The Field
A cricket field is a roughly elliptical field of flat grass, ranging in size from about 90 to 150 metres (100-160 yards) across, bounded by an obvious fence or other marker. There is no fixed size or shape for the field, although large deviations from a low-eccentricity ellipse are discouraged. In the centre of the field, and usually aligned along the long axis of the ellipse, is the pitch , a carefully prepared rectangle of closely mown and rolled grass over hard packed earth. It is marked with white lines, called creases, like this:
The dimensions are in centimetres.
The Play
The order in which the teams bat is determined by a coin toss. The captain of the side winning the toss may elect to bat or field first.
All eleven players of the fielding team go out to field, two players of the batting team go out to bat. The remainder of the batting team wait off the field for their turn to bat. Each batsman wears protective gear and carries a cricket bat.
The game progresses by the bowling of balls. The sequence of events which constitutes a ball follows:
The fielding team disperses around the field, to positions designed to stop runs being scored or to get batsmen out. One fielder is the bowler. He takes the ball and stands some distance behind one of the wickets (i.e. away from the pitch). Another fielder is the wicket-keeper, who wears a pair of webbed gloves designed for catching the ball and protective pads covering the shins. He squats behind the opposite wicket. The rest of the fielders have no special equipment - gloves to assist catching the ball are not allowed to anyone but the wicket-keeper.
One batsman stands behind each popping crease, near a wicket. The batsman farthest from the bowler is the striker, the other is the non-striker. The striker stands before his wicket, on or near the popping crease, in the batting stance. For a right-handed batsman, the feet are positioned like this:
The batsman stands with his bat held down in front of the wicket, ready to hit the ball, which will be bowled from the other end of the pitch. The batsman usually rests the lower end of the bat on the pitch and then taps the bat on the pitch a few times as ``warm-up'' backswings.
The non-striker simply stands behind the other popping crease, waiting to run if necessary. The bowler takes a run-up from behind the non-striker's wicket. He passes to one side of the wicket, and when he reaches the non-striker's popping crease he bowls the ball towards the striker, usually bouncing the ball once on the pitch before it reaches the striker. (The bowling action will be described in detail later.)
The striker may then attempt to hit the ball with his bat. If he misses it, the wicket-keeper will catch it and the ball is completed. If he hits it, the two batsmen may score runs (described later). When the runs are completed, the ball is also considered completed. The ball is considered to be in play from the moment the bowler begins his run-up. It remains in play until any of several conditions occur (two common ones were just described), after which it is called dead. The ball is also dead if it lodges in the striker's clothing or equipment. Once the ball is dead, it is returned to the bowler for the next delivery (another name for the bowling of a ball). Between deliveries, the batsmen may leave their creases and confer with each other.
When one bowler has completed six balls, that constitutes an over. A different member of the fielding team is given the ball and bowls the next over - from the opposite end of the pitch. The batsmen do not change ends, so the roles of striker and non-striker swap after each over. Any member of the fielding team may bowl, so long as no bowler delivers two consecutive overs. Once a bowler begins an over, he must complete it, unless injured or suspended during the over.
Another possibility during a ball is that a batsman may get out. There are ten different methods of being out - these will be described in detail later. If a batsman gets out, the ball is dead immediately, so it is impossible to get the other batsman out during the same ball. The out batsman leaves the field, and the next batsman in the team comes in to bat. The not out batsman remains on the field. The order in which batsmen come in to bat in an innings is not fixed. The batting order may be changed by the team captain at any time, and the order does not have to be the same in each innings.
When ten batsmen are out, no new batsmen remain to come in, and the innings is completed with one batsman remaining not out. The roles of the teams then swap, and the team which fielded first gets to bat through an innings. When both teams have completed the agreed number of innings, the team which has scored the most runs wins.
Scoring Runs
Whenever a batsman hits the ball during a delivery, he may score runs. A run is scored by the batsmen running between the popping creases, crossing over midway between them. When they both reach the opposite crease, one run is scored, and they may return for another run immediately. The fielding side attempts to prevent runs being scored by threatening to run out one of the batsmen.
If the batsmen are attempting to take runs, and a fielder gathers the ball and hits a wicket with it, dislodging one or both bails, while no batsman is behind that wicket's popping crease, then the nearest batsman is run out. Specifically, the batsman must have some part of his body or his bat (provided he is holding it) grounded behind (not on) the crease.
The batsmen carry their bats as they run, and turning for another run is accomplished by touching the ground beyond the crease with an outstretched bat. The batsmen do not have to run at any time they think it is unsafe - it is common to hit the ball and elect not to run.
If the batsmen run one or three (or five! rare, but possible), then they have swapped ends and their striker/non-striker roles are reversed for the next ball (unless the ball just completed is the end of an over).
