Cricket



An iconic British pastime played on a oval pitch with ten fielders and one bowler facing two batsmen. In a standard game event, the bowler delivers a hard, leather ball from one set of stumps and attempts to hit the other set. The batsman will defend the stumps for if the ball gets by him and hits the wooden pegs he will be ruled out. When the batsman makes contact with the ball, he will attempt to exchange places with his fellow batsman at the bowler's end to score a 'run.' This exchange is repeated to increase the score. While running, a batsman may be 'run out' if a fielder hits the stumps when the runner is out of the batting zone (comparable to tagging a base before a runner in baseball). Outs or 'wickets' may also be recorded if a fielder catchs a hit ball before it touches the field.

Game Play Details
Cricket is an old game and to date has several formats of play.

The most concise is the contemporary Twenty20 format in which a fielding team delivers 120 balls to a batting team and attempts to limit their run total. The fielding team will then 'chase' the run total of the first team, as the former batting side defends their score. Once again, the total number of balls bowled will be 120 unless the batting side exceeds the previous score in fewer balls.

Other formats include One Day Internationals, Test matches, and the endless Ashes series which seems to take about two months and is only of concern to people who think Kangaroos and Corgis are compelling national symbols.

Overs
Every 6 balls bowled is called an over. At the end of an over, the bowler will be changed and begin bowling from the opposite side of the wicket.

Wickets
For whatever crazy reason, many things in cricket are called wickets. First, the actual bowling/batting area is called a wicket. Then the wooden stumps may be collectively referred to as wicket. Finally, any recorded out (hitting the stumps, beating a runner, catching a ball) is also referred to as a wicket. Taking ten of these wickets ends a batting side's inning and brings up the fielding side.

LBW
Leg before wicket. A batsman may not block the stumps (wicket) with his body. If a player is judged to have body-blocked the wicket, he will be ruled out as L.B.W.

Fours / Sixes
Balls hit to the boundary of the cricket pitch on the ground are worth four runs. A ball hit cleanly out of play (no contact with the pitch prior to exiting the field) is worth six. Thus, six is the most a player may score on a single ball.

Actions
Cricket may be divided into three types of game action: batting, bowling, and fielding, all of which occur simultaneously, but are pursued by different players.

Batting


The batsmen are armed with chunky, flat-faced cricket bats which they use to defend a set of wooden stumps from the bowler's attacks. In contrast to baseball, when the hitting is done with bat contact parallel to the plane of the field, most cricket batting occurs perpendicular to the ground. The stroke is thus more like a golf or ice hockey swing, except that contact may occur anywhere on the length of the bat not just at the bat's toe. In fact, hitting the ball from the middle of the bat (middling) is considered ideal.

A batter may hit the ball in any direction provided it does not hit the stumps he is defending. This makes cricket batting very tactical. Hitting to empty, uncovered parts of the field is often more important than hitting the ball hard. When a ball is hit to an empty field space, the runners have more time to exchange places, and may run with less risk.

Batting in 360 degrees does require several different types of strokes. I should know what these are, as I was focusing on making good contact most of the time.

Bats range in cost considerably. A good bat costs between 60 and 200 pounds ($95 to $360) and will be made out of English Willow. The wood is generally exposed and new bats must be "knocked in" to open up the bat's fibers and prevent cracking or breaks. Bats may last several seasons with good care.

Cheap bats are also available. They may be found for as little as 12 pounds (thats how much I paid for one). These will be made of cheaper 'Kashmir ' willow.

Fielding
Positioning fielders for a batsman's hitting preferences is perhaps the most tactical aspect of cricket. Like batsmen, fielders are constantly adjusting their positions and hoping to cause difficulty for the batsman. Consider the following Guide: Cricket fielding positions


 * 1) The first priority for a fielder when a ball is hit is keeping it in play. Players will race to prevent fours and sixes, as a ball in play will score less than three runs generally.
 * 2) The second priority for a fielder is keeping the ball as close to the wickets as possible. Inner fielders will attempt to knock down hit balls to prevent running and/or limit time for runners to move.
 * 3) The third priority for a fielder is playing the ball back quickly to the stumps. This may run out a batsman and gain a wicket for the fielding side.
 * 4) Finally, a fielder is always looking for a catch. These require some sacrifice as the ball hurts to catch solidly. But nothing is more spectacular.

As the chart to the right illustrates, the fielding in cricket involves hundreds of potential positions. Some, including the wicketkeeper (who like a baseball catcher receives balls thrown by the bowler) are indispensable. Others are only rarely positioned in tactical points relative to an idiosyncratic batsman.

Fields are not always uniform in size or dimensions. This requires more inventive forms of fielding. For instance, while I was playing my first game of Cricket at Jesus College, the field had an incredibly short northside. This changed the deployment of our fielders as Jesus kept swinging for that short boundary. Toeing the boundary I caught their best batsman on the edge of the short field to retire the bloke.

Bowling


The most complicated part of the game. Must be done with a straight arm, overhand. Several styles exist but they may be broadly broken down into fast bowling and spin bowling. Fast bowling prizes speed over control to force bad batting decisions and take hard wickets. Spin bowling relies on finesse ball control and unexpected ball movement. When a bowl is delivered, it almost always bounces before the batter. Spinners use this bounce (with a control of ball rotation) to do change the ball's direction or speed.

Personal Impressions
Like any American worth his Little League career, I came to England certain that cricket was the dull, unimaginative game of people who preferred tea to coffee. I was quite wrong, and have been bewitched by the pensive and deliberate sport.