| 18 Tue | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Hambantota, 1st Match, Group C |
| 19 Wed | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Australia v TBD at Colombo (RPS), 2nd Match, Group BICC World Twenty20, 2012/13India v TBD at Colombo (RPS), 3rd Match, Group A |
| 20 Thu | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13South Africa v Zimbabwe at Hambantota, 4th Match, Group C |
| 21 Fri | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Bangladesh v New Zealand at Pallekele, 5th Match, Group DICC World Twenty20, 2012/13England v TBD at Colombo (RPS), 6th Match, Group A |
| 22 Sat | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Sri Lanka v South Africa at Hambantota, 7th Match, Group CICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Australia v West Indies at Colombo (RPS), 8th Match, Group B |
| 23 Sun | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13New Zealand v Pakistan at Pallekele, 9th Match, Group DICC World Twenty20, 2012/13England v India at Colombo (RPS), 10th Match, Group A |
| 24 Mon | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13West Indies v TBD at Colombo (RPS), 11th Match, Group B |
| 25 Tue | ICC World Twenty20, 2012/13Bangladesh v Pakistan at Pallekele, 12th Match, Group D |
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed.
Showing posts with label Cricket Guide.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cricket Guide.. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Group Schedule of Icc World Twenty 20 2012/2013
Battle between Pakistan And Sri Lanka(The Odis).
The Pakistanis Are now up ahead with lead of 2-1 can the lankans Lions will
be able to alive the series?
Cricket, Literature and Culture
In his important contribution to the growing field of sports literature, Anthony Bateman traces the relationship between literary representations of cricket and Anglo-British national identity from 1850 to the mid 1980s. Examining newspaper accounts, instructional books, fiction, poetry, and the work of editors, anthologists, and historians, Bateman elaborates the ways in which a long tradition of literary discourse produced cricket's cultural status and meaning. His critique of writing about cricket leads to the rediscovery of little-known texts and the reinterpretation of well-known works by authors as diverse as Neville Cardus, James Joyce, the Great War poets, and C.L.R. James. Beginning with mid-eighteenth century accounts of cricket that provide essential background, Bateman examines the literary evolution of cricket writing against the backdrop of key historical moments such as the Great War, the 1926 General Strike, and the rise of Communism. Several case studies show that cricket simultaneously asserted English ideals and created anxiety about imperialism, while cricket's distinctively colonial aesthetic is highlighted through Bateman's examination of the discourse surrounding colonial cricket tours and cricketers like Prince Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji of India and Sir Learie Constantine of Trinidad. Featuring an extensive bibliography, Bateman's book shows that, while the discourse surrounding cricket was key to its status as a symbol of nation and empire, the embodied practice of the sport served to destabilise its established cultural meaning in the colonial and postcolonial contexts.
John Ayto "Wisden Dictionary of Cricket "
AC Black (2007-09-01) | ISBN 0713679158 | 576 Pages | File type: PDF | 4.7 mb
A Complete Guide to Fitness, Sports
\Mary Anderson, "A Complete Guide to Fitness, Sports Nutrition: Steps to a Healthier You"
Glo bal Me dia | 2007 | ISBN: 8189940228 | 296 pages | File type: PDF | 1,7 mb
Glo bal Me dia | 2007 | ISBN: 8189940228 | 296 pages | File type: PDF | 1,7 mb
Monday, 15 August 2011
A Beginner’s Guide of Cricket.
People from non-cricketing countries (poor, sad souls) often ask me to explain cricket to them. Here in San Miguel I have lost count of how many times I’ve sat at a bar using glasses for batsmen and coasters for the fielders. It seems to me more than past time to set my simple principles of cricket down for the greater world to enjoy. It disturbs me that so many of those sad souls labour under the misapprehension that the blessed game is an arcane and difficult one into whose mysteries you must be initiated from birth, otherwise understanding is impossible.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Cricket is dead easy to understand. Like the world’s greatest board game, Go, the principles are simple, but the variations endless. Anyone can learn to understand, enjoy, and ultimately, love, cricket. Quite simply it is the world’s greatest spectator sport.
Plus you have me, the mistress of easy (er, but not in that sense) to teach you how.
Cricket, of course, is not for everyone. Those readers who have zero interest in spectator sports should stop reading now. Run off to your yoga class, go walk your dog, turn back to that book you were reading. This musing is not for you.
For the rest of you here are the basics of cricket:
Cricket is a team sport. The team which scores the most amount of runs, and gets the other team out, wins. Nothing simpler.
There are two forms of the game:
1) Test cricket—which takes place over five days. Think of it as akin to the novel with all the running dramas, climaxes, anti-climaxes, intrigues and counter-intrigues of that artform. Test cricket is the original and only true form of cricket.
2) Pyjama or One-Day cricket—the shortened form. It is to test cricket as a bad TV advertisment (wheredyagedit?) is to a superb film. Loud, noisy, predictable, wholly lacking in subtlety and eye-jarringly colourful. To be watched only if there is no test cricket available.
For obvious reasons, I will largely be discussing test cricket.
Cricket is played on an oval. A large expanse of green grass usually surrounded by a white picket fence. The grass is kept at a specific height by the groundsman. In the centre of the oval is the cricket pitch (or wicket) which is a strip of paler grass. The wicket (or cricket pitch) is also carefully presided over by the groundsman, but once the game begins grass is left to grow and the wicket to deteriorate. Thus the conditions for playing change over the five days of a test. The condition of the oval and pitch has a large effect on whether the cricket played on it will be high or low-scoring. Some afficionados argue that the groundsman is the most important person in cricket. I think this is going a tad too far.
