Gentlemen of Sport - Cricket

Cricket is popular in India and countries that were once colonized by Britain, such as Britain, Australia, and South Africa. It originated from an Indian sports game that the British accidentally discovered (Ashis Nandy's "The Art of Cricket"), which was then promoted and developed by the British around the world.

Cricket is a somewhat strange game. The game can last a whole day, or even 5 days. Some people will stop the game to have lunch and afternoon tea. If it rains, everyone will stop the game, sit down to have a cup of tea and chat while waiting for the rain to stop.

Unlike football, which is played at high speed and will arouse the high passion of fans, the overall pace of cricket is slower and suitable for being held in the countryside of England. Let me introduce the rules of cricket to you~

First, the game is divided into two teams, each with 11 people. At the beginning of the game, the captains of the two teams bet on the copper coins to decide which team will attack first. All 11 players of the team that defends first will be on the field to pitch and defend.

The team that attacks first sends two batsmen (that is, the batsmen in baseball). The first two batters are usually the best hitters on the team.

The field is a strip of grass in the middle, with three wooden posts (called goal posts) standing close together at each end, and two smaller pieces of wood (called crossbars) placed flat on top of the three wooden posts. The pitcher must try to hit the sticks with the ball and make the two pieces of wood fall down. If he can do this, the batter defending the wooden posts is out.

The pitcher can only throw six balls, and then another teammate takes over the field, also only able to throw six balls. Each pitcher throws six balls, which is called a round.

The batter must try to:

1. Protect the goal posts behind him from being hit by the ball and collapsing;

2. Hit the ball as far as possible.

If the batter hits the ball out of the field (like a home run in baseball), then his team gets six "runs" or six points. If the batter hits the ball out of the circular field, but it bounces up in the middle, then the attacking team gets four points. If the batsman does not hit the ball far, but he and his teammates run back and forth on the middle strip of grass, they get one point for each run.

To get the batsman out, a player on the defensive team must catch the ball after it is hit by the batsman (just like in baseball), or the ball must hit the three wooden stumps behind the batsman.

All eleven players on the attacking team go out to bat, and when they are all out, it is the defensive team's turn to bat, sending their best two players first, until all are out.

When everyone is out, the game is over and the team with the most runs wins. This is called a limited-overs or one-day match. However, in a test match, each team attacks twice so it takes three to five days to finish the game.

One important difference between cricket and baseball is that cricket batsmen can stay on the field for as long as they want until they are out. Some players may be out on the first ball because the stumps are knocked down or the ball they hit is caught. But they stay on the field to bat until they are out. Also, unlike baseball batsmen who have to run regardless of the result of their hit (except for fouls), cricket batsmen can decide whether to run or not. The highest single-player score in cricket is 400 points, set by West Indian cricket legend Brian Lara in 2004, who stayed on the field to bat for more than 13 hours!

Americans have never been able to fully "understand" cricket, mainly because it is too slow, too weird, and simply too confusing! But for the British, especially the English, cricket reflects some of their personality traits. It is cunning, a little weird, and a game that can be played while drinking tea. If you want to experience the "zen" of this interesting sport, why not watch the games together during the tournament.