Silly sports questions you were afraid to ask up to now

[LookItsMeAgain]

Ok - this is my silly sports question that I've been too afraid to ask up to now:

What material are the poles that are used for the pole vault made of?

I honestly don't know.

Fibreglass, I would have thought.

Never understood cricket scoring - overs and wickets etc.

An over is just 6 balls bowled. Some games are limited overs ( eg 20/20 is 20 overs each). Test cricket is unlimited- it’s the time that’s the limit.

a “wicket” is basically you got someone out, either bowled or caught or run out. Once you have 10 wickets the innings ends as the 11th batsman can’t bat on their own.

Thank you @illiterato . That makes sense now.

So basically the game could end because:

1. The allocated number of overs has been used up
2. Test cricket - you physically runnout of time
3. Everyone has been bowled out/caught out/other , ie no man is left in the team

Why is the offside rule seen as so difficult?

Basically yes. In test cricket if the 5 days runs out before everyone has had two innings then it’s a draw. Therefore you have to strategise about how you play depending on how much time is left. You can’t just run the clock down by batting super safely as then you won’t have time to get them out as well. In test you can “declare” which means your team stop batting before everyone is out ( usually when you’ve run up a really good total) to give yourself the time to get them out when they bat.

I don’t think it is in RL.I think it’s one of those overdone jokes. I know a lot of people who wouldn’t know what it is because they don’t watch soccer but I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t understand it once explained IYSWIM.

What is a scrum in rugby?

Its a contest for the ball. Two lines of players fromeach team line up up with their arms around each other, then they engage so they are pushing back at each other. Then the ball goes in, and they are trying to kick the ball backwards out of the scrum to their Scrum Half, who then gets it away from the scrum as quickly as possible (hopefully up the field towards their try line)

That was going to be my question

I don't think its that complicated per se but it's the most complicated part of football rules for sure. There are some nuances to it and the rules around some aspects of it change from time to time. It's also not always easy to apply, even with video referees and can be quite controversial because sometimes it involves an element of judgement on the part of the referees

Ahh, I forgot about ‘declaring’. Another complication in what is essentially a simple game. Ie. Bowler bowls, batter bats.

I think the mud is a little clearer now so thank you.

Just thought,who decides when to declare? The batters on the pitch. Or the captain, or the team as a whole?

It's the captain who decides (well it might be a group decision but it's the captain who indicates that the team is declaring). The batters in the middle will normally have an idea it's coming, perhaps they were sent out to get a certain amount of runs out that they will wait until a wicket falls etc so they will look out for the captain who will wave the players in.

Carbon Fibre.

@goingtotown is right, as are F1 cars.

And your question isn't silly at all @LookItsMeAgain