Well, you said it was the wide world of sports!

Love the game - grew up playing it.

Questions answered, debates had.

Don't all knock me over at once.

Ok here goes. I don't think you will get much debate. That sport does not exist in the US. Here is what we know: It looks like baseball played in preppy outfits. I'm sure it's equally exciting as any other sport we watch but I don't believe I have ever seen it played on TV. I am open minded though.

First question: I love baseball. How is Cricket similar and how is it different?

Cricket is actually pretty cool. I was doing an ER shift with an Indian doctor who was watching it over the internet. He taught me all about it.

This was a few months ago, so it may not be 100% accurate. Correct me if i'm wrong AusWolf...

It's very similar to baseball in many ways, but each team only gets up once. Each team gets a set amount of turns up to bat and you either play through until you've used up all those turns, or you get 10 outs. It's actually pretty hard to get people out, unlike baseball. Whoever scored the most runs wins.

It can be either extremely entertaining if you've got a close match, or mind numbingly boring if it's a blowout. If the first team gets up and rocks the joint, then you sit through 2 hours of the other team's turn up watching futility. Since there's so many plate appearances, a trend sort of begins to appear and you can figure out if they're on pace to make it close or not.

It might be, well they've got 30 tries left and they're down 40, so they need 1.3 runs per try and they're going at a 1.2 runs per try pace, so this could be close.

Or they could have 30 tries and be down 60 and they need 2 runs per try and they're going at a 1.2 runs per try pace, so this thing is practically over. But then you still have to sit through all the at bats.

make sense?

WOW, I had no idea that Derok knew so much about Cricket... props to you!

I have a few questions:

1) Do you have to play through the entirety of both teams \"outs\" no matter what? Could it take hours upon hours even if both teams want to agree to end it?

2) What's the highest scoring cricket game ever?

3 a) I could probably just look on the net, but is there a professional league that's known as the most \"elite\" Cricket league around the world? (I'm thinking similar to like the NBA or NFL.)

3 b) If so, what does the average Cricket player in that said league make per season?

4) How long or how many games is in a Cricket season?

I can't answer all your questions, but I do know that some cricket matches can last for over a day. Depends on how many \"at bats\" the teams are getting. I think it varies. I think in some games teams can get up twice as well instead of once.

But yeah, even if it's a blowout they still have to play through. You can score up to 5 runs in an at bat, I believe. So \"technically\" there's a lot of room for a comeback, it just doesn't happen. That's like the equivalent of a homerun. So it would be like if the Yankees were down 8 runs in the ninth inning and A-Rod was going to get 10 straight at bats. Possible, but even then, highly unlikely.

DeROK wrote:
Awesome. Thanks.

A day huh? That's freakin insane. Do they take breaks during the game? Do people just come and go from the stands??? Wow.

College Wolf wrote:
I wrote an enormous long answer to this post and my login timed out!

But generally a match is played until it is won by one side. Innings can be declared closed for tactical reasons.

The elite level is Test cricket, played by nation against nation. It's lucrative for the very best but barely a living for those in the second tier.

DeROK wrote:
That's a pretty good run at it. Cricket terminology is slightly different. We would tend to talk about balls and overs (6 balls to an over). Batsmen play an innings - some can last for a couple of days. Plenty of ways to be dismissed - in fact one Indian batsman playing Australia last week was dismissed without facing a ball.

Can matches be boring? Sometimes. But the great ones are so great they are folklore, just like baseball.

Some are just odd such as the Timeless Test between South Africa and England in the '30's which lasted for 13 days (they played for a result), but only ended when the boat due to take the English home had to leave!

AusWolf wrote:

Thanks for the info. Bummer about your post timing out. Note: Always copy any super long posts you make before you try to \"submit.\" It's easy to copy it and insures against losing long posts. Hopefully a positive Howl helps make up for it!

As for innings becoming closed... for what reason would a team want to end it's inning? What is the tactical reasoning? I can't imagine it would ever be good to simply stop trying to score points/runs/etc...

Worth remembering that in a four or five day game (two innings per side) only the aggregate final score matters.

You may declare an innings closed because you have an enormous first innings score, ie. 500-600, and have spent the best part of two days accumulating the runs. A declaration may be made to set your opponents a score and try and force a result (particularly in first class leagues where points are allocated for \"outright\" victories). Or you may be dreadfully behind with few good batsmen remaining - don't expend your bowlers energy batting; get them out there with the ball.

Nothing like a good cricket conversation! I love this board!

AusWolf wrote:

Ah gotcha, thanks. I guess I didn't really think of that. Also, I haven't really been exposed to much Cricket other than the (very) occasional SportsCenter highlight or two.

It still boggles my mind that games can go on for days. I mean, how does that work? Do they get breaks during the game to eat/rest/go to the restroom? They don't play nonstop do they? Sorry if I sound stupid, but I've been wondering...

DeROK wrote:
No doubt.

Test Matchs are five days; up until the 70's there was a rest day, so the match was six days.

The team bowling (pitching) must bowl 90 overs in a day (540 balls). A typical day begins at 11.00am and is divided into 3 sessions. The first session typically runs from 11.00am to 1.00pm when there is a 40 minute lunch break. The middle session runs from 1.40pm to 3.40pm. There is then a 20 minute tea break (you can tell this is an English game!). The final session runs until 6.00pm. There is a short break for drinks during each session, more if it is very hot (this being a summer game sometimes played in extreme heat). Extra time can be played to make up for rain delays or play can be ceased early if the umpires determine the light to be too poor (known as \"offering the light\").

Are there any stations that broadcast Cricket games? I would be very interested in watching one (or part of one, I'm not sure I could make it a whole day). I know I've seen Rugby and Euro Football before on TV but I don't remember what station.