Who needs baseball?

I recently discovered the sport of cricket. A few of my colleagues are quite familiar with the sport and they have been kind enough to bear the brunt of my questions. I now have a solid grasp of the basics. The game is similar to baseball in some ways. I'll give you some of the details with the baseball equivalent in parenthesis.

In cricket a ball is bowled (pitched) to a batter who attempts to put the ball in play without making a wicket (out). Fielders retrieve balls batted in play as quickly as possible to prevent additional runs from scoring.

That's where most of the similarities end. A team is only allowed a total of 10 wickets (outs) in a match. That means the batsmen are highly skilled at putting the ball in play without hitting it right at any of the fielders. A ball that is hit out of the playing area (homerun) is worth six runs. A ball that reaches the wall is worth four (ground-rule double). Any other batted ball is worth between one and three runs. The number of runs scored depends on how many times the batsmen can run back-and-forth between the wickets before the fielders get the ball into a wicket.

If a bowler (pitcher) can get the ball past the batsman and hit the wickets it's the equivalent of a strikeout and one of the 10 wickets needed to end the match. If a bastman barely gets a piece of the ball (foul-tip) and the catcher is able to catch the ball it's also a wicket (out). And the best bowling styles involve assorted bounces and spins. The ball may be thrown straight at the wickets, but good batsmen will crush it. It is almost always bounced in front of the wickets.

Every six bowled balls (pitches) is an over. A match is often played to a set number of overs. The team that scores the most runs wins the match. Just remember to avoid making wickets (outs) or you won't get a chance to use all of your overs.

I've found a few sites that allow you to play cricket online. The best of the bunch (sponsered by KFC, strangely enough) is located at:

http://www.stickcricket.com/tritally.php?gameName=tri_kfc&site=kfc&id=1

Head over and give it a try. One American's endorsement may not be enough, but it may just help you get through those cold winters without baseball.