Don Bradman played a big role in making Test cricket popular, but how restricted might his impact have been if he had never left the shores of Australia? Which brings us to ships and crickets long historical association with them.With the benefit of hindsight and because of the repeated telling of this tale, we can attach a quality of portentous doom to the photo above - of spectators waving goodbye to the Orontes as it set sail from Tilbury, carrying the English cricket team to Australia in September 1932. The smoke, the white handkerchiefs, the two boys, one bigger, resting his weight on the smaller one…From farewell to welcome (to farewell): Bradman and the Invincbles are greeted in the Tilbury docks for Bradmans final Test series, in 1948.Cant get a World Cup ticket? No worries. You can float in and out of the game at your pleasure. Wellington, 2015.Ships didnt only help spread top-level cricket. They even helped take the game to the very top of the world. Above is an illustration of cricket being played between crew members of HMS Hecla and HMS Fury during an Arctic exploration mission led by William Parry between 1821 and 1823.ICC Hall of Fame? Yawn. If you must honour me, name a trawler after me. Fiery Fred and his wife inaugurate his namesake at the Beverley shipyard in Yorkshire, 1960. Sydney Barnes poses for a photo with his wife and son on the RMS Saxon while travelling to South Africa for Englands 1913-14 Test tour there. Barnes took an incredible 49 wickets at 10.93 in the first four Tests but refused to play the fifth after the management refused to pay for his wifes accommodation. Cheap MLB Jerseys China . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. MLB Jerseys China .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysusa.com/ . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Discount Baseball Jerseys . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. Cheap MLB Jerseys Free Shipping . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Each quarter begins with pure, unbridled speed, a furious dash from the mouth of the goal to the middle of the pool while your opponent comes barreling at you from the opposite direction. At stake is the most valuable commodity in water polo: possession of the ball.While players have all sorts of tricks for winning the sprints, they all agree on one thing: Practice makes perfect.Pushing off the wall is way better, U.S. driver Rachael Fattal said. But (you) try to get momentum, so if you can get momentum its not too bad. Its definitely something you have to work on.U.S. coach Adam Krikorian lets his players decide who takes the sprints -- They know better than I do, he said -- and it worked out quite well in an 11-6 victory over Hungary on Saturday, concluding a 3-0 run through group play for the defending Olympic champions. The Americans had the ball at the beginning of each quarter, with Fattal taking two sprints, Hungary jumping early on one and the U.S. winning a jump ball after a tie-up in the fourth.Fattal said captain Maggie Steffens lines up next to her for the sprints and helps her watch the referees.I only look at one. Maggies telling me what the other ref behind me is doing, Fattal said. So when she puts her hand up I know that my persons going to put their hand up and get ready to go, but I just go as fast as I can. I put my head down and hold my breath and I go.Standing nearby, Steffens pointed right back to Fattal.Shes a competitor, Steffens said.Timing the starting whistle is a big key -- If you start little bit later, you dont have a chance, said Zivko Gocic, the captain of Serbias mens team -- but you also have to get up to full speed as quickly as possible -- without the benefit of starting blocks or a wall.Its pretty tough, Australia driver Keesja Gofers said. Its always nice to do sprints off the wall, when you get a nice push-off. But we do work a lot on our breaststtroke and egg beater (kicks), so were used to starting from nothing and like changing speeds.dddddddddddd.Gofers and Rowie Webster scored two goals apiece to help Australia beat Brazil 10-3 to finish second in Group A behind unbeaten Italy. Australia will face Hungary in Mondays first quarterfinal when the tournament shifts to the Olympic Aquatics Stadium for the next round.Also Saturday, Laura Lopez Ventosa scored four times as Spain pulled away from China for a 12-8 victory, and Roberta Bianconi had three goals in Italys 10-5 win against Russia. Spain and Russia meet in Mondays quarters, and Italy takes on China.Next up for the United States is Brazil, which has dropped each of the three meetings between the countries this year by a combined score of 55-7.The U.S. got a preview of what it likely will see more and more the rest of the way when Hungary tried a physical approach against the speedy Americans. But Steffens scored four times and Maddie Musselman had three goals to send the U.S. to its 19th straight victory.Thats what we need to be ready for, Krikorian said. I think Id be shocked if teams dont come out and play real more physical with us. Everyones looking for an edge and trying to find a way to gain an advantage and obviously thats one way to play.Steffens leads the tournament with 10 goals after scoring 21 times during the United States march to its first Olympic gold. The Stanford star seems to have picked up right where she left off in London.Shes a captain for a reason, Krikorian said. Obviously an excellent player, but Id say an even better leader, and someone that we can kind of count on to play with intelligence and play with intensity all the time. Thats exactly what you want out of your leader.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '