Quote:
Originally posted by clifclav
OK Heres an easy one. Somebody explain Cricket.
I know it would take a full day but is there any good site out there that gives an understanding of the structure of the game.
Also what are the differences between the types of Cricket Matches. Why are some over in one afternoon and others go for days.
Also how is the scoring kept. It often seems that Fox Sports world will give the results from a three day test by using the term runs and then give the results from another match in overs.
|
Ok, I will do my best here:
The basics:
You got 2 teams of 11 players. Each team has about 6 bowlers, a wicket keeper and the rest are batters.
The game is played on an oval field, with a rectangular strip of clay in the middle (called a "pitch" or a "wicket"), with 3 wooden stakes (stumps) with 2 round pices of wood atop of them (called bails), at each end.
An over is 6 bowls (deliveries, basically "pitches").
At the start of the game the captains toss a coin, the winner chooses whether to bat or to bowl.
The batting side sends out its first to batsmen (usually their best 2, called opening batsmen).
The bowling side picks a bowler to start, the wicket keeper lines up behind the wicket, the rest of the fielders take positions in the field, here are all the possible positions:
http://www.abcofcricket.com/cfb1/cfb2/cfb3/blfield.gif
The aim of the batter is to score runs, the aim of the bowler is to eliminate the batters by dismissing them (also known as getting them out).
The scoring:
After the batter hits the ball, he can run across the pitch, a run is scored every time the batters cross over. If the batter strikes the ball so it rolls all the way to the boundary rope around the oval, he earns 4 runs. If the ball crosses the boundary rope on the full, the batter earns 6 runs. For 4s and 6s no extra runs are added for running between the wickets.
You can be dismissed for the following:
- bowled out - the bowler's delivery goes through and hits the stumps causing the bails to fall.
- caught - if you hit the ball up high and it is caught on the full you are dismissed. You can also be caught behind, if you swing but only touch the ball slightly, and the wicket keeper catches it.
- run out - the bails are knocked out before the batter's bat crosses a clearly marked line on the pitch. Most runouts happen as a result of poor communication between the batters.
- lbw - Leg Before Wicket. You will be dismissed if the umpire judges that the ball would have knocked the stumps had not your body got in the way (usually its the leg pads that get in the way).
Then there are some obscure methods of getting dismissed like handling the ball or interfering with the fielders. But that doesn't usually happen.
Ok.
Then there are two basic types of cricket played: Test Cricket, and One Day Cricket.
There is no difference in players that play the game (unlike say Rugby Union and Rugby League).
One Day Cricket is more exciting, imo, basically, the batting team must try to score as many runs as they can. The sides change when either: 10 batters have been dismissed, or a limit of 50 overs has been reached (remember 6 deliveries = 1 over). The winning team iis the team that scored the most runs.
Test Cricket is played over 5 days, basically the main difference is that there is no limit on overs, one team bats until 10 batters have been dismissed or until they reach an acceptable total and decide to "declare", basically give up and let the other team have a go at batting. If the match does not finish in the 5 days permitted the match is declared a draw.
That's about it really.
Also this page here:
http://www.abcofcricket.com/cfb1/cfb4/cfb4.htm
will probably do a better job of explaining cricket than I have
