Rained Out

Technically this should be my last post about cricket. It's now a new month, which means I should be giving the game a score. However, because I started late and last week's game got rained out. I'm giving the game one more week.

That's one of the annoying things about outdoor sports though, isn't it? Sometimes the weather gets to decide what you do.

On Monday is was clear that higher powers were against me exercising. I got up before 6 a.m. to go to the gym, only to find out the person with the keys had slept in and wasn't around to open it for everyone else standing and waiting. Then, that evening it started raining and my friend told me the game would be rained out. So, I went home and watched TV.

But because I didn't get to play doesn't mean I don't have cricket wisdom to share. (Well, "wisdom" is a loosely used term here.)

The field is round, unlike a baseball field. Although it's easiest to hit a "six" (i.e. when the ball goes over the boundary line without touching ground you get six points without needing to run) like a baseball slugger, the reality is you can hit the ball any direction you want. Typically in cricket the bowl ("pitch") bounces before getting to the batter; as a result, it's sometimes easier to help the ball continue on it's journey beyond you. During my practice week my friend Luke helped me get my batting stance down. Here are a few poses you could try on the pitch.

Protecting the wicket with your body, the bat should be angled down to avoid a "fly ball" that can be easily caught

Hitting the ball up high

Hitting the ball behind you

Everyone I mention I'm trying cricket to scoffs and says, "Doesn't it last 7 days?"

Let me bust that myth. In professional leagues it's true, the game can go on forever. However, in amateur leagues like the one I've been invited to participate in, the rules ensure that you'll be off the pitch within a few hours. There are limited "overs" (which mean each player/team will only receive so many bowls). As a result the game timing is a lot like baseball. Otherwise, I wouldn't have time to write this blog.

A cricketer's tough hands

Batting warm up

If you've ever seen a game of cricket, you know that it's an elegant game. The white uniforms against the pastoral green field are calming to watch. It's not a violent sport. There isn't a lot of yelling.

So I was surprised this week when they put me on the field and I realized that with elegance comes a painful truth.

It's a gloveless game. The only player on the field with something to soften the blow of catching a ball is the wicketkeeper (or catcher). During the warm up our team tossed the ball around. Soft high balls. Low grounder, bouncy balls. And then, when I didn't expect it, a hard bullet throw. Oy! With the stinging that hard ball left on my hand I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch anything else.

I was instructed from then on to cradle the ball.

Before batters come onto the field, the other team claps for them. I figure it's their attempt to toughen up their hands. After the team scores a run or gets someone out (depending if they're fielding or not), they all run together and high five. Again, I suspect this has more to do with conditioning their hands than it does with team celebration. (But maybe I'm wrong.)

The only other safety equipment are leg pads worn by the batters. The ball they use to play is small and hard, and the bowlers (i.e. pitcher) get as much momentum and accuracy at the wickets that they can. Of course, the batter's job is to hit the ball and defend the wicket. This means that batters tend to stand with feet at hip width distance apart directly in front of the wicket. A ball rocketing in could definitely leave a welt on the batter's leg without padding. Plus, because unlike baseball where you don't want the pitch to hit the ground, cricket bowlers do their best to get a good bounce to psych the batter, without losing aim at the wicket. As a result, you never know where it's going to go.

And so, I got all padded up ready for my first chance in front of a bowler. Unfortunately our team got too many "overs" (i.e. good bowls) and our turn was literally over. To the field we went... more on that next time.

What is a wicket?

A metal practice wicket

The City of Victoria is well-known for its English traditions inherited from the Empire that colonized this region of Canada. As a result, hints of Britain pop up everywhere, despite locals not necessarily understanding their significance. I bring this up because of the word "wicket", which I've encountered numerous times at a very popular pub/restaurant in town and never connected to anything material.

Do you know what a wicket is?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "wicket" is: A set of three sticks called stumps, fixed upright in the ground, and surmounted by two small pieces of wood called bails, forming the structure (27x8 in) at which the bowler aims the ball, and at which (in front and a little to one side of it) the batsman stands to defend it with the bat...

This week's cricket experience almost didn't happen. I almost didn't see a wicket up close and personal.

First, a little something we in Canada call the Stanley Cup Final cancelled the cricket games. Then, my friend hauled me out to Saanich for a team practice, only to find an empty field and a miniature horse. Luckily my friend is a good sport and he spent an hour teaching me some of the cricket basics.

We stood in the middle of the field and he showed me how to swing the cricket bat and explained the different ways to get out. I'm not a baseball player, but my basic knowledge of America's "favourite past time" helped me get a feel for cricket.

Here are some of the basics I learned this week:

1. There are 11 players on one team
2. There is a bowler (or what in baseball we call a pitcher)
3. There is a wicketkeeper (known to most of us as a catcher)
4. The field is a circle, with the "pitch" in the middle of the field for the batsman, bowler, and wicketkeeper

After my lesson this week, I think I better understand why Tricia told me I could have found a game with more complicated rules. More like, could there be more diverse names, positions, and rules?!

Next week I think I might be participating in a game. We'll see if this week's one-on-one sunk in.

I wasn't kidding... there was a mini horse!