02.19.06
Cricket
Today I saw my very first cricket match, and so I’ve decided to inform all of my friends and family from the states what the rules are:
- Start with baseball
- Puff the Diamond out into a circle
- Move the bases in the center of the circle
- Remove the outfield wall
- Remove the 1st and 3rd bases
- Move the pitcher behind 2nd base
- Put a runner on 2nd base, next to the pitcher
- Take the remaining bases and replace them with sticks in the ground
- Replace the baseball with a ball that will hurt more when you catch it
- Remove any sort of gloves that will make catching the ball not hurt
- Add as many outfielders as you can
- Remove the concepts foul ball, strike, infield-fly rule, 3 outs to an inning
- Force the pitcher to take a running start when pitching
- If the pitcher hits the stick, the batter is out
- If the batter hits the ball, he can run if he wants to
- If the batter runs, the person on 2nd base is forced to run as well
- When the person on 2nd base gets home, he can run back to 2nd base again to get another point
- The two runners can do this as many times as possible
- If a runner is not on the base, they are out if the ball knocks over the stick representing the base they were last on
- Tagging a runner with the ball does nothing
- If the batter knocks the ball out of the park, he only scores 6 runs
- If the ball bounces out of the park, he scores 4 runs
- Each inning is a certain number of pitches (12 in our case, 50 in a normal game)
- If a pitcher throws a ball, 1 point is given, and the pitch doesn’t count (for purposes of ending the inning)
For the most part, much like in baseball, the best part of cricket is watching a game and drinking with your friends.