Re: COR..BLIMEY! This ain't cricket, it just can't be
In a cricket match each side is up twice.
The first team bats, the second team bats, the
first team bats, the second team bats, and whaddaya know,
it's five days later. Whoever scores the most runs wins, of
course. What baseball calls a half-inning, cricket calls
innings. So the first team has its "first innings," then
the second team has its "first innings", the
each side has its "second innings."
This is what happens when a side has its innings: they send
up their first two in their batting order. In cricket,
two "batsmen" are up at a time, not one. They bat and bat
and bat and bat until one of them is out. Then he sits
down, and the third man in the order replaces him. Then
those two bat and bat and bat until one of them is out.
Then that person is replaced by the fourth person in the
order, and so on. This goes on until ten of the eleven are
out. Then the innings are over, because the last person
cannot bat alone, you need two to bat in cricket. After ten
people are out, the other team has their innings.
Cricket in played with the batsmen in the middle of an oval
shaped field . There is no foul ter-
ritory in cricket. You can hit the ball in any direction,
including directly behind you. Cricket bats have a flat
edge so that the batsman can
direct the ball in a preferred direction. Batting in
cricket is way more involved than in baseball. There are
several different strokes, and batsmen are
often known for being good at particular ones rather than
others. Cricket is the game that gave us the saying "dif-
ferent strokes for different blokes" (true!).
So how do two guys bat? OK. In cricket, there are no
bases. Each batsman is standing at either end of a rec-
tangular area in the middle of the cricket ground, kind of
long and thin like a bowling alley .
Batting is like this: one batsman receives the ball (I'll
say how very shortly) and hits the ball in any direction to
the outer part of the cricket ground. While the fieldsmen
are chasing the ball and trying to throw it back to the
center, the two batsmen *change places*. This scores one
run. If they have time, they change places again. That
scores another run. If they have time, they change places
again, etc.
The outer edge of the cricket ground is marked with a rope.
This is called the "boundary." If a hit ball touches or
goes over this rope to the outside, it scores four runs
automatically without the batsmen having to run at all. If
a batsman hits a fly ball that lands outside the rope, that
scores six runs automatically. These are known as "fours"
and "sixes" and also "boundaries." Incidentally, if the ball
is hit just far enough for the batsmen to change places
once, scoring one run, this is called a "single."
In cricket, the pitchers are called "bowlers." Here are the
main differences from baseball:
Bowlers cannot *throw* the ball. They must bowl it. The
crucial difference is: when you throw a ball, at the end of
the motion you are straightening your elbow. When you bowl,
your elbow is straight almost the whole time (except at the
very beginning) so you're making this wide circular arc with
your arm.
You can bowl overarm or underarm, but 99.99% of the time the
ball is bowled overarm.
When you bowl the ball toward the batsman, it's OK for the
ball to bounce off the ground before it reaches him. In
fact, 99.9% of the time, this is exactly what happens.
In cricket, unlike baseball, the bowler can take a running
start. In fact, the "fast bowlers," as they're called, are
running at a flat-out sprint when they release the ball.
Where are they? They are on the opposite side of the pitch
from the batsman who is going to bat. How do you decide
which side of the pitch? I'll explain that shortly.
--------------------------
B1| |
BL| |B2 WK
| |
--------------------------
Here's the same picture from before, with the bowler "BL"
drawn in. The batsman who's not batting is standing off to
the side, which is what really happens. The bowler has to
release the ball before he crosses the line. Remember the
bowler is not just standing there, he has run in from 'way
outside your CRT
I've just drawn him in where he approxi-
mately is when he releases the ball. That guy "WK" behind
the batsman is the wicketkeeper, the cricket version of the
catcher. The wicket (more on what that is later) is
directly behind the batsman, directly in front of the wick-
etkeeper, and actually there's one on each side.
