• Made a golden duck.

    Bowled 3/30.

    Took a catch.

    Made more runs than Root, Duckett and Bethell combined.

    Not a bad day's work really.

    I know they are, but these phrase don't seem like complete thoughts lol

    My best guesses, in baseball parlance, as someone who used to know much more cricket, but forgot most of it after I stopped playing cricket video games:

    • golden duck - i used to know, but no idea now. 2 wickets in a single over?

    • bowled 3/30 - “pitched” 30 overs (don’t worry about it) and got 3 “outs”. A good bowling performance.

    • took a catch - one of the outs was made by catching the ball himself

    • made more runs than bla, bla, blah - batted better than three (presumably) non-pitchers combined

    How’d I do cricket fam?

    Golden duck is out first ball he faced.

    3/30 - you got the three part right but the 30 is the number of runs scored off his bowling while taking them.

    Cheers. Not bad for 3am

    You've done well.

    A duck is a batsman given out without scoring (from duck’s egg, which resembles a 0)

    A golden duck is a batsmen who is given out on the first delivery they face

    Bowled 3/30 - took 3 wickets while conceding 30 runs. Given that teams often score more than 300 runs an innings, 3/30 is economical and effective.

    Yes, he caught a player out by catching the ball. No gloves allowed, by the way, except for wicketkeeper standing directly behind the stumps.

    Yes, although he’s a bowler, he scored more runs than those three English batsmen combined.

    Not bad!

    thought golden duck is first ball of the innings?

    No, first ball of the individual batsman’s innings. It can occur anywhere in the team’s innings.

    Getting out on the very first ball you face, of course, is pretty humiliating, and for a specialist batsman in particular is considered a massive failure.

    Wrong Wrong Right Right

    Not bad. A golden duck is out first ball scoring no runs. 3/30 is he took three wickets and conceded 30 runs whilst doing it.

    Golden duck = got out off first ball faced when batting (a duck is scoring 0, golden makes it first ball)

    bowled 3/30 = took 3 wickets for 30 runs (a very good total, normally would be around 30 runs per wicket)

    took a catch = yes he made a wicket by catching a ball - but the wicket goes to the player bowling not the player catching. So it's not one of the wickets previously mentioned

    made more runs than bla, bla = and yeah you're basically right. Scored more than the players mentioned who are selected on the other team as batters

    (A wicket is getting someone out if that's confusing for baseball people)

    took a catch = yes he made a wicket by catching a ball - but the wicket goes to the player bowling not the player catching. So it's not one of the wickets previously mentioned

    A distinction well taken. Could the catch not theoretically have also have been on one of his own bowls? Or is it not permitted to catch a ball struck back at the bowler?

    Yes - the catch could have been off one of his own deliveries. That's called "caught and bowled" - but isn't what happened in this case.

    Understood. I forgot about the possibility of catching off the other bowler’s delivery.

    Absolutely but not today, he took a catch in the outfield in addition to the three wickets/outs he took while bowling.

    Absolutely terribly, but it's not your fault, and you get points for trying

  • Im still waiting for that statue!

    They may need more than one after tomorrow's 200*

  • Now he needs to do a gillespie. Imagine the shit we could give the poms

    Years later 2 English ashes squads will be talking to each other reminiscing…

    They’ll bring up Scott Boland, one would say “you mean that guy who blitzed us and got 6/7 at the MCG?”

    “Nah he’s the opening batter who got a double century against us at the MCG”

    At least Scotty doesn't seem the type to brag. Dizzy brings it up every time he's in a commentary box

  • Historic 95k fans attended day 1 of the Boxing day test match at the iconic MCG. Huge vibes

    MCG crowds are the best. Boxing day test is the best. I used to go every year until I moved abroad, miss it so much.

  • That title is delightfully inexplicable to this American. Hopefully Jomboy can explain.

    The Ashes: the name of the Test Cricket competition between Australia and England. A 5 match series that takes place every ~2 years. This is the 4th Test match of the ongoing series.

    Test: a Test match is the traditional format of cricket. Under current rules both teams bat their full roster of 11 batters twice and they can play for up to 5 days (afterwhich if there's no clear winner it's a draw).