In addition to scoring runs like this, if a batsman hits the ball so that it reaches the boundary fence, he scores four runs, without needing to actually run them. If a batsman hits the ball over the boundary on the full, he scores six runs. If a four or six is scored, the ball is completed and the batsmen cannot be run out. If a spectator encroaches on to the field and touches the ball, it is considered to have reached the boundary. If a fielder gathers the ball, but then steps outside or touches the boundary while still holding the ball, four runs are scored. If a fielder catches the ball on the full and, either during or immediately after the catch, steps outside or touches the boundary, six runs are scored.
The batsmen usually stop taking runs when a fielder is throwing the ball back towards the pitch area. If no fielder near the pitch gathers the ball and it continues into the outfield again, the batsmen may take more runs. Such runs are called overthrows. If the ball reaches the boundary on an overthrow, four runs are scored in addition to the runs taken before the overthrow occurred.
Runs scored by a batsman, including all overthrows, are credited to him by the scorer. The number of runs scored by each batsman is an important statistic.
If, while running multiple runs, a batsman does not touch the ground beyond the popping crease before he returns for the next run, then the umpire at that end will signal one short, and the number of runs scored is reduced by one.
Ways of Getting Out
Here is a full list of the ten different ways of getting out. But first, a few necessary definitions:
The wicket is said to be broken if one or both of the bails have been dislodged and fallen to the ground. If the bails have fallen off for any reason and the ball is still in play, then breaking the wicket must be accomplished by pulling a stump completely out of the ground. If the wicket needs to be broken like this with the ball, the uprooting of the stump must be done with the ball in contact with the stump.
The field is notionally split into two halves, along a line down the centre of the pitch. The half of the field in front of the striker is called the off side, the half behind is called the leg side, or sometimes the on side. Thus, standing at the bowler's wicket and looking towards a right-handed striker's wicket, the off side is to the left and the leg side to the right (and vice-versa for a left-handed striker). The stumps of the striker's wicket are called off stump, middle stump, and leg stump, depending on which side they are on.
When a batsman gets out, no matter by what method, his wicket is said to have fallen, and the fielding team are said to have taken a wicket.
Now, the ways of getting out:
Caught:
If a fielder catches the ball on the full after the batsman has hit it with his bat. However, if the fielder catches the ball, but either during the catch or immediately afterwards touches or steps over the boundary, then the batsman scores six runs and is not out.
Bowled:
If the batsman misses the ball and it hits and breaks the wicket directly from the bowler's delivery. The batsman is out whether or not he is behind his popping crease. He is also out bowled if the ball breaks the wicket after deflecting from his bat or body. The batsman is not out if the wicket does not break.
Leg Before Wicket:
If the batsman misses the ball with his bat, but intercepts it with part of his body when it would otherwise have hit the wicket, and provided several other conditions (described below) are satisfied. An umpire must adjudicate such a decision, and will only do so if the fielding team appeal the decision. This is a question asked of the umpire, usually of the form ``How's that?'' (or ``Howzat?''), and usually quite enthusiastic and loud. If the ball bounces outside an imaginary line drawn straight down the pitch from the outside edge of leg stump, then the batsman cannot be out LBW, no matter whether or not the ball would have hit the stumps. If the batsman attempts to play a shot at the ball with his bat (and misses) he may only be given out LBW if the ball strikes the batsman between imaginary lines drawn down the pitch from the outside edges of leg and off stumps (ie. directly in line with the wicket). If the batsman does not attempt to play the ball with his bat, then he may be given out LBW without satisfying this condition, as long as the umpire is convinced the ball would have hit the wicket. If the ball has hit the bat before the hitting the batsman, then he cannot be given out LBW.
Stumped:
If a batsman misses the ball and in attempting to play it steps outside his crease, he is out stumped if the wicket-keeper gathers the ball and breaks the wicket with it before the batsman can ground part of his body or his bat behind his crease.
Run Out:
If a batsman is attempting to take a run, or to return to his crease after an aborted run, and a fielder breaks that batsman's wicket with the ball while he is out of the crease. The fielder may either break the wicket with a hand which holds the ball, or with the ball directly. It is possible for the non-striker to be run out if the striker hits the ball straight down the pitch towards the non-striker's wicket, and the bowler deflects the ball on to the wicket while the non-striker is out of his crease. If the ball is hit directly on to the non-striker's wicket, without being touched by a fielder, then the non-striker is not out. If the non-striker leaves his crease (in preparation to run) while the bowler is running up, the bowler may run him out without bowling the ball. Batsmen cannot be run out while the ball is dead - so they may confer in the middle of the pitch between deliveries if they desire.
Hit Wicket:
If, in attempting to hit a ball or taking off for a first run, the batsman touches and breaks the wicket. This includes with the bat or dislodged pieces of the batsman's equipment - even a helmet or spectacles!
