[Rally]

[quote author=ferrari link=topic=14423.msg153447#msg153447 date=1453153548]
Is anyone willing to post a "Cricket For Dummies"?  Possibly in a new thread?  After that . . . Curling!

How's this? (And no mentions of Jaccard similarity...) (And mostly drawing my references from baseball. Purists beware.)

Two teams of eleven people. One team fields, one team bats. Two players from the batting team are on the field (wicket) at a time. They stand at either end of the wicket, near small wooden structures (confusingly, also called wickets.) In order to score the batter must hit the ball, and then the two batters simultaneously run from one end to another, changing places and scoring a run. They can continue to run back and forth scoring as many runs as they like. (Ok, there's a limit, but let's ignore that.) Scoring one or two runs on a single ball is typical. (Well, scoring 0 is most common. You never have to run.)

So the batter is trying to hit the ball where none of the fielders is standing, so that he can score. If he can hit it far enough he automatically scores four (the equivalent to a ground-rule double - out of the field on the ground) or six (a home run - out of the field in the air.)

There are, of course, a number of ways to get out. If any fielder catches a batted ball in the air. If the fielders get the ball to the end while the runners are running back and forth before the runner gets there. Both of these are very similar to their baseball equivalents. The most common non-baseball way is if the bowler (pitcher) manages to bowl (throw) a ball that the batter misses entirely and it hits his wicket. He's out. No three strikes - he's just gone. And closely related is if the batter does not hit the ball with his bat, but then it hits his leg, and in the opinion of the umpire it would have continued on and hit the wicket. This is known as "leg before wicket" or "lbw". (Cricket is very forward thinking and has sophisticated video replay, so these calls are very highly reliable.) There are other ways to get out, but they are less common.

Since you have eleven people on your team, but you need two players to bat at any time, after ten people are out your "innings" is over, and it's the other team's turn to bat. Most runs wins.

The next bit is where things really get screwy. Teams can bat for a long time. The classic form of the game has essentially unlimited time, and each team bats twice. These matches are scheduled for five days of six hours each day, and even then they often don't finish. These are known as test matches. (Clearly a game that was invented by people who had time on their hands.)

The more modern forms are shorter: "one day internationals" (ODI) limit each team to batting from 300 pitches. They get as many runs as they can within that limit, and then it's the other team's turn to bat. It's quicker than a test match, but still takes six hours or so.

And the shortest form (and the one that has driven cricket's current popularity) is called T20, or twenty-twenty. Each team gets 120 balls to hit (a set of six pitches is called an over, so it's twenty overs, hence the name T20.) This can be completed in about three hours or less, so it's very fan- and television-friendly. It also encourages aggressive batting.

(Allen Stanford sponsored a big money T20 tournament. $20MM for the winning team. Not chump change.)
[/quote]

Thank you very much.  When is the 7th inning stretch?  On Tuesday?

[Rally]

[quote author=ferrari link=topic=14423.msg153447#msg153447 date=1453153548]
Is anyone willing to post a "Cricket For Dummies"?  Possibly in a new thread?  After that . . . Curling!

How's this? (And no mentions of Jaccard similarity...) (And mostly drawing my references from baseball. Purists beware.)

Two teams of eleven people. One team fields, one team bats. Two players from the batting team are on the field (wicket) at a time. They stand at either end of the wicket, near small wooden structures (confusingly, also called wickets.) In order to score the batter must hit the ball, and then the two batters simultaneously run from one end to another, changing places and scoring a run. They can continue to run back and forth scoring as many runs as they like. (Ok, there's a limit, but let's ignore that.) Scoring one or two runs on a single ball is typical. (Well, scoring 0 is most common. You never have to run.)

So the batter is trying to hit the ball where none of the fielders is standing, so that he can score. If he can hit it far enough he automatically scores four (the equivalent to a ground-rule double - out of the field on the ground) or six (a home run - out of the field in the air.)

There are, of course, a number of ways to get out. If any fielder catches a batted ball in the air. If the fielders get the ball to the end while the runners are running back and forth before the runner gets there. Both of these are very similar to their baseball equivalents. The most common non-baseball way is if the bowler (pitcher) manages to bowl (throw) a ball that the batter misses entirely and it hits his wicket. He's out. No three strikes - he's just gone. And closely related is if the batter does not hit the ball with his bat, but then it hits his leg, and in the opinion of the umpire it would have continued on and hit the wicket. This is known as "leg before wicket" or "lbw". (Cricket is very forward thinking and has sophisticated video replay, so these calls are very highly reliable.) There are other ways to get out, but they are less common.

Since you have eleven people on your team, but you need two players to bat at any time, after ten people are out your "innings" is over, and it's the other team's turn to bat. Most runs wins.

The next bit is where things really get screwy. Teams can bat for a long time. The classic form of the game has essentially unlimited time, and each team bats twice. These matches are scheduled for five days of six hours each day, and even then they often don't finish. These are known as test matches. (Clearly a game that was invented by people who had time on their hands.)

The more modern forms are shorter: "one day internationals" (ODI) limit each team to batting from 300 pitches. They get as many runs as they can within that limit, and then it's the other team's turn to bat. It's quicker than a test match, but still takes six hours or so.

And the shortest form (and the one that has driven cricket's current popularity) is called T20, or twenty-twenty. Each team gets 120 balls to hit (a set of six pitches is called an over, so it's twenty overs, hence the name T20.) This can be completed in about three hours or less, so it's very fan- and television-friendly. It also encourages aggressive batting.

(Allen Stanford sponsored a big money T20 tournament. $20MM for the winning team. Not chump change.)
[/quote]

Thank you very much.  When is the 7th inning stretch?  On Tuesday?