I'd rather watch Michael Moore masturbate than watch a minute of a Cricket game.

Cricket? Oh god, no.

Soccer is great. Aussie football is fun. Hell, even ice skating is interesting occasionally.

Cricket? Forget it. Wake me when it is tea time.

I would totally go to a cricket match, but then I am a big fan of Chesterfield Sofas.

/Eddies in the space-time continuum

Obligatory

MisterLoki: I would totally go to a cricket match, but then I am a big fan of Chesterfield Sofas.

/Eddies in the space-time continuum

Who's Eddie?

ontariolightning: I'd rather watch Michael Moore masturbate than watch a minute of a Cricket game.

Well, now I know what unwanted image is gonna pop in next time I spank the monkey.

/damn you

I do make an attempt to watch and understand sports of all kinds but cricket is something I will probably never even understand. I can already tell it's boring but the rules just seem so random. I've had people try to explain it but it was all Greek to me.

What were the Pakistanis giving for the over/under on attendance?

My prediction, if Chris Gayle plays Windies wins big in these two T20s. Without Gayle, big loss

Nadie_AZ: Cricket? Forget it. Wake me when it is tea time.

Don't worry, there'll be plenty of cricket left after tea.

Nadie_AZ: Cricket? Oh god, no.

Soccer is great. Aussie football is fun. Hell, even ice skating is interesting occasionally.

Cricket? Forget it. Wake me when it is tea time.

Twenty20 version of cricket is fun. It's pretty much the same length as an average baseball game and has far more action (if you like hitting).

Monty Python's take on Cricket. NSFW nudity

oblig

Family Guy on Cricket.

T20 ain't cricket. It's just a made-for-TV batting drill.

Real competitions include wicket-taking as an important part of the game. Typically, these take five days. There is, admittedly, a one-day version where wickets matter some. Maybe not enough, though. It is nice that the older guys can still compete in the shorter versions of the game, but still...

/Americans can love cricket, I'm proof. Hell, I pay Dish an extra $20 a month for Willow, Ten and Neo. (Funny aside: almost all of the ads are in Hindi, which I cannot understand.)

/Americans can be totally bonkers. See above.

/GO WINDIES!

Go Kiwi's. I'd go if I was down there.

That will probably draw pretty well considering the number of people in that area of the country who grew up in places where cricket was popular. I don't understand how the game works but it is sort of amusing to watch the bowler intentionally hit people with the ball and watch the batsman try to swing in a vain attempt at self preservation. You'd think a sport where a team's tactics include trying to hit someone in the face or nuts with a ball as a viable strategy would catch on in the US.

No idea if those are the terms used but that's what I recall from watching a documentary about the West Indies teams of the 70's.

aaronx: Americans can love cricket

Soccer has a good chance of catching on and rugby can probably get to the level of lacrosse but cricket will never catch on in America.

And just like soccer we'll be hearing in 5 years how it's THE NEXT BIG THING!!!

TheJoe03: I do make an attempt to watch and understand sports of all kinds but cricket is something I will probably never even understand. I can already tell it's boring but the rules just seem so random. I've had people try to explain it but it was all Greek to me.

It's not that hard to understand. Imagine baseball with only two bases (both of them equivalent to home plate) in the middle of the field and no gloves for the fielding players. Hit the ball, run to the other base, and score a run. Keep batting until you make an out. Pretty simple.

NOBODY understands cricket!

You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.

TheJoe03: cricket will never catch on in America.

What's funny is that until professional baseball came along cricket was a big deal in the US.

WhyteRaven74: What's funny is that until professional baseball came along cricket was a big deal in the US.

That's the problem though, since we like baseball, cricket has no chance. Rugby has the same problem.

iamskibibitz: It's not that hard to understand. Imagine baseball with only two bases (both of them equivalent to home plate) in the middle of the field and no gloves for the fielding players. Hit the ball, run to the other base, and score a run. Keep batting until you make an out. Pretty simple.

BS, that isn't all the game is about, not even close. Plus, doesn't it last for days? Like I said, it will never catch on and it doesn't make sense to Americans. We already have enough sports here as it is.

hmm. First official cricket game played in the US was in 1844.

clickity pop

theJoe03
It is close, bowler bowles, you hit the ball and run between the wickets to score points. The are many laws governing the way this is done, but this is the essence. Test matches last up to five day, One Day Internationals (ODIs) last... One day. Twenty20 a couple of hours.

/twenty20 isn't real cricket. It's batsmen having a slog.

TheSlow03: iamskibibitz: It's not that hard to understand. Imagine baseball with only two bases (both of them equivalent to home plate) in the middle of the field and no gloves for the fielding players. Hit the ball, run to the other base, and score a run. Keep batting until you make an out. Pretty simple.

BS, that isn't all the game is about, not even close. Plus, doesn't it last for days? Like I said, it will never catch on and it doesn't make sense to Americans. We already have enough sports here as it is.
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Ease up, turbo!

As far as one paragraph summaries go, I rate it. Nice summary.

iamskibibitz: It's not that hard to understand. Imagine baseball with only two bases (both of them equivalent to home plate) in the middle of the field and no gloves for the fielding players. Hit the ball, run to the other base, and score a run. Keep batting until you make an out. Pretty simple.

Wow. Well played.

Only thing I'd add is that the innings is over when all 11 players have been given out. Then the other team attempts to match the first team's score.

biobot: Only thing I'd add is that the innings is over when all 11 players have been given out. Then the other team attempts to match the first team's score.

But that's where you lose me. Does that mean there's 11 outs per inning? Does that also mean the bottom of the inning can only be completed when you match the other team's score?

/really do wish to understand cricket
//I also understand there probably isn't a bottom and top of the inning, or if an inning is even a logical comparison.

biobot: iamskibibitz: It's not that hard to understand. Imagine baseball with only two bases (both of them equivalent to home plate) in the middle of the field and no gloves for the fielding players. Hit the ball, run to the other base, and score a run. Keep batting until you make an out. Pretty simple.

Wow. Well played.

Only thing I'd add is that the innings is over when all 11 players have been given out. Then the other team attempts to match the first team's score.

Not quite. It can end after 10 wickets (not 11 and in tests matches teams will often stop batting early and declare themselves done) or in T20/ODI matches will end after a set number of overs (think pitches).

OK briefly as I can.

Firstly 'all out' is ten wicketes down - ten men out no more no less. You have to have two men batting so when the 10th guy is out number 11 is stranded.

T20 and ODI are limited overs. Who ever scores the most runs in their allocation of overs wins. Each team has one innings to do so. If ou lose ten wickets before using all your overs hard cheese.

Test matches, last five days, each team has two innings with unlimited overs (realisitcally you'll get 90 in a day). Team with the highest score wins BUT the team with the highest score has to take all ten wickets in the 2nd innings or the game is a draw.

WhyteRaven74: What's funny is that until professional baseball came along cricket was a big deal in the US.

Both are English games. We kept the good one, which eventually died out in England.
And like any game, it is far more interesting once you understand all the little details and strategies. I
just think that baseball has far more of those than cricket does.
As simple minded as we can be, Americans do love complex sports.

Will Tino Best be playing? He can make history twice in one year.

Cricket won't ever take off in the US because Americans like to argue the umpire's calls. And in cricket that doesn't fly.

That said, cricket is an interesting sport to watch. The fiancé answered all my "what just happened" questions and while I'm no expert on the game, I understand what's going on down on the pitch.

It's no more or less boring than baseball, and just as much of an excuse to get drunk in the stands.

Necessary

Swiss Colony: OK briefly as I can.

Firstly 'all out' is ten wicketes down - ten men out no more no less. You have to have two men batting so when the 10th guy is out number 11 is stranded.

T20 and ODI are limited overs. Who ever scores the most runs in their allocation of overs wins. Each team has one innings to do so. If ou lose ten wickets before using all your overs hard cheese.

Test matches, last five days, each team has two innings with unlimited overs (realisitcally you'll get 90 in a day). Team with the highest score wins BUT the team with the highest score has to take all ten wickets in the 2nd innings or the game is a draw.

Boy... I don't understand a word you just said.

0Icky0: And like any game, it is far more interesting once you understand all the little details and strategies. I
just think that baseball has far more of those than cricket does.

Odd, in England things are seen in exactly opposite way:cricket is considered a complex and subtle game and baseball simplistic. To the extent that versions of cricket that are seen as dumbed down (e.g. 2020 cricket) tend to be compared (disparagingly) to baseball.

In both cases I'd guess that games you understand always seem to have more intricacies.

doktorinjh: Swiss Colony: OK briefly as I can.

Firstly 'all out' is ten wicketes down - ten men out no more no less. You have to have two men batting so when the 10th guy is out number 11 is stranded.

T20 and ODI are limited overs. Who ever scores the most runs in their allocation of overs wins. Each team has one innings to do so. If ou lose ten wickets before using all your overs hard cheese.

Test matches, last five days, each team has two innings with unlimited overs (realisitcally you'll get 90 in a day). Team with the highest score wins BUT the team with the highest score has to take all ten wickets in the 2nd innings or the game is a draw.

Boy... I don't understand a word you just said.

Translating for Americans:

There are three types of cricket games:

Twenty20 -- Each team throws 120 pitches. The team with the highest score at the end wins. If all of your players are put out before your 120 pitches, your turn to bat ends.

One Day International -- Each team throws 300 pitches. The team with the highest score at the end wins. If all of your players are put out before your 300 pitches, your turn to bat ends.

Test cricket -- Each team keeps pitching until everyone on the other team has had a chance to bat and be put out.

/Might be wrong on the exact numbers because, honestly, I can't watch Cricket without being drunk and even then only for a short while.

King Something: NOBODY understands cricket!

You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.

I'll teach ya.

/6 points.

RedRedRobin: In both cases I'd guess that games you understand always seem to have more intricacies.

