BasicsCricket involves a kind of swashbuckling swordplay against incoming rock-hard missiles.
The batsman wields the bat in defence of a fragile object behind him: three vertical sticks ("stumps") with two small sticks balanced on top ("bails"), which must not fall. If one or both bails are knocked off, the batsman is defeated ("out").
The batsman can't just put his body in front of the ball to protect the stumps. He has to do it by wielding the bat. So he needs to be a master of various strokes of the bat, to parry or thrust or feint or slash as needed.
He must also be given a sporting chance. So there are rules about how the ball may be sent at the batsman. It cannot be launched by throwing or pitching, meaning the elbow must not be bent when releasing it. The ball cannot be sent too wide or high for the batsman to reach. And it must be released from overhead, not swung underarm. It also has to be launched from a set minimum distance away (marked by a line) and the batsman must be considered ready.
Aside from that, it's open warfare. The ball can be delivered fast, slow, spinning, aimed at the batsman, aimed at the stumps, rising up dangerously at his head, or cunningly delivered to fool the batsman into a fatal error. Bowlers shine the ball on one side of the seam by rubbing it against their clothes, keeping it dull on the other, to give it dangerous aerodynamics they can use.
The batsman also has territory to protect. There's a "line in the sand" behind which to fight the battle (a white line called a "crease"). If he is not behind his line, the stumps are fair game for any opponent to hit with the ball in any manner. They can throw/pitch the ball at the stumps as hard and fast as possible, if he is not back behind his line.
ScoringIf you are a good enough swordsman/batsman to defend the stumps, you can then set about trying to score. Again, it's about skilful wielding of the bat and some daring. As you remain at the stumps longer, your confidence grows and you can take some risks.
You see, there are two territories to protect, facing each other, each with a set of stumps, meaning two batsmen from a team are present on the field. One point is gained for each time they swap ends, passing each other by running between their two lines of defence. They do this by turning the incoming missile into an outgoing missile, fending or slashing the ball out of their opponents' reach, buying themselves time to run to their ally's position, before the fielders can get the ball back to the stumps. So the points are called "runs" and if you don't get out, you can keep scoring more and more runs for your team.
A bowler bowls six times to one end, then a different bowler bowls six times to the other, and so on. Six balls is called an "over". With the batsmen crossing to either end as they make runs, you get different combinations of batsman versus bowler.
This leads to the following possibilities, or a mixture of them at either end:
-- A nervous stalemate: The batsmen are successfully protecting the stumps, but struggling to score runs.
-- An exciting display: The batsmen are in full control and keep swatting away the ball for runs, and the bowlers can't seem to stop them.
-- A batsman is out/defeated: Two are needed on the field in order to play, so a team is dismissed when 10 of the 11 are gone.
Basic rulesWays a batsman can be out, credited to the bowler:
-- Bowled: the batsman missed or mis-hit the ball, and it hits the stumps, knocking the bails off.
-- Caught: the ball comes off the bat (or gloves, which are considered part of the bat) and is successfully caught by a fielder before it lands.
-- Stumped: while trying to hit the ball, the batsman steps outside his territory, misses the ball and the fielder behind the stumps (called the wicket keeper) grabs the ball and knocks the bails off before the batsman can get back.
-- Leg before wicket (LBW): the batsman prevented the ball hitting the stumps with his body instead of the bat AND the ball was definitely going to hit the stumps. Not out if the ball was going wide.
Other ways a batsman can be out:
-- Run out: during an attempted run, the fielders knocked the bails off the stumps with the ball, before the batsman got back to his territory.
-- Hit wicket: while trying to hit the ball, the batsman hit the stumps with his bat, knocking the bails off.
-- Handled ball, and various other rule breaches: e.g. batsman did something silly like protecting stumps by catching/picking up the ball.
Interesting ways to score:
-- Four: ball is hit to the edge of the field, bouncing at least once first.
-- Six: ball is hit over the edge of the field on the full.
-- Byes: ball was missed by everyone, missed the stumps, and went far enough that the batsmen were able to get runs.
-- Leg byes: ball that was not going to hit the stumps, accidentally came off the batsman's body instead of the bat, and the batsmen were able to run.
-- Overthrows: fielder tries to throw the ball back to the stumps and throws it too far or wide for his teammates, and the batsmen get more runs while the ball is away.
-- No ball: Bowler stepped over the line signifying he was too close to the batsman when the ball was released. One run awarded and the bowl doesn't count.
-- Wide: Ball is delivered far too wide or high for the batsman to hit. One run awarded and the bowl doesn't count.
Types of matches:
-- Test Match: Traditional cricket for purists. A drawn-out test of tactics and endurance. Each team can bat through twice and five days are available to bring it to a result. The batsmen can take it slow until they get comfortable, then set about scoring carefully. The bowlers and fielders can do the same, trying all sorts of mind games and tricks to get through the batsman's defences. One team will usually end up with a deficit after batting worse the first time, and be trying to catch up on their second go.
-- One-Day Match: Faster paced, do-or-die. Each team can bat once, and has a limit of 50 overs to score from, i.e. they are bowled to 300 times (plus any penalty deliveries) and must score as much as possible, while the bowling side must prevent scoring as much as possible.
-- Twenty20: New concept, very fast paced and just for entertainment. Players go by nicknames and wear microphones on the field. Each team bats once and has only 20 overs to score from. Very little tactics except "try to score really fast, right now".
VideosGenius bowlng:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mESB4zb3Wghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlvPS0SL-nAGenius batting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Z-amwj6SEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNggUD_MrNYA batting training video, showing how the bat is used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JipHEn63bWsNow go watch the
Cricket World Cup (one-day match tournament) currently reaching the semi-finals in the West Indies. Now that they're done with the murders, match-fixing and freaky wins by unknown teams like Ireland, it will get good ...
This long post brought to you by a hangover.
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