Cricket: A Gentlemen's Sport

Not too many people know too much about cricket and how it’s played in north America but is becoming increasingly popular here and some high schools in Toronto are starting to play it. Cricket does resemble baseball in some ways such as being a bat and ball game but has completely different rules.

What is it?

Cricket is a bat and ball game that was invented by the British in 1598 and became the national sport in the 18^th century. The game is played between two teams consisting of 11 players on a field that has 22 yard long rectangular pitching area in the centre.

Objective

The objective of each team is to score more runs than the other team and to completely dismiss (which is when a batman is out) the other team. There are usually ten batsmen in a professional game and there are ten ways to get batsman out. 

Game Play

There are two basic forms

Limited over: This form is usually played by amateurs and is played over a few hours with each team batting once.

Time limited (Test Cricket): These are usually professional games which are played between 3 to 5 days with each team batting twice.

Retrieved from Wikipedia

Runs

A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. Once the ball is successfully hit and not caught before it hits the ground, the two batsmen can run to score points.. The batsmen may attempt multiple runs or elect not to run at all. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of innings.

Outs

There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. The list in in chronological order from the most common forms of dismissal to less common methods of dismissal

One note regarding outs is before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side must appeal

1. Bowled: the bowler has hit the wicket with the pitch and atleast one of the wickets has been dislodged.

2. Caught: The ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side.

3. Leg before wicket: the ball has hit the batsman's body but not the bat, when it would have gone on to hit the wickets.

4. Run out: a member of the fielding side has broken the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman was running to the opposite side.

5. Stumped This occurs after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground but is not attempting a run..

6. Hit wicket: If a batsman hits the wicket and dislodges one or both bails with his bat.

7. Hit the ball twice: the batsman is not allowed to hit the ball twice unless trying to stop the ball from hitting the wicket after he initially hitting it.

8. Obstructing the field: tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way of a fielder.

9. Handled the ball: a batsman must not deliberately touch the ball with his hand.

10. Timed out: usually means that the next batsman did not arrive at the wicket within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed.

More in depth details regarding rules and gameplay can be found here

Rules

Gameplay

Cricket World Cup

The Cricket World Cup is the international championship that is held every four years and is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournaments consist of several rounds with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament. The first Cricket World Cup contest was organised in England in 1975 and has been held every four years with new teams such as Canada joining in.

Australia has won the most championships with four titles, The West Indies and India have won twice and Pakistan and Sri Lanka have each won once.

Leagues in Calgary and where you can play

Cricket can be played with various leagues in Calgary such as the Calgary &District Cricket League and Glenmore Cricket Club League and matches are played at Riley Park, Inland Athletic Park, Westwinds Drypond and Martindale Cricket Ground.

I think cricket does seem like a really confusing sport and is very different from sports that are popular here in Canada. The time limited matches does not seem ideal here in Canada specially which the dramatic weather changes we go through but i think the limited over can be successfully played. I myself have never played cricket and have only watched games but does seem like a sport that can be competitive and fun at the same time.