Cricket simplified

The concept of the game of cricket eludes many international people in London; it’s even got The First Pint’s resident sports ‘nut’ perplexed. So we’ve decided to shed a bit of light on the issue.

England exported cricket and the colonials now play it much better

Colonial origins

The history of cricket stretches all the way back to 16th century England. Colonial expansion by the British at the start of last century then spread the game to many different parts of the world. Today there are over one hundred and four cricket playing nations, which are part of the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council.

Most European countries including Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and Finland have cricket associations. Even the traditional South American football powerhouses – Brazil and Argentina are involved in the game. Among the top teams, Australia/England and Pakistan/India, are among the fiercest rivals in the sport.

Gladiator equipment

The equipment involved is a lot like that used in baseball i.e. a bat and a ball. The bat though is flatter and the ball is made from cork and leather. The harder ball means batsmen need more protection in all areas, which is why they look like a bunch of gladiators when they step out.

The rules are pretty simple (the complex ones are left out):

• Each team consists of 11 players. At any given time the fielding side will have all of them on the field, while the batting side is represented in pairs of two.
• When all 11 players get out (in any of the ways described below) the teams innings is over. Since they are there in pairs of 2, one batsman always remains not-out.
• Games consist of overs, and 6 balls constitute one over.

Scoring is as follows:

• 4 runs—when the ball rolls along the ground and crosses the boundary line.
• 6 runs—when the ball flies over the boundary line.
• Out—bowled (ball hitting stumps), caught, run out (stumps hit before run is complete)

The most controversial way of getting out is leg before wicket (LBW); only the umpire can decide about this. The stumps are those things behind the batsmen in the picture.

The aim of the whole thing is to score runs and then bowl the opposition out (or restrict them in the allotted overs). Or vice versa.

The outsider’s view

A couple of years ago there was a sitcom about international students learning English titled “Mind Your Language”. The teacher was explaining the principles of cricket to one of his students. The student summed it up like this.

“When you’re out, you’re not really out, you’re in—and when you’re in, you’re not really in, you’re out.”

Hopefully The First Pint‘s readers have understood a bit more than that.

Types of matches:

Test matches
The defining characteristic of a Test Match is that it lasts five days. Most people would think that would give teams enough time to win or lose a game – but there’s a catch. A large percentage of these matches end up being drawn. Sounds harsh (and stupid) not to get anything out of a game that lasts so long.

The really significant rule change is that there is no limit on the number of overs each side has to play. So in essence teams can keep on playing until the batting side is bowled out, or decides it has had enough. Both teams bat twice and if they can’t manage a result over five days, the game is declared a draw.

One-day International
These are 50 overs long and as the name suggests end on the same day. The team with the greater number of runs wins.

Twenty20
This is the newest and most exciting of the formats. Its only 20 overs per side, which means an average game lasts three and a half hours (only!). Again the side with the highest score wins.

Sub-continental passion

In the sub-continent (India and Pakistan) and neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cricket takes on a completely new shape. The fans are more passionate and there’s always a carnival-like atmosphere at games with drums, dancing and colorful costumes.

But all that passion can quickly turn into anger if teams don’t perform well – especially against each other. Crowds gather round to burn effigies of players and officials and in some cases even mob players at their homes.

Cricket also plays a role in regional politics. Recent tense relations between India and Pakistan mean the countries are not playing each other on the international stage. A cricket-related incident in 2010 even led to the cancellation of a Pakistani parliamentary committee’s visit to India. Cricket does tend to bring people from both sides together but it’s also the first thing that suffers when politicians take strong stances.