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Intro to Cricket

Moe_Syzlak

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
I am interested in understanding the game. I read CricInfo.com, but would like to know if there is a primer, some type of "idiots guide to cricket" on the web, where someone new to the game can learn it. I have watched a few videos around the web, and I more or less understand the concept, but there is so much more that I would like to understand. Thanks for your help and patience.
 

Craig

World Traveller
Hi, welcome to the site.

If you want to learn, this is the place to be. Ask a way and we will help you.
 

Dick Rockett

International Vice-Captain
How about 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."

:ph34r:
 

Jungle Jumbo

International Vice-Captain
I am interested in understanding the game. I read CricInfo.com, but would like to know if there is a primer, some type of "idiots guide to cricket" on the web, where someone new to the game can learn it. I have watched a few videos around the web, and I more or less understand the concept, but there is so much more that I would like to understand. Thanks for your help and patience.
Try Wikipedia first. Then if you have any questions, post them here. I remember we had an Italian who became interested in cricket and the questions he actually raised pointed out some of the bizarre and ridiculous part of the sport.

There are also a few books you could get if you are prepared to shell out some cash - 'What is a Googly' is a decent introduction.
 

Moe_Syzlak

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
First, thanks for the welcome and the tips. To clear things up, I am Cuban-American (my parents are Cuban, I was born in the States) and I live in Brasil, I'm general manager/ director of office operations of a football club. From what I've gathered, reading cricket articles and watching a few videos: The bowler bowls (is throw a term that is used) and the batsman swings. If the batsman misses and the bowler knocks down the "Bails" (?) the batter is out. If he hits it the batsman they start running until the ball makes it back.

Up to now, my questions:
How many "outs" till the sides change
What if the batman misses, but the ball doesn't knock down the bails? In baseball, there is a play, a "passed ball" where is the catcher drops the ball, or it passes him, the runners on base may try to advance, and if this passed be happens to be the "thjird" strike, the batter may try to take first base.
Is there an equivalent of a "homerun" in baseball, where it the batter hits it over the fence, all runners on base advance 'home' and score a run?

Thanks for your help.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
From what I've gathered, reading cricket articles and watching a few videos: The bowler bowls (is throw a term that is used) and the batsman swings. If the batsman misses and the bowler knocks down the "Bails" (?) the batter is out. If he hits it the batsman they start running until the ball makes it back.
In a nutshell, that's the idea of it. However, you say the bowler is trying to hit 'the wickets' or 'the stumps' rather than 'the bails.' The wickets, or stumps, are the three wooden sticks you see at either end, while the bails are actually the little pieces of wood on top of those three sticks (see the picture below-- the three vertical poles are the wickets/stumps). For the batsman to be out, the bails do have to fall off though, but this is almost always done by hitting the wickets rather than hitting the bails directly.



There are other ways of getting out (including being caught as in baseball or being run out, again like in baseball), but the ball hitting the wickets (you'd say the batsman has 'been bowled') is, along with being caught out, probably the most common.

Up to now, my questions:
How many "outs" till the sides change
What if the batman misses, but the ball doesn't knock down the bails? In baseball, there is a play, a "passed ball" where is the catcher drops the ball, or it passes him, the runners on base may try to advance, and if this passed be happens to be the "thjird" strike, the batter may try to take first base.
Is there an equivalent of a "homerun" in baseball, where it the batter hits it over the fence, all runners on base advance 'home' and score a run?

Thanks for your help.
1. Each side has ten 'outs' until their innings is over, and the other team gets to bet

2. If the batsman misses and the ball doesn't hit the bails, nothing happens. The bowler just bowls again. Because you've got a whole lot more time in cricket than in baseball, batsmen will often deliberately let the ball go past them without swinging, if they know it isn't going to hit the wickets. They'll often just wait for a bad ball that they can hit easily.

3. In cricket, when the ball goes over the edge of the ground (the boundary), the batsman gets awarded either four runs or six runs. If the ball bounces before going over the boundary, he gets four runs, but if the ball doesn't bounce before going over the boundary, he gets six runs. When a batsman hits either a four or a six, they don't have to run, and even if they have run before the ball goes over the boundary, that doesn't count, only the four runs or six runs will be added to the score.

