Cricket

[Chia Hak Soon]

Is there any forumners out there who can explain in simple langauge or animated version of how CRICKET is played. I have browsed through Wikepeda and it is too complicated for me to understand. Thank You.

[Zhon]

Is there any forumners out there who can explain in simple langauge or animated version of how CRICKET is played. I have browsed through Wikepeda and it is too complicated for me to understand. Thank You.

In ancient China, they put two crickets in a container and used sticks to poke them to encourage them to fight.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

- Joker

[besitai2007]

Try this website: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Cricket
Essentially, the game consists of two teams of 11 players each. One team will opt to bat (hit the ball which is "bowled" to them with a straight over the head manner..not thrown as in baseball). Two batsman will go to the field and wait their turn to receive the ball. The other side "fields" by bowling the ball by a bowler at a set of vertical sticks called the wicket and receiving the ball (by the other players) as it is hit by the batsman. A wicket keeper stands behind the batsman to prevent the ball from going astray and allowing the batsman to get free "runs". His position can be very dangerous as the ball travels very fast and can cause serious injury. That's why he is well padded up. Batsmen are also padded up and protected as the cricket ball is quite hard and can cause injury if it hits you! The fielding team also tries to prevent the batsman from hitting the ball beyond the boundaries of the playing area (scoring a "boundary" equivalent to 4 runs) or hitting the ball in the air beyond the playing area before it hits the ground (scoring a "sixer" or 6 runs). The batsman can also score a "run" if he manages to run from his playing area (the crease) to the place where the other batsman is standing and then back again to his original spot (correct me someone if this is wrong). A "century" is scored if the batsman manages to accumulate more than 100 runs during the game. The objective is to score as many "runs" as possible without your men being bowled or run out. Of course the other batsman has to run to the place vacated by the first batsman. There are times that he did not manage to reach it in time and can be "run out" when the fielding side brings down the wicket before he reaches the crease. The batsman tries to prevent the ball from hitting the wickets (a set of three vertical sticks with two small cross sticks) or prevent the ball he hits from being caught by anyone in the opposing side. If the ball is caught before it hits the ground, the batsman is "out" and another batsman takes his place. The bowler bowls six times (which is one "over" or duration of play for one batsman) and then they change over. Can't remember how many overs constitute a game. Another bowler will then bowl at the other batsman. The game can be very long. A team wins if it scores more "runs" than the other when both teams lose all their batsman, or if one team still has batsmen left after the other team has all its batsmen run out.

A colleague of mine from Chenai, India, tells me that, in India, the game has a fanatical following. Batsmen who are good are treated like gods. Woe betide the guy if he loses a match because of poor batting as the crowd will lynch him!

We used to play the game in schools in this country. I am sorry that if I forgot or gave inaccurate details about the game as I played the game many years ago when I was studying in Penang Free School. Cricket was a tradition then but had not been encouraged in schools anymore. Too dangerous or ...? Sad, just like rugby.

[mick123]

Hi Chia, you interested in cricket? please allow me to have a go at explaining the game. it's been a long time since I last followed the game so i could be a bit rusty. if we are talking about the same game, then,

firstly, i don't think i need to go through the definitions of the jargon and terms used as they can be found on the website.

there are generally 2 main types - the test cricket which is played over 5 days and the one-day cricket which, as in the name, is played in 1 day. The test cricket are divided into 2 innings of unlimited overs per innings per team. The 1-dayer is played over 1 innings with 50 overs per innings per team. Over the years, the ICC decided that it is time to make the game more interesting to viewers by introducing the 20-overs limited game and also a day-and-night game.

there are 2 teams of 11 players each (12 if we take the "12th man" into account). one team will bat while the other will bowl. each team takes turn to bat and bowl. the idea is the batting team will try to get as many runs as possible while the bowling team will try to get all the batsman out conceding as few runs as possible. the game is decided on which team obtain the higher number of runs.

now this is where it gets complicated;

the team are made up of 11 players consisting of batsmen and bowlers. when batting, all players will bat normally with the best batsman (specialist batsman) batting first, or they call it, up the order. There are 2 batsmen batting. When a batsman is got out, he can't bat anymore in that innings and another batsman will come to the crease. this goes on until all the batsmen are out in the test, or they have played out the 50 overs in the 1 dayer.