At either end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) are the stumps (or wicket). The stumps are a wooden constuction of three stakes (Buffy would have plenty of weapons available should she have to deal with a nest of vampires while attending a cricket match) impaled in the ground, with two smaller pieces of wood, known as the bails, balanced on top. In front of these stumps (or wicket) at either end is a white painted line which marks the crease.
Two teams of twelve people play (though the position of the twelfth man is that of gofer. They don’t actually play unless one of the fielders needs to leave the oval for a short amount of time). The two teams take turns fielding and batting. In test cricket each team has two innings. In pyjama (or one-day) cricket they have one innings each.
The team batting has the job of protecting the stumps (or wicket) and trying to score runs. Two batsmen at a time are on the field (unless one of the batsmen is injured in which case they have a runner and there are three batsmen on the field). One batsman is at either end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) defending the stumps (or wicket) and trying to score runs.
Runs are scored by hitting the ball (made of cork covered with red leather) with a cricket bat (traditionally made of willow—thus the expression "the glorious sound of leather on willow" which sound dirty if you’re thinking of a certain character from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and running up and down the cricket pitch (or wicket). Although only one batsmen can hit the ball at any one time, both must run and get safely behind their crease. If the ball is hit all the way to the boundary (typically a thick white rope, not the fence) it is deemed to be four runs. If it is hit over the boundary it is six runs. The batsmen need not run for these boundaries.
Once a batsmen has run safely from one end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) to the other they have scored one run for themselves and also for their team. The batsman who is facing the bowling is said to be on strike. You do not have to hit each ball. You do not have to run if you do hit the ball. Hitting the ball to the boundary is the most efficient way of making runs because you accumulate runs faster and you don’t have to exhaust yourself running.
Getting fifty runs is good for an individual batsman, getting one hundred (or a century) is better, and getting more still is even better. The most amount of individual runs ever was 380 scored by the Australian Matthew Hayden. (Update 13 April: it’s now Brian Lara with 400 not out. Woo hoo!) The highest ever career average for a batsman is that of Donald Bradman (also an Australian): 99.94. Of course cricket is a team sport and individual feats and statistics are rarely mentioned and of little importance.
The job of the fielding side is to get the batsmen out and prevent them from scoring runs. This is achieved by standing in positions where the team captain thinks they are most likely to get a catch or prevent runs. Only one of the fielders, the wicket keeper, wears gloves to help catch the ball (unlike, say, baseball). The wicket keeper stands behind the stumps (or wicket).
All fielding positions have specific names that indicate their relationship to the batsmen on strike. A deep position is one that is a long way from the batsman and closer to the boundary. A short or silly position is one that is closer to the batsman. Leg or on side positions are closer to the back of the batsman’s legs. Off side positions are closer to the front of the batsman.
When a batsmen gets out they leave the field and the next batsman in the batting order comes out to replace them. The batting order usually runs from best batsmen to worst (the exception being the nightwatchman). There are cricketers who are specialist bowlers, cricketers who are specialist batsmen, as well as that rare beast, the all-rounder, who is good at both. Regardless of batting ability every one on the team (save the twelfth man) must bat.
There must be two batsmen for play to continue so once the tenth batsman is out the innings is over.
The Play
The game begins when the captain of each side walks out on to the oval and a coin is tossed. The winner of the toss decides whether they want to bat or field first. Their decision is based on the weather, the conditions of the pitch, what they know of their opponents and of their own team.
Test cricket play typically commences at 11AM and continues until 6PM, with scheduled breaks for tea and lunch and unsceduled breaks for drinks. It continues for five days, or less, if there is a result sooner.
Results of a test match are win—your team scores more than theirs and gets theirs all out; lose—your team scores less than theirs and is all out; draw or no result—one team scores more than the other team but fails to get them all out; tie—both teams get the exact same score and are all out (exceptionally rare—this has happened only twice in test cricket history).
Once the matter of who bats first has been decided, the two umpires, the fielding team and the two opening batsmen (or openers) walk out onto the oval. The batsmen take up their positions in front of the two sets of stumps.
Opening batsman is a specialist batting position given to the two batsman on the team who are good at accumulating runs, not prone to throwing their wickets away, and work well together. It is essential that the openers have a mutual understanding of when to run and even more importantly when not to run.
At the same time, the fielders take up their positions: the wicket keeper behind the stumps (or wicket) of the batsman who bats first, the opening bowler at the other end of the cricket pitch, and the rest of the fielders in positions determined by the captain and the bowler which they deem to be best for getting this particular batsmen out and preventing them from scoring too many runs.
Some of the factors they take into account when determining these field placings are: whether the batsman is right or left handed, whether the batsman is known to be fond of particular strokes, how the batsman proceeds to bat in this particular innings, and how fast or slow the wicket (cricket pitch) is.
The opening bowler, usually a fast bowler (or quick), bowls an over from one end of the oval. Usually the two ends are named for their geographical locations. At the S. C. G. (Sydney Cricket Ground) there is the Paddington end and the Randwick (or University of New South Wales) end. One of the ends at the ‘Gabba (the major cricket ground in Brisbane) is known as the Vulture St end which has always seemed remarkably ominous to me.
An over consists of six legitmate bowls. If the bowler bowls a ball the umpires deem to be illegitimate (a wide or a no ball) the bowler must bowl another ball and the over ends up consisting of more than six balls (and thus more than six opportunities to score runs for the batsmen). Some overs wind up being 17 or 18 balls long, but this is uncommon. Each time there is an illegitmate delivery the batting team is given an extra run. These are called sundries.