Hopefully that was clear enough, but I'm sure others will be able to explain it better than me
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
There are several modes of dismissal in cricket:
bowled - you've mentioned, the wicket is struck dislodging a bail (wicket = the set of three sticks with two small "bails" balanced on top of them). EDIT: BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED BY ANDYC ABOVE!
caught - like in baseball, a fielder catches a hit on the full, including the wicket-keeper behind the wicket.
leg before wicket - can get technical, but basically, in the opinion of the umpire a delivery that hit the batsman's body (usually his legs) and did not first touch his bat, would have gone on to hit the wicket. Designed to make the batsman protect his wicket with his bat rather than his body.
stumped - if that batsman moves forward down the pitch and misses the ball and the wicket-keeper (= catcher) catches the ball and removes the bails before the batsman can return to the safe area, designated by a line across the pitch called 'the crease'.
run-out - if in the process of running to score, a batsman fails to make it to the safe area designated by the crease before the fielder returns the ball to the wicket and the bails are dislodged.

Are the main ones.

There are no fowl hits in cricket, the ball is live no matter what direction it travels.

The equivalent of a home run is to hit the ball into the fence. If it hits the fence on the full, or goes over the fence on the full, that is counted as 6 runs. If it reaches the fence but not on the full it is counted as 4, without the batsman actually having to hit the ball.

Besides the modes of dismissal mentioned above, there is no equivalent of a "strike". If you let a ball go, or miss it, and it doesn't either hit your wicket or get you leg before wicket (LBW) nothing happens. You can do that as much as you want, although you obviously won't score in the process.

There are eleven players in a team, and there must be two batsmen, so once the tenth man in a team is out, the team's innings is over - there will be one man left "not-out" but he can't continue his innings alone. In Test cricket, teams have two innings each, to be completed within five days play.

In One Day cricket, each team has only one innings. That innings is over once 10 people are out, or more commonly, once 50 overs have been bowled. There are six deliveries in an over, so thats 300 deliveries per innings. The team to score more runs wins.

"Throw" is used to describe what fielders do when they throw the ball, but it is not used to describe how bowlers deliver a ball. There are rules (again quite complex) governing how to deliver the ball, and if you break those rules, you are said to be throwing the ball, rather than bowling it. For a bowler, being branded a thrower is tantamount to be labelled a cheat and it has resulted in the end of many careers. (So don't tell a bowler he throws or he'll be quite upset!)

Hope that's helpful. It does start to make some sense after a bit of watching... :)
 
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Moe_Syzlak

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Your answers were great, thank you, but let me ask one thing about the outs: WHOA, matt79 answered before I got to post this. It had to do with the bails being knocked off while the ball was 'in play' (after it was hit and the batsman were running).
Now, about being 'safe in the crease' Must the batsman STEP on to the crease, or can he 'tag' or 'touch' it whith his bat? (one foot good enough, or must his entire body pass the crease)
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Part of his bat or foot TOUCHING the ground, behind the line. In the air behind the line (ie foot hasn't landed yet etc) doesn't count. Has to stay there as well until the umpire calls the play dead, can't tag it and go...
 

Josh

International Regular
Merely touching the line also means that the batsman has not 'made' his crease. A portion of the bat/body/foot/whatever MUST be BEHIND the line. On the line is out.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The two batsmen must make their ground at opposite ends - if either doesn't, what would have been 2 runs if they'd both done it correctly will instead by 1 run.
 

LA ICE-E

State Captain
i think you should have a look at this- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket , even if its long its has most of the things you need to know about cricket. after reading it if there's any questions please ask... also take a look at this videos-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9STtcwo0xE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JipHEn63bWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK6OARK8DVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anw6E8mLi9E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8biIOGOwShc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM5Mj7eyfQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCDD6AlSVXw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGQMVp4cFzY

these are just some of the videos but theres a lot more
 
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