So, we can see now what the team that's "out in the field"
is doing. One guy's bowling, one's the wicketkeeper, the
other nine are standing at strategic spots all the way
around the cricket ground.
Wow! I *think* I'm now ready to explain how the game is
played! Wasn't it worth the wait? Here goes:
In cricket, there are no balls and strikes. Instead of try-
ing to "strike out" the batsman, the bowler is trying to
"take his wicket." Instead of a strike zone, there is a
wooden thing called a "wicket" directly behind the batsman.
It has three vertical pieces and two horizontal ones and
looks like this:
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| | |
| | |
| | |
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The vertical pieces are called "stumps" and the crosspieces
"bails." The whole thing is about two feet tall and maybe
nine or ten inches wide. When you hit the wicket with the
ball one or both of the crosspieces will fall off. This is
central to getting a batsman out.
Pay attention, this is the crux of the matter here: the
bowler bowls the ball to the batsman in such a way as to try
to knock the wicket over. The batsman isn't just trying to
score runs, he's "defending his wicket."
Listen carefully, this is almost always the point that
drives baseball players crazy: when the batsmen hit the
ball in cricket, they DO NOT HAVE TO RUN!!! If the batsman
hits the ball and it only goes ten feet, and there is no
chance for him and his "partner" to change places, they
don't. They just stand there. At first, that sounds like
the weirdest thing, but you have to look at it in the con-
text of protecting your wicket. If the bowler bowls the
ball really really well, it may be all the batsman can do
but protect the wicket. Remember, in cricket you keep bat-
ting until you're out ("your wicket is taken") so this is
vitally important!
Remember when I said in cricket the batsmen have lots of
different strokes? Well, they're classified as "defensive
strokes" and "offensive strokes." The defensive strokes are
not designed to score any runs, but rather to dribble the
ball away a few feet, protecting the wicket.
Now I have to explain about "overs." Before I said I'd get
around to telling you how they know which side to throw
from. This is it. A cricket innings is divided into
"overs." In one over, a bowler delivers six balls from the
same side of the cricket pitch. When this is done, a dif-
ferent bowler delivers six balls from the other side.
That's the next over. Then a different bowler from *that*
one (might be the first bowler, but doesn't have to be)
bowls the next over from the first side again.
Are we clear? In over #1, bowler 1 (BL1) bowls from left to
right six times. Then, in over #2, BL2 bowls from right to
left six balls. Then, in over #3, BL1 (or somebody else)
bowls from left to right six balls. Who bowls is a strategy
thing. The only catch is, one bowler can't bowl one over,
then run over to the other side and bowl the next over.
Overs are also very important in cricket statistics (like
baseball, cricket is statistics-laden). You see things like
runs per over, etc. Also they're used to time things "you
wouldn't believe what happened in the 37th over", you'll
hear people say.
Now if BL1 bowls the ball to batsman 2 (B2) and B2 gets an
even number of runs (including 0) he will face the next ball
also. But if B2 gets an odd number of runs, he and B1 will
be on the opposite sides of the pitch from where they
started, so on the next ball, BL1 would actually be bowling
to B1. If B1 hit an odd number of runs, but it was the
*last* ball of the over, he would again wind up facing the
next ball, but on the other side of the pitch, and from the
bowler BL2.
There are several other ways a batsman can be made out
besides having the wicket knocked over by the bowled ball.
Here are some of the more common ones:
If the batsman hits a fly ball and it is caught, he is out,
just like in baseball.
If the ball hits the batsman's leg and an umpire rules it
would have hit the wicket if the leg hadn't been there, the
batsman is out because he must "defend his wicket" only with
his bat, not with his leg. This is called "lbw" which
stands for "leg before wicket."
The batsmen are only "safe" (the cricket term is "making
your ground") when they are on the *outside* of the outer
lines which demarcate the pitch (actually, the pitch has
more lines than I've drawn, but it'll do for now). When
either batsman is inside the lines, such as when they're
running to exchange places, they can be made out by knocking
over the wicket closest to them. There is no tagging in
cricket.
