Posted by India play Australia in the T20 World Cup final. You can read all sorts of match previews, but we assure you the match will be decided on India’s ability to run “all across the ground.”
There are many different factors affecting the outcome of a cricket match, but some are far more important than others. Speaking after a rubbish 2018 T20 tri-series against Australia and England, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur identified one overwhelming weakness in her team.
“We need fit players in the team and when we go for the next tournament I would suggest to the management that we have fit players who can run all across the ground,” she said.
Have India got this now? And what does it even mean?
There are two standout interpretations of Kaur’s words. One is that she wants players who can run from one end of a cricket ground to the other. The second is that she wants players who consistently run on the ground and not elsewhere.
Let’s examine those and try and work out which is more likely.
All across the ground – from one end to the other
The Melbourne Cricket Ground, commonly known as the MCG (or even just “The G” by Australians, who are such a spectacularly lazy people that they can’t manage a full abbreviation and have to abbreviate further) has a playing area that is about 156 metres long at its widest point.
This is not far. Most people can run 156 metres. If your job is playing sport, you can definitely run 156 metres. It would therefore make no sense for Harmanpreet Kaur to specifically request players capable of running 156 metres.
All across the ground – and not anywhere else
This is a strange one. Cricket grounds are very open, so opportunities to run on surfaces other than the ground are limited.
There are no walls within the playing area, so you couldn’t run across the walls. The MCG does not currently have a roof, so you couldn’t run across the ceiling.
The only real alternative to running across the ground would be running in the air and we can only presume that this is the specific weakness that Harmanpreet Kaur wishes to address.
As established at the start of the tournament, women’s cricket features a high proportion of run-outs. Being airborne greatly increases the odds of suffering one as batters need to ground their bat or self to make their ground.
Sports people always talk about aiming high and shooting for the stars, but if India can remain on terra firma when they’re batting, they should win.
Do they also need to hit the ground running all across the ground?
Hard to say.
If I might be so bold as to say so, you’re being a bit silly in this piece, KC. Flippant, even.
“All across the ground” clearly means all of the fielders, criss-crossing, all parts of the ground. Harmanpreet probably wants every fielder to run about a lot in the aftermath of every ball.
Alternatively…or possibly even as well as, Harmanpreet is suggesting that they warm up by playing some sort of football match, running all across the ground until at least one of the players does herself a serious mischief.
Your so-called “standout interpretations” should be consigned to the linguistic cesspool in which they belong…
…with all due respect, sire.
What about if we say ‘two of the standout interpretations’? Would they be allowed out of the linguistic cesspool if we did that?
Oh all right then.
Your a persuasive fellow, KC, which is why you are King Cricket and I am merely Ged Ladd.
Is Linguistic Cesspool part of Linguistic Cobra?
That is one of the standout interpretations, APW…or may I call you ‘W’?
The double-abbreviation of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to the MCG to the G reminds me of the phenomenon in American sport for teams’ nicknames to be abbreviated or turned into other nicknames – the Arizona NFL team are known as the Cardinals, which becomes ‘Cards’, the Boston Red Sox become the BoSox, and so on.
It’s very strange to a British ear/eye, like when people abbreviate Tottenham Hotspur to ‘the Tots’, instead of Spurs.
In the case of the MCG, presumably saying/typing ‘the G’ will soon become too time-consuming, and it will become known simply as ‘G’ (or possibly ‘the’, although that’s three times as many letters and could potentially be confusing).
So far the Indian women have done w lot of running around the ground, as instructed.
This progression appears to be at the expense of taking wickets. Should Harmanpreet also have said, “…but not to the exclusion of all else?”