What is cricket? Cricket rules

For 750 years, the English are playing this game. What is cricket, what does it mean for the island state, you can imagine to the full only after acquaintance with its history.

National treasure

Cricket is not only a cult English game in the open air, but also a part of the culture and history of Britain, an integral feature of the nation. It is impossible to imagine Churchill without a cigar, Sherlock Holmes without a tube, and England without cricket and Agatha Christie, whose father was the president of a local club, and a lot of the lines of which are devoted to this game. What is only the phrase Hercule Poirot from the story "Maps on the table" that everyone should play his party in cricket! In terms of sacramentality, it is equal to the Russian saying "We'll all be there."

Deep Roots

In different ways, you can answer the question "what is cricket". Firstly, it is one of the games with the ball and bat, including lapta, and baseball, and golf, and croquet (another purely national fun, described, for example, in the book "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VII). The exact time and place of origin of the game under investigation is unknown, but it is believed that these are the Middle Ages and the southeast of England. In connection with a similar sport, the county of Kent is mentioned , where local residents already in the 13th century had fun in the fresh air with a ball and a bat, instead of which in those distant times a crooked shepherd's stick was used. Most likely, this gave the name of the game, although there are other variants of the name, and the debate has not abated until now.

Specific dates

There are suggestions that in the era of the early Middle Ages the game moved to continental Europe, and only then, in the 17th century, cricket returned to England, where it became a national sport. Anyway, the first club appeared in Hampshon, Hampshon, in the 60s of the 18th century. Naturally, for decades, the inhabitants of this province were considered the best players in England. Then, and this is also natural, the center of the cricket business moved to the capital, where sites began to be built, powerful clubs were created, under the influence of which the existing rules of the game were changed for centuries. The current ones are also very complicated and specific. Therefore, you can get an exact answer to the question "what is cricket" in the Marilebon Club, in London. It is here that the world game center and the International Council of Cricket (ICC) are located.

Spreading the game around the world

Britain had a lot of colonies, and even was known as an empire over which the sun never set. Therefore, the national game of the British became widespread in the territories under control. Cricket is incredibly popular in Australia and India. Know what cricket is, in New Zealand and Pakistan, in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa. There are national teams of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Canada and the Caribbean. Despite the extensive list of countries, in the number of Olympic sports cricket did not last long. The motivation for exclusion is the lack of competition. This happened, perhaps because at the Summer Olympics in Paris in 1900 there were only two teams - from England and France, and the victory was won, of course, by the British.

Noteworthy historical moments

However, the history of the development of the national game knows a significant example of rivalry between the national teams of England and Australia. Passion of passions was so great that it was reflected in literature and in cinema. The meeting, ending with the victory of Australia, marked the beginning of the annual tournament called "Ashes", which in English means "urn with ashes." This name symbolized the death of English cricket.

Nuances of the game

Like any purely national sport, for example, golf, cricket has many rules and subtleties of the game, there is its own, secretive, but indispensable code of conduct, developed over the centuries. Players and fans know all these nuances from the young nails, not to mention the ball they play cricket, the players are called, what's acceptable on the field, and what's bad, how to meet new players and so on. The ball for cricket is a twin brother of a baseball, although in some countries it is successfully replaced with a tennis ball - it is cheaper, less traumatic, it is easier to buy. And although it is almost three times lighter, cricket does not lose from this.

Real cricket ball

But tradition is tradition, especially in England, where it is always used that ball for cricket, which fully meets the standards set by ICC - its weight corresponds to 156-163 grams, the diameter varies from 22.4 to 22.9 cm. Color can be more often All red or white, sometimes pink, yellow or orange. What kind of ball is played in cricket, directly depends on the types of game, weather conditions, time of day of the meeting.

There are several game formats that differ from each other in different parameters. The most revealing is the length of the game. Short meetings total 20 overovers (6 innings with one bowler) and take only 3.5 hours. Test matches between teams can last up to 5-6 days, in each of which the game lasts for 6 hours.

Making a ball is a very specific process, conditioned by the traditions that have developed over the centuries. The ball consists of several layers. Core (high-quality cork, less often polyurethane or rubber) is very wrapped with special threads, the top layer - leather. In expensive balls the cover is made of three parts - halves and two quarters, and the seams play a special role. The quarters are sewn with the inner seam, and the ones going in the center are outer ones, 6. They are necessary for the game. Separate words deserve a traumatic danger of cricket, which, together with football, ranks first in this indicator. The ball for the game weighs 150-163 grams. An experienced player can run it at a speed of 140 km / h. October 20, 2013 in South Africa during a match from a ball in the temple died player Darrin Randall.

General Terms and Conditions

All the subtleties and nuances of this sport provide for the established ICC rules. Cricket - a complex, peculiar, slow, long (matches can last up to 5-6 days) and not everyone's favorite game. The subtleties of it are difficult to describe, but the main points are possible. The cricket field should be oval and covered with grass. In its center is an earthen pitch - a rectangular platform 20.12 m long and about 3 m wide, with wickets installed at its ends (wooden pegs driven into the ground and representing an inverted "Sh" letter). All the ball feeds are made on the pitch, along its length. Crisises - bands in the ends of the pitch - separate the playing areas. Two teams - 11 people each, are played by two referees (high-level games have a third referee behind the field) and 2 referee-secretary who accept and record the referees' signals from the field. The object of the game is to score as many points as possible and smash the enemy gate. A cricketer, or cricket player, can be called a bowler (giving the ball) and a batsman (reflecting it with a bit). Defender of the gate is called a wicket-keeper, sometimes his role is especially significant.

The main role of the game

Two leading roles (bowlers and batsmen) are alternately performed by all players of both teams. The first can carry out no more than six innings, which collectively are called overs. The ball is fed by a player of one team and is reflected by the representative of the other, both of them are in their own opposite game zones located at the ends of the pitch. Immediately after the ball is repelled by a bat (a non-contact game), the batsman can run to the opposite gate, and touch something behind it, then you can hurry back. Runs bring points. But he can stay in place if the reflected ball flies far enough: to the edge of the pitch - 4 points, for his border - 6. All players during the match are dispersed throughout the field, and the pitch and reception of the ball is carried out by only two representatives of different teams.

Main periods of the game

The goal of the others is to prevent the opponent from gaining points and defending his wicket. As soon as it is destroyed, the batsman leaves the game, which continues to the last, the tenth player, the slugger. This period is called the innings. After him, the teams change places, that is, the bowler will be served by another team (6 innings), and the batsmen take another.

As noted above, all the subtleties of purely national fun are absorbed by the English with their mother's milk. The game of cricket has its sincere admirers, and is also a must for representatives of the elite and members of the royal family, behind which are fixed special boxes. Colorfulness is a characteristic feature of the game called cricket. The photos serve as a graphic confirmation of this.

Once every four years, the Cricket World Cup is held.