Ah the game of Cricket…. What the hell is it and why should we care? Well apparently because it is the second biggest sport in the world and that should be enough!

Here at Tripovider.com we thought we would write a review primarily for Americans because of the pending T20 World Cup in the US but really for anyone who wants to know about this amazing game.

Excited? We thought so…let’s continue.

History of Cricket

Cricket started in England and is primarily a sport for the elite private schools where they go around patting each other on the backs saying “Tally Ho” and “By Jeeves that was a good shot!” It was taken abroad on their travels hence why it is so popular in major Commonwealth countries like India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Test Match Cricket and 1 Day Games

Now outside of Baseball, Cricket in the past could have been considered the most boring game on the planet.

The original version is called a “test match” and wait for it, it could and usually did last for up to 5 days! Yes, you heard right. 5 full days of watching a guy hit or miss a ball. And wait, it gets better. At the end of the 5 days, there could still be no winner and the match is concluded as a draw!!!

“What the ???” you are asking and we agree. This is madness.

In the 1970’s, with the pull of the TV advertising dollar too much to refuse, the game changed forever with the introduction of the “one day” game and left the purists choking on their porridge!

This jazzed up version of the game featured snazzy colour uniforms and the public loved it, flocking to the games in their thousands.

T20 is born!

Fast forward to the 2000’s and with the advent of the internet, our brains contracted somewhat and could only focus on any task for a nanosecond thus making even the one-day games a non-starter.

So, let’s make the game even shorter to appease the tech frenzied masses and voila, the T20 version was born! From the full day version, we now have a 3-hour version where the sole purpose is to entertain and whack the ball out of the park (like baseball!), thus driving the fans crazy.

The game has been growing rapidly in recent years and so now seems the perfect time to unleash Cricket in all its T20 glory on the American public.

How is the game played?

Ok, I’m interested and want to attend. What are the rules?

Glad you asked. Picture this – Two teams toss a coin to decides who bats first and who fields.

The fielding team has the full 11 players on the field and the batting team has 2 batters on the pitch.

Now the game is called T20 because each team bowls 20 overs each which we will explain. The batting team must make as many ”runs” (or points) as they can within the 20 overs by hitting the ball.

If Australia makes 265 runs at the end of their 20 overs, then India damn well better make 266 runs to win or else the curry will be flying out the window from Madras to Mumbai!

Bowling and Batting

The fielding team will pick the most intimidating looking players to be the bowlers who bowl (not throw!) the ball at the batter at frightening speeds trying their best to get the batsman out or decapitate them (whichever comes first – no, only joking of course…or am I?)

Anyway, each bowl the bowler delivers is called a “Ball”. 6 balls make an over and there are 20 overs as mentioned. So basically 120 balls are bowled and the batting team must make as many “runs” as they can in that time.

So how do they do this? Well the batter has to pretend they are cool and not intimidated by the bowler and then smash the ball as hard as they can to all parts of the ground.

If the ball hits the fence, it is 4 runs and no running is needed. If the ball goes over the fence, it is a big 6 runs and the umpire will raise both hands and the crowd will go nuts accordingly.

If they hit the ball anywhere else, both batters can run up and down the pitch and score 1 run each time they do so.

The bowling team must restrict them scoring runs by fielding as best they can and by getting the batters “out” like in baseball.

Getting Out

How does a batter get out? Well there are several ways.

1. Caught – like baseball, a fielder catches the ball.
2. Bowled – the bowler hits the 3 stumps behind the batter.
3. Run Out – the fielder throws and hits the stumps before the batter reaches their end.
4. LBW – the batter misses the ball and it hits his pads but would have hit the stumps.
5. Stumped – the wicketkeeper (fielder behind the batter) hits the stumps whilst batter is out of his area)

Don’t worry too much about 4 and 5 as they are not that common with first 3 being the most common methods you will see.

Conclusion

There are plenty of other nuances and terms in the game but this is the basic gist of the game. If you want to know more then drop us a line.

The game is full of thrills and spills and tension with big hits and unbelievable catches. Just wait for a Six and go crazy with everyone else!!

So, who’s making a trip to the T20 World Cup? If you are interested because of this article, please share on social media so we can educate the world!! And if do you attend a game, send us a trip/game review!

THANKS for reading our article.

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