Don't mean to Brag, but

[Desigol]

Ireland will be in the Cricket World Cup;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4661109.stm

[amacpher]

quote:Originally posted by Desigol

Ireland will be in the Cricket World Cup;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4661109.stm

Canada also qualified this week.

[argh1]

quote:Originally posted by amacpher

Canada also qualified this week.

The players that play for Canada must be awesome 'cuz cricket has got to be one of the most invisable games in the country. Where is it played and is it played mostly by recent immigrants? How many cricket grounds are there in Canada? Is cricket growing in Canada?

Way to many questions eh! But checking my weak memory, I don't remember there ever being a game being played that was promoted or to the point where cricket has made a dent in the national sports coverage. Rugby has high school m/f teams and senior teams that make the paper but I honestly don't remember seeing anything on cricket either local or national at all.

Or maybe it's just that outside of soccer I have developed little interest in sports that are seen as non traditional North American sports.Someone will have to correct me but as far as I know there are no cricket grounds on the east coast, are there?

[Metro]

quote:Originally posted by argh1

The players that play for Canada must be awesome 'cuz cricket has got to be one of the most invisable games in the country. Where is it played and is it played mostly by recent immigrants? How many cricket grounds are there in Canada? Is cricket growing in Canada?

Way to many questions eh! But checking my weak memory, I don't remember there ever being a game being played that was promoted or to the point where cricket has made a dent in the national sports coverage. Rugby has high school m/f teams and senior teams that make the paper but I honestly don't remember seeing anything on cricket either local or national at all.

Or maybe it's just that outside of soccer I have developed little interest in sports that are seen as non traditional North American sports.Someone will have to correct me but as far as I know there are no cricket grounds on the east coast, are there?

Well, the last ICC Trophy (nee World Cup Qualifying) tournament was held in Toronto in 2001. Furthermore, there are quite a few high schools that have cricket teams in the Greater Toronto Area. So there is a following of the sport in Toronto, at least among the ethnic communuties.

The Canadian Cricket Association has to get these Games on TV. Cricket awareness may of had improved in this country if Canada's qualifying matches were televised, at least as a truncated, highlights package. Who knows, with the next World Cup being in the West Indies in 2007, maybe something will be done about this.

[Breakwood]

In Toronto cricket is quite popular mostly with Indian, Pakastani and Sri Lankan Immigrants. There are about 10 grounds in Toronto and there used to be the Sahara Cup with India, Pakistan and the Windies. I remember last world cup the matches between Canada and Bangladesh and Canada and the Windies made TSN sportscentre.

[SeanKeay]

LOL Windies....

i get that when i eat food from there...

[red card]

quote:cricket has got to be one of the most invisable games in the country. Where is it played and is it played mostly by recent immigrants? How many cricket grounds are there in Canada? Is cricket growing in Canada?

in cities like with Toronto with sizeable populations with backgrounds from the major cricketing countries, cricket is an emerging force. I believe Scarboro high schools are shutting down hockey teams while they can't keep up with the cricket demand.

In my neighbourhood in Mississauga, I often see kids playing cricket on the church parking lot while you rarely see anymore street hockey being played.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

We beat Bangladesh in the last World Cup, which was a major upset as they are a test match nation. Though probably the weakest right now. None of our players in that last WC were born in Canada, but the bunch seemed to be very committed.

[andyb]

there is a cricket ground at riley park in calgary.

i for one am pleased canada has made the world cup again.

[matthew]

I was pretty happy with our win at the last Cricket World Cup. I thought it was a great story.

There's a cricket ground in Regina. When I was a kid, one of our best players in Little League played cricket too. But I expect it's mostly ex-pats playing here anyway.

cheers,

matthew

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

Canada Cricket is the equivalent of Italian Hockey. Well, at least they have a league and have homegrown players... OK, so they are not that similar.

Hamilton is converting a baseball diamond into a cricket oval on the east mountain. This will be the second of its kind in the city.

Where the first one is located will remain a great mystery...

[PaulV]

Here in Ottawa, cricket is played on the grounds of Rideau Hall (i.e. the Governor General's residence). It's still a sport that 'flies under the radar' so to speak. I remember it got a decent amount of press during the last World Cup which was nice to see, since the players have obviously worked hard with little recogition in the past.

[PaulLeH]

The last World Cup was great fun. Here's a bit of history of Canadian cricket from the beeb.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/cwc2003/hi/newsid_2300000/newsid_2307600/2307651.stm

I don't think that article mentioned that Canada played in cricket's first international match against some team from the south.

[argh1]

Okay, it's played in Canada.

I'll buy the beer.....who's gonna take me to a game and explain the game to me?

145 cricket grounds in Canada according to the above posted article.

That's more than the ice surfaces in Belarus [}]

[Christian B.]

Canada won today the game for the 3rd place against Bermuda.

So Canada will be in a group with England, New Zealand and Kenya at the 2007 World cup.

Anybody knows a site where they explained the basic rules of that sport? I know nothing about Cricket and would like to understand how the game is played.

[Daniel]

Basics for one-day internationals:

Each team (11 players) gets one inning, consisting of 50 overs, which are 50x6 pitches. Essentially, the first team scores as many points as it can in that time and the other team plays catch-up afterwards. All balls are played unless one of the teams gets out (10/11 batters out, more on that later) or if the second team passes the first (imagine it as a huge bottom-of-the-ninth). Everyone bats and fields and the field is 120-200 metres across (slightly elliptical).

2 batsmen facing each other. One gets bowled to for an over, after which the bowling changes sides.

Points are scored in the following manner:

- Ball is hit, players exchange places (it is a point every time, so there can be 2-3 off one ball if they're fast)

- Ball is hit and rolls to the warning track (not the proper term, but a line before the wall): 4 points

- Ball clears the outer wall: 6 points

- Irregular pitches: doesn't count in the over, 1 point

There is no obligation to run once a ball is hit.

Batters can be out in many ways. Once you are out, you cannot come back in to bat. Once 10 players are out, the side is retired because there always needs to be 2 batsmen. An out is called a wicket.

- Ball is caught straight from a hit

- Wicket (sticks in the crease) is knocked over by a pitch

- Batsmen is run out when an outfield player hits the wicket while the batsmen is out of the crease

- Leg before wicket (LBW): batsmen is judged to have blocked the wicket with his leg, stopping the ball

- A batsmen knocks over his own wicket in any way

You might see a score like 234/7, which means 234 runs, 7 wickets (outs). The run rate is an important statistic, being the runs per over. Usually, we'll see the chasing team needing a run rate of X to catch the leading team.

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

I am interested in the Twenty20 cricket. It's the same game explained above, but 20 overs per side. The idea is to make the game more marketable to TV since games can be completed in 2-3 hours, it promotes big hits (4s and 6s) and doesn't take an entire day to complete. It's a relatively new version of the game in an effort to stave off dwindling popularity of the game by taking the best parts and compacting it.

John Davison at the last WC scored the fastest century (100 runs in the least amount of balls thrown) with I believe 67. He was born in Canada, but raised and trained in Australia. Conversely, Canada also set a record for the lowest run total in a World Cup match with 36 runs all out vs. Sri Lanka.

[Andrew W]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

Basics for one-day internationals:

Each team (11 players) gets one inning, consisting of 50 overs, which are 50x6 pitches. Essentially, the first team scores as many points as it can in that time and the other team plays catch-up afterwards. All balls are played unless one of the teams gets out (10/11 batters out, more on that later) or if the second team passes the first (imagine it as a huge bottom-of-the-ninth). Everyone bats and fields and the field is 120-200 metres across (slightly elliptical).

2 batters facing each other. One gets thrown to for an over, after which the pitching changes sides.

Points are scored in the following manner:

- Ball is hit, players exchange places (it is a point every time, so there can be 2-3 off one ball if they're fast)

- Ball is hit and rolls to the warning track (not the proper term, but a line before the wall): 4 points

- Ball clears the outer wall: 6 points

- Irregular pitches: doesn't count in the over, 1 point

There is no obligation to run once a ball is hit.

Batters can be out in many ways. Once you are out, you cannot come back in to bat. Once 10 players are out, the side is retired because there always needs to be 2 batsmen. An out is called a wicket.

- Ball is caught straight from a hit

- Wicket (sticks in the crease) is knocked over by a pitch

- Batsmen is run out when an outfield player hits the wicket while the batsmen is out of the crease

- Leg before wicker (LBW): batsmen is judged to have blocked the wicket with his leg

You might see a score like 234/7, which means 234 runs, 7 wickets (outs). The run rate is an important statistic, being the runs per over. Usually, we'll see the chasing team needing a run rate of X to catch the leading team.

For his next trick he'll explain the difference between the types of bowlers as well as the significance of breaking for tea.

Actually, as a bit of a cricket fan, that is one of the best short explanations I've ever read. For anyone looking to cure insomnia head over to the ICC website and download the rules for a read. I think Daniel's write-up gives a good synopsis.

[matthew]

Yeah that was brilliant Daniel. I never fully understood the overs, but it's pretty simple really.

Now in non one-day matches, they play until everyone is all out (or the second batting team has won) and don't count the overs? Or am I totally off-base? I'm assuming this style of play is going by the wayside because it takes so long (or can anyway).

cheers,

matthew

[matthew]

Yeah that was brilliant Daniel. I never fully understood the overs, but it's pretty simple really.

Now in non one-day matches, they play until everyone is all out (or the second batting team has won) and don't count the overs? Or am I totally off-base? I'm assuming this style of play is going by the wayside because it takes so long (or can anyway).

cheers,

matthew

[Daniel]

I'm not so familiar with Test cricket, but the jist of it is two innings per team and unlimited overs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_cricket

For those whose curiosity has been piqued, I recommend this book, a great read found last summer in a hostel book exchange which made me much more interested in cricket.

[Daniel]

I'm not so familiar with Test cricket, but the jist of it is two innings per team and unlimited overs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_cricket

For those whose curiosity has been piqued, I recommend this book, a great read found last summer in a hostel book exchange which made me much more interested in cricket.

[andyb]

From someone whose dad divided his time between football and cricket and was from an early age taken to both games(in england)i have to say Daniel has explained the basics of cricket to a north american audiance very well...........i love cricket in all its forms,20/20 one day, 3 day and the 5 day tests(in my opinion the best form) .

it can be very complex and at the same time very simple.

i will have two teams to watch for in the next world cup, shame they are both in the same group.

[Christian B.]

Thank you Daniel!

Now I have a pretty good idea how the game is played. [8D]

[ray]

Test cricket, as mentioned above, is (up to) 5 days, 2 innings per side with unlimited overs. To win, a team has to score more runs than their opponent AND get the opposing batsmen out twice. If neither team can meet these objectives at the end of five days then the contest is a draw, no matter if one side is in a completely dominant position.

Interesting tactics are involved since this is a time-limited game. Team A may have scored a large total for the loss of only a few wickets (outs). But they may elect to declare an end to their innings and forfeit the remainder of their wickets so they can have more time to try to get Team B out. The key is deciding when your team has a defendable total, not too big or too small.

Twenty/20 is indeed an interesting new approach to the game. It is much more marketable than Test cricket or ODIs in regions of the world without a history in the sport.

Oh, yeah. Congratulations to Canada on qualifying for the World Cup. Its worth $500,000 US to the Canadian Cricket Association who make the CSA look rich by comparison.