    Tailender: this guy is not very good at batting, his role in the team is bowling (cricket equivelant of pitching) and therefore will almost always bat at the "tail end" of the order.

    Scott Boland: the player in question. Build the man a statue!

    Final over: essentially the last moments of play. An over goes for 6 deliveries.

    Nightwatchman role: sometimes teams intentionally put in a poor batter when the conditions are particularly risky to bat in. That way they might preserve their better batters to cash in when the going is better. Most typically this is at the end of a day's play which means that it the batter doesn't get out they continue batting in the morning. In a funny way it's as if he's been guarding the stumps all night hence "nightwatchman."

    Boxing day: the British English name for the 26th of December.

    Boxing Day Test: there's a tradition of scheduling a Test match in Melbourne, Australia at that time at this particular ground.

    Did his survival at all increase the odds of Australia winning or was it more about the novelty of him doing it? Is this like the 12 man on a basketball team playing garbage time and hitting a 3 pointer?

    Pretty much, Australia just needed to set up for the following day without risking important batters getting out so he was told to go bat for 10 minutes and do his best to not get out until play ended. He managed to do that plus put 4 runs on the board. He's a great bowler but totally useless batter normally.

    Plus it was his home city and England were pretty aggressive trying to get him out in 6 balls.

    There's only 20 wickets that a team can lose in the game until they aren't allowed to score any more runs. Boland is a low value wicket but it is still of enough value to shift the dial a bit.

    It's not at all garbage time, the game is very much alive.

    It's more likely you go out near the end of the day. So if Boland go out it doesn't matter, if a better batter did, it might be bad.

    Not a major thing, but certainly a worthwhile tactic.

    Conditions are slightly tougher at the end of the day but the main reason a night watchman is used is because it’s harder to get set/your eye in twice. Once at the end of the day and once in the morning. 

    With such a short amount of time, the batting team sent out a bowler (and typically bad batter) to just make it through that one over. If they sent their usual good batter to face one over, the bowling team would be very aggressive to try and get a wicket (out). In just 6 balls, you don't have time to get yourself settled, so mistakes can be made easily.

    The main difference between this and the basketball analogy is that this situation is not junk time. It's a very important over to survive, as it saves the team from risking a high value batsmen. So they send their worst batter out, as if he gets out it doesn't matter.

    I read it and was like “definitely, definitely is all those things, no doubt no doubt”

    I'd imagine he'll do a video on the day as it was just all so weird how it panned out.

    LOL I just realized how incredibly nonsensical that title would be hahaha

    As an American that loves watching cricket clips when they pop up because the crowd is always electric; I can successfully say I will never understand how this sport works, but will always click a clip.

    What do you find difficult? Maybe I can help

  • to non cricket fans this video looks like nothing important, thankfully the civilised people among us know that boland just took us one step closer to a 5-0 fuck off

    Hey now. We haven't been good enough to be told to "fuck off." One of the most embarrassing ashes series for a while. And there's been some contenders.

    I'm hard pressed to think of any side that has so consistently fumbled opportunities. They've had us 7 for at times where it was close then leaked 60 to 70 runs, to 3 to 4 wicket mini-collapses where they were close to setting up a competitive position.

    The "highlight" has been the last day in Brisbane where they went from going a session without losing a wicket, and still managing to cough up the test by eight wickets on the very same day.

    As a depressed Englishman, I can confirm this is sadly correct.

    The majority of the world knows fuck all of your weird ass sport.

    It's literally the second most popular sport in the world. Your little NFL isn't even top 10

    I'm guessing you are American, in which case its ironic that you are saying that considering the Indian subcontinent plays cricket and thats 1/4th of the world right there.

    And all the british commonwealth countries play cricket.

    Meanwhile no one outside the US watches NFL and its 60 minute ads in 90 minutes of play.

    Jesus christ. Peak capitalism sport.

    Nearly 100k people at the ‘G say otherwise.

  • The four at the end was just 👨‍🍳💋

  • Scotty Batland

    Scott Batandbowland

  • What a first day..