If the batsman hits the ball and gets a run, the two batsmen change ends and the bowler finds themselves having to reset the field (change the positions of all the fielders) to accommodate the new batsman. If each ball results in a single run the batsmen will change end six times, resulting in frequent changeovers of the field.
After the first over is finished a second bowler bowls an over from the other end. At the completion of that over the ends change again and the first bowler bowls another over. The two bowlers thus rotate the bowling until they begin to tire, or bowl badly, or annoy the captain, who replaces them with a different bowler. A bowler can only be replaced once they have completed an over.
In order for a batsman to get out they must be dismissed in one of the following ways:
Bowled. The bowler bowls a ball which goes past the batsman and hits the stumps (or wicket), dislodging the bails. Common.
Caught. The batsmen hits the ball (or it comes off their gloves) into the air and a fielder catches it before it hits the ground. Common.
Handled Ball. The batsmen picks up the ball. Uncommon.
Hit Ball Twice. The batsmen hits the ball, it doesn’t go anywhere, so they take a second swipe at it. Uncommon.
Hit Wicket. The batsmen hits their own stumps (or wicket) dislodging the bails. Uncommon.
Leg Before Wicket. The batsmen does not offer a stroke to a ball that would have hit their stumps were their pads not in the way. Common.
Obstructed Field. The batsman deliberately tries to prevent a fielder either taking a catch or throwing down the stumps. Uncommon. I’ve never seen this happen.
Run Out. The batsman fails to make it back behind the crease before the opposing side has dislodged the bails with the cricket ball, either thrown or held in the hand. Common.
Stumped. The batsman steps out of their crease to strike the ball, misses, and before they can step back the wicket keeper dislodges the bails with cricket ball in hand. Common.
Timed Out. The batsman fails to come out to bat within three minutes of the fall of wicket. Uncommon. I’ve never seen this happen.
In addition to being caught, bowled or any of the other possibilities listed above there must also be an appeal. An appeal consists of the fielding team leaping in the air screaming "howzat?" and staring at the umpires with a fierce expression that generally means "you’d have to be barking mad not to give the bastard out". If the umpire agrees they will raise their index finger. If they disagree they will do nothing, or shake their head. Umpires are universally known not to be intimidated by the antics of the fielding team and their decisions are always just and fair. Particularly those of Steve Bucknor.
Once a batsman is given out by the umpire they slowly trudge off the field looking miserable (particulary if they have scored a duck [no runs]). Batsmen never look happy getting out even if they have scored a double century. Someone would say particularly if they have scored a double century, because they were deprived of the chance to knock over the world record for number of runs scored. Though of course cricket is all about the team and not about individual statistics.
The score is represented thus: number of wickets taken followed by a forward slash, followed by the number of runs scored. If one wicket has been taken and 23 runs scored the score looks like this: 1/23 which is read as "one for twenty three" (except in England where for some bizarre reason they do it like this: 23/1 or twenty-three for one). As more runs are scored and more wickets taken the score changes. However you will never see 10/ because once ten wickets are taken the innings is over.
The next batsman then comes out, jogging up and down on the spot and generally giving the impression of being raring to go and ready to knock every delivery far, far out of the ground. That is if the next batsman is still an actual batsman and not a bowler masquerading as a batsman. In that case they will walk out somewhat unsteadily holding the bat as if they aren’t quite sure what it’s for or how to hold it. They will stand at the crease and stare up the other end at the fast bowler who is hurtling towards them faster than Phar Lap and they will valiantly try not to panic and run.
Such a batsman is known as a tailender. My favourite spectacle in cricket is when there is only one genuine batsman left and they are in the position of having to stay on strike and thus protect the tailender from getting out and possibly injured (in that order).
Because the strike automatically changes at the end of every over (or every six balls). The real batsman tries to end the over by hitting a single thus ensuring that they keep the strike and the tailender doesn’t have to deal with that scary red thing hurtling towards their body and/or wicket (stumps). This leaves the good batsman in the awful position of sometimes having to resist hitting a boundary for fear of handing the strike over to the incompetent, afraid-of-the-ball, not-quite-sure-which-end-of-the-bat-is-up tailender. Meanwhile the fielding side is doing everything it can to give the tailender the strike so that they can then get them out. Mostly by terrifying the poor bastard into treading on their own wicket. It is most gratifying to watch.
Once the tenth bastman is out the innings ends. The innings total consists of the combined total of all the individual batsman plus all the sundries (illegitimate deliveries) conceded by the bowling side. Let’s say for example that the first side to bat, who we’ll call Australia, score 456 and still aren’t all out. The captain might decide that 456 is a very solid, good, defensible total and declare. A declaration means that the captain has decided to end their team’s innings before they are all out.
The new batting side, let’s call them England, will be aiming to get that much and hopefully two hundred or more besides. So that when Australia bat again in their second and final innings they will have a difficult target to achieve. (Second innings totals are almost always smaller than first innings totals.) If Australia are all out before they reach England’s first innings total then England has won (and pigs would start to fly).
A much more likely result is that England would go out for their first batting innings and tragically (though predictably) make only 123 runs and fall well short of Australia’s first innings total. This means that Australia has a choice: they can now go out to bat and make an even bigger total for England to get in their second innings or they can enforce the follow on. The follow on means that Australia postpones their second batting innings and forces England to bat twice in a row, gambling that they can get England all out before they reach, or get very much further than, the first innings total of 456.
Australia does this and gets England all out for 234. Sadly the two totals 123 + 234 is still less than Australia’s first innings total and England lose by an entire innings and 99 runs. Not an unusual result for either side.
