Cricket explained (for Cecilie).

[karadan]

I'll try to be as succinct as possible.

Rules for one-day cricket:

There are two teams. A coin is tossed to see which team bats first and which team fields. There are 11 players on each side. All 11 players on one team will be fielding whilst only two batsmen from the other team will be batting at any given time.

The pitch the players bat on is called the crease and the part the batsman stands on is called the wicket. Both batsmen face each other at either end of the crease. One of the batsmen will face a bowler whilst the other stands and watches the proceedings.

A bowler bowls the ball towards one of the batsman who then attempts to hit the ball. There are various different forms of bowling. Fast, medium, medium spin, slow spin, etc. The technique to hit these kinds of bowls varies greatly (I never liked facing fast bowlers because a good one will purposefully give you the heebie-jeebies by making it bounce at your head - not disallowed but certainly frowned upon). The ball is hard and heavy and can reach speeds of 90 mph at the hands of a very competent bowler. Even with pads and a helmet, getting hit by one of these hurts to the point that, having to face another becomes a bowel-loosening concept.

Anyway, the bowler bowls the ball 6 times in an over. An over is a portion of the game that both teams will be given a set amount to play that day. For international one-day cricket, it is 50 over's per team, so, that's 50 x 6 balls. Once the batting team reach their 50 over's, it is tea and scones time (or half time). Then play is reversed and the side who were fielding for the first 50 over's then goes in to bat.

Following me so far?

That is the bare bones of the sport. There are many, many other rules, some which seem ridiculous on the outset but are there for good reasons. Once you play a few games you start to get the hang of things. It all becomes second nature pretty rapidly. The terminology can take a while though. Golden Duck, googlie and full-toss, to mention a few

[Tank]

I loath Cricket as a 'sport' but as an excuse for a picnic on a nice sunny summers day it's ideal as you have to pay very little attention, except when there is a good batsman and then you have to be careful of 'incoming!'.

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but how does cricket work anyway? I've never heard of a non-british person who understands that sport...

The aim of the game is for one team (11 people) to score more points (called 'runs') than the other team. The person batting attempts to hit ball bowled at them. If they hit the ball they then have to judge if they have hit it far enough for them to have enough time to run to the other end of the pitch and swap places with the other batsman (there are two batsman on the pitch). They may have enough time to run just one length of the pitch, in which case their team scores one run, if they run back and forth they score two runs etc. Each cricket ground has a boundary line, often just painted on the grass but sometimes a long piece of white rope. If the batsman hits the ball and it lands inside the boundary but goes over it (rolls or bounces) he scores four runs. If he hits it clean over the boundary he scores six runs. So that's the active scoring. There is passive scoring as well. If the bowler bowls an unplayable ball e.g. so far to one side or the other the batsman could not possibly hit it then the umpire (referee) will award the batting team an additional run. That's what the batting team do.

The bowler is trying to primarily get the batsman out, or off the pitch. There are a number of ways he can do this. If he hits the wicket (three vertical sticks (stumps) with shallow groves in them with two little bits of wood (bails) laid in the grooves) and at least one of the bails falls to the ground (they have been know to jump up and fall down again without coming off!) the batsman is 'out' and leaves the ground and is replaced by another member of their team who comes out to bat (until all 11 people on the team have had a go at batting). If the batsman hits the ball and it is caught but the bowlers team, without having touched the ground first. the batsman is out. If the batsman hits the ball and attempts to run and fails to reach the other end in time he is also out. He fails to reach the other end in time if the bowlers team retrieve the ball and manage to knock the bails off the wicket the batsman is running for before he reaches a line in front of the wicket (called the crease).

Each team gets to play twice as batting and bowling teams. The team with the highest total of runs at the end is the winner. If they run out of time then the team with the highest score wins. If the weather gets nasty (ruins the picnic, nothing to do with the game) then the match is stopped and declared a draw.

[karadan]

There is this, shorter explanation but i don't think it helps too much.  

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 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!

[Cecilie]

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.

Wut?

[karadan]

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.

Wut?

I shoudn't dwell on it too much if i were you More of a comedic explanation.

[Cecilie]

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.

Wut?

I shoudn't dwell on it too much if i were you

[karadan]

BTW you spelled my name wrong.  

[Cecilie]

BTW you spelled my name wrong.  

[curiosityandthecat]

[SSY]

That was a pretty spot on summary Karadan. I still don't understand the rules for deciding the winner, about wasting time at the end of the day etc etc, and this is from someone who briefly played on the school team.We knew we lost when the games master went berserk and threatened us.

The best part doubt cricket is without doubt the nomenclature, sticky wicket, googly, dolly and sledging. The other thing I like is the tradition, things like the traditional cream jumpers and the ashes. I once explained cricket to an American friend as "Like baseball, but only 2 bases, and instead of going round, you go back and forth to score runs".

[karadan]

Hehe, thanks. I definitely do not know all the rules. The rule book is enormous. I have fond memories of playing matches spanning entire sundays at school. I like the sound of cricket. The hollow 'tock' of leather on willow followed by the pleasant sound of gentle applause and crowd appreciation

The baseball explanation is ace! Much simpler.

[curiosityandthecat]

The baseball explanation is ace! Much simpler.

Unless it's Japanese baseball.  

[karadan]

The baseball explanation is ace! Much simpler.

Unless it's Japanese baseball.  roflol

[Cecilie]

Should I explain biathlon now?  

[Tank]

Should I explain biathlon now?  

Go on. It can't be that difficult!