A game that is seemingly played for days? I’ve watched Indian TCNs play it only out of extreme boredom and I think once in Vietnam i watched a entire afternoon of a game on BBC HK—but i can’t make heads nor tails of the games fundamentals nor strategies?
As a Scot I never really understood a sport that could get stopped due to rain, but here’s the best explanation:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/page/429550.html
Cricket: As explained to a foreigner…
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!
It is just an excuse to sit around and have a few beers.
I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest knife the drawer–but i can tell when I’m being mocked
well done tho. well done
I cannot but do remember taking my visiting British cousin to a baseball game and trying to explain America’s pastime. After spending 10 minutes on the concept of balls & strikes we both gave up and knocked back many beers, nachos & hot dogs.
I’ve my suspicions that if someone of commonwealth extract would sit down with me over beer and nachos they could unravel this mystery for me. But can it be done on this medium?
My intention was to mock cricket rather than you
.
Many moons ago while stationed in Okinawa I would watch on local TV occasionally. Definitely a beer drinking game if I’ve ever seen one. I used to have a grasp of the rules but it’s been too long ago now. Collared white shirts and no grass stains!
Now a days in my neighborhood we have a group of guys gather at the elementary school and play all the time. I’ve been tempted to see if I could join in. Although introducing a new sport to my broken down body probably isn’t the best idea.
chortle
either way. well done
the “sport” just seems to make no sense?
chortle
either way. well done
the “sport” just seems to make no sense?
What doesn’t make sense?
Pretty much.
Just be thankful they actually decided to limit test matches to only 5 days after one South Africa v England match had to be abandoned after 12days or the England team would have missed their boat home…
That’s actually a really famous amusing explanation but, in short.
2 teams of 11
Like baseball one bat’s one pitches (bowls in the cricket vernacular)
So toss a coin to decide who does which first
So bowling team goes to the field
The wicket - pitching mound to batter is 22 yards
Bowling pitches ball to batsmen. Batsmen hits it.
If it goes over the boundary in the air its a 6
If it bounces over the boundary its a 4
Otherwiaw batsmen decide whether to run. One length equals one run
A cricket match is comprised of a number of overs. One over is 6 pitches. At end each over a different bowler bowls from the opposi g end
So like baseball, of your 11, some specialise in batting and some bowling. “all rounders”. Do both, but most bowlers are shit batsmen and via versa
A match of 20 overs is 120 pitches and you need to score as many as quickly as possible. So you could hit 6 sixes (over the boundary in the air) in 6 consecutive balls for 36 runs off one over.
36 multiplied by 20 is the max off 120 balls.
However, if you hit the ball and it gets caught your out
If the ball goes past you and hits the wicket (3 pieces of wood behind you in the “strike zone”) your out
There are other ways of getting out but those are the biggies
Whe you are out the next batsmen goes in, you carry on batting till all out or you’ve run out of overs
Then the other team goes in to bat
In the end who ever scores lost runs wins… Sort of
this would go better over beer and nachos ( or poutine)
So why does a game last days and days?
A game that is seemingly played for days? I’ve watched Indian TCNs play it only out of extreme boredom and I think once in Vietnam i watched a entire afternoon of a game on BBC HK—but i can’t make heads nor tails of the games fundamentals nor strategies?
A game that can take a week to complete in 2 sentences? Here’s to hoping, but I’m with you.
this would go better over beer and nachos ( or poutine)
So why does a game last days and days?
I’m with you on the forever test matches. I’m partial to 20/20’s myself. Much shorter.
Thanks for the thorough rundown!
Do the bowlers have a physically limited number of “pitches†like in baseball or is it more like fast-pitch softball where the same pitcher could conceivably pitch as much as needed since the wear and tear on their arms is relatively insignificant?
You said they don’t have to run between wickets, only when they want to? Does this have to do with where the ball is hit?
Do games stop when it becomes mathematically impossible for the 2nd batting team to win?
When the score says 189/6 does the 6 mean the number of batters used? Assume if that’s the case, all 120 overs were used?
So if we were in NSW watching a “game of origin” rugby match I would know exactly where you’re coming from and could follow and cheer accordingly so as not to get my ass beaten down
but in Cricket?
this would go better over beer and nachos ( or poutine)
So why does a game last days and days?
Just don’t put mayo on the fries… I tried it, disgusting. Also, I’ve been informed that it’s from the same people that brought us poutine. Aka the Quebecois.
i’m thinking on a shallow lever that mayonnaise may be my problem
but on a deeper level, I asking for help here in appreciating a game that a huge portion of the world seems to enjoy and understand?
Yes, the game is huge in most of the commonwealth - except Canada and I also struggle to understand the game and it’s attraction. On the bright side we have a province that has given us poutine and frenchmen that don’t surrender.
Straight away, there’s “test cricket”, which can last five days (but quite often it doesn’t last the entire five days). Each side bats twice and bowls twice (although you might be able to win and not have to bat twice). The bowling side needs to take ten wickets (but the batting side might “declare” even though they haven’t lost ten wickets if they think they’ve scored plenty of runs already). There are several ways to take a wicket (catch the batter’s ball before it hits the ground after he’s hit the ball, knock the bails off the stumps while one or both of the batters are still running in the pitch, bowl the ball past the batter and it knocks the bails off the stumps, or the dreaded “leg before wicket” (lbw) where the umpire determines the bowler’s ball would have knocked the bails off the stump but the batter’s leg blocked the ball). The are also several ways for the batting side to score runs. If the batter hits the ball in the air and it clears the boundary on the fly, that’s six runs (sort of like a home run in baseball). If the ball bounces or rolls over the boundary, that’s four runs (think or it as a ground rule double). The batter ('striker") can hit the ball and he and his “non-striker” teammate can start running back and forth on the pitch, scoring a run every time they make it safely down the length of the pitch. They won’t run if they don’t think they can make it safely.
Then there’s one-day/limited overs cricket (an over is six balls bowled from one end of the pitch). Sort of the same rules but faster paced (because it’s only going to take one day/a limited number of overs).
You’ve got fast bowlers and spin bowlers. (Don’t volunteer to play “silly mid off” when your side is using a spin bowler, though. That seems like a pretty dangerous place to be.)
Beer is OK, but I’d go with a Pimm’s Cup. (Pimm’s No. 1, lemon juice, ginger ale, cucumber slice, mint sprig, strawberries, and sliced orange).
This is based on my time in England during the 1980’s-early 1990’s. Mostly from watching cricket on TV (there wasn’t a lot of choice given the three channels they had when we got there, and then they added Channel 4 in 1982). We’d be working on something or reading a book, and every now and then something would happen (batter would hit a six, the bowler would bowl out the batter, etc.), so we’d stop and watch the replay. Not a bad way to spend a summer afternoon (the Pimm’s Cup helped).