And there you have it. Enough cricket knowledge to allow you to follow a test match without any difficulty. Before long though you’ll find yourself thirsting for more so you can follow the intricacies of the game and not just these bare basics. Don’t despair! Coming soon:
The Slightly More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket. To be followed shortly after by the Moderately More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket, and not long after that, by the Substantially More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Cricket is dead easy to understand. Like the world’s greatest board game, Go, the principles are simple, but the variations endless. Anyone can learn to understand, enjoy, and ultimately, love, cricket. Quite simply it is the world’s greatest spectator sport.
Plus you have me, the mistress of easy (er, but not in that sense) to teach you how.
Cricket, of course, is not for everyone. Those readers who have zero interest in spectator sports should stop reading now. Run off to your yoga class, go walk your dog, turn back to that book you were reading. This musing is not for you.
For the rest of you here are the basics of cricket:
Cricket is a team sport. The team which scores the most amount of runs, and gets the other team out, wins. Nothing simpler.
There are two forms of the game:
1) Test cricket—which takes place over five days. Think of it as akin to the novel with all the running dramas, climaxes, anti-climaxes, intrigues and counter-intrigues of that artform. Test cricket is the original and only true form of cricket.
2) Pyjama or One-Day cricket—the shortened form. It is to test cricket as a bad TV advertisment (wheredyagedit?) is to a superb film. Loud, noisy, predictable, wholly lacking in subtlety and eye-jarringly colourful. To be watched only if there is no test cricket available.
For obvious reasons, I will largely be discussing test cricket.
Cricket is played on an oval. A large expanse of green grass usually surrounded by a white picket fence. The grass is kept at a specific height by the groundsman. In the centre of the oval is the cricket pitch (or wicket) which is a strip of paler grass. The wicket (or cricket pitch) is also carefully presided over by the groundsman, but once the game begins grass is left to grow and the wicket to deteriorate. Thus the conditions for playing change over the five days of a test. The condition of the oval and pitch has a large effect on whether the cricket played on it will be high or low-scoring. Some afficionados argue that the groundsman is the most important person in cricket. I think this is going a tad too far.
At either end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) are the stumps (or wicket). The stumps are a wooden constuction of three stakes (Buffy would have plenty of weapons available should she have to deal with a nest of vampires while attending a cricket match) impaled in the ground, with two smaller pieces of wood, known as the bails, balanced on top. In front of these stumps (or wicket) at either end is a white painted line which marks the crease.
Two teams of twelve people play (though the position of the twelfth man is that of gofer. They don’t actually play unless one of the fielders needs to leave the oval for a short amount of time). The two teams take turns fielding and batting. In test cricket each team has two innings. In pyjama (or one-day) cricket they have one innings each.
The team batting has the job of protecting the stumps (or wicket) and trying to score runs. Two batsmen at a time are on the field (unless one of the batsmen is injured in which case they have a runner and there are three batsmen on the field). One batsman is at either end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) defending the stumps (or wicket) and trying to score runs.
Runs are scored by hitting the ball (made of cork covered with red leather) with a cricket bat (traditionally made of willow—thus the expression "the glorious sound of leather on willow" which sound dirty if you’re thinking of a certain character from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and running up and down the cricket pitch (or wicket). Although only one batsmen can hit the ball at any one time, both must run and get safely behind their crease. If the ball is hit all the way to the boundary (typically a thick white rope, not the fence) it is deemed to be four runs. If it is hit over the boundary it is six runs. The batsmen need not run for these boundaries.
Once a batsmen has run safely from one end of the cricket pitch (or wicket) to the other they have scored one run for themselves and also for their team. The batsman who is facing the bowling is said to be on strike. You do not have to hit each ball. You do not have to run if you do hit the ball. Hitting the ball to the boundary is the most efficient way of making runs because you accumulate runs faster and you don’t have to exhaust yourself running.
Getting fifty runs is good for an individual batsman, getting one hundred (or a century) is better, and getting more still is even better. The most amount of individual runs ever was 380 scored by the Australian Matthew Hayden. (Update 13 April: it’s now Brian Lara with 400 not out. Woo hoo!) The highest ever career average for a batsman is that of Donald Bradman (also an Australian): 99.94. Of course cricket is a team sport and individual feats and statistics are rarely mentioned and of little importance.
The job of the fielding side is to get the batsmen out and prevent them from scoring runs. This is achieved by standing in positions where the team captain thinks they are most likely to get a catch or prevent runs. Only one of the fielders, the wicket keeper, wears gloves to help catch the ball (unlike, say, baseball). The wicket keeper stands behind the stumps (or wicket).
All fielding positions have specific names that indicate their relationship to the batsmen on strike. A deep position is one that is a long way from the batsman and closer to the boundary. A short or silly position is one that is closer to the batsman. Leg or on side positions are closer to the back of the batsman’s legs. Off side positions are closer to the front of the batsman.
When a batsmen gets out they leave the field and the next batsman in the batting order comes out to replace them. The batting order usually runs from best batsmen to worst (the exception being the nightwatchman). There are cricketers who are specialist bowlers, cricketers who are specialist batsmen, as well as that rare beast, the all-rounder, who is good at both. Regardless of batting ability every one on the team (save the twelfth man) must bat.
There must be two batsmen for play to continue so once the tenth batsman is out the innings is over.
The Play
The game begins when the captain of each side walks out on to the oval and a coin is tossed. The winner of the toss decides whether they want to bat or field first. Their decision is based on the weather, the conditions of the pitch, what they know of their opponents and of their own team.
Test cricket play typically commences at 11AM and continues until 6PM, with scheduled breaks for tea and lunch and unsceduled breaks for drinks. It continues for five days, or less, if there is a result sooner.
Results of a test match are win—your team scores more than theirs and gets theirs all out; lose—your team scores less than theirs and is all out; draw or no result—one team scores more than the other team but fails to get them all out; tie—both teams get the exact same score and are all out (exceptionally rare—this has happened only twice in test cricket history).
Once the matter of who bats first has been decided, the two umpires, the fielding team and the two opening batsmen (or openers) walk out onto the oval. The batsmen take up their positions in front of the two sets of stumps.
Opening batsman is a specialist batting position given to the two batsman on the team who are good at accumulating runs, not prone to throwing their wickets away, and work well together. It is essential that the openers have a mutual understanding of when to run and even more importantly when not to run.
At the same time, the fielders take up their positions: the wicket keeper behind the stumps (or wicket) of the batsman who bats first, the opening bowler at the other end of the cricket pitch, and the rest of the fielders in positions determined by the captain and the bowler which they deem to be best for getting this particular batsmen out and preventing them from scoring too many runs.
Some of the factors they take into account when determining these field placings are: whether the batsman is right or left handed, whether the batsman is known to be fond of particular strokes, how the batsman proceeds to bat in this particular innings, and how fast or slow the wicket (cricket pitch) is.
The opening bowler, usually a fast bowler (or quick), bowls an over from one end of the oval. Usually the two ends are named for their geographical locations. At the S. C. G. (Sydney Cricket Ground) there is the Paddington end and the Randwick (or University of New South Wales) end. One of the ends at the ‘Gabba (the major cricket ground in Brisbane) is known as the Vulture St end which has always seemed remarkably ominous to me.
An over consists of six legitmate bowls. If the bowler bowls a ball the umpires deem to be illegitimate (a wide or a no ball) the bowler must bowl another ball and the over ends up consisting of more than six balls (and thus more than six opportunities to score runs for the batsmen). Some overs wind up being 17 or 18 balls long, but this is uncommon. Each time there is an illegitmate delivery the batting team is given an extra run. These are called sundries.
If the batsman hits the ball and gets a run, the two batsmen change ends and the bowler finds themselves having to reset the field (change the positions of all the fielders) to accommodate the new batsman. If each ball results in a single run the batsmen will change end six times, resulting in frequent changeovers of the field.
After the first over is finished a second bowler bowls an over from the other end. At the completion of that over the ends change again and the first bowler bowls another over. The two bowlers thus rotate the bowling until they begin to tire, or bowl badly, or annoy the captain, who replaces them with a different bowler. A bowler can only be replaced once they have completed an over.
In order for a batsman to get out they must be dismissed in one of the following ways:
Bowled. The bowler bowls a ball which goes past the batsman and hits the stumps (or wicket), dislodging the bails. Common.
Caught. The batsmen hits the ball (or it comes off their gloves) into the air and a fielder catches it before it hits the ground. Common.
Handled Ball. The batsmen picks up the ball. Uncommon.
Hit Ball Twice. The batsmen hits the ball, it doesn’t go anywhere, so they take a second swipe at it. Uncommon.
Hit Wicket. The batsmen hits their own stumps (or wicket) dislodging the bails. Uncommon.
Leg Before Wicket. The batsmen does not offer a stroke to a ball that would have hit their stumps were their pads not in the way. Common.
Obstructed Field. The batsman deliberately tries to prevent a fielder either taking a catch or throwing down the stumps. Uncommon. I’ve never seen this happen.
Run Out. The batsman fails to make it back behind the crease before the opposing side has dislodged the bails with the cricket ball, either thrown or held in the hand. Common.
Stumped. The batsman steps out of their crease to strike the ball, misses, and before they can step back the wicket keeper dislodges the bails with cricket ball in hand. Common.
Timed Out. The batsman fails to come out to bat within three minutes of the fall of wicket. Uncommon. I’ve never seen this happen.
In addition to being caught, bowled or any of the other possibilities listed above there must also be an appeal. An appeal consists of the fielding team leaping in the air screaming "howzat?" and staring at the umpires with a fierce expression that generally means "you’d have to be barking mad not to give the bastard out". If the umpire agrees they will raise their index finger. If they disagree they will do nothing, or shake their head. Umpires are universally known not to be intimidated by the antics of the fielding team and their decisions are always just and fair. Particularly those of Steve Bucknor.
Once a batsman is given out by the umpire they slowly trudge off the field looking miserable (particulary if they have scored a duck [no runs]). Batsmen never look happy getting out even if they have scored a double century. Someone would say particularly if they have scored a double century, because they were deprived of the chance to knock over the world record for number of runs scored. Though of course cricket is all about the team and not about individual statistics.
The score is represented thus: number of wickets taken followed by a forward slash, followed by the number of runs scored. If one wicket has been taken and 23 runs scored the score looks like this: 1/23 which is read as "one for twenty three" (except in England where for some bizarre reason they do it like this: 23/1 or twenty-three for one). As more runs are scored and more wickets taken the score changes. However you will never see 10/ because once ten wickets are taken the innings is over.
The next batsman then comes out, jogging up and down on the spot and generally giving the impression of being raring to go and ready to knock every delivery far, far out of the ground. That is if the next batsman is still an actual batsman and not a bowler masquerading as a batsman. In that case they will walk out somewhat unsteadily holding the bat as if they aren’t quite sure what it’s for or how to hold it. They will stand at the crease and stare up the other end at the fast bowler who is hurtling towards them faster than Phar Lap and they will valiantly try not to panic and run.
