches. But again it's not quite the same falling down on one of those as it is falling down into the mud.

When it comes to rugby, it is almost impossible to find somewhere to play, say, in Istanbul. Before the Ottomans RFC was formed in the late 90s, I used to play for a team made up of mainly British expats, for matches against visitting Navy ships ... but on one occasion the only pitch available was about 30 miles out from the centre of Istanbul ... where before starting the match we all spent about 15 minutes picking up the bigger stones!

So, cricket (albeit with a tennis ball) can be played pretty much anywhere. Football can be played almost anywhere, even though it might be the kind of football whereby the goalkeeper never dives and there are no sliding tackles. But rugby can never really catch on in countries where in particular the youth have no access to grass pitches.

iancrumpy wrote:
All good points in msg 7 ETS, but I feel the "accessibility", you commented on, is primarily the accessibility to the appropriate playing surfaces :

A few years ago, I worked in an Omani school where about 10% of the students were from the Indian sub-continent. We had no grass to speak of at the school, but plenty of concrete surfaces. So, pretty much every day my Indian and Pakistani students were out playing cricket. It may have been with a tennis ball, but they were certainly enjoying themselves.

I also spent many years teaching at Turkish schools, where again there was only concrete to play on in the break-times. There, the two sports played were basketball and football. Of course the football played there in the school yard was slightly different to that in the UK - The boys (I'm sorry to say it was just boys) would always go into a tackle with over-riding thought of avoiding a fall to the ground. Aside from some of the prestigious private schools, Turkish students don't even have access to grass pitches for PE lessons.

Not everyone in Britain has access to rolling green fields, where I grew up was very urban and as such our football was for the most part on concrete. Children the world over make do

Not everyone in Britain has access to rolling green fields, where I grew up was very urban and as such our football was for the most part on concrete.

Having spent most of my life living and working abroad, I only really have in-depth knowledge of five locations in the UK :-
(1) Lydney, Glos (my home town)
(2) Cardiff (my university city)
(3) Kirkstall, Leeds (my brother lives there)
(4) Leytonstone, East London
(5) Enfield, North London
I have to say though that in all those locations one was always within one mile (and often far less) of suitable playing fields - Maybe though I've always been very fortunate.

But I agree - children make do with what they've got.

I wrote:(2) Cardiff

To be honest, when it comes to Cardiff, I can't be certain that there is that density of suitable playing fields - for the other four locations there certainly is.

I wrote:In all those locations one was always within one mile (and often far less) of suitable playing fields.

Apparently though, access to playing fields (particularly school playing fields) in the UK is getting worse - see link. That said British kids still have it better than children in all the other places I've worked.

Source : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/other ... ields.html

Technically it’s England AND Wales Cricket

Walesforever wrote:Technically it’s England AND Wales Cricket

I don't think you know how this works. If the bulk of the team is English it is an English triumph. If there is no English claim on the win at all, such as Andy Murray at Wimbledon, it is a British triumph