    Yeah feel for the fans who bought tickets for Day 3

  • By tea tomorrow we'll be seeing "263*, dropped on 0"

  • The boundary on ball 6 was just icing on the cake. Great job

  • Love the nightwatchman role for Scotty.

  • Even in this modern world of cricket. And in almost white wash scenario. Ashes keeps delivering cinematic moments

  • I thought the Ashes were over because Australia had already retained? Or do they still finish the series?

    Yes, they still finish the series. The Aussies are now playing for a whitewash - ie they’re trying to win all five tests.

    Beating the English is over then the ashes is retained, it's when their souls and wills are crushed beyond belief.

    The series is sealed because Australia have won 3 of the 5 matches but the last two in Melbourne and Sydney are still huge events.

    England want some redemption and pride, Australia want to humiliate them by winning the series 5-0.

  • Can someone give me a little summary as to why this particular moment is important?

    this is a bowling friendly pitch, which gives the bowlers extra advantage and on the first day itself, a total of 20 wickets were taken. in a five day test match, there are 40 wickets in total.

    after england got all their batsmen out, australia had to face the final over. play at the end of the day is one of the most vulnerable times for a batting team because the lights are low and losing a wicket in this position adds extra pressure, often resulting in more wickets in the session or the next day. teams usually send a tailender, meaning a player who is a bowler but not skilled at batting, to protect the wicket and prevent a collapse. as a nightwatchman and lower order batter, scott bolands job was simply to protect the main batsmen and prevent a late day collapse, allowing the stronger batters to face the next day in better conditions.

    also note that scott boland got out for a golden duck on the same day earlier , which is one of the most shameful ways to get out being dismissed on the very first ball faced without scoring anything.

    Few reasons. The ashes is a massive sporting event for England, Australia and cricket generally it’s been an going competition for a hundred years rotating between playing in England and Australia. In particular today was the Boxing Day test traditionally starting around 11pm in the UK and obviously morning in Australia played at the MCG which holds 100,000 spectators.

    Test match cricket is played over 5 days this was right at the end of day 1 and England had just ended their batting and Australia are due to bat. Often in these circumstances teams send out a “night watchmen” who is generally one of the worst batsmen to protect the good batsmen. In cricket batting is hardest the fist half hour so you don’t want to risk your good batsmen late on the day.

    Hometown kid who is in the team as a bowler had to go out to bat and survive 6 balls to set the team up for tomorrow even though he's (by far) the worst batter in the team. He got the job done and put 4 runs on the scoreboard for good measure.

  • This must be how a British person feels when they read an NFL sentence like : “ DL jumps offside on 4th and 2 hard count to end the game with 1:31 remaining.”

    Just straight nonsense if you don’t know anything about American football.

    Yes but it’s not hard to learn. Give it 15 minutes and you’ll understand what it’s saying

    I read the explainer in a different thread, all good

    Awesome, I applaud you looking it up and researching it. It’s a very enriching sport with a very unique sporting experience. Let me know if you have any questions

  • A great case of overdelivering!

    Worst scenario - gets out, end of day's play

    Good outcome - not out at the end of day's play, 0/0

    Ideal outcome - score some runs for 0/4, cause England to pull more hair out with near chances, get standing ovation coming off at the end of play

  • He did a great job seeing as he's pretty well useless with a bat and especially in his home city with a ton of pressure riding on him.

    Not expecting anything from him tomorrow but got the job done, now the batters turn to do theirs better than they did today hopefully.

  • Cricket is so odd. I’m sure if I understood it, it would be great to watch, but the run up on the bowl (is that what it’s called?) I mean honestly the headline of this post sound completely made up to me.

    Again I’m completely ignorant and I’m sure I’d go all in on it if I took time to learn it as I love sports.

    Start with T20 matches, they are shorter then test matches and are great for dipping your toes into the sport. The Australian T20 league is playing at the moment as well, called the BBL. It's  just that the Ashes are a big deal, so all the cricket highlights being posted are from the current series.

