Does anybody understand Cricket?

Basic cricket:

You have two teams - one team is out on the field, and the other team is in. The team that is in goes out until they are out. When they are out they come back in. When all the ins are out, the team that is out is now in. That team will now be in until they are out - and then they will go back out again.

I don't see what is so hard to understand....

 

Actually it's a very simple game:

2 teams of 11. They flip a coin - the winner chooses to "bat" or "bowl".

The team that is "batting" arranges their team in the order they will bat - from 1->11. Generally the best batsmen will be in the top 6!

The bowling team goes out into the field and arranges for some players to bowl - generally a team will have around 4-5 bowlers. Each bowler is allowed 6 deliveries in a row from one end of the pitch [called an over], and then a different bowler has a go from the other end.
The aim of the bowler is to get the batsmen "out".
This is done by hitting the stumps (wicket).
Or by having the ball caught on the full after it hits the batsmens bat.
Or, if the ball hits the protective "pad" of the batsmen, the bowling team will all yell "howzat?" - and the umpire (man in white shirt and tie) will make a decision as to whether he believed the ball was going to hit the stumps. If he believes it was - the batsmen is "out", "leg before wicket" (lbw). [this rule is slightly more complicated than that...]
Once 10 wickets are obtained, the batting team is "all-out", and it is their turn to bowl.

The aim of the batsmen is to score as many runs as he can - he does this by hitting the ball, and running to the opposite end of the pitch - that is 1 run. If he runs up and back, he scores 2 - and so on. If the ball reaches the edge of the field, it is 4 runs, and over the edge [boundary] on the full is 6 runs (rare). If the batsman is attempting a run, and the fielding team throw ball into the stumps before he crosses that little white line about 1 metre out from the stumps, then the umpire will rule him out "run out" --> this is often adjudicated by the television umpire.

Test match cricket runs for 5 days - simply because it can take some time to get a batsman out. A good batsman will average around 50 runs every time he bats - which means sometimes he will make very few [0-10], and sometimes he will make a LOT [100+]. A good days play by a batting team will see over 300 runs scored.

One-day cricket is popular because it finishes all in one-day [duh] - and there are 50 "overs" for each team to bat in. [an over is where a bowler has his 6 deliveries]. A good score in this form of the game is 280+

 

I love one day cricket.

The test games are just too slow, and take forever(5 days), and after all of it is done, you can have a ****ing draw, it's annoying.

Pakistan plays England in november, should be good, can't wait.

 

So, Is the Ashes a set of five, 5-day Tests then?

 

I think DrN has summed up the basics of the game quite well for someone new to the game. I love my cricket (often driving my wife insane with my love for the game - I swear she thinks I love cricket more than her sometimes...). There are so many other little quircks of the game that would make it really complicated for a new comer to pick up (things like fielding positions, defensive/attacking fields, slogging, run rates etc.). But like one of the first posters said, if you have any specific questions post them and I'm sure one of us Aussies can answer them.

(Test series v the Poms - things not looking peachy at the moment, Aussies need 399 runs on the last day to win :-( )

KellyDwyer - probably was the game between Australia (obviously) and India one or two years ago. Brett Lee got spanked by the Indian batsmen, he took no wickets and conceeded 200 runs. To put that in perspective he averages around 25-30 (I think) when he is bowling which means he takes 1 wicket for every 25-30 runs he conceededs. Could also have been Sahin Tendulkar (Indian batsman and one of the worlds best batsman) he made 241 runs in that test and India made over 700 runs in their first innings.

 

Correct, a "set" of tests is referred to as a "series" - so the Ashes is a 5-test series (each test being at most 5 days long.)

 

ok, since no one has said this yet (I can't believe it)

Chirp chirp... chirp. Chirp, chirp chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp chirp?






CHIRP!


[cricket ssounds]

 

Anyone want to explain medium pace bowlers, fast pace, off leg spinners, spinner and a 'wicked googly'?

Or the run rate that is so important in one day cricket? Sticky wicket? A bowling/batting pitch? How to score a run, a four, a six? The cool referee symbols for a four and six?

I love cricket and learned about it when I was 20. It can be done.