Also, when the batsman makes a stroke, his momentum may
carry him inside the line. If he's missed the ball, but the
ball hasn't hit the wicket, the wicketkeeper may have caught
it. In this case, the wicketkeeper can get the batsman out
by knocking over the wicket (the wicketkeeper is standing
directly behind the wicket, which is directly behind the
batsman) before the batsman can get back across the line.
Here's some odds and ends: the wicketkeeper wears a leather
glove on *each* hand. The fieldsmen do not wear any sort of
glove. When the batsmen run in cricket, they take their
bats with them. To "make their ground" (be in safe terri-
tory) it is not necessary for them to physically cross the
line, all they have to do is touch safe territory with the
tip of their bat. In fact, when batsman score more than one
run at a time in cricket, you'll see them run to the other
side, stop before they get to the line, touch their bat just
over the line, and then turn and run back.
Review
Cricket is played by two sides of 11.
Each side is up twice.
The first side is up, they send two guys to the field.
The two batsmen stand at either end of the rectangular
pitch.
The bowler delivers the first ball of the first over.
The batsman tries to hit the ball and/or defend his wicket.
He hits the ball in any direction in an oval-shaped field
with a relatively flat-bladed bat.
If he hits the ball, he does not have to run.
If he hits the ball a little, he and his partner change
places.
If he hits it far enough, he may get a "boundary."
If he gets out (wicket knocked over, fly ball caught, etc.)
he leaves the field and is replaced by the next guy in the
batting order.
But the two men keep batting until one of them is out.
When ten men are out, the innings is over and the other team
is up.
When each team has been up twice, the game is over.
If it's a test match, five days have elapsed.
The team with the most runs wins.
As in baseball, if the last team is having their last
innings ("bottom of the ninth") and they surpass the other
team's run count, the game ends immediately at that point.
One new piece of terminology: two batsmen are up at a time
in cricket. The one who is actually facing the next ball is
called the "striker." He is also known as being "on
strike."
A piece of cricket strategy: recall that the striker is out
"lbw" if the ball hits his leg, and the umpire rules it
would have hit the wicket if the leg hadn't been there.
Well, the bowler is well aware of this fact. A large part
of the bowler's strategy is to try and spin the ball around
the striker's bat and into the wicket. But you also need to
know that a large part of the bowler's strategy is also to
try and spin the ball around the striker's bat and into his
leg! When a batsman is given out lbw you'll often hear that
he was "trapped lbw". This is an acknowledgment of the fact
that the bowler did it on purpose.
Also the "on" side in cricket is also called the "leg" side.
And yet another thing I forgot: how international teams are
chosen. Each of the cricket-playing nations (I'll mention
these in the next post) has a national board known as the
"selectors" who choose who will represent that country in
the next international match. Remember, there's no
substitution in cricket except in certain cases of injuries.
So the selectors decide who exactly will play. From what I
have personally seen, I think the selectors take more
collective **** than anyone else connected with cricket.
You haven't heard anything until you hear a few cricket fans
start talking about their nation's selectors.
OK, new stuff:
I already told you that the length of a cricket match
varies. How it works is: the length of the match is agreed
upon before the match starts. For example, in a test match,
the agreed-upon time is five days. When the five days are
up, the match is over. So, while there is no rigid "clock"
as in American football, cricket matches do have an implicit
time limit.
If a cricket match is not completely finished when time runs
out, the match is a draw, no matter how lopsided the score
may be. This has strategic consequences. Supposing in a
test match the first side has their first innings, and they
are so good they bat and bat and bat and bat for five days,
they've scored over a thousand runs and the other side
hasn't batted yet. Guess what! The game's a draw! You
didn't win!
Well, cricket has a way around this, it's called
"declaring." At any time the captain of the team that is
batting may "declare" that their innings are over, even
though maybe they are only in the middle of the batting
order. The team immediately takes the field, and the other
team has their innings.