for the bowling team, normally there are only a few specialist bowlers and a few part time bowlers. Typically each team will have 5 bowlers but over the years the teams use more part time bowlers to share the load of a very demanding game especially in test cricket where the teams can play for more than 100 overs.

a run is achieved by hitting the ball and the batsman run from the batting end to the opposite end and the other batsman runs the opposite direction to the batting end. there are a few ways to score runs, namely run between the wickets, hitting the ball out of the playing circle (4 runs if the ball rolls on the ground and 6 runs if the ball doesn't hit the ground) and no-ball.

there are a few ways to get a batsman out, namely, caught out, bowled out, lbw and run out. there are a few ways to bowl, namely, pace and spin bowling. of course there are different categories like fast, medium-fast, medium, swing, seam for pace bowling. same goes to spin, ie. leg-spin and off-spin.

there are a lot more to explain but i think i better stop here before this turns into a bedtime story.

More explaination over TT will be a good idea.

Cheers!

[ksj_cool]

For those of you who are interested to follow cricket, you can follow the game at www.cricinfo.com. South Africa & Australia are playing a Test match at the moment.

[ahbitchew]

I understand the scoring system for the one day match that involved only 50 overs but haven't a clue about the test matches that run for days, can Annie Wan help explaining it to me ?

[mick123]

hi ahbit, a test match is basically 2 1-dayer games but with unlimited overs. a team can play until the cow comes home if it still has wickets in hand but this would mean only a draw. so that's no good. when a team is scoring very high, it can choose to declare the innings if the captain deems the score is high enough and difficult for the opposing team to match or better. the decision to declare an innings is a strategic one so that the team gives the bowlers enough time to have a chance to bowl out the opposition for a win.

i think that sums up the scoring in a test match.

[Sentinel]

I used to be a player in my school team in King George V Seremban, the only Chinese player in a field of Indian students... ha ha!

[mick123]

wah like that soon we can have a mini game....

[Sentinel]

Do you know that they play cricket every Sunday at the Labuan island main padang? Group of Malaysians, expatriates in Labuan and people from Brunei? Its a highlight in Labuan beside rugby which is played at the next padang... you can imagine the crowd and the amount of duty-free beer flowing....

[mick123]

ooh yess, it is normally associate with lots of it. i think that is why when i was in Oz, they limit the amount of beer each fan can bring in...

[Chia Hak Soon]

Thank you mick123, okay you have a bowler and a batsman. what happens when the ball is strike and collected before it hits the ground. And what is overs and innings ? I am still in the dark.

[fRaNkY]

Can anyone tell me if they are still playing cricket at the field at Dataran?

[mick123]

hi,

if the ball is struck and is caught by the fielding/bowling team before it hit the ground, then the batsman is out, called "caught" in the score sheets. there are many ways to get a batsman out.

there are 6 balls per over. which means the bowler can bowl 6 times, excluding those bowls that have been adjudged to be "no ball". as for innings, in the case of a 1-dayer, there are 50 overs per innings. as for test match, there are unlimited overs. "no ball" is called when the bowler over steps the crease on the wicket, just like the foul when a long jumper over steps the white strip marking, or if the ball bounced too high and is judged to be dangerous to the batsman or unplayably high.

if the batsman hits the ball and it travels on the ground, the batsman can choose to run to the other end of the wicket to score a run or choose to remain at his end if he thinks he can be run out. each run between the wickets is one run. so the batsman can run as many times between the wicket as he likes as long as the he thinks he won't be run out. in big fields, I have seen batsmen running for 5 runs. remember that if the ball travels on the ground and travelled to beyond the boundary rope, it is an automatic 4 runs. if the ball travelled in the air beyond the boundary rope, then it is an automatic 6 runs.

a run out is when the ball hits the stumps when the batsman is outside of his crease during the course of running between the wickets to score runs.

hope the above explaination is ok.

cheers!

[chin_wan]

I use to play cricket in high school. Basically, it's a glorified version of softball.