 

I saw my first one day cricket match last summer with Aussies playing the Black Caps here in Auckland. They were simply awesome. I've been told that the recent Aussie cricket teams are like the '27 Yankees, or the Celtics dynasties.

Having said that, I would like to ask the Australians how that asswhippin' tasted against the All Blacks in your backyard over the weekend?

 

Leg Spinner (example: Shane Warne, you have to have heard of him surely!)

When the bowler is trying to bowl a leg spinner he is trying to spin the ball so that when it lands it will spin from the right hand side of the pitch towards the left hand side, this is also referred to as "over the wrist spin". Leg Spinners also can bowl a wrong 'un, which does a similar thing to an off spinner, spins from the left to the right. Leg spinners also can bowl a 'wicked googly', which is similar to the wrong 'un in which is spins towards the right side of the pitch.

Off Spinner (example: Muttiah Murilitheran, a.k.a The Chucker)

Opposite of a leg spinner, the off spinner will try and spin the ball from the left hand side of the pitch to the right. Most off spinner also can bowl an "arm-ball" which they don't try to make spin, instead an arm-ball is meant to go straight, and not spin at all.

Fast Pace/Medium Pace (example: Brett Lee, Shoaib Ahktar)

Fast and medium pace bowlers don't try and spin the ball, but will try and swing the ball. Which means that the ball moves sideways in the air. This is achieved by shining one side of the ball and knowing all about aerodynamics and wind resistance. These bowlers will also try and get some seam, or cut the ball, off the pitch. This means that the bowler is trying to get the ball to land in the seam when it hits the pitch. Cause the seam is raised a bit, when it does hit the seam it can move either left or right. Pace bowlers can also bowl a slower bowl, which as the name suggests is slower than the bowlers normal delivery.

The run rate is an indication of how many runs are needed, or have been scored per over on average. If they say the required rate is 5.5, then the batting team needs to score, on average 5.5 runs every over (it is not possible to score half runs, so what they are really saying is they need 11 runs every 2 overs).

A sticky wicket is a result of a bit of moisture on the pitch which cause the ball to slow up and appear to stick to the pitch as it hits the ground.

A run, four and six explained above

The cool "umpire" signals, both hands raised up above the umpires head - six. One arm moving from extended out to the side to across the chest, then back out to extended, then back across the chest is a four. The umpire from New Zealand, Billy Bowden, gets really into the game and makes a bit of a show when doing his signals. Such as stand on one leg and slowly raise his hands as he signals 6.

I love cricket also, and could talk about it all day - any questions feel free to ask!

 

Sorry the Aussie cricket team is playing in England at the moment

(P.S I hated the flogging the Wallabies copped. Losing three in a row is inexcusable - granted we were missing several key players but thats no excuse)

 

there's a new format of cricket that's got suddenly popular recently. it's called 20/20, where each side gets 20 overs, that's 120 bowls (or pitches).

 

Yao should have a look at those arms and say to himself "That's my goal".

 

Cricket now that is easy to understand

isomotion basketball that is another story

 

I see your swartz is bigger than mine. My favorite part of cricket is the flow. They bring in their fast bowlers first and bowl every other over and try to get some batsmen out. Then they bring in the spinners and off speed guys to slow the run rate. Then it finishes with a flurry.

Cricket Prediction:
Pakistan will win the 2007 world cup. Shane Warne and the currently dominant Aussie team will be getting old by then. Also, I predict that the Pakistani cricket team will begin to improve vastly when resident horses ass, Shoaib Ahktar, gets injured. Pakistan Zindabad until the U.S. gets a cricket team!

 

Wow, so many cricket lovers My favourite bowler was Waqar Younis (for a few years he was unbelievable), favourite batsman would be a toss up between Lara and Anwar (never liked Tendulkar). Gilchrist's style is cool too. Amazingly efficient one-day batsman: Michael Bevan.

 

How would nolan rayna do in game like this? Is bowling nearly the same as pitching?

 

I do know that Shane Warne is a dead set legend.

 

Who cares about union. We own NZ (And the rest of the world) when it comes to real Rugby.



Now....how about one of us Cricket fans try to explain Shane Warne.......thats something Im not willing to do.