Cricket is a game thought to have originated in the British
Isles as early as the 13th century. It is now second only to soccer
as the most popular sport in the world.
We consider cricket a snob sport, however, because it’s so rare in the U.S.
Cricket is played on a large oval field with a rectangular area
called the pitch at its center. The pitch, twenty-two yards long,
has what’s known as a wicket at each end.
A wicket consists of two wooden bails, each shaped something
like a miniature rolling pin, that rest horizontally atop
three vertical wooden poles called stumps. (Stay with me.)
To play the game, the bowler of one team pitches the ball
to a striker from the opposite team, who is standing in front of
a wicket. The bowler’s goal is to hit the wicket and knock the
bails off the stumps, causing the striker to be ‘out.’
The striker’s goal, on the other hand, is to defend the wicket
by hitting the ball with a flat bat. If successful, he or she runs
to the other wicket to score a point. (The game is actually a little
more complicated than this, but you get the general idea.)
Cricket teams have eleven members. The length of a match
can vary from a few hours to a maximum of five days. (Yikes!)
We were planning to go to Bermuda this weekend, but Stanley’s cricket game is still in progress–who knows if it will be over by then.