I learn a new sport theoretically -,Cage Cricket

 Last Friday I got an invitation to watch on YouTube a demonstration Cage Cricket match between two sports teams from Jyväskylä.

This was followed  on Saturday and Sunday by a men’s snd women’s tournament called  Cage Cricket.

Most Valuable Player of the Tournament - Ritu Ghanghas

I had not encountered this form of cricket earlier  and even an AI Search did not yield much data. However, it did say that the  Finnish Cricket Association was organising a tournament on Cage Cricket as part of its schedule! 

With great interest I watched the first demo match. Not knowing the rules of the game,it seemed a very messy game to me me. Having been a  Cricket buff all my life,  I soon worked out the issues with the sport.

As two Oulu teams were taking part in the tournament, I did send a message to a friend who was attending the event that if Oulu weanted to do well, they had to develop a new startegy in keeping with the rules of this game.

For instance, I noted that if a bowler bowled a perfectly good ball, it could yield between 3 and 7 runs for the batting side, whereas, if the bowler bowled  a wide ball, it would yield just 2 runs. So the incentive on the first four overs of every batting pair would be for the bowler to bowl wides and give away just 30 runs.

As I watched the games unfold, there was just one lady captain who had understood this and I could hear her telling her bowlers  to bowl wides to good batters!

There were several other inconsistencies in the rules showing that this sport was in its infancy and would have to be developed condiderably to be considered to be an interesting sport! 

Of the teams, only one player, a young lady from Oulu, Ritu Ghanghas, was head and shoulders above everybody else.

I had seen the cricketing genius of Ritu Ghanghas  when I had attended the launch of the Oulu Women's Cricket inauguration last year. Her skill was not because of cricket but because she had a super eye based on her skill at frisbee.

Others may play Cricket but this is a new sport and it is not  traditional  cricketkng skills that are important,

I hope that organisers of cricket understand  this and make their decisions of choice of teams and leaders based on the skills necessary. Even in normal cricket there are totally different skills that are required by players of T20, one day Cricket (T50) and 5 day test matches. Even the selectors have to have different skills. The Cricket Boards should  understand that no size fits all.

Me sitting on the floor!!

Cage Cricket in Finland

The Jyväskylä tournament was well organised and my congratulations to the Jyväskylä Cricket Club which won the Men's Cage  Cricket Trophy. 

The last time they visited Oulu, the whole team turned up, after the game, at my house with flowers! Thank you guys.

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Coincidence! Wish I was 30 again!

Education time was yesterday!

Ultimate international competition in Oulu.

Day before yesterday, I took the grandkids to a friend's pizzeria. When coming out I saw a shop selling Frisbees.

It had obviously just opened a couple of months ago as I have lived in this locality for 27 odd years and never noticed this shop before.

Grandson Samu told me he was playing a game in his school called Ultimate Frisbee. His school was one of 7 in England which was taking this "sport" seriously!

I promised to buy him one, more about curiosity about the plastic that was being used to make the Frisbees.

Yesterday we went to the shop and I was amazed to see the range of Frisbees available for all sorts of Frisbee related sports, the two most distinguished ones being Frisbee Golf and Ultimate Frisbee!

I asked the shopkeeper about Ultimate Frisbee and its popularity in Finland. He told me it was extremely popular and the National Championships were being held in Oulu this weekend!

When we got home I looked up what information was available about the Frisbee.

I realised that this was one part of my knowledge about a plastic commodity which was woefully lacking!

Samu explained the game to me. It is one which is extremely energetic and also of great skill. It is likely to become an Olympic Sport very soon!

I learnt a lot yesterday about the
origin and technology of Frisbees, and also how it has developed from a cookie tin into a highly scientifically oriented plastic product. The designs these days involves testing the prototypes in wind tunnels. The ordinary plastic disc is an amazing piece of aerodynamic engineering.

In a way I was relieved that as I was retired and do not have to wake up every morning genned up about all that is going on in Plastics. I felt a little naked that since 1984, when I moved to Finland and the field of Microelectronics, I had lost some of my deepest educational roots.

I told Samu that way back in the mid sixties I knew the Chairman of the most famous manufacturer of teets for babies feeding bottles called "Griptight". He had told me then that if I ever invented a new type of ball, he and I would be multibillionaires.

I now realised that I never looked out of the box, as the Frisbee is just one of that "new type of ball"!

How I wish I was back in my
in my "thirties" as this experience has got my development taste buds raring to go again!

Samu and I will watch some of the Finnish National Frisbee Championship in Oulu this weekend with different objectives. Him to develop his game skill, me to fill a large void in my professional life!