Cricket
It has been awhile since I made a posting to my blog, and for that, I apologize. In the off time I did make it to a cricket match which is quite popular down here. I went to day 2 of a 4 day match and spent the better part of seven hours in the stadium trying to figure out exactly what I was watching. I made a few obersvations which I will share:
- There are no large fuzzy mascots running all over the stadium trying to entertain the crowd.
- There are no t-shirt cannons
- The players retrieve the ball from the stands after it has been hit out of the field.
- The players will sign autographs while play is underway
- I saw one batter hit over 300 runs over a span of 6 hours. This was a big deal but he didn't set any records
- There was a morning tea break and an afternoon lunch break
I have come across several sources that explain the sport and I will share them here. My first source is a coworker who explained the rules like this:
"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 been 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."
Here is another keen observation of the game by Bill Bryson, author of "Walkabout". I would suggest to anybody reading this to buy his book.
"After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectoators burn as many calories as players (more if they are moderately restless). It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.
Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it out to center field; and that there, after a minute's pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt towards the pitcher's mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radioactive isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle sixty feet with mattresses strapped to his legs he is under no formal compulsion to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a misstroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and everyone retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket."
So that is cricket. It is an excellent way to spend an afternoon.
