I am a Yank and know next to nothing about the game, despite having read the rules. I have always known about it but never really thought much about the sport until I ready the Mike and Psmith stories by Wodehouse.
I am thinking that if I could see it actually being played that things might begin to click but I have been unable to find any Web sites where you can watch an actual broadcast. I don’t need big names, I would be happy with anything. Do they still play county matches?
Anyway, If anyone knows where I can get my hands on a video that shows at least part of a game I would be forever in your debt.
I have looked for DVDs as well but have not found anything available in the US. If you have info on media that can be ordered in the US and played on region one players that would be great as well.
Amazon has several (edited) DVDs of cricket matches and series, mostly to suit the Indian community, I would guess, since they all seem to feature Indian wins. But here you go. I’m not sure where you can watch streaming matches online, but YouTube has several clips. I’ll try and find some of the better ones; perhaps most of a coherent match is up there.
Willow TV has live streaming, highlights packages etc., but it all seems pretty expensive to me. I’m sure there must be cheaper options out there, but the only one I know of, ECBTV is not available in the US. You can blame Dish Network for that one.
If you want to learn more about the game, CricInfo is an excellent resource. They also have good ball-by-ball comentary on most matches.
I’ve worked with several people over the years who were cricket fans, and I’ve aksed them all many questions. I got to watch a bit while I was travelling last winter, and if I didn’t already have some handle on what was going on, the TV broadcasts wouldn’t have helped.
But if you already understand baseball, there are three things that you have to know for cricket.
There is no umpire to call balls and strikes. There’s three posts sticking up out of the ground, with two spools perched on top. The pitcher (bowler) is trying to hit that, the batter (batsman) is trying not to let him. Think of a baseball batter with two strikes trying to protect the strike zone.
There’s no such thing as a foul ball. The batting is in the middle of a big oval, and you can hit the ball any direction you want.
When you hit the ball, you don’t have to run.
(A friend offered a fourth. In baseball, a pitcher faces a series of batters. In cricket, a batsman stays in the game for a while and faces a series of bowlers.)
Indeed it is. For the OP, in this type of thread, I normally link the Cricinfo’s wonderful page Cricket Explained (An American Viewpoint). I hope it provides some insight, using baseball analogies only where appropriate, and straightforward plain English where not. It’s a good page.
On the other hand, the umpire at the bowler’s end does call “No Ball” (bowler oversteps or (rarely) throws instead of bowling) or “Wide” (ball out of the batsman’s reach). A No Ball is almost a free hit - in practical terms, a batsman can only be Run Out off a no-ball. Both no-balls and wides confer bonus runs on the batting side, not the batsman himself.
An important difference in technique is that the ball usually bounces before reaching the batsman, and the bowler may try to make it move laterally in so doing or bounce inconveniently high - it must still be within the batsman’s reach but it may make it harder for him to play the ball safely into the ground -
Which brings us to the major difference in batting technique: in order to minimise the risk of a catch, batsmen usually aim to keep the ball down, unless deliberately trying to hit the ball over the fielders (instead of between them) or over the boundary rope full-pitch (which is worth six runs).
The thing about cricket played in Wodehouse’s time was that the limited over (one day) game was unknown back then.
Although the one day game on the international circuit hasn’t taken over, it’s regarded as a big money spinner, mainly due to a near absence of draws and speedier play generally. (Not as impressive as one would think. The one day version of cricket is still only slightly faster than baseball).
Do you get CBC in Vermont? It used to show cricket highlights at some weird time like midnight Sunday night. Not sure if they still do, but it’d be worth a look.
