What a fantastic day today! The weather was very warm already on my back after I woke up and went into the garden to hoist the Somerset flag. Tom and I were going to Edgbaston today to watch the Twenty20 game between the Warwickshire Bears and the Somerset Sabres (the nicknames given to the respective County sides for the purposes of this competition). The Twenty20 competition was introduced a few years ago to provide some fast and furious cricket for families and newcomers to cricket who think of it as a slow, laborious, game with inexplicable rules and scoring, where the teams wear the same strip - usually a uniform white - and the game can go on for several days and still result in a draw or which gets stopped at the least sign of any cloud or drizzle so the players can step inside a pavilion for tea and cakes (that's Test Cricket actually). Twenty20 is very different - the players wear different colours, have their name and a number on their backs, use a white ball and each side has to get as many runs as possible in only 20 overs (that's 20 sessions of a bowler bowling a ball six times to a batsman before he hands over to another bowler who then bowls another six balls to a batsman at the other end of the wicket - the wicket being the hard grass bit between the stumps or wickets which are guarded by the batsman. During his time at the wicket the batsman is also known as a wicket. A run is scored by the batsmen running along the wicket between the stumps (or wickets) but they can also score runs by not running at all if they can hit it over a piece of rope which runs all along the outside of the playing area and which is known as a boundary. If they get it over the rope without it touching the ground then that's six runs, but if it touches the ground before it goes over the rope that's only four runs. Runs can only be scored by hitting the ball with the bat first except in circumstances where the batsman doesn't actually have to hit it at all - usually when the bowler bowls a wide or his (the bowler's) feet go over the line. That type of ball is called a "no ball". And just to make it clearer, there are eleven men on each side including the twelfth man, and eleven men field whilst only two bat. The two who are batting are said to be "in" until they are out when they then go in. They are out if the bowler hits the stumps, the ball is caught off the bat without it hitting the ground, the stumps are hit by the ball when the batsmen are running between the stumps and are not in the crease or the ball hits the batsman's leg which is in between the bowler and the stumps. It's all really simple so I wasn't sure what bit Tom didn't understand as he told me on the way up to Birmingham that the thing that had put him off cricket before was the complicated rules. I therefore explained them to him as carefully as I have on this blog and we came to the conclusion that he would have to experience it for himself. We arrived in good time and parked close to the entrance (a bad move as it later happened). We had a quick look in the Cricket Shop where I bought a programme and then wondered around the ground to get a decent spot. Now as cricket is a fair weather sport most of the seating is open. The weather was exceedingly hot and wherever we stopped we started to feel like beefburgers on a griddle in a very short period of time. We eventually settled for seats in the shaded covered area which, although further from the wicket - remember the bit of grass between the stumps! - it was at least shaded and close to the burger/fish and chips and bar areas. The start of play (kick-off in football) commenced promptly at 2.30 p.m. and Warwickshire batted first putting on 193 for 6 wickets (that is 193 runs for the loss of six men - wickets being men and not bits of grass this time, and they are not really lost just "out" which means they had to go in - "simples" isn't it as the meerkat would say). Somerset's reply was 191 for the loss of 7 wickets which meant that Warwickshire won the match by just two runs. An incredibly close and exciting game. We got chatting to two Warwickshire supporters sitting next to us - no segregation at cricket matches - who helped explain the game to Tom and also told me of some of the quirks of Twenty20's own rules- e.g. limited outfield for the first six overs (that is the first 36 balls) and a score of 2 runs for a no ball. Although we supported Somerset we felt that both sides played incredibly well. Somerset really had the upper hand for most of their innings (that's their turn to bat) but the loss of Trethscothick for 33 runs and the bowling of Warwickshire's Patel "did for" the west country team. We visited the shop between innings and it took us some time to get out of the ground car park at the end but the match lasted 3 hours and we were home by 8.30 p.m. Sara and Mary had been to church today and also celebrated Food for Thought on the rec. They had played Swedish long ball (a cross between rounders and human skittles from what I can tell) and had a barbecue - so we all had sport and BBQs today. Tom is really interested in cricket now and I intend to get him a new bat and stumps (or wickets) to play with him on the Rec. I ended the day by speaking to Mum and telling her all about today. She is an avid cricket fan and understands the rules easily. Her medical tests showed she had nothing serious which minor operative surgery couldn't deal with. After three wonderful days, it's now back to the office in Surrey again tomorrow!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Now that's cricket!