Such a batsman is known as a tailender. My favourite spectacle in cricket is when there is only one genuine batsman left and they are in the position of having to stay on strike and thus protect the tailender from getting out and possibly injured (in that order).
Because the strike automatically changes at the end of every over (or every six balls). The real batsman tries to end the over by hitting a single thus ensuring that they keep the strike and the tailender doesn’t have to deal with that scary red thing hurtling towards their body and/or wicket (stumps). This leaves the good batsman in the awful position of sometimes having to resist hitting a boundary for fear of handing the strike over to the incompetent, afraid-of-the-ball, not-quite-sure-which-end-of-the-bat-is-up tailender. Meanwhile the fielding side is doing everything it can to give the tailender the strike so that they can then get them out. Mostly by terrifying the poor bastard into treading on their own wicket. It is most gratifying to watch.
Once the tenth bastman is out the innings ends. The innings total consists of the combined total of all the individual batsman plus all the sundries (illegitimate deliveries) conceded by the bowling side. Let’s say for example that the first side to bat, who we’ll call Australia, score 456 and still aren’t all out. The captain might decide that 456 is a very solid, good, defensible total and declare. A declaration means that the captain has decided to end their team’s innings before they are all out.
The new batting side, let’s call them England, will be aiming to get that much and hopefully two hundred or more besides. So that when Australia bat again in their second and final innings they will have a difficult target to achieve. (Second innings totals are almost always smaller than first innings totals.) If Australia are all out before they reach England’s first innings total then England has won (and pigs would start to fly).
A much more likely result is that England would go out for their first batting innings and tragically (though predictably) make only 123 runs and fall well short of Australia’s first innings total. This means that Australia has a choice: they can now go out to bat and make an even bigger total for England to get in their second innings or they can enforce the follow on. The follow on means that Australia postpones their second batting innings and forces England to bat twice in a row, gambling that they can get England all out before they reach, or get very much further than, the first innings total of 456.
Australia does this and gets England all out for 234. Sadly the two totals 123 + 234 is still less than Australia’s first innings total and England lose by an entire innings and 99 runs. Not an unusual result for either side.
And there you have it. Enough cricket knowledge to allow you to follow a test match without any difficulty. Before long though you’ll find yourself thirsting for more so you can follow the intricacies of the game and not just these bare basics. Don’t despair! Coming soon:
The Slightly More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket. To be followed shortly after by the Moderately More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket, and not long after that, by the Substantially More than Beginners’ Guide to Cricket.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Rules of Cricket.
This treatise being intended only as a handbook of the game of Cricket, I have thought best to confine myself purely to the theory and practicer of the game, considering all else to be fairly considered besides its scope and object, and therefore out of place.
Many people may say - indeed, many do say - "Where is the use of a book on cricket? Can cricket be read up?" To which I answer most emphatically, "Yes!" As much as chess, or any other game. Yes, cricket can be read up. Of course I do not mean to say that reading alone can or will make a cricketer; but I can unhesitatingly affirm that the hints and directions that are given in any good work on the subject will be found an invaluable adjunct to the purely mechanical practice in the field.
it is true that practice under the personal supervision of a good player, is from every point of view, most important - but then it is only a comparatively few who can obtain the services of a good instructor, so that for the rest it is book-teaching, or no teaching at all; and cricket by the light of nature, is a creation of strange and wonderful proportions.
Book-teaching, therefore, in the absence of downright personal instruction, is by no means to be despised; and even with it, it may be of service by fixing in the memory the various hints and directions received amid the directions of play, and therefore liable to be forgotten, or but feebly remembered. The book, too, has this further advantage, that each several player may extract from it at will that information of which he at the moment finds himself most in need, and even correct his tendency to any fault before it be formed into a habit, and its actual committal attract the attention of the instructor.
It may be still further objected that as cricket is only a game it is scarcely worth while to take such extreme pains, and devote so much study to its pursuit.
I have not space here to convince such, if they be worth convincing. I write only for those who take up this game as they should take up everything in life, with a firm intention and endeavor to do in it to the best of their ability, in accordance with the old adage, "What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."
As for half-hearted players, fellows who field with hands in pockets, one eye on the ball, and the other on every bird that flies - that wander about the field restlessly till it is their turn to go in, and then have to be called up with much shouting and gesticulation, whose sole idea of cricket is batting, and who look upon fielding as a necessary evil, to be taken in as small doses and slurred over as quickly as possible- to such this treatise will be useless, because incomprehensible; they will not understand my earnestness, as I certainly cannot understand their apathy.
Let them conquer their sloth, learn to take some real interest in the game beyond the mere selfish consideration of themselves making so many runs, and have some consideration for the pleasure of their fellows in the game, and I shall have somewhat to say to them.
The following are the rules, universally accepted in their integrity, as published by the Marylebone (London) Club, the parent Cricket Club of the world.
The Laws of Cricket
The Ball. - 1. Must weigh not less than five ounces and a half, nor more than five ounces and three-quarters. It must measure not less than nine inches, nor more than nine inches and one quarter in circumference. At the beginning of each innings either party may call for a new ball.
The Bat. - 2. Must not exceed four and a quarter inches in the widest part; it must not be more than thirty-eight inches in length.
The Stumps - 3. Must be three in number; twenty-seven inches out of the ground; the bails eight inches in length, the stumps of sufficient and equal thickness to prevent the ball from passing through.