True, but I think having 4 bases instead of two, pitch counts, base runners, stolen bases, and all of that will naturally make baseball more complex. But anybody watching cricket without understanding it will miss a lot of the good stuff.

I had to the chance to see some live cricket in the US when someone tried a 20/20 league back around 2004 or so. The NY team played at the Staten Island Yankees ballpark, right off the ferry... crowds were absurdly small (like 500 people in an 8,000 seat stadium) but these were super-duper hardcore fans so the atmosphere was actually pretty great. I'd definitely go back if someone made a serious run at it here.

I'd give the game a chance.

TheJoe03: But that's where you lose me. Does that mean there's 11 outs per inning? Does that also mean the bottom of the inning can only be completed when you match the other team's score?

Excellent point. If someone walks in the room and says "who's winning?" quite often you can't give an answer, especially during the first few days a test match.

In the long form [test]:
2 innings each, 10 outs per innings
outs being much more difficult to achieve than in baseball - an innings can take 2+ days
runs being much easier to achieve than in baseball - an average innings is around 300 runs

In the two types of short form [ODI and T20]:
1 innings each, 10 outs per innings
but also limited by the number of balls bowled - innings is over after 10 outs OR all the balls have been bowled - this encourages slogging towards the end, there isn't a great need to protect your outs [we call them "wickets"]

Also if the pitcher [we call them "bowlers"] deliberately tries to knock a batter's head off, the batter isn't allowed to have a big old cry and start an all in brawl. Which is a shame, now that I think of it.

The reason it won't take off in America (again, that is) is because of the general view of Americans to foreign sports, "I don't understand it, it must suck." or " I'd try to learn it, but there's too much other shiat getting shoved down my throat right now."

I still play cricket with some guys every now and then, people always come up and ask to join in. When they start playing, they start understanding and appreciate the sport.

Big Ramifications: TheJoe03: But that's where you lose me. Does that mean there's 11 outs per inning? Does that also mean the bottom of the inning can only be completed when you match the other team's score?

Excellent point. If someone walks in the room and says "who's winning?" quite often you can't give an answer, especially during the first few days a test match.

*** much waffling and blah blah follows ***
~
~
Christ on a bike. I misread your question.

Hoped that helped anyway.

Big Ramifications: this encourages slogging towards the end

I like to watch cricket when I can (I used to have DirecTV and they'd have free matches on occasion), even though I don't understand everything. Due to reading this thread, I know I'm going to end up watching 30 "top 10 greatest plays/bowls/catches/whatever" videos on YouTube.

WTF is slogging? I googled that and can't figure out how to apply the definition to cricket.

under a mountain: [2.bp.blogspot.com image 400x550]

I'd give the game a chance.

...something something sticky wicket.

Nadie_AZ: Cricket? Oh god, no.

If you're referring to test cricket then, yeah, only the hardcore fans will be interested.

Now, One Day or 20/20? Much better, faster and fun version of the game that even the not-so-casual fans of the game can watch.

skrame: Big Ramifications: this encourages slogging towards the end

I like to watch cricket when I can (I used to have DirecTV and they'd have free matches on occasion), even though I don't understand everything. Due to reading this thread, I know I'm going to end up watching 30 "top 10 greatest plays/bowls/catches/whatever" videos on YouTube.

WTF is slogging? I googled that and can't figure out how to apply the definition to cricket.

Trying to hit cricket's equivalent of a home run.

I'd rather watch cricket or go to a match then anything involving the NBA.

meanmutton: skrame: Big Ramifications: this encourages slogging towards the end

I like to watch cricket when I can (I used to have DirecTV and they'd have free matches on occasion), even though I don't understand everything. Due to reading this thread, I know I'm going to end up watching 30 "top 10 greatest plays/bowls/catches/whatever" videos on YouTube.

WTF is slogging? I googled that and can't figure out how to apply the definition to cricket.

Trying to hit cricket's equivalent of a home run.
~
~
Going the tonk!

Don't quote me on this. The first international match using the short form of the game was in "invented" in 1971 when a lot of play was lost due to rain, and both captains kinda said "we have to put on some kind of show for the crowd." Previously all internationals were 5 day test matches.

_{// normally would Google such a fact
// too busy, EoFY, supposed to be working, yada yada}

Hey why not-- copy'n'pasted from the That's gonna leave a mark video thread--

Cricket "pitcher" takes a mean line drive to the head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCO3ik 4Px2Q

things that may be of interest--

** cricket balls are about equally as hard as baseballs, slightly bigger, and slightly heavier - don't let the goofy Nerf color in this clip fool you
** distance between batter and "pitcher" is much closer than baseball after the follow thru THAT MUSTA FARKING HURT
** despite what the silly duffer is yelling, the batsmen was OUT after this, the umpires initially believe the old fool and don't give the batsman out
** look at the magnificent trajectory after it hit Riff Raff's head LOOK AT IT WILLYA
** I think Riff Raff falls coz he twisted his ankle, NOT coz he got he was dizzy from the hit to the head DOUBLE BUMMER