She Knows Cricket
In case you think this breakdown of cricket is a little too basic, consider this. An American once said “cricket - that's the game with the mallets, right?”. For the record, Yanks, that’s croquet!
Cricket is played by 2 teams of 11 players each, and as far as how much time you should allocate to watch a match, it can take anywhere from an afternoon (one day cricket) to five days (for a test match).
The whole point is to score more runs than the opponent. Think … baseball. Runs good, getting out bad. The teams bat in turns (each turn is called an innings) and try to score runs while the opposing team fields and tries to end the batters’ innings. How many innings are played depends on which kind of cricket you’re playing.
To give you an idea of how long matches usually last:
- Test Cricket goes for 5 days.
- One-Day Cricket is pretty self-explanatory, and lasts about six hours.
- Twenty20 (a limited overs match where each team bats for one innings, which lasts 20 overs) usually finishes in three hours.
Cricket is played on a field, and there's a “pitch” in the centre that is 20m long, with wickets set up at each end. There are two umpires keeping the teams in line, and holding people’s sweaters/hats/glasses. They are so handy and considerate.
The batting team scores runs by hitting the ball and running the whole length of the pitch. Easy so far. At any one time there are two batsmen in, one at each end. Even though the ‘second’ batsmen – the non-striker - might not be facing up to hit the ball from the bowler, there’s no avoiding the running part. And either batsmen can lose their wicket (if the ball hits it), whether they hit the ball or not.
Obviously you can’t score runs if you’re back in the team seats, so the primary concern of the batsman who is batting (i.e. the "striker") is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket (which would dismiss them) and then to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his batting partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batsmen carry their bats as they run).
Meanwhile the bowling side has a bowler at the pitch, a wicket-keeper crouching behind the striking batsman’s wicket ready to grab the ball and return it (you’ll recognise the wickie, just look for the gloves) and other 9 players scattered around the field. They’re all trying to get each member of the batting team out, at which point the batting and bowling teams switch places. As soon as 10 batsmen have been dismissed, the whole team is out and the innings is over.
The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over. It’s up to the captain to decide where players should stand in the field, and which player should bowl for each over.
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While women’s test matches are played over four days rather than the standard five, they can still manage the same number of overs as men ...
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How about a list of all the field positions? You know, all those funny names .......
Field positions are complicated!! Silly mid-wicket, gulley, slips... the only one I know for sure is wicketkeeper!!
I know all the fielding positions in Cricket.
Wicketkeeper, 1st Slip, 2nd Slip, 3rd Slip, 4th Slip, Fly Slip, Gully, leg slip, leg gully, short third man, Backward point, point, cover point, cover, extra cover, mid off, mid on, midwicket, square leg, backward square leg, short fine leg, silly point, short leg (bat pad), silly mid off, silly mid on, deep midwicket, deep square leg, deep backward square leg, fine leg, deep fine leg, long leg, third man, deep point, deep cover, deep extra cover, long off and long on.
I've left out some of the unorthodox fielding positions.
in my travels i saw the rules of cricket explained on a tea towel - it was humorous and insightful. You'd do well to get it, I've been in search for it ever since and you may well be the closest thing to it. Go Girls!
Feild positions - yes i know the names of them and yes most of where they are but best way I learnt was to ask who in the Australian team stands there ( most of them are good looking) so very easy to remember
You can generally learn the names of most of the fielding postitions after watching a few matches and listening to the commentators describe where the shot is hit to and so on..
Best explanation I have ever come across...
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 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.
I wish the TV media would expand more about who is in a particular field position and point it out on the TV screen, as undoubtedly the different field placements (other than the obvious 3 slips and a gully) are the hardest thing about cricket to come to terms with.
I guess I wouldn't mind also knowing the reasons why they chose a particular field placement ie what the rationale behind it is. In particular what field placements to have with the different bowling styles or dependent on conditions of the pitch or the batters individual playing style.
Here's a link to a pdf with all the fielding positions on it. Note that these positions can be reversed dependent on left hand/right hand and whether the bowler is bowling around the wicket or not.
I like Popeye's explaination of cricket to a foreigner.....very clever!
The first thing they teach you at umpiring school is that there are no rules in cricket...they are the laws of cricket. We see former test players, now commentators referring to the laws as rules. This is incorrect. Please let them know that they are the laws of the game, not the rules. Rules are match or competition specific playing conditions.
Not overly impressed with Jurlaprut's (26.12.09) email address either. Might want to remove this filth as young girls may be involved with this forum.
Please explain "nightwatchman"?
Hows it feel going out with a little kid Lee Furlong?
What a show pony Watson is... can sledge but cant take it back.
Gayle took him to the cleaners. lol.....
Who the hell screams and jumps up and down like a spoilt little brat?
Ps: Hows that test hundred going champ? lol........
Hows it feel going out with a little kid Lee Furlong?
What a show pony Watson is... can sledge but cant take it back.
Gayle took him to the cleaners. lol.....
Who the hell screams and jumps up and down like a spoilt little brat?
Ps: Hows that test hundred going champ? lol........
a nightwatchman is someone who is brought up from the bottom of the order in the last few overs of a day. their main job is just to stay in overnight, and so that a better batsman doesn't have to start at the end of a day (possibly getting himself out). they generally aren't very good batsmen. hope that helps :)
Zinger (on 27/12/2009), where's the link to that PDF? I'm really keen to see it!!!
I know nothing about cricket, except for backyard cricket. My brother is cricket crazy, does nothing but sit at home and watch the cricket, yelling out the scores all the time and I just don't get. Is it just girls or do I just not care? lol
Emma
What is the follow-on rule?????
The follow-on law is for games that allow two innings for each team.
According to Wikipedia:
"The follow-on rule was introduced (in 1884). This was in response to the problem that to win a game a side needed to dismiss their opposition twice. A side that batted first and was fully on top of a match and scoring lots of runs would have to wait until it was dismissed * second time before it could attempt to dismiss the opposition a second time. As cricket is a time-limited game, it meant that sides that dominated the opposition could be forced to draw rather than win games."
That is, under the old law, each team would bat in turn. For example, if Team A batted first and scored 520, then Team B batted and were all out for 70, Team A would have to bat again under the old law, meaning that Team B would bat last and have a chance to draw the game.
The follow-on rule was introduced so that Team B could no longer salvage a draw from this approach. Wikipedia again states about Law 13, Enforcing The Follow-On:
"In a two innings match, if the side batting second scores substantially fewer runs than the side batting first, the side that batted first can force their opponents to bat again immediately. The side that enforced the follow-on risks not getting to bat again and thus the chance of winning. For a game of five or more days, the side batting first must be at least 200 runs ahead to enforce the follow-on; for a three- or four-day game, 150 runs; for a two-day game, 100 runs; for a one-day game, 75 runs."
So to put this practically, Team A bats first in a 5 day game and scores 520. Team B is then bats and is all out for 70. Team A's captain now can enforce the Follow-On Law, because Team B failed to get within 200 runs of their total of 520. Team B bats again and is all out for 130 in the second innings, meaning that Team A wins by an Innings and 320 runs, because they only had to bat once. The captain of Team A may, however, choose not to enforce the follow on.