The Bowling Crease - 4. Must be in a line with the stumps; six feet eight inches in length, the stumps in the centre, with a return crease at each end towards the bowler at right angles.
The Popping Crease - 5. Must be four feet from the wicket, and parallel to it; unlimited in length, but not shorter than the bowling crease.
The Wickets - 6. Must be pitched opposite to each other by the umpires, at the distance of twenty-two yards. 7. It shall not be lawful for either party during a match, without the consent of the other, to alter the ground by rolling, watering, covering, mowing, or beating, except at the commencement of each innings, when the ground may be swept and rolled at the request of either party, such request to be made to one of the umpires within one minute after the conclusion of the former innings. This rule is not meant to prevent the striker from beating the ground with his bat near to the spot where he stands during the innings, nor to prevent the bowler from filling up holes with sawdust, etc., when the ground is wet.
8. After rain the wickets may be changed with consent of both parties.
The Bowler - 9. Shall deliver the ball with one foot on the ground behind the bowling crease and within the return crease, and shall bowl four balls before he change wickets; which he shall be permitted to do only once in the same innings.
10. The ball must be bowled. If thrown or jerked, the umpire shall call, "No ball."
11. He may require the striker at the wicket from which he is bowling to stand on that side of it which he may direct.
12. If the bowler shall toss the ball over the striker's head, or bowl it so wide that in the opinion of the umpire it shall not be fairly within the reach of the batsman, he shall adjudge one run to the party receiving the innings, either with or without an appeal, which shall be put down to the score of "wide balls;" such ball shall not be reckoned as one of the four balls; but if the batsman shall by any means bring himself within reach of the ball, the run shall not be adjudged.
13. If the bowler deliver a "no ball" or a "wide ball," the striker shall be allowed as many runs as he can get, and he shall not be put out except by running out. In the event of no run being obtained by any other means, then one run shall be added to the score of "no balls" or "wide balls" as the case may be. All runs obtained for "wide balls" to be scored to "wide balls." The names of the bowlers who bowl "wide balls" or "no balls" in future to be placed on the score, to show the parties by whom either score is made. If the ball shall first touch any part of the striker's dress or person (except his hands), the umpire shall call "Leg bye."
14. At the beginning of each innings the umpire shall call "Play;" from that time to the end of each innings no trial ball shall be allowed to any bowler.
15. If either of the balls be bowled off, or if a stump be bowled out of the ground;
16. Or, if the ball, from the stroke of the bat or hand, but not the wrist, be held before it touch the ground, although it be hugged to the body of the catcher;
17. Or, if in striking, or at any other time when the ball be in play, both his feet shall be over the popping crease, and his wicket put down, except his bat be grounded within it;
18. Or, if in striking at the ball he hit down his wicket; 19. Or, if under pretense of running, or otherwise, either of the strikers prevent a ball from being caught, the striker of the ball is out;
20. Or, if the ball be struck, and he wilfully strike it again;
21. Or, if in running, the wicket be struck down by a throw, or by the hand or arm, with ball in hand, before his bat, in hand, or some part of his person be grounded over the popping crease. But if both the balls be off, a stump must be struck out of the ground;
22. Or, if any part of the striker's dress knock down the wicket;
23. Or, if the striker touch or take up the ball while in play, unless at the request of the opposite party;
24. Or, if with any part of his person he stop the ball, which, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's wicket, shall have been pitched in a straight line from it to the striker's wicket, and would have hit it;
25. If the players have crossed each other, he that runs for the wicket which shall be put down is out.
26. A ball being caught no run shall be reckoned.
27. A striker being run out, that run which he and his partner were attempting, shall not be reckoned.
28. If a lost ball be called, the striker shall be allowed six runs; but if more than six shall have been run before lost ball shall have been called, then the striker shall have all which have been run.
29. After the ball shall have been finally settled in the wicket keeper's or bowler's hands, it shall be considered dead; but when the bowler is about to deliver the ball, if the striker at the wicket go outside the popping crease before such actual delivery, the said bowler may put him out, unless (with reference to the 21st law) his bat in hand, or some part of his person be within the popping crease.
30. The striker shall not retire from his wicket and return to it to complete his innings after another has been in, without the consent of the opposite party.
31. No substitute shall in any case be allowed to stand out or run between wickets for another person without the consent of the opposite party; and in case any person shall be allowed to run for another, the striker shall be out if either he or his substitute be off the ground in manner mentioned in Laws 17 and 21, while the ball is in play.
32. In all cases where a substitute shall be allowed, the consent of the opposite party shall also be obtained as to the person to act as substitute, and the place in the field which he shall take.
33. If any fieldsman stop the ball with his bat, the ball shall be considered dead, and the opposite party shall add five runs to their score; If any be run they shall have five in all.
34. The ball having been hit, the striker may guard his wicket with his bat, or with any part of his body except his hands, that the 23rd Law may not be disobeyed.
35. The wicket-keeper shall not take the ball for the purpose of stumping until it shall have passed the wicket; he shall not move until the ball be out of the bowler's hand; he shall not by any noise incommode the striker; and if any part of his person be over or before the wicket, although the ball hit, the striker shall not be out.
36. The umpires are the sole judges of fair or unfair play, and all disputes shall be determined by them, each at his own wicket; but in case of a catch which the other umpire at the wicket bowled from cannot see sufficiently to decide upon, he may apply to the other umpire, whose opinion shall be conclusive.
37. The umpires in all matches shall pitch fair wickets, and the parties shall toss up for choice of innings. The umpires shall change wickets after each party has had one innings.