Handle The Ball:
If a batsman touches the ball with a hand not currently holding the bat, without the permission of the fielding side. This does not include being hit on the hand by a delivery, or any other non-deliberate action.
Obstructing The Field:
If a batsman deliberately interferes with the efforts of fielders to gather the ball or effect a run out. This does not include running a path between the fielder and the wicket so that the fielder cannot throw the stumps down with the ball, which is quite legal, but does include any deliberate attempt to swat the ball away.
Hit The Ball Twice:
If a batsman hits a delivery with his bat and then deliberately hits the ball again for any reason other than to defend his wicket from being broken by the ball. If the ball is bouncing or rolling around near the stumps, the batsman is entitled to knock it away so as to avoid being bowled, but not to score runs.
Timed Out:
If a new batsman takes longer than two minutes, from the time the previous wicket falls, to appear on the field.
These methods of getting out are listed in approximate order of how commonly they occur. The first five are reasonably common, the last five quite rare. The last three methods are almost never invoked.
If a batsman is out caught, bowled, LBW, stumped, or hit wicket, then the bowler is credited with taking the wicket. No single person is credited with taking a wicket if it falls by any other method.
I live in the Eastern corridor of the United States and I saw 3 guys playing Cricket the other day in a almost empty parking lot near where I work. That was a first for me, never seen anyone play Cricket in the U.S. -- Usually I see a bunch of brain dead Frat boys tossing a football or a Frisbee.
wow, great. Its actually sinking in. So scoring the runs is the onject, but as a bowler , I can employ several techniques to get you out . I like the idea of knocking the wicket over. Are the bails just loosely fitted? or are they really jammed on so as to require a blazing grounder pitch.
Theout guys dont wear any special fielders mitts or like that?
Do you mean that I could propose we have a marathon game of say, 100 innings and wed just keep playing until the other side just gives up?
I suppose the secret of bowling a fast one without much bounce is considered a good pitch. Sorta low and inside.
Thanks wilso, I will have to print this out so I can learb and then when our cable company has some special sports days when they will show cricket or that Afghanistani horse race with the ded calf, I will watch with a better understanding of the rules.
farmerman wrote:
I suppose the secret of bowling a fast one without much bounce is considered a good pitch. Sorta low and inside.
That's very good instincts from someone who doesn't know anything about the game. The ball you are describing is known as a yorker (not sure of the spelling). Also known as a toe crusher. It's probably the most difficult ball to play from a fast bowler, especially when it comes from someone like Brett Lee at anything up to 100mph.
A fast bowler will also use a bouncer, which bounces very short and wizzes by the batsman's ears-normally designed to intimidate (there are rules about how many bouncers can be delivered, and at what height they can bounce).
A ball that is deemed illegal (for any number of reasons) is signalled by the umpire as a "no-ball". A batsman cannot be dismissed by a 'no-ball', the batting team recieves an extra run, and the ball doesn't count in the over, and must be bowled again.
There are also other types of bowlers-medium pace bowlers and spin bowlers. When watching a cricket match you will see bowlers constantly shining the ball. They only shine one side. The idea is to have one side smooth and the other side rough. Then if the bowler can deliver the ball with the equatorial seam upright, there is a possibility of the ball swinging in the air-this is obviously also governed by atmospheric conditions on the day. Having the ball bounce on the seam also provides the opportunity for the ball to deviate when bouncing.
A spin bowler bowls much slower, and attempts to get the ball to move both through the air and from the bounce by using his wrist and fingers to impart spin on the ball during delivery. The best exponent of this is Shane Warne, who on his day can tie a batsman in knots. They've just got no idea what the ball is going to do.
with all these qualifiers and special conditions, it appears that one team could conceivably win without even showing up.
There was a cleaning service back in the town where I grew up, they were the "Yorker dry Cleaning" We kids adopted the name Yorker to be a euphymism for someone who "choked the chicken" too much.
When we were kids in Connecticut we used to play a version of Whiffleball(a grapefruit sized plastic ball with slits in it. A lot of fun to throw because of it's tendency to curve wildly.) we called it Boxball, but we stole all the ideas from cricket. We stood a tall cardboard box behind the hitter, if the ball passed the hitter and landed in the box, it counted as a strike. (and we had the same 'leg' rule. If the ball hit the batter, but was judged as on the way to the box, that was a strike as well.)
Thanks for all the cricket info.
I'm changing the fake address I use to
123 Main Street
Popping Crease, New York
JN
That'd be
Mr Joseph Nation
123 Main Street
In front of the wicket
Popping Crease, New York.
