Learning the game

[michfan2123]

Hey mates, I am an American that has just found an interest in cricket. I love football (soccer) and always see cricket news near football news so I got interested. Living in the US limits my ability to follow the game though.

I have watched videos learning the game and such but am slightly confused about a few things.

A good example would be here-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/shared/fds/hi/statistics/cricket/scorecards/2008/2/14857/html/scorecard.stm

I am watching this match on my computer. I don't always understand the scoreboard completely.

Example: Team A 196/5 (48.2 overs) over Team B 193/7 (50 overs)
I understand most of that, 196 runs out of 5 batters, but what is the over part?

How many runs can you score off a single hit? 6 right if it goes into the stands? What if you hit it as far as possible with it staying inbounds? And why do you win by wickets sometimes instead of runs?

I really appreciate any help.
Cheers,
David

 

[sideshowtim]

Welcome mate, it's always nice to have some interest in cricket from outside the regular nations. Don't worry if you don't pick up cricket straight away, it's a complicated game and even though I've been following it all my life there are some finer rules and points that took me years to recognise!

First of all, an over is a sequence of 6 legal balls bowled by a bowler. In 50 over cricket, a bowler is allowed to bowl a maximum of 10 overs (60 balls). Upon conclusion of the over, the fielding side switches the end they bowl from. A bowler cannot bowl 2 overs consecutively.

6 is generally the most you can get off a single hit (a 6 occurs when you clear the boundary rope). You can get more, it's possible, but very rare. Last year there was one occasion where the batsmen ran 3 but the fieldsman threw the ball wildly and gave them 4 overthrows (thus earning 7 off a ball). If you hit it as far as possible without the ball reaching the boundary, you simply run as much as you can. It is possible to run 4, but I can't remember a time when more than 4 have been run.

If you bat first in a match and win the match, you win by runs. If you bat second in a match and win, you win by wickets.

 

[Top_Cat]

Example: Team A 196/5 (48.2 overs) over Team B 193/7 (50 overs)I understand most of that, 196 runs out of 5 batters, but what is the over part?

Okay;

First off the basic unit of play in cricket is an 'over' which is a grouping of six balls bowled in sequence at the batsman facing the bowler. Once an over is bowled, another bowler has a go at the other end of the pitch in bowling another over. The match continues in like this, bowlers have a bowl at alternate ends.

Basically, cricket has a few forms but the two big ones at international level are Tests and limited-over internationals. In short, a Test goes for 5 days and is essentially unlimited in how many overs can be bowled in a given day. Instead, Tests are played to a time schedule; the day's play starts at 11am usually, continues to lunch (1pm-1:40pm), play until tea (3:40pm-4pm) then another session until 6pm. Each side has two innings in a Test and play continues over the 5 days until both sides have completed two innings. Cricket is unique, though, in that if two innings from each side aren't complete, a draw is the result. Not a draw in the team sport sense where both side have scored equally but it's just a way of saying 'time ran out before one team could win'.

Many years after the first Test, there was a need for a form of the game which wouldn't go for five days (many reasons; to compete with other games which were eating into cricket's market share, etc.) and so 'limited-over' cricket was created. This has taken various incarnations but essentially it means that one team bats for a prescribed number of overs (in the example you've shown, 50 overs) and then the other side bats for the same number of overs.

The difference between this and Tests is that it's all about the score rather than time; in your example, Team B scored 193 in their allotted 50 overs and Team A beat that score within the limits of the number of overs they were allotted (48.2 overs) so they won. If, however, Team A had batted all of their 50 overs and still hadn't reached Team B's score, they would have lost even if they hadn't lost all 10 of their batsmen.

How many runs can you score off a single hit? 6 right if it goes into the stands?

6 is the maximum off a single hit but only has to clear the boundary line/fence. If the ball bounces before the line/fence or rolls into it, the batsmen gets 4.

What if you hit it as far as possible with it staying inbounds?

The batsman scores whatever they run in this case.

And why do you win by wickets sometimes instead of runs?

This one is a bit tougher;

Basically, in the case of your example, Team A won by 5 wickets. Why? Because they passed the opposition's score with 5 batsmen left (as I gather you already know, you have 10 to lose). If, however, they didn't make Team B's score (say, they scored 150), Team B would win by the difference between their score and Team A's (193-150 = 43 run win). The wickets vs runs and whoever wins by which really just depends on whether the team chasing the score wins or loses.

As with most sports, there are exceptions to many of the above 'rules' but we'll get to those, just keep asking questions. Good to see a new cricket fan, sounds like you're off to a good start in understanding how the game works.

 

[michfan2123]

Thanks a lot guys.

I am starting to put it all together. I will post any more questions if I get any. As I watch matches I may come up with more.

 

[Top_Cat]

Thanks a lot guys.

I am starting to put it all together. I will post any more questions if I get any. As I watch matches I may come up with more.

Best way to do it. Cricket is a damn weird game and I've been playing it for a long time!

 

[michfan2123]

Best way to do it. Cricket is a damn weird game and I've been playing it for a long time!

Yup, wonder where I would ever play it, not very popular here. Many people in New York come from nations with Cricket though so I bet people play it somewhere in the States.

 

[Top_Cat]

Yup, wonder where I would ever play it, not very popular here. Many people in New York come from nations with Cricket though so I bet people play it somewhere in the States.

Quick Google turned up this;

http://www.nycricketregion.com

Don't know if they're anywhere near you, though. You'd imagine major centres would have a at least a rudimentary league. I remember reading an article about ex-patriot Indian/Pakistani Google employees having a league set up in Virginia and similar in California. It happens in the States, they're just spread out a lot.

If you do join that league, keep us in the loop as to how you go.

 

[michfan2123]

That is in my area, thanks.
I will post how it goes here. Don't know when I would be able to play though. Pretty busy right now eh. Probably going to check it out in the summer, too cold right now anyway.

 

[Goughy]

Quick Google turned up this;

http://www.nycricketregion.com

Don't know if they're anywhere near you, though. You'd imagine major centres would have a at least a rudimentary league. I remember reading an article about ex-patriot Indian/Pakistani Google employees having a league set up in Virginia and similar in California. It happens in the States, they're just spread out a lot.

If you do join that league, keep us in the loop as to how you go.

In many places, at the top level (though it drops off pretty sharply) they are far more than rudimentray.

The standard can be very good, though the facilities unfortunately seldom match the quality of the players and that is a big problem.

This would be a good introduction to watching cricket, but its on the otherside of the country. http://www.laopen2020.com/

The big issue for any American wanting to play the game is that most clubs dont have the time or the facilities to teach players the game and most clubs and players are based on ex-pat talent that is already pretty developed. They focus on their matches and schedule rather than growing the game outside its trad immigrant base.