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Explaining Cricket to a Baseball fan only makes it worse. I have tried it many times and failed. Personally, playing a few games of cricket is the best way to

Explaining Cricket to a Baseball fan only makes it worse. I have tried it many times and failed. Personally, playing a few games of cricket is the best way to learn the rules of the game. As an example, in your explanation ( which is good to this lifelong cricket fan from India) your first sentence starts "A cricket pitch..." And when a baseball fan reads it he is probably asking "What is a cricket pitch?"

dismalaf 3mo ago
Nah, cricket is pretty analogous to baseball. Instead of 9 innings there's one inning, at least in ODI or T20 formats (best to watch anyway). Instead of 3 outs there's 10 outs (called wickets). An out is having a ball caught after you hit it (same as baseball) or the ball hitting the wickets when at bat (kind of like strikeout) or a fielder knocking the wicket off with the ball before you reach the line, which is basically the same as being thrown out in baseball. Scoring is similar, you score runs when you run the bases. When it gets hit out, it's basically the same as a homerun except if it goes out after bouncing it's only 4 points, straight out is 6. If anything it's easier to understand than baseball. No strike/ball count, it's basically you hit it, miss it, or are bowled out. Running is easier to understand too, anytime you reach the other side it's a point. Most of the complication is during test matches because of tactics/tradition. The basic rules are a lot like baseball. Also, to get anyone into cricket, just show them a T20 match. More action than baseball.
- gesis 3mo ago
  > Nah, cricket is pretty analogous to baseball. goes on to use the same term for multiple game actions/objects. Nah. I ain't buying it. Signed, A follower of neither.
- topgrain2 3mo ago
  > Instead of 3 outs there's 10 outs (called wickets). > An out is having a ball caught after you hit it (same as baseball) or the ball hitting the wickets when at bat (kind of like strikeout) I thought a wicket is what you call an out? Now it’s something else, too? (This kind of thing is why being a baseball fan having cricket explained at you by a Brit feels exactly the same as listening to people play mornington crescent)
  - bruce511 3mo ago
    Yes. Actually "wicket" is used for 3 different things. Behind the batter, between the batter and the catcher are 3 vertical sticks. This is called the wicket. The batter is protecting those sticks, the bowler is trying to hit them. If the bowler succeeds he has "got a wicket" and the batter has "lost his wicket." These 2 terms are used though regardless of the actual manner of the out. To make things more confusing, the strip of land between the bowler and the batter is also called "the wicket". (Its slso called the "pitch", but I digress.) And this is a really important part of the game.. In baseball the ball is thrown at the batter, but in the air, not touching the ground (ie not bouncing.) In cricket the ball may bounce before it gets to the batter. Indeed it almost always does. (A ball that doesn't bounce is usually easier to dispatch.) Since the ball bounces, what it bounces off becomes really important. The hardness, amount of grass, smoothness, cracks and so on all become elements of the game, and all are different at each game. The "art" of cricket is the way the bowler can manipulate the ball to not just move through the air (like in baseball) but also move off the pitch (aka the wicket). This movement is the key. Without it the game is dull - it becomes too easy for the batter. If the pitch moves the ball too easily, it can become too hard for the batter, and the game can end up being too short (and dull in a different way.) A "good" pitch thus balances the skills of the bowler with the skills of the batter. Creating a good pitch is art, not science though.
    - topgrain2 3mo ago
      So you bowl the ball against the wicket so the batter can try to hit your bowl? And then if the ball you bowled hit another thing that is also a wicket, you got a wicket? Not confusing at all. :-)
      - senthil_rajasek 3mo ago
        There is more... The batter can swing, miss the ball completely and hit the wicket! Then it's a "hit wicket" and the batter is out. You still with me ;-)
        3mo ago
- aidenn0 3mo ago
  If outs are like in baseball, how can there be a "last ball" known before it is bowled -- in baseball balls are delivered until the final out is made.
  - dismalaf 3mo ago
    True, forgot that difference. In cricket innings are a fixed amount of balls thrown (and fixed intervals for the bowler to be changed aka. overs).
- pseudohadamard 3mo ago
  What's the baseball equivalent to silly mid-off?
  - dismalaf 3mo ago
    Infield shift? Although they recently made rules against it...

dismalaf 3mo ago

Nah, cricket is pretty analogous to baseball. Instead of 9 innings there's one inning, at least in ODI or T20 formats (best to watch anyway). Instead of 3 outs there's 10 outs (called wickets). An out is having a ball caught after you hit it (same as baseball) or the ball hitting the wickets when at bat (kind of like strikeout) or a fielder knocking the wicket off with the ball before you reach the line, which is basically the same as being thrown out in baseball. Scoring is similar, you score runs when you run the bases. When it gets hit out, it's basically the same as a homerun except if it goes out after bouncing it's only 4 points, straight out is 6. If anything it's easier to understand than baseball. No strike/ball count, it's basically you hit it, miss it, or are bowled out. Running is easier to understand too, anytime you reach the other side it's a point. Most of the complication is during test matches because of tactics/tradition. The basic rules are a lot like baseball. Also, to get anyone into cricket, just show them a T20 match. More action than baseball.

gesis 3mo ago
> Nah, cricket is pretty analogous to baseball. goes on to use the same term for multiple game actions/objects. Nah. I ain't buying it. Signed, A follower of neither.
topgrain2 3mo ago
> Instead of 3 outs there's 10 outs (called wickets). > An out is having a ball caught after you hit it (same as baseball) or the ball hitting the wickets when at bat (kind of like strikeout) I thought a wicket is what you call an out? Now it’s something else, too? (This kind of thing is why being a baseball fan having cricket explained at you by a Brit feels exactly the same as listening to people play mornington crescent)
- bruce511 3mo ago
  Yes. Actually "wicket" is used for 3 different things. Behind the batter, between the batter and the catcher are 3 vertical sticks. This is called the wicket. The batter is protecting those sticks, the bowler is trying to hit them. If the bowler succeeds he has "got a wicket" and the batter has "lost his wicket." These 2 terms are used though regardless of the actual manner of the out. To make things more confusing, the strip of land between the bowler and the batter is also called "the wicket". (Its slso called the "pitch", but I digress.) And this is a really important part of the game.. In baseball the ball is thrown at the batter, but in the air, not touching the ground (ie not bouncing.) In cricket the ball may bounce before it gets to the batter. Indeed it almost always does. (A ball that doesn't bounce is usually easier to dispatch.) Since the ball bounces, what it bounces off becomes really important. The hardness, amount of grass, smoothness, cracks and so on all become elements of the game, and all are different at each game. The "art" of cricket is the way the bowler can