[HPFGU-OTChatter] What's the fun in baseball?

[Shaun Hately]

On 18 Oct 2003 at 19:54, Iggy McSnurd wrote:

> Heck... You guys are still one up on me.  Personally, all I know about
> Cricket is what little I saw in the movies "King Ralph" and "Hope and
> Glory."
> 
> I know about darts, curling (sorta), golf (sorta), and European
> football/soccer.  Other than that, I'm lost on English sports.
> 
> Anyone care to explain Cricket to me?  (I can't understand the excitement in
> that... but then, I don't know nearly as much about that as I do about
> baseball...)

Well, I'm a cricket fan - one of the few sports I like, and the only one I really like to 
watch. I even like test cricket (Australia v Zimbabwe, heading up to a thrilling 
conclusion at the moment) which is the form where a match can take 5 days and 
is just as likely to end in a draw.

But it is a game that I concede is pretty hard to like, unless you understand the 
nuances. If you do, it's very cerebral with an incredible level of tactics.

Just one example - a bowler (roughly equivalent to a pitcher in baseball) has six 
balls at a time in which to try and get batsmen out. In a low level game, he's likely 
to simply bowl as hard and as fast as he can - but in a higher level one, he will do 
so (for example) by bowling four balls at a set length which the batsmen can play 
in a certain way, knowing it will fall safely - and then a fifth that bouncer a foot 
shorter in 22 yards, looks the same to the batsmen, but when played in the same 
way pops up a bit higher and carries twenty yards further to a fieldsman.

And in a test match, the bowler has the time and luxury to take 30 balls over five 
overs to do that if he needs to.

That's just one nuance - but the game is full of them.

Briefly, it's a fairly simple game fundamentally. There are two teams, each of 11 
players (with a 'Twelfth Man' who is a substitute who can field but isn't allowed to 
bowl or bat).

A team of 11 will generally consist of *about* 4 specialist batsmen, 4 specialist 
bowlers, and 3 all rounders (who can both bat and bowl effectively). Those 
numbers are not fixed and do vary.

Generally the best batsmen go into bat earliest, followed by the all rounders, 
followed by the bowlers - all 11 players bat in an innings.

Two batsmen are on the field at anytime - one at each end of the pitch or wicket 
(an area 22 yards long in the centre of the field).

Runs are scored by running the length of the pitch - each length is one run (so if 
an odd number of runs are scored, the other batsmen will become the one to face 
the bowling - strategy again - towards the end of an innings when you might have 
a specialist batsmen still in after a long time, accompanied by a specialist bowler, 
they often won't run unless they can score 2 runs to avoid making the bowler bat.)

A ball that reaches the boundary fence after being hit scores a four - four runs. A 
ball that clears the boundary on the full scores a six.

Bowlers bowl groups of six balls at a time - if they bowl a wide (a ball that misses 
the stumps by such a wide margin as to make it unplayable), the opposing team is 
awarded an 'extra' run and that ball doesn't count in the six. The same happens 
with a 'no ball' which is generally caused by a bowler bowling from a position too 
close to the batsmen - a no ball can't get a batsman out by hitting the stumps or 
by being caught.

The stumps - at each end of the pitch are three sticks - these are called the 
stumps (or the wickets). A bowler can get a batsman out by hitting the stumps with 
the ball. The batsman can also go out if they hit a ball to a fieldsman (or the 
bowler) who catches it on the full, or by being run out - if a fieldsman manages to 
hit the stumps while the batsmen are running.

Basically a team bats until it is out (until 10 batsmen are out - because number 11 
then doesn't have a partner), and the other team tries to beat their score.

There are two main varieties of the game - test cricket which is the classic form, 
which consists of two innings, where both teams can theoretically bat until both 
are out - or until time runs out in which case the game is a draw (draws are 
common - ties are *very* rare - a tie can only occur if after two complete innings, 
scores are identical. At international level, there have only ever been two tied test 
matches - Australia versus West Indies 1960; and India versus Australia 1986.

And one day cricket - often called pyjama cricket because at international level, 
the players wear colourful uniforms rather than whites. A one day match consists 
of one innings generally of 50 overs each - and the team that has the highest 
score at the end of their innings wins whether the match ended because of them 
being bowled out, or because they ran out of overs.

One day cricket is the more exciting form in many ways - but doesn't have quite 
the same level of tactics as the test form (though can still have a lot of them and 
they can be quite different).

Scores are high - 300 runs in an innings of a test match isn't uncommon - 500 is 
getting rarer but still happens fairly regularly. In one day matches, 200 is fairly 
common - 300 is pretty impressive.

An impressive score for an individual is 50 runs - a half century - or 100 runs - a 
century - those are the scores batsmen go after. Double centuries are rarer, triple 
centuries are very rare, and nobody has yet achieved a quadruple century in 
international cricket - the current world record was set just over a week ago - 380 
runs by Matthew Hayden of Australia. The man generally regarded as the greatest 
batsman in history, Sir Donald Bradman of Australia, had an *average* score of 
99.91 - in a game where 100 runs in any innings is impressive, that is incredible.

Again, it's also got weird terms like a lot of sports - one of the fielding positions is 
'Silly Mid On', a batsmen who scores 0 runs in an innings gets a 'duck' (Bradman 
actually scored a duck in his final innings which prevented him leaving with an 
average of over 100).

Like most sports... it's not just the game. It's the traditions associated with it that 
appeal to a lot of people. And they are many - the most tradition laden trophy in 
test cricket is the size of an egg cup, and can only be won by England or 
Australia. The game is meant to be a gentleman's game - where the batsman 
always gets the benefit of the doubt, and where the umpire's decision is never 
argued with (that one isn't quite true at international level!)

"I can still remember 
In the backyard with Dad
Over the fence was six and out
Best time we ever had

I'd run in like Dennis Lillee,
Bowl straight like I'd been told
And send the wickets flying
And dream of green and gold

Go Aussie Go
Go Aussie Go

Go you gold and greens,
Keep the spirit flowing,
Part of all our dreams,
The legend keeps on growing

Go you gold and greens,
Keep the spirit flowing,
Part of all our dreams,
The legend keeps on growing

>From Don Bradman to the Chappells
>From Allan Border to Shane Warne
>From the beaches and the parks
The dream keeps burning strong

Go you Aussies go,
Show them how you play
>From the outback to the sea
We're with you all the way

Go you gold and greens,
Keep the spirit flowing,
Part of all our dreams,
The legend keeps on growing

Go you gold and greens,
Keep the spirit flowing,
Part of all our dreams,
The legend keeps on growing

Go Aussie Go
Let's hear it,
Go Aussie Go
Let's cheer it.
Go Aussie Go
Let's hear it,
Go Aussie Go
Let's cheer it."












Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia