Cricket: On my Big Bucket List (yet to be published, let alone thought of) there has long been the goal to understand and view a cricket match in person. Like baseball, it's one of those games that always left me scratching my head- probably even more so than baseball. That just takes hours- cricket test matches can go on far days. But I've always been curious about how it works, so took to Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) and this is what I was able to discern.
There are tantalizing similarities between cricket and baseball but that's about it. Cricket (like baseball) has one team that's up to bat and the other team out fielding. Cricket as a bowler (pitcher) who bowls (pitches) a ball to a batsman who attempts to hit the ball. If the ball is hit and caught, he's out. If the ball hits the wicket he's out. If the ball is hit outside the entire field (home run) then the batting team gets six runs and no more. If it's hit to the edge of the field and rolls out, they get four runs and no more. If it's hit into play, then the batsman (batter) can attempt to score runs.
Still with me? Good. Because here's where it gets nutty. Instead of a diamond and bases, you've got a pitch. At each end of the pitch, you've got wickets (roughly equivalent to plates) which consist of 3 stumps and 2 bails. The pitch is 20 yards long. (OK, now take a deep breath, because it gets crazy from here on in.) There are 2 batsman (batters) one at either end and in order to score runs, they each run to the opposite end of the pitch- one switch of position equals one run.
So why does cricket take so long? Well kids, it's because in baseball you have to strike out 3 people to end the inning. (Funnily enough, it's called an innings in cricket, and the 's' stays whether it's singular or plural.) In cricket, you've got to dismiss (strike out) 10 people on the other team.
To sum up: If you hit the ball out, it's 6 runs. If it rolls out, it's 4 runs. If you hit it and the other team catches it, you're out. If they bowl to you and the ball hits the wicket, you're out. If you hit the ball and no one catches it and it doesn't go out- then you can score runs by swapping places with the batsman at the other end of the pitch. One swap equals one run and you can score as many as you can, but if the other team hits the wicket while you're doing that: you're out.
Dismiss 10 and you've ended the innings. (Oh and just to make it super confusing, you bowl to one end of the pitch for one innings and bowl from the opposite end the next innings and so on and so forth.)
To win in hardcore Test Cricket: dismiss everyone on the other team (10 players) twice AND score the most runs. Otherwise, it's a draw.
And that kids, is why cricket takes so damn long. Confused? I have no doubt that you probably are- and as there's not a good place to watch cricket on US Television, I retreated to YouTube to pour over random clips and try and get my knowledge on.
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