Rules of the game - an introduction to cricket
by Bob Young
Cricket Australia Wikipedia page
Read more of Bob's writing by clicking the link to his elder-zone page
Tales from Tasmania!
No doubt you all have been sitting on the edge of your seats following the Test Cricket matches in Australia. No?
There is little else on TV here in Australia in summer, apart from some other ball game called tennis.
Cricket is played around the world, and there is even talk of a Tasmanian coming to your neck of the woods to train a team.
The fact that cricket is not yet up in the ice hockey league in Canada may have something to do with a lack of understanding of the game.
It's actually quite simple, as this explanation, which has been around for a while, shows.
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.
When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!
Happy cricket-watching.
Click and go back to our magazine!