What a fantastic day today! The weather was very warm already on my back after I woke up and went into the garden to hoist the Somerset flag. Tom and I were going to Edgbaston today to watch the Twenty20 game between the Warwickshire Bears and the Somerset Sabres (the nicknames given to the respective County sides for the purposes of this competition). The Twenty20 competition was introduced a few years ago to provide some fast and furious cricket for families and newcomers to cricket who think of it as a slow, laborious, game with inexplicable rules and scoring, where the teams wear the same strip - usually a uniform white - and the game can go on for several days and still result in a draw or which gets stopped at the least sign of any cloud or drizzle so the players can step inside a pavilion for tea and cakes (that's Test Cricket actually). Twenty20 is very different - the players wear different colours, have their name and a number on their backs, use a white ball and each side has to get as many runs as possible in only 20 overs (that's 20 sessions of a bowler bowling a ball six times to a batsman before he hands over to another bowler who then bowls another six balls to a batsman at the other end of the wicket - the wicket being the hard grass bit between the stumps or wickets which are guarded by the batsman. During his time at the wicket the batsman is also known as a wicket. A run is scored by the batsmen running along the wicket between the stumps (or wickets) but they can also score runs by not running at all if they can hit it over a piece of rope which runs all along the outside of the playing area and which is known as a boundary. If they get it over the rope without it touching the ground then that's six runs, but if it touches the ground before it goes over the rope that's only four runs. Runs can only be scored by hitting the ball with the bat first except in circumstances where the batsman doesn't actually have to hit it at all - usually when the bowler bowls a wide or his (the bowler's) feet go over the line. That type of ball is called a "no ball". And just to make it clearer, there are eleven men on each side including the twelfth man, and eleven men field whilst only two bat. The two who are batting are said to be "in" until they are out when they then go in. They are out if the bowler hits the stumps, the ball is caught off the bat without it hitting the ground, the stumps are hit by the ball when the batsmen are running between the stumps and are not in the crease or the ball hits the batsman's leg which is in between the bowler and the stumps. It's all really simple so I wasn't sure what bit Tom didn't understand as he told me on the way up to Birmingham that the thing that had put him off cricket before was the complicated rules. I therefore explained them to him as carefully as I have on this blog and we came to the conclusion that he would have to experience it for himself. We arrived in good time and parked close to the entrance (a bad move as it later happened). We had a quick look in the Cricket Shop where I bought a programme and then wondered around the ground to get a decent spot. Now as cricket is a fair weather sport most of the seating is open. The weather was exceedingly hot and wherever we stopped we started to feel like beefburgers on a griddle in a very short period of time. We eventually settled for seats in the shaded covered area which, although further from the wicket - remember the bit of grass between the stumps! - it was at least shaded and close to the burger/fish and chips and bar areas. The start of play (kick-off in football) commenced promptly at 2.30 p.m. and Warwickshire batted first putting on 193 for 6 wickets (that is 193 runs for the loss of six men - wickets being men and not bits of grass this time, and they are not really lost just "out" which means they had to go in - "simples" isn't it as the meerkat would say). Somerset's reply was 191 for the loss of 7 wickets which meant that Warwickshire won the match by just two runs. An incredibly close and exciting game. We got chatting to two Warwickshire supporters sitting next to us - no segregation at cricket matches - who helped explain the game to Tom and also told me of some of the quirks of Twenty20's own rules- e.g. limited outfield for the first six overs (that is the first 36 balls) and a score of 2 runs for a no ball. Although we supported Somerset we felt that both sides played incredibly well. Somerset really had the upper hand for most of their innings (that's their turn to bat) but the loss of Trethscothick for 33 runs and the bowling of Warwickshire's Patel "did for" the west country team. We visited the shop between innings and it took us some time to get out of the ground car park at the end but the match lasted 3 hours and we were home by 8.30 p.m. Sara and Mary had been to church today and also celebrated Food for Thought on the rec. They had played Swedish long ball (a cross between rounders and human skittles from what I can tell) and had a barbecue - so we all had sport and BBQs today. Tom is really interested in cricket now and I intend to get him a new bat and stumps (or wickets) to play with him on the Rec. I ended the day by speaking to Mum and telling her all about today. She is an avid cricket fan and understands the rules easily. Her medical tests showed she had nothing serious which minor operative surgery couldn't deal with. After three wonderful days, it's now back to the office in Surrey again tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment