Thanks, jackelope - if geography didn’t make it unfeasible I’d happily sit down with you for an afternoon and talk you through one.
(“Match”, normally, but your Indian students might just have said “Fancy a game of cricket?” if they were getting some players together for an informal knock-about.)
Some other differences that may puzzle the American viewer:
The bowler may not throw the ball - he must deliver with a straight arm, originally underarm as in skittles. These days the overarm technique is preferred as it allows for more pace and bounce, and indeed underarm is no longer legal.
Like a javelin-thrower, the bowler may take a run-up before delivery, and almost invariably does. Unlike the javelin-thrower (but more like the tennis-player) the bowler has to be behind the line only at the moment of putting the ball into play; he can go where he likes after releasing the ball.
Only one batsman can be out on any given play; it might be physically possible to catch one batsman and run the other out, but the law says that the ball’s dead once the catch is completed - which also means no further runs can be scored on that play. (Indeed, even in the event of a skied ball being caught, no runs count even if completed, although if the batsmen have changed ends, they stay changed - which will affect who receives the next ball.)
Other than being bowled out, the batsman is not penalised simply for failing to hit the ball, no matter how many times, nor is there any obligation to score off any particular ball. A hit along the ground is a valid means of scoring runs, and the preferred method in most cases as it cannot be caught. Also, all of the playing field is fair territory - there is no “foul line”.
Malacandra, let me echo the other posters who’ve said that yours is the first explaination for the game that makes any sense to me, as well. Thank you. I’d still need to see some of the actions you’re describing for me to feel confident I understand what’s going on, but I feel confident I have the grounding necessary, now, to be able to watch such an action and not feel completely out to sea.
Just think of cricket like baseball, except that there are only two bases {wickets} at each end of a parallel line, and two batters {batsmen}. They alternate being pitched {bowled} at depending on which wicket they’re on. Once the ball is hit, the batsmen run backwards and forwards between wickets until one of them is out - and apart from getting bowled out, when the bowler hits either your wicket or you standing in front of it - getting out is more or less the same as in baseball, either caught out or run out. There’s a bit more to it than that, of course, but it isn’t as complex as some people make out: if you’ve watched baseball, you’d pick up the basics of what everyone was trying to do in about 10 minutes.
Since were sipping to a cup of tea learning about cricket, and not eating any, why are games between say England and Australia called testmatches? Are they only practising? When are they going to play a real game? And how do I get these crumpet crumbs off of my sweater? Blimey!
The crumbs are down to you, but this is Test as in “trial of strength”, I suppose, and Rugby internationals are called Tests too.
Not all internationals are Tests, if it comes to that. If England were to play the USA it would not be a Test, because the States aren’t of Test-playing strength. At the moment you have England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe (I think Zim still have Test status). The last two are much weaker than the others - Bangla are the new kids on the block and Zim were formerly stronger.
Oh God, Jaffas! I once got some from a poster in Australia, and haven’t had them since. I did manage to find Violet Crumble and Cherry Ripe though, at a store in Ohio called Jungle Jim’s.
I had Violet Crumble as a kid in Oz (we were visiting my Mum’s family in Geelong). I never had anything like it until I came to the Canada and had the Canadian style Crunchie bar- nothing at all like the US Crunchie bar. I’d be interested to know is any Aussies had found them similar.
So that I’m not hijacking the thread, allow me to add- Socialized medicine, gun control, and poutine, again.
If by “Squeaky cheese” you are talking about cheese curds, I saw some at Trader Joe’s in Long Beach today, complete with instructions on how to make them squeakier (ten seconds in the microwave).
