What is
cricket?
Cricket is a no-contact game played on a
cricket field. The field is a 20-metre pitch with a wicket at both ends, each
with two wooden bails balanced on three stumps.
This bat and ball game is played by both men
and women (in separate games). With two teams and eleven players on each team,
the batsman’s team scores by preventing the opposing team from hitting the
stumps and bails behind him.
This is
done by successfully hitting the cricket ball with his/her bat, and scoring as
many runs as he can.
Meanwhile the members of the other team are on
the field trying to prevent scoring and put the batting players out, more like
baseball. Once ten batting members are out, the team switches roles.
When all
the innings of the team that has fewer runs have been completed, the team with
more runs wins the game.
How did
Cricket originated?
Being featured in countless sports magazines,
blogs and news like Cricbuzz, Star Sports and the Cricketer Magazine, the
cricket sport easily became one of the most popular sports especially in
commonwealth countries.
Theoretically speaking, if you borrow the
amount of 1 USD for every follower of the sport, you’ll be borrowing a big
amount because the cricket sports have over 2 billion+ followers. It dominated countries like England, India,
South Africa, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbeans and Pakistan.
However, even if the sport had the highest fan
following among all sports in the world, a large chunk of the global population
remains oblivious to its existence.
As you buy
a property or rent a
condominium on your next trip to countries like Australia, India
Sub-continent and England, you should know that one of the most popular sports
globally owes its popularity to these places. In fact, all lands colonized by
Great Britain adapted the sport of Cricket.
Known as England's national summer sport,
cricket was played as early as the 13th century and is now played all over the
world. So if a family member or a significant other is a big fan of the sport,
and you want to join in the fun, then keep reading because...
Here
are 3 steps you’ll need to watch cricket as a beginner
Step 1
: Know the basics of the game
Like I explained earlier, cricket is a bat and
ball sport with two teams of 11 players. The team that scores the most runs in
its innings wins the match, more like baseball. However, the equipment and the
field are different.
Note that the cricket’s bat is made with a
long rectangular wooden bat ( usually 38 inches in length and 4.5 inches in
width with a handle and a shoulder), and the ball is quite heavy and is made out of leather, cork and string.
It’s played on an oval field with a 22-yard
pitch at the center. At each end of the pitch, three wooden sticks are dug into
the ground with two wooden bails on top.
Step
2: Know how a team scores and wins
There are thirteen players and two umpires on
the field. Two of the players are batsmen and the other eleven players are of
the fielding team. The rest of the batting team are off-field.
When the game starts , the person throwing the
ball known as the bowler aims to hit the stumps when he bowls. On the other
hand, the player with the bat known as the striking batsman attempts to keep
the ball from hitting the stumps with the use of the bat.
Unlike baseball, the batsman can hit the ball
anywhere he wants. There are no foul areas including behind him. There's also
no strikes. He/she can choose not to swing however much he likes. Also, running
after hitting the ball is not compulsory.
If the bowler was able to hit the stumps, the
striking batsman is out. This method of getting the batsman out is called bowled.
But the thing is, preventing the bowler from
hitting the stumps isn’t the only goal of the batsman. He also has to score
runs. This is where the second batsman comes into play.
As the striking batsman successfully hits the
ball, both the striking batsman and the
non striking batsman (who’s placed at the bowler’s end ) both run to the
opposite end of the wicket from where they started and score one run.The
further the striking batsman hit the ball, the more runs they can score.
The runner must ground some part of their body
or their bat beyond the crease (the
white line drawn at both ends) at their respective ends to complete a run.
If a fielding member or bowler throws the ball
and knocks the stump or bails before the batsman makes it to the end where the
ball was thrown to, then that batsman is considered out. His method of getting
the batsman out is called run out.
Another way of trying to out the batsman is by
the method called caught which works
the same way as baseball. The batsman is out once he/she hits the ball and the
field players catch it.
The batsman also scores runs if he/she hits
the ball beyond the outer boundary in the air. If the ball hits the ground
without passing over the boundary, it's called a four, and it's good for 4 automatic runs.
It's called Six ,accounting for 6 automatic runs, if
it goes over the boundary before hitting the ground.These runs are
automatically added to the score of the batting team.
You now know the basics of cricket. You can
finally watch the game with a loved one or enjoy the game on your own. But one
last rule to watch out for, and that's the concept Leg before wicket (LBW).
Here is how it works: If the ball thrown by the bowler hits the
body/gear of the batsman, considering that the impact of the ball on the body
happened in front of the stump and the stump would've been hit if it wasn't for
the body part/ gear of the batsman, then the batman is out.
By the way, in
cricket the umpire's signal for out is raising one's index finger. So if you
see the umpire doing so when the bowler hits the gear or the body of the
batsman, then rest assured it's a case of LBW.
Step
3: Know the pace of the game
Now that you know the basics, know that the
game starts with a toss. The winning captain will pick if they will start as
the batting team or the bowling team.
For the batting team, 2 batsman head to the
field and the rest are off field. Only one batsman can be ruled out at the
time, and as one batsman gets out, another batsman comes in to replace him/her.
Meanwhile, on the fielding team, the bowler is
only allowed to ball 6 legal balls, then another bowler must take over. This
lot of 6 bowls is called over.
The inning continues until 10 batsmen of the
batting team are out, the max number of agreed overs per innings (20 or 50) has
been bowled.Then the roles reversed.
Like I said, once ten batting members are out,
the team switches roles. The team that scores the highest number of runs after the
conclusion of their over wins the match. Pretty simple right?
In general, trying to learn how to understand
cricket… whether it's for your own enjoyment or to bond with your dad or
significant other...it's easier than you think. You might even realize it's the
new sport you'd always look out for.
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