Cricket, Explained.

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that predates baseball by hundreds of years. Cricket, (along with a game called rounders), is the genesis of our national pastime, yet remains relatively unknown and absolutely unloved by Americans. This is due to less overall interest in a sport that isn't ours, but also stems from a lack of understanding of a truly great ballgame.

In cricket, each team has 11 players. Before the match, the winner of a coin-flip decides whether their side will bat first or second. The batting side will attempt to score the most amount of runs possible, while the defending or bowling team will try to limit that number. In a One-Day International (ODI) match, each team must bat and bowl 50 overs. An over is a set of six balls (pitches) that one individual must make, totaling 300 that each team must throw/defend, and 300 balls to reach the highest batting total possible.

To start, the first two batters in the order walk out to two spots about 60 feet apart at two wickets that are dug into the ground. At one end stands the bowler, facing the batting crease. Each wicket stands a little more than 2 feet high x 9 inches wide, and has two small pieces of wood called bails sitting across the top. The bowler's main objective is to bowl the cricket ball past the batter's bat, have it hit the wicket and knock off the bails. This is called getting clean bowled, and results in the batter being out.

Unlike in baseball, the batter in cricket has the option of whether or not to run, and there is no foul territory. The batsmen's primary objective is to protect the wicket and avoid being clean bowled, so some of the shots they play are defensive in nature, and some go backward. Simply protecting their wicket will not result in any runs however, which are scored when a batter strikes a ball and opts to run to the other wicket, 60 feet away. When a batter runs, their partner must also run, and each must reach the opposite wicket before the defending team is able to knock the bails off the wicket with the ball. If they are able to switch positions, the batter has hit a single, which results in a run for the batting side.

If the batter is able to hit it far enough that he may run and run back, he has hit a double, and two runs are scored. If the batter hits a ball that reaches the boundary of the cricket pitch, this is called a four and the batter is awarded all four runs without having to run it out. When the batter hits it over the boundary on the fly, he has hit a six, or cricket's equivalent to a home run. An effective pairing will usually have one player defending his wicket and trying to hit singles, his partner playing aggressively for fours and sixes. In 50 overs, 300 runs is usually a good benchmark for a batting side, averaging one run per ball thrown.

The finality of cricket fuels much of its appeal; unlike baseball, once a batter is out, their day is done. To say a team is all out, means that all 11 batsmen have had their wickets taken (made out) before the 50 overs were completed. In these cases, you would say their score was 212, all out. When a team stays on the pitch for the full 50 overs, their score would be 314-5, or 314 runs for 5 wickets fallen.

Bowlers can record outs by clean bowling a batter, or by inducing the batter to hit a ball that is caught full-toss, or without hitting the ground, by one of the fielders. An out is also recorded if a batter opts to run, but the fielding team is able to retrieve the ball and hit the wicket with it while a runner is caught in between. This is called being run out. The other way an out is recorded is if the batter is hit by the ball, but is judged to have blocked the ball from hitting the wicket with his leg pad. This is called leg before wicket (LBW), and when a bowler suspects that a batter may have protected the stumps with his leg will shout, "How's that?!" to the official.

The wicketkeeper acts as the catcher, and is the only player on the pitch that is permitted to wear a glove; the other 10 field barehanded. All bowlers bounce the ball on almost every delivery, with the odd full-toss delivery usually resulting in a boundary. Bowlers, prohibited from bending their arms whatsoever during their ballet-like run-up, use spin or pace off the bounce to confound batters, aiming to hit a target less than a foot wide.

To some of the most skilled performers in the world, we salute you.

Check out one of the great individual performances of all-time - South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs hitting six 6s in one over against the Netherlands in the 2007 World Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwqBoVhOwas