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Has any of you Americans learned how Cricket works?

mac

mac

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Oct 25, 2017
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My first introduction to the sport was via The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where an entire book was about homicidal robots from a planet that was based on cricket. I looked cricket up in my libraries World Book encyclopedia and was baffled.


In recent years I've tried to watch a Youtube explanation. I got nothing.

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Who are all these people? It's like bowling but a dozen other people standing around. If you have a good resource for understanding cricket please link it.

I'm pretty sure England invaded India just to have another nation to play against.
 
Wingfan19

Wingfan19

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had to be done, sorry. But I tried to watch some for a little bit and was just confused as fuuuuuuck.

I think what blows my mind the most is that a game can go on for days!!! How is that possible???
 
V23

V23

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Oct 27, 2017
1,955
Anything in particular you'd like to know?

In relation to the picture, on the field there are:

2 Batsmen
1 Bowler
1 Wicketkeeper (Backstop)
9 Fielders
2 Umpires
 

ThreePi

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Dec 7, 2017
4,797
I've watched enough Quick Looks of cricket games on Giant Bomb that I got a good idea of how the game works.
 
VeePs

VeePs

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MV5BNDYxNWUzZmYtOGQxMC00MTdkLTkxOTctYzkyOGIwNWQxZjhmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg


Just felt like posting this because it involves Cricket OP. This movies about how British taxed India without representation and instead of throwing a tea party, the Indian village settled it through Cricket. Like you, they don't really know anything about Cricket when the movie starts. Maybe watch and learn something? It's on Netflix OP.
 
Dyle

Dyle

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Don Bradman is one of my favorite sports personalities. He does such good interviews
 

Deleted member 14002

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Canadian here, 0 interest. Looks like a slower, more boring version of baseball.

Only exposure to it was several teachers I had in high school/college really liked it. I believe that it might have been a big sport in South Asia.
 
Dommo

Dommo

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Oct 25, 2017
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Obligatory:


The basics of cricket are pretty goddamn simple. There's one fielding team and one batting team per innings, same as baseball. There's only one bowler. Everyone else is just standing around in the best placement for catching the ball.

You can score runs by:
- Hitting the ball far enough and then running to the other end of the pitch. That's one run. You can keep running back and forth until the ball gets back to the center pitch.
- Hitting the ball far enough so that it rolls over the boundary. That's 4 runs.
- Hitting the ball far enough that it goes over the boundary without hitting the ground (like a home run). That's 6 runs.

You can get a batsman out in a few ways
- Catch the ball off the batsman hitting it.
- The bowler hitting the wickets behind the batsman. It's the batsman's responsibility to guard those wickets.
- While the batsman is running to the other end of the pitch, if you manage to hit the wickets with the ball before they've made it to the other side, they're out.

When a batter goes out, the next batter comes in. You've got 10 batsmen. The innings is over when they're all out. Because of this, innings' go for a lot longer than in Baseball, but the same basic idea applies. The scoreboard might read something like this: 6/250. That means that 6 batsmen are out and have scored a total of 250 so far. That's the very basic gist.

The craziness of cricket comes in the structure of a Test match, which is the most common, prestigious and traditional form of the game. A test match can last for up to 5 days and there's otherwise no time limit. Both teams get two innings each so they reeeeaally take their time and don't take any crazy risks.
 
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VeePs

VeePs

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Oct 25, 2017
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HeyImNewHere said:
I believe that it might have been a big sport in South Asia.
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England, India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a few others are the big countries. It's one of the most watched and most played sports in the world. I never really got into it personally tho.
 
DarkSora

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Oct 28, 2017
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Cricket? Nobody understands cricket. You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!
 
Mahonay

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Oct 25, 2017
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Dommo said:
Obligatory:


The basics of cricket are pretty goddamn simple. There's one fielding team and one batting team per innings, same as baseball. There's only one bowler. Everyone else is just standing around in the best placement for catching the ball.

You can score runs by:
- Hitting the ball far enough and then running to the other end of the pitch. That's one run. You can keep running back and forth until the ball gets back to the center pitch.
- Hitting the ball far enough so that it rolls over the boundary. That's 4 runs.
- Hitting the ball far enough that it goes over the boundary without hitting the ground. That's 6 runs.

You can get a batsman out in a few ways
- Catch the ball off the batsman hitting it.
- The bowler hitting the wickets behind the batsman. It's the batsman's responsibility to guard those wickets.
- While the batsman is running to the other end of the pitch, if you manage to hit the wickets with the ball before they've made it to the other side, they're out.

When a batter goes out, the next batter comes in. You've got 10 batsmen. The innings is over when they're all out. The scoreboard might read something like this: 6/250. That means that 6 batsmen are out and have scored a total of 250 so far. That's the very basic gist.
Click to expand...
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This is actually the best I've ever had it explained to me. I can actually make sense of it now.
 
Gunslinger

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Oct 27, 2017
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I hope it's more played in USA. it's my favorite sport but I am from part of the world where cricket is life. To me it's the best sports ever played. I play it, I watch it, I love it.
 
jbug617

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Oct 25, 2017
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20/20 is something that could be liked by Americans. A lot of action. NBCSN aired some Big Bash League games last year.
 

Deleted member 7756

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That's why we gave them Rounders, so they didn't need to.

You're welcome, America.

I still have no bloody idea how cricket works
 
Okii

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If you're talking about the cellphone service, then hell yeah.

If you're talking about the sport, then hell no.
 

Deleted member 27751

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I'm Australian and have literally no clue how it works. I think they hit the ball or something and people go howzaaaat.
 
SteveWinwood

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USA USA USA
I worked with a Sri Lankan guy who explained it to me and we watched some. It was nowhere near as complicated as baseball. I think there may be more basics but less minutiae in cricket.

So to answer your question, yes.
 
Doctor_Thomas

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Oct 27, 2017
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Cricket isn't that difficult to get, but I think it's generally presented in much more difficult ways than it needs to be because it has a lot of jargon terms. Dommo's explanation is fantastic, actually.

I also think it's faster paced than baseball, generally.

I also find it really hard to watch, same as baseball.
 

Deleted member 225

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We already have like 1000 sports we have to keep up on, on top of the rest of the world still trying to make us care about soccer. Sorry cricket.
 
Angry Grimace

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It's a sport someone invented to make sure some number of potentially good baseball players don't ever reach the majors
 
Booki

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My grandfather played it for like 40 years or something like that and I still have no clue how it works. I understand bowling (the ball) and I've broken enough cricket bats to know how those work, but the actual rules to the game? Nah.

I had much better luck learning baseball despite it being "boring as hell" for most of my childhood.
 
mhayes86

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Oct 27, 2017
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It seems about as easy to understand as Whack-Bat from Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Seriously, though, unfamiliar with the sport, it was kind of cool watching a cricket game during a road trip my wife and I took across NZ earlier this year.
 

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VeePs said:
England, India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a few others are the big countries. It's one of the most watched and most played sports in the world. I never really got into it personally tho.
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That makes sense. They were from or spent a long period of time in South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand and India.
 
Opto

Opto

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Oct 28, 2017
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You want to protect your balls and sticks from someone wearing a bowler hat and his friends that gang up on you. You high five your mate as you pass each other taking turns saying hello to your balls and sticks. Most hellos win
 
cheese toast

cheese toast

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Oct 29, 2017
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And just when you think you understand cricket -- bam, say hello to backyard cricket.

One-hand-one-bounce when fielding. Six and out when batting it over the fence. And you can't go out on the first ball!
 
MistaTwo

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I heard you get drunk over the span of a whole week or something.
 
patientzero

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mac said:
I looked it up on a grammar site after realizing I posted "has." Apparently there is some debate on the issue and I feel vindicated.
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Warning that this is off-topic but the reason you are technically correct is because has is referencing the word any, which is singular, whereas colloquial understandings direct us to Americans, the plural noun.
 
LiquidSolid

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Oct 26, 2017
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Raww Le Klueze said:
It doesn't. That why only England and Australia play it and calling it a "world" cup is somewhat laughable.
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I know you're joking (or at least I hope so) but cricket's the second most popular sport in the world.

Anyway, cricket's a pretty easy sport to pick up IMO. You start with the basics, like understanding how scoring works and that bowlers have to bowl overarm with a straight(-ish) arm, then gradually pick up the rest. It's a fun sport. You really don't need to know or memorise the areas of the field like is shown in the OP's pictures.
 
Cochese

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Nov 14, 2017
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I learned how it works last year when I had the Willow option on Sling. I miss it. Fantastic to have on in the workshop much like baseball.

When football season is over I may sub to Willow again. I know the rules, I know the scoring, I'm just not sure I could adequately get someone else that same knowledge.
 
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