Thursday, November 29, 2012

Swing Bowling


In most top class cricket teams today there is at least one swing bowler, one who can move or “swing” the ball from its initial line in the air, producing a difficult situation for the batsman, both from a scoring point of view and also just to survive at the crease.

One of the earliest exponents of swing bowling was the great Australian pace-man Frederick “The Demon” Spofforth (1853 – 1926), who began his spectacular Test career in 1877 at express pace, but later switched to variation in his bowling, including a mean in-swinger that produced plenty of wickets. 


Frederick Spofforth (1853 to 1926)
Test bowler for Australia - known as "The Demon"
(Image form Wikipedia Commons)

Known as “swerve” in the 19th century, it was further developed over the years and is now recognized as one of the main weapons in the arsenal of the fast medium bowler. The English quick James Anderson is recognized as one of the great swing bowlers of the present time.

Swing bowling is very much an art, and is produced through several different factors, including the way the ball is held on delivery, the nature of the shine on the ball, and perhaps a little more surprisingly, the weather.

English fast bowler James Anderson - a noted swing bowler
(Image form Wikipedia Commons)

Bowling a swinger basically depends on the position of the seam on the ball through the delivery and this results in one side travelling through the air faster than the other. This is encouraged by polishing one side of the ball and assisted by the prevailing atmospheric conditions such as temperature, humidity, cloud cover, together with wind speed and direction.

The denser the air, the more swing is encouraged, so cooler air is a more fertile swing environment than warmer air. Up until quite recent times it was also believed that high humidity helped in encouraging swing, but new research has revealed the rather surprising fact that cloud cover may be far more important. In bright sunlight hot air rises from the surface of the pitch, creating a turbulent environment for the ball to pass through, which reduces swing. In overcast conditions there is less rising air, less turbulence and more swing.

All this means that cool, overcast weather is best for swing bowling and the swing can also be magnified if there is some component of the wind blowing across the wicket in the same direction in which the ball is swinging.

These conditions are met with far more often in England than Australia where hot and sunny weather is the norm during the summer months, but on occasion good swing bowling weather can emerge here as well. In the southern capital cities of Australia, such as Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, this can happen in a southerly airflow following a cold front, when temperatures fall and cloud cover increases.

One of the greatest exhibitions of swing bowling ever seen was by the Australian Bob Massie in the Second Test at Lords in England during the 1972 Ashes tour.

In cool and cloudy conditions, Massie, coming alternately over and around the wicket, bent the ball through the air so prodigiously that many of his deliveries were virtually unplayable and the English batting was routed. His figures over the two innings were 8/84 and 8/53, representing match figures of 16/137, the third best test match figures of all time.

Massie’s display was a convincing demonstration of the tremendous potency of swing bowling, achieved when the bowler is on song and the atmosphere is just right for the purpose.

Great footage of Massie’s bowling during this Test can be seen at

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

在澳大利亚的中国


中国在澳大利亚的历史是一个有趣的。有几个中国人抵达澳大利亚在1800年初,但发现于1852年在澳大利亚农村地区的黄金生产的大量涌入,所有的金矿尝试自己的运气。

虽然很多最终还是回到了中国,中国移民搬离金矿和在悉尼附近开设小型企业,包括食品商店,并提供招待所。此外,中国市场花园窜出了在悉尼的郊区,蔬菜种植,后来在市场出售。中国人也开辟了家具制造工厂,在那里好,价格便宜的家具制造。

中国市场的园丁,悉尼,1893年

社区领袖,包括餐馆老板美梅光达在1890年的悉尼成为一个成功的受人尊敬的商人。男人像他那样多,逐步打破了当地对中国社会的偏见,它被越来越多地认识到,绝大多数的中国人的勤奋工作和良好的公民,澳大利亚。

一个皇家委员会在1891年举行“指称中国赌博和不道德”,并发现,中国的房子在悉尼整齐,很好的照顾和谁娶了中国男人的澳大利亚妇女发现他们良好的和有爱心的丈夫。




美梅光达

在中国和澳大利亚之间的关系是一个重要的转折点,当日本侵略中国南京在1937年,中国本土的社会团结。许多中国人参加了澳大利亚军队在第二次世界大战中抗击日本。

悉尼和墨尔本周围的大多数中国反对共产主义和不支持毛泽东政权在20世纪60年代,但在过去的三十年中,政治的情况已经淡化。在悉尼唐人街附近的语言反映了这一点 - 在60年代和70年代,这是几乎所有的粤语,但现在是压倒性的普通话。

在最近的时代,已成为澳洲的贸易联系越来越紧密,中国和这个行业现在是澳大利亚出口的最重要的因素之一。

悉尼的唐人街,一个众所周知的用餐区和旅游景点。

社会上也有显着增加之间的整合与异族通婚越来越受欢迎在过去的三十年,中国和澳大利亚的社区我个人熟悉这是我的女儿在法律上是中国的澳大利亚,当然是我的两个可爱的孙子。


澳大利亚著名的中国公民过去的150年:

美梅光达(1850年至1903年):在澳大利亚悉尼的中国商人和社区领袖。非常成功的商人

黄如彩(1925年至2009年):中国澳大利亚曾在澳大利亚军队在第二次世界大战的精英突击队的一员。被授予的杰出行为勋章,英勇的行动和后来的承澳大利亚勋章。

张任谦(1936年至1991年):中国的心脏外科医生和现代化的先驱,听到移植。获委任为伴侣澳洲的命令。拖马来西亚在1991年申办失败的勒索的罪犯被谋杀。






所以约翰(1946 - ):中国的澳大利亚商人,并两次当选市长的墨尔本市
















黄英贤(1968 - )澳大利亚参议员代表南澳大利亚州和一个联邦部长吉拉德政府