Cricket News from NZ

While working from home today, I set up my other computer to listen to day 4 of the England-New Zealand cricket test match on RadioSport. (Click on "listen live" to get the free radio feed.) The first three-plus days of the match have been rather listless, and it looked like it was going to be a draw, but things went a bit wild during the later part of the day, including one of the England bowlers taking a hat trick (three batsmen on three consecutive balls). It was an almost overlooked hat trick, because he did it across two overs.

(Cricket is played in "overs" of six balls, each over bowled from opposite ends by different bowlers. In this case the bowler took a wicket (got the batsman out) on the last ball of an over, so there were six intervening balls from the other end by the other bowler before he bowled again, whereupon he got wickets on the next two balls.)

So it looks like they'll go to the fifth and last day of the match tomorrow with a chance of either team winning it, rather than drifting along to a draw.

Like baseball, cricket is a game where something nothing happens for a long time, followed by a bunch of frantic action all at once. And like baseball, it's a pretty good sport for listening on the radio.