ok, i watch it and play it so i undertand it. i saw a post about understanding US football and baseball so i thought i would start my own. i am especially interested to see what the americans and canadians say. do baseball fans find it easier to understand cos of the similarities? let the discussion (soon to be argument probably) commence! enjoy!
I may not understand all the nuances and subtleties contained within the game (LBW, anyone?), but I know enough about the game to be able to enjoy it while watching. Someone new to cricket might not know that a six is worth six or even to call it such, but they would probably know that when you hit the ball out of the field of play, it's a good thing.
I try to watch it, but i don't get it, my Friends from Guyana and India always answer my questions. I only know Naser Husein, but they laugh and say he's crap.
why do people find the idea of LBW so hard? if the ball hits the players pad when it would have hit the bails had he not been standing there.
don't listen to your mates. nasser hussain rocks!!! my fave player is Gough though. hes back from injury now. woo hoo!!!! hate warne though. spit on him!
I started watching cricket every once in a while last summer because my favorite channel (fox sports world) shows it. I had no idea what was going on so I read some rules on the internet. Now when I watch I definately know what's happening and find it a fun change of pace from baseball. I think you'll find that most americans know nothing about the sport.
Unfortunately he is bloody good though. Second best spinner around probably. Gough really needs to do something soon though. Despite his spirit, I fear his career could be all but over. And I'm also tempted to agree with that guy on Ch4 (Ian Smith ?) about Hussain.
I learned a little bit about it from watching Doctor Who on PBS -- the fifth Doctor batted a century or something in one episode.
I spent some time in India and learned a bit about the game there.The sport's grown on me and I like to watch it whenever I get the chance, which isn't very often. Although baseball and cricket are different in a lot of ways, there are enough similarities so that if you understand one, you can grasp the basics of the other fairly quickly. I live in an area with a lot of Indian immigrants and it's not uncommon to see a game going on in one of the parks around town. On the whole though, cricket is almost totally unknown in the US.
I think it's more of eyeing the result during the play than the rule itself. Anyone can look smart when they can rely on instant replay ... I think the hard part is making the initial call without any electronic aid.
"It certainly had a break on it," admitted Mr. Hankin, "but it would have gone wide nevertheless. I don't think anyone can accuse me of being unsporting, and had I been leg before, I should have been the first to admit it. Did you see it, Mr. Brotherhood?" "Oh, I saw it all right," said the old gentleman, with a chuckle. "I put it to you," said Mr. Hankin, "whether I was l.b.w. or not." "Of course not," said Mr. Brotherhood. "Nobody ever is. "I have attended cricket matches now for sixty years, for sixty years, my dear sir, and that goes back to a time before you were born or thought of, and I've never yet known anybody to be really out l.b.w. -- according to himself, that is." --Dorothy L. Sayers, Murder Must Advertise
I watched it some while I was stationed abroad. Most of it is straightforward, but the two types of games (one lasts a day and one lasts forever) escapes me. I grew to appreciate Brian Lara's skill and the invention of balls and strikes for baseball.
Okay, I get the traditional style Cricket - you play until all players are out. How do you play the tournament-style? Are the batsmen only allowed so many at-bats?
Tournament-style, or one-day cricket as it is known is played by having each side bat for 50 overs, 1 over = 6 balls (pitches). The team with the most runs when each side has batted wins. If all the players are out before their 50 overs are up, then their innings ends and their runs total at that point is their score, players are only allowed to bat once.
i know warnes good. he so.....i can't put my finger on it. there is just something about him that i just can't stand! what did ian smith say about hussian?
well someone has already expalined the one day test tp you so i'll expalinhte 5 day test. both teams bat two times. the idea is to get all the players out as fast as possible if you are fielding, or score as fast as possible if you are battting. sometimes, batters "declare" meaning that all the batters are not out but they believe they have scored enough runs to win the test overall.
I actually like cricket. Strange for an American I know. When I was going to the University of Georgia, a friend of mine from Bangladesh invited me to join the weekly game that the Bangladeshi students play. It was actually a lot of fun, and the Bangladeshis apparently love the game. Here in Taiwan, I watch cricket on Star Sports from Hong Kong. Too bad English sucks at it now. Sri Lanka is so much better than them, perhaps the best in the world now (considering their recent crushing over Pakistan - what was it EIGHT wickets!?)
Like Ludahai, I played cricket a few times (first at LSU, when a South African professor invited me and a couple other guys from the graduate student team who just kicked the asses of the profs at softball). It's a good time. I'd rather play that than golf, for instance, though fat chance finding a chance to play it in Westmoreland County, PA (I count myself lucky to have access to rugby union). And I have a better understanding of it now, having seen it on Fox Sports World a couple of times, than I did after playing it 8-9 times in Louisiana and also in Chicago.
You should look into it a bit more. Australia are the best team in the world, there is no doubt at all about that. And England beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in a 3 test series earlier this summer. England have been getting better over the last couple of years. Don't get me wrong, they'll still get a good old-fashioned panning from the Aussies this winter, but they've made some strides during Hussain's captaincy and Fletcher's management.
What the hell are you talking about?? England stuffed Sri Lanka 2 - 0 earlier in the summer .We also beat them the last time we went over to Sri lanka. Sri lanka are typical sub-continent team that wins on home soil but falls apart on away tours .