h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*burp?*

A brilliant riposte, my good jester

On with the game!


Or at least attempting to teach the athletically challenged something about the game..

Is that how much I've learned about cricket so far? or how much there is left to teach me about it?

odd - I actually posted a suggestion that we try and teach you about the scoring system

Hmmm. perhaps the system knew who much I'd absorb from the explanation and decided to save time!

its easy

Ok, go ahead then....

I'm sure VP or Kingy would handle it much better

Whoever... remember the problem I had with the wickets...

Do you understand the concept of scoring runs?

as long as they are at least a little bit similar to baseball runs...

almost but not quite

There's many more of them, for a start It's kind of like getting a 'run' for every base, rather than having to go all the way around...

Only *kind of like* getting a run for every base?

What is it *really* like then?

Getting a run for every time you (and the player you're batting with) run from one end of the pitch to another (without getting runout - having the bails removed from the stumps before you make it, just like a force in baseball), getting 4 runs for getting the ball to the boundary, or getting 6 runs for hitting the ball over the boundary on the full (like a home run). There's one or two other little esoteric rules, but that's basically it

You have to bat with another player? Wouldn't you be likely to bat each other's heads off?

I didn't know pitches had ends. What do they do, start running as soon as the pitcher starts to throw the ball? And he can run till the ball gets to the plate?

What are these bails? Or are you just misspelling Balls? and why are there bails on a stump? and why do we remove them?

What boundary?

You mean these weren't esoteric rules?

It's important to note that baseball associations here are *only* similes - cricket is *not* baseball, and is in fact the older game. There is a pitch, 22 yards long. It is flat, grassed and generally pretty firm. One batsman stands at each end. A bowler bowls the ball toawrds one of the batsmen, who attempts to hit it. If he does, and gets the ball in play, then if they think it's safe they can run - unlike baseball where the batter *has* to run if he gets the ball in play, a batsman in cricket does not have to. If they elect to, thinking that they can do so without getting out, both batsmen run - which makes sense, as if they get three runs, and there's only one batsman then he'd be at the wrong end. The bowler bowls 6 balls from one end, and then another bowler bowls from the other end - ie: the pitch is symmetrical, there're stumps at each end. There are three stumps at each end - each stump is about 3 feet high, a couple of inches apart and perpendicular to the length of the pitch. The bails rest on top of these stumps. A batsmen is out (one of a few ways to get out) if the ball removes the bails, either while he is facing a delivery from the bowler or while attempting a run and out of his crease, which is a line about a metre in front of the stumps at each end. The boundary is just like the outfield fence in baseball, except not as high.

All clear?