    Cricket is very enriching if you care about sports. It offers something else that no other sport does, and I say this as someone who loves a bunch of sports too. There truly is no other experience like test cricket. If you take the time to understand it, I guarantee you’ll feel enriched

  • I find it so strange that they run over to throw the ball

    They aren’t throwing, they are bowling

  • For people unfamiliar with the Laws of Cricket, watch the videos below:

    Also, stick to the Beginner's guides at first until you have watched a few T20 or ODI matches to get the basic mechanics of the sport.

    Cricket, like Baseball, is a very cerebral sport that once you learn Cricket's intricacies, you will grow to love over time, regardless of the format (T20, ODI, or Test).

    If you are coming from a Baseball background, pay attention to the fact that in Cricket, runs are plentiful, but outs are scarce. This is the opposite to Baseball, where outs are plentiful, but runs are scarce.

    To learn even more, visit /r/cricket and /r/mlc when Major League Cricket's season starts in June / July 2026.

    Beginner's Guides for Cricket - T20 and ODI Formats


    After watching a few T20 or ODI matches, then take a look at:

    Intermediate Guides for Cricket

    Major League Cricket - The USA's First Pro T20 Cricket League

    Understanding Test Cricket

  • Wow I don't understand ANYTHING in that post title.

  • Very nice stuff Barrel. Shame the goat couldn't throw down some nice square dogs this match. The bin lid's in good touch and Crats is taking poles at either end.

  • Americans be like: the fuck did you just say?

    When was the last time you cared about what a seppo had to say?

  • As an American, the title and all the comments are a different language to me.

    funny i think the same way when i see baseball and nba posts here but i dont confidently comment under such posts stating that or feel proud of my ignorance and inability to learn other sports.

    Tbh, while I'm usually annoyed, this one is indeed quite funny in how confusing it would be.

    The Ashes? Test? Day one? Tailender? final over? nightwatchman?

    I felt their remark was a harmless jibe more than anything. Anyway, it is always worth the chance to talk about Cricket, civilisation doesnt spread by itself.

    Thanks for letting us know! What would we do if we didn’t know about your ignorance and unwillingness to learn about it?

    Jesus people, I was trying to make a funny.

    It’s not funny after the 15th unoriginal joke like this on this thread alone. And that not even mentioning all of the other cricket threads where it happens without fail on every. single. thread. It’s not funny anymore Make the joke and ask what it means or try learning about it or move on.

  • The best thing about cricket as an American is how all the words individually are words you understand, but sound like complete gibberish when strung together.

    The Ashes - series of Test 5 matches between Australia and England

    Fourth Test - #4

    Tailender - Worst batter, best bowler (usually).

    Nightwatchman - Sending the tailender out to just seal the day and let the best batters have their shot the following day because they're a risky out but least valuable.

    Boxing Day - Day after Christmas.

    I’m a cricket fan from America and you could say this about American football or baseball too. Both of those sports are way more loaded with jargon. But people around the world don’t confidently display their ignorance on those sports threads like Americans tend to do on cricket threads

  • Mmm! I know some of these words!

    Congrats mate! Glad to see your learning of English is going well

    Ha, same! It's just a word jumble.

  • Looks pretty interesting, but I have no fucking clue whats going on. Anyone know of any videos or such that could help me learn the sport enough to understand the game a bit?

    Very cool, thank you!

    No problem.

    Also, Cricket is not the only sport played on an oval field:

    This sport was created to keep Cricket players fit during non-summer months.

  • I’m sure this title is trying to tell me something but I can’t for the life of me figure out what

    Proud of you for being brave enough to show how ignorant you are of the second most popular sport in the world.

    Thanks for letting us know! I’m so glad I now know you’re ignorant and don’t want to do anything about it

  • individually I know what those words mean but together in this context it is gibberish.

    Yes. This is a very important cricket match. The contest is already over though.

    I’m not sure what I would have done if I didn’t know about your ignorance and unwillingness to learn. Thanks for letting all of us know about this very important matter!

    this was meant as a joke but clearly didn't come off as such. I'm sorry if it came across as mocking your sport. I wasn't intending to but it happened if that's how everyone received it. I'm not going to delete the post unless it's wanted, I deserve the down votes.

  • What language is this?

    English, something Americans struggle with