Comments on: A Brief Cricket Guide For American Baseball Fans

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:28:22 +0000

I am a massive cricket fan – watching and playing – and I thought this was an excellent description. One thing you did miss, however, is one day cricket. Teams are restricted to a certain number of overs (50 or 20, can be less if there’s rain) and have one innings each. Run outs are also more common here as a batsman’s wicket loses value for the need to score quickly. One day cricket gets larger attendances, however it is not as respected as the purest form of the game: Test cricket.

By: Dan Hill (Colorado)

Dan Hill (Colorado) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:45:35 +0000

How could we have several mentions of the colourful (note the intentional British spelling) language of cricket without any mention of the dumbest position name in any sport: “silly mid off”.

Here’s a guy who stands about three feet in front of the batsman waiting for a catch, or to have his face rearranged by the ball.

And “maiden” is even more colourful when used in it’s full context as in “bowling a maiden over”.

For an American, Warren has done a great job of explaining cricket. I don’t bother going to all that trouble when explaining it to my American friends. I just tell them it’s like a cross between baseball and chess and yet unlike both those games, not boring!

By: Lev Lafayette

Lev Lafayette — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:40:41 +0000

Knowledge of cricket rules is certainly a sort of sublime arcana to an outside observer which is very fascinating it its own right. Also, you are right it does come with colourful language (like a batsman who is out for zero has “scored a duck” – don’t think about it too much).

However this belittles the true purpose of cricket as established by the test match. It is an excuse to take a five day holiday in a colonial tropical establishment whilst sipping gin and tonics and listening to a BBC international broadcast. “What? A war has started you say? Damn nuisance. I was just getting settled in to listen to the test match” etc.

By: Bob Gardiner

Bob Gardiner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:26:54 +0000

An excellent description. Here are just two thoughts (there are many) on cricket/baseball. Catching in cricket is better than in baseball because fielders don’t have gloves. They are experts with both hands. Throwing in baseball is superb. The speed and accuracy with which outfielders throw back is extraordinary.

Two great games that fans of one would more than likely enjoy the other.

By: gazzer

gazzer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:26:16 +0000

I am an ex-Englishman, now a proud American citizen, and have not lived in the UK for 30 years. Unless my memory is playing tricks, I think we only have one bowler at a time. Can some of you current cricket buffs confirm this?

By: Freelance Unbound

Freelance Unbound — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:04:14 +0000

Any cricket shown on the BBC should be available for a week afterwards on the BBC iPlayer (internet TV platform)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/sport/tv

By: Billy Ruff'n

Billy Ruff'n — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:46:38 +0000

I lived in Australia in the ’90s and became aquainted with the game. One of the things I particularly enjoyed was being able to fall asleep on the couch while watching a match and wake up an hour later having missed nothing — same side at bat, same batters up, score basically unchanged. Cricket is a very civilized sport.

By: Jaspear

Jaspear — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:41:52 +0000

The Ashes is available on Dish Network.

By: David Duff

David Duff — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:25:33 +0000

Here is a ‘classic’ explanation of cricket. I should warn you that some might find quantum mechanics easier to understand!

“There are two sides, one out in the field the other 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 that’s 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 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 been 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.”

There you are, quite simple, really!

By: Current

Current — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:05:26 +0000

Something else that should be mentioned is the action of bowling.

Throwing the ball to the batsman is not allowed in Cricket (throwing it on other occasions is). The bowler must not move his elbow beyond a certain angle (15 deg) or it is considered a throw and consequently a no-ball.

The little video on wikipedia shows it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_(cricket)