So, suppose you're the captain of the first side to bat in a
test match. Your team bats and bats and bats for the first
two days, and you've only had six wickets taken. You could
keep batting until your other four wickets are taken, but
you're worried that the game won't finish in five days. For
the game to finish, of course, you have to take all ten
wickets of the opposing side *twice*. So, you declare.
This gets you immediately to work on the job of taking the
other side's wickets.
Other cricket matches, below the skill level of
international cricket, are allocated less time than five
days. This is because as the skill level goes down, the
batsmen aren't as good and it's easier to get them out, so
the whole thing takes less time.
Oh, by the way...suppose during a cricket match it starts to
rain and play stops waiting for the rain to stop. Supposing
during a test match it rains for two days straight.
Surprise! The time is NOT MADE UP! Only got three days to
play a five- day match? Better hurry!
Are we having fun yet? Time to move on to the exciting
topic of "extras," also known as "sundries." In baseball,
not every pitch goes perfectly. There are wild pitches,
passed balls, balks, etc. Weird things happen in cricket
too, and collectively they are called "extras." The main
ones are "no balls", "wides", "byes", and "leg-byes."
A "no ball" results when the bowler bowls the ball
illegally. There are several possibilites here. For
example, if the bowler throws the ball, rather than bowling
it, that is a "no ball." A "wide" is another type of
illegal ball, one that is bowled so far wide of the batsman
that the umpire feels it is unreachable.
The penalty is the same in either case. The batting team is
awarded one run, and the illegal ball is *not counted* as
part of the over. OK? An over is six balls. The bowler
bowls three times. There's three left in the over. Then he
bowls a wide or a no-ball. There's *still* three balls left
in the over.
Now in cricket statistics (which I'll have a section on
later) the runs for each time are tallied next to the name
of the batsman who scored them. But runs accrued by no-ball
or wide are tallied in a separate column labelled "extras",
the point being no batsman gets credit for having scored
them.
A "bye" in cricket is just like a passed ball in baseball.
The bowler bowls the ball, it goes right past the striker,
doesn't hit the wicket, and the wicketkeeper fails to stop
the ball and it goes way out into the field. If the two
batsmen think they can get away with it, they will start
running and score runs. These runs are tallied as "extras"
although they are not "penalty" runs as in wides and no-
balls.
A "leg-bye" is the same as a bye, except the ball bounces
off the batsman's body somewhere. You remember from before,
if the ball hits the batsman's leg and the umpire feels it
would have hit the wicket, the batsman is out lbw. But if
the umpire doesn't think it would have hit the wicket, and
the ball bounces out into the field, the batsmen can run.
However, this is not allowed if the umpire thinks the
striker stuck his body purposely in the ball's way. It has
to be an accident.
One last point on extras: if the bowler delivers a wide or
a no-ball and the ball goes out into the field, the batsmen
can also run. If they do, the runs scored are counted as
extras. But if they run, they are not awarded the one
penalty run that they get if they just stand there.
Oh, here's something I should have mentioned earlier but I
forgot. When a batsman is out in cricket, he is not
*automatically* out. Even if he hits an easy pop fly which
is caught, even if his wicket is blown to smithereens by the
ball, the batsman is not out *yet*. Someone on the fielding
team has to ask an umpire "is this guy out?" and the umpire
will then call the guy out. The umpire WILL NOT call a
player out unless he is asked (the cricket term is
"appealed") by the fielding team.
The actual phrase used to appeal to the umpire is "how's
that?" which is such a standard phrase you may as well write
it "howzat?" Since *all* outs must be preceded by the call
howzat, one thing you will sometimes see is a wicketkeeper
rather obnoxiously calling "how's that" to the umpire after
virtually every delivery of the ball in which anything
remotely questionable happens.
The signal the umpire makes to signal a batsman out is
holding up one finger.