The first thing you need to do in order to understand cricket,especially modern cricket,is to appreciate the difference between Test Matches (Internationals played over 5 days) and other forms of the game.My remarks here,trivial though they necessarily are,are confined to Test Matches.If this thread lasts I might get round,in about 15 years,to explaining the other forms if anyone is still interested
You can easily get mixed up if this difference is not taken into account.The "One Dayers" played over 50 overs a side at top levels or 40 lower down are basically entertainment.The Test Matches are akin to wars of attrition with exhaustion and injury playing a significant role along with pitch preparation and weather conditions which makes the coin toss an important occasion.
It is an exceedingly difficult game to explain to rabbits.It's subtleties,complexities and complications are mind-numbing and can only ever be appreciated by those who watch it a lot,listen closely to the expert commentators who are all ex-Test Match players and often ex-captains and always bearing in mind that the players are chaps just like us exercising a trench warfare type of determination.
Character flaws are quickly selected out.
Those not prepared to study the game in this manner are as well sticking to golf which can easily be explained in one paragraph.It goes without saying than ladies haven't a clue which explains why none of them are ever allowed near the commentary team which is not the case with other manly sports.Ladies usually are confined to the preparation and serving of tea and sandwiches and looking cute at the presentations after a match is over.And very good they are at both activities I must admit and widely admired as the type of lady it is possible to settle down with for 50 years of marital bliss.In recent years their propensity to have babies at inconvenient times has sometimes been known to play a role in team selection which is a state of affairs much deplored by fundamentalists such as myself and most of my mates.
A Test Match team plays about a half of its games in a foreign country which involves the usual dislocations of hotels and weary travelling and the ailments associated with such gruesome activities as well as those often caused by succumbing to the various temptations on offer in a host country thousands of miles from the domestic hearth.The players abroad are also in close proximity to each other and the various expert helpers on the coaching,medical,logistic and public relations side of things.As can be expected this often creates internal dissention,faction formation and dirty tricks of which practical jokes are the least worrying.It is essential in some countries for the team to adopt a fortress mentality.
A large group of journalists travel alongside the team all of whom are experts and who have an interest in generating newsworthy stories for their editors back home.With the England team there is also the not inconsiderable matter of the Barmy Army.These are a bunch,sometimes numbering up to 5,000,of well-to-do hooligans who follow the team to the various venues and who can drink for England in lieu of not being able to play for it.A good tour management team liaise with the leaders of this fanatical Army in order to assist in disturbing the concentration of their opponents who are all deemed to sup with the Devil.A friend of mine is a member of this Army and he has done three tours which can be,in the case of Australia,a three month's campaign.
This brief and very sketchy outline is provided here to prevent anyone thinking that what runs on to the field of play is a cardboard cut-out because I feel that is the most important thing to rid the mind of before even beginning to understand this very wierd,beautiful and fascinating game.
It's a swirling,seething,blistered,chaotic,rumbling ball of sweat,agony and disgruntlement involving super-fit and talented athletes and their baggage train chasing not only the glory of winning the match and the series but of providing them with entries in Wisden,the official record published annually,which they can show to their grandsons with pride long after the spring has gone out of their step and which also leads to as many invitations to dinners with hoi polloi as they can eat.
And it is mainly carried out with the gentility one might associate with the lawns of Royal Ascot apart from the occasional unseemly lapse which is accidentally caught on camera.
or not.
Spendi is A2k's guy who, when you ask him for the time, he tells you how watches are made.
Hey, I forgot.
Welcome back, Farmerman.
Joe(The place went down the tubes without you.)Nation
fm wrote-
Quote:Thanks wilso, I will have to print this out so I can learb and then when our cable company has some special sports days when they will show cricket or that Afghanistani horse race with the ded calf, I will watch with a better understanding of the rules.
So natch one tries to help him and when one does he goes-
Quote:Spendi is A2k's guy who, when you ask him for the time, he tells you how watches are made.
Don't ever come into my pub with attitude like that.
You'll turn the atmosphere sour.I'd forget cricket if I was you.Your temperment is unsuited to it.
On the anabolic steroids question:
They're probably not used much - cricket is a game of touch, timing and co-ordination, rather than strength.
The Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, is currently the world's number 1 batsman, and steroid manufacturers would be embarrassed to claim him - he's not bulked up at all. Most of the top batsmen (and women) are pretty lithe, agile and athletic.
Of the bowlers - Shane Warne, currently the world's top wicket taker, is just fat, and the great fast bowler, Glenn McGrath, is not known as Pigeon for nothing! He's pretty scrawny.
I missed the match - but it must have been fantastic
so I'm allocating fielding positions to a2kers.
so far I've got
wilso (captn) ......short mid wicket
Margo................fine leg
farmerman .......silly mid on
dadpad ............fielding in slips
spendius...........long on
joe nation.........wicketkeeper
LE....................sweeper (members stand wing)
Will I need to demonstarte a silly walk? I have one but its not particularly silly.
