Friday, November 25, 2005

Cricket: a leaping insect

OR,

dorna! foolishly attempts to properly introduce Debbie and Kelly to this most mystifying of sports, short of curling, that is...

Cricket is a 2 team, 22 man/woman game, played primarily but not exclusively in British Commonwealth of Nations. Matches, which are officiated by 2 on-field umpires and, in the case of international matches, a third off-field umpire; are essentially of the One-Day or Test varieties, running as circumstances require up to 5 days long. Play is punctuated by predictable intervals of water, lunch and tea breaks for the players; and randomly by raucous partying lubricated by local brew of choice. It is the latter which frequently causes confusion to the novice armchair cricket spectator; as the intensity of in-stand partying rarely, especially in the Caribbean, bears any relation whatsoever to the action on the field; nor for that matter the performance of the home team. Oh, no, I'm not bitter. Nope; not a bit, not a jot, not a tittle... F***!

Read on...

Right... The game itself is deceptively simple; involving the striking an extraordinarily hard ball thrown by the bowler (pitcher for those of you who inexplicably follow baseball) at any one of the 2 opposing team's "batsmen" (hitters) currently occupying the area of primary play, "the pitch". The batsmen attempt to place each delivered ball, or pitch, safely about a "the playing field" of ovoid, circular, or whatever peculiar geometric configuration is available, shape; in order to score runs but without "getting out". This is where things get complicated and where I wisely get off and let others do the explaining.(Image: Yet another bunny suicide by Andy Riley



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5 Ninjas, 1 Kitten and a Fifth of Vodka!