Cricket

Cricket on the green. J. cuts the the ball toward the cameraperson who is sitting in the covers. Photograph by Sage Beasly, adapted by myself.

The weather has not been nice to our soccer pitch. There’s a bare patch in front of where we put the goals that kicks up a lot of dust when we play. But this also means that the ground is nice an smooth, making for a decent wicket. So we’ve been playing cricket.

I explained the rules and demonstrated batting and bowling, but the habits of a lifetime (even when you’re an early teen) are hard to shake. We’re going through a period where we’re playing an intriguing amalgam of baseball and cricket. Batters are currently straddling the crease with a baseball like stance, which works out pretty well for them at the moment because the bowlers are only just discovering that bouncing the ball makes it harder to hit.

Although I’ve tried to explain LBW, I’m not even going to try to get into some of the more wonderful terminology of the game. The BBC’s cricket Laws & Equipment and Skills pages are quite detailed.

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