A Noobs Guide to Cricket.

CaoimH_in

Me and my friends, all seem to have to same belief of the game of cricket. It looks great fun, and apparently we're a quality side too, but I have no idea how it works, what kinda crazy scoring system is that! I've watched a few clips of matches trying to figure out how it all works.

So please, can someone explain it to me?

Beasty

CaoimH_in wrote: »

Me and my friends, all seem to have to same belief of the game of cricket. It looks great fun, and apparently we're a quality side too, but I have no idea how it works, what kinda crazy scoring system is that! I've watched a few clips of matches trying to figure out how it all works.

So please, can someone explain it to me?

Where do you want to start?

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 thats 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 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!

Courtesy of the "rules of cricket" tea-towel!

CaoimH_in

so wait, its like what, 10 bats men? so it goes like at the end of all ten they combine their collected runs so its,

10/240 or whatever no?

As class as that tea-towel is, I didn't help so much . My greatest tea-towel is a Stephen Roche Cheese one..

Dante

Well, I know the bare minimum about cricket, but basically you get 1 or 2 runs for an average shot depending on how long it takes the other team to get the ball back, you get 4 runs for hitting the rope around the edge of the pitch and you get 6 runs for hitting it over the rope e.g. into the crowd. For a test series similar to the ashes each team gets 2 innings(attempts at batting) for each test, in which they get 10(?) batsmen to try get as much runs as they can for their team which is all added up to make a combined score!
As I said before, I only understand cricket from Sky Sports News so don't blame me if that makes no sense!

Beasty

A simple game, that's pretty impossible to explain. So let's start!

Two teams, with 11 in each team. There are also 2 "umpires" whose job is to ensure the laws are applied and adjudicate on anything contentious'

One team bats, the other fields, then they swap over

Two members of the batting team are on the field at any time

All 11 of the fielding team are on the field.

One of the fieding team is the bowler. He/she bowls the ball at one of the batsmen, with the aim of getting the batman "out". The bowler bowls 6 balls in an "over" then another bowler takes over from the other end.

In the middle of the field is the "pitch" or "wicket" which is 22 yards long. At each end of the pitch are three stumps

The bowler can get the batsman out by a number of different ways. He/she may hit the batsmans stumps when bowling the ball. The ball may hit the bat and be caught by a member of the fielding team before it bounces. There is "leg before wicket", which is worthy of a completely separate thread, but basically if the batsman uses part of his/her body to prevent the ball hitting the stumps he/she can be out leg before wicket. There are other ways of getting out (run out, stumped, hit ball twice, obstructing the field of play, timed out), which I will not go into at this stage!

One batsman faces the bowler, the other stands at the other end of the pitch. When the batsman facing the bowler hits the ball far enough, each batsman runs to the opposite end of the pitch and a run is scored. The batsmen can continue running until the ball is returned to the pitch/wicket (and he/she risks being "run out"). Hitting the ball to the boundary rope scores 4 runs. Hitting it over the boundary rope without bouncing scores 6 runs.

When a batman is out he/she is replaced by a team member. There must always be 2 batsmen, and hence the 11th batsman enters the field at the fall of the 9th "wicket". Once one of the final 2 batsmen is out (at the fall of the 10th wicket), the team is all-out, and the batsman who is not-out is not allowed to continue alone. Hence although there are 11 players, only 10 of them are "removed" by the fielding team.

Some matches comprise 2 "innings" for each side (they each bat and field 2 times), and there is no limit on the time they take to score, or the number of overs bowled (although there is an overall time limit on the match - in first class cricket this is normally 3 or 4 days)

There are also one-day matches, involving a single innings for each team, where they try and score as many runs as possible in a single innings (typically of 20, 40 or 50 overs)

The aim is to score more runs than the opposing team.

Here endeth the first lesson!

CaoimH_in

Next question, would I be hard pushed to find cricket supplies in Limerick/Tipperary?

PunkFreud

Beasty wrote: »

Where do you want to start?

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 thats 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 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!

Courtesy of the "rules of cricket" tea-towel!

My god, I actually didn't understand a word of that.

f1dan

CaoimH_in wrote: »

Next question, would I be hard pushed to find cricket supplies in Limerick/Tipperary?

Yes you would.

The best place in this country is ed sports in dublin. His catalogue of equipment is here.

TrueDub

Beasty has basically hit the nail on the head - with his second post, #5, not the tea-towel cliche in his first post!

If you've further questions, feel free to post them here, we'd be delighted to answer.

Finally, Beasty, a little pet peeve of mine, coming from the required pedantry of an umpire - the grassy area where the batsmen run and the bowlers bowl is called the pitch. The wicket is the 5-part wooden thing at either end of the pitch.

I agree that most people use the terms interchangeably - but they're wrong!

I'm sorry...

Beasty

TrueDub wrote: »

.

I agree that most people use the terms interchangeably - but they're wrong!

I'm sorry...

You are right, they are wrong. I knew I was on a sticky wicket when I started interchanging the terms:)

CaoimH_in

what are Overs?

Beasty

CaoimH_in wrote: »

what are Overs?

An over is a sequence of six consecutive balls bowled by a single bowler from one end of the pitch.

The next over is then bowled from the other end. A bowler cannot bowl two overs in a row.

In "limited overs" matches, there is (as the name suggests) a limit on the number of overs that can be bowled by each team (normally 20, 40 or 50). Hence in a 50 over match each team faces 6 x 50 = 300 balls, and tries to score as many runs as possible to win the match.

Normally in limited over matches there is also a limit on the number of overs a single bowler can bowl (10 in a 50 over match for example, usually requiring a minimum of 5 bowlers to bowl for each team, although there is nothing to stop any member of the team bowling, and you often see 6 or 7 of the fielding team bowling some overs during an innings)

HonalD

Recently in the Ashes (I think) a slow paced bouncer was bowled by a fast bowler. Basically the ball stuck in the pitch and the batsman had fully completed his shot before the ball reached him!

Has this type of delivery got a name?

Adamcp898

HonalD wrote: »

Recently in the Ashes (I think) a slow paced bouncer was bowled by a fast bowler. Basically the ball stuck in the pitch and the batsman had fully completed his shot before the ball reached him!

Has this type of delivery got a name?

Mostly referred to simply as a "slow bouncer".

It's a delivery that I'm seeing more and more of recently and is a variation that more bowlers are bringing into their game. Used best on a slower pitch where the bounce and carry through of the ball isn't consistent.

Beasty

HonalD wrote: »

Recently in the Ashes (I think) a slow paced bouncer was bowled by a fast bowler. Basically the ball stuck in the pitch and the batsman had fully completed his shot before the ball reached him!

Has this type of delivery got a name?

Not that I am aware of. I think they simply refer to it as a "slow bouncer" - it's not bowled very often, and does not appear to warrant a special name (yet at least)

Dozen Wicked Words

The slow delivery from a fast bowler is a skill in itself, to make the bowling action look the same when bowling at nearly 90mph as 70mph. It is a brilliant delivery when done right and can make the batsmen look fairly silly.

Dozen Wicked Words

Beasty wrote: »

Not that I am aware of. I think they simply refer to it as a "slow bouncer" - it's not bowled very often, and does not appear to warrant a special name (yet at least)

Long Hop?

Beasty

dooferoaks wrote: »

Long Hop?

A long hop is an inadvertant short delivery - It's on the way down by the time it reaches the batsman (probably down to around or below waist level), making it much easier to hit (often resulting in a boundary). It's not intended to be a bouncer, just pitched far too short, and it is considered a poor delivery. Anyone getting a wicket from a long hop will be considered very lucky.

The slow bouncer we are talking about here is deliberate, and intended to catch the batsman unawares. The best ones will be around head height, with the batsman playing too early and ideally (from the bowler's perspective) getting an edge, or mistiming a hook, resulting in a catch (or dragging the ball onto his stumps)

HonalD

Beasty wrote: »

A long hop is an inadvertant short delivery - It's on the way down by the time it reaches the batsman (probably down to around or below waist level), making it much easier to hit (often resulting in a boundary). It's not intended to be a bouncer, just pitched far too short, and it is considered a poor delivery. Anyone getting a wicket from a long hop will be considered very lucky.

The slow bouncer we are talking about here is deliberate, and intended to catch the batsman unawares. The best ones will be around head height, with the batsman playing too early and ideally (from the bowler's perspective) getting an edge, or mistiming a hook, resulting in a catch (or dragging the ball onto his stumps)

Or just looking plain silly!

whatawaster

Bill Bryson explains cricket:

"After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players -- more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.

Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute's pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher's mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress's strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a misstroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket.

The mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each other's noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished over night and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it."