38. They shall allow two minutes for each striker to come in, and ten minutes between each innings. When the umpire shall call "Play," the party refusing to play shall lose the match.
39. They are not to order a striker out unless appealed to by the adversaries;
40. But if either of the bowler's feet be not on the ground behind the bowling crease and within the return crease when he shall deliver the ball, the umpire at his wicket, unmasked, must call "No ball."
41. If either of the strikers run a short run, the umpire must call "One short."
42. No umpire shall be allowed to bet.
43. No umpire is to be changed during a match, unless with the consent of both parties, except in case of violation of the 42nd Law; then either party may dismiss the transgressor.
44. After the delivery of four balls the umpire must call "Over," but not until the ball shall be finally settled in the wicket-keeper's or bowler's hand; the ball then shall be considered dead: nevertheless, if an idea be entertained that either of the striker's is out, a question may be put previously to, but not after, the delivery of the next ball.
45. The umpire must take especial care to call, "No ball" instantly upon delivery: "Wide ball" as soon as it shall pass the striker.
46. The players who go in second shall follow their innings, if they have obtained eighty runs less than their antagonists, except in all matches limited to only one day's play, when the number shall be limited to sixty instead of eighty.
47. When one of the strikers shall be put out, the use of the bat shall not be allowed to any person until the next striker shall come in.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
How to play Cricket.
How to Play Cricket
“Cricket is played with two teams of eleven players , with two umpires
(referees) on an oval shaped field. The size of the field varies, but
generally has a diameter of around 350 yards. A cricket bat is oblong
shaped with a narrow handle. A full-sized bat is around 3 feet in
length. A cricket ball is made of cork and covered with leather, and
is then stitched up. A ball weighs around 5 ounces.
In the middle of the field is what is known as a pitch. A pitch is a
hard, flat strip of dry ground around 22 yards long. 22 yards is an
old imperial measure called a chain. Two batsman are at the pitch at a
time, both at different ends, with one facing the delivery of the ball
from the bowler.
At either end of the pitch is the crease. This is a line marked about
4 feet in from either end of the pitch, and it is used for 2 reasons.
The first is as a mark from which the bowler must bowl from or behind,
and a mark for the batsmen to stand at to deliver the ball and to mark
whether a run has been completed. If a batsmen is out of his crease,
he can be stumped by the wicket keeper if he is receiving the ball at
the batsmen’s end, or can be run out by the fielders at either end
when taking a run.
The bowler runs up to the pitch where he bowls the ball overarm with a
straight arm. the delivery is usually overarm but there have been
famous incidents when cricketers in international matches have bowled
underarm
Teams score by getting runs. A run is completed when a batsman hits
the ball and then runs to the other end of the cricket pitch, getting
past the crease. The non striking batsman has to run to the opposite
end as well. The batsman can run as many times as they like, but the
batsmen can get out if their stumps are hit with the ball by a fielder
before the batsman reaches the crease. The stumps are three sticks of
equal size measuring around 3 feet tall with the width of a ball
separating them. This is the traditional method to set up the pitch.
The stumps are placed at either end of the pitch in the ground and set
out so that the ball cannot pass through the gap between them. Bails
(small pieces of wood) are balanced on top of the stumps.
Other ways runs can be scored are by hitting boundaries. Boundaries
are scored when the ball is hit and touches or goes past the outer
edge of the field. Four runs are scored when the batsmen hits the ball
and the ball hits the ground before reaching the outer edge of the
boundary, and six runs are scored when the ball is hit and goes over
the boundary without touching the ground. Runs can also be scored in
the following ways: No balls, when the bowler oversteps the crease,
bowls in a dangerous manner or incorrectly. A no ball is worth one
run. A wide is scored when the ball goes outside the line of the pitch
before coming in line with the batsman. This is also worth one run. A
leg bye is scored when the ball hits the batsman but doesnt contact
his bat and then proceeds to run. A bye is scored when the batsman
runs without the ball coming into into contact with the batsman or his
bat, and then runs.
The fielding team can get the batsman out in several ways, by
1) catching him out. This is done when the batsman hits the ball with
his bat and a fielder catches the ball on the full (without bouncing).
2) bowling him out. This happens when the bowler bowls the ball and
the ball strikes the batsman’s stumps or bails.
3) leg before wicket, or LBW. This happens when the bowler bowls it
and the stumps being hit by the ball are prevented when the batsman’s
leg gets in the way. This rule is a bit complicated, and you can let
the ball hit you on the legs sometimes without being out leg before.
This rule is one where the umpires have to make some judgments and can
cause a few arguments!
4) stumped, when the batsman comes forward to hit the hit but steps
out of his crease, misses the ball and the fielder behind the stumps
collects the ball hits the stumps before the batsman gets back behind
his crease.
5) run out, when the batsman attempts to score a run but has his
stumps hit by the ball before he reaches the other crease.
6) Hit wicket, when the batsman hits his own stumps while trying to
hit the ball.
7) retired, when the batsman voluntarily decides to finish his innings,
timed out, when the next batsman doesn’t appear on the pitch
within two minutes of the last batsman getting out. This last one
doesn’t happen very often and I have never seen it happen
Each team has one innings. This innings can last anything from 20
overs (a series of 6 bowls by a bowler) to an unlimited over match.
Most one day matches are played with each side having 50 overs (or 300
balls). If 10 of a team’s batsman are out, the innings ends there
regardless of how many balls are left to be bowled. The team that
scores the most runs in their
innings
is the team that wins.
Hope this helps.”
I didn’t start going on about 2 innings games, Ive never played a 2 innings game and I thought it would start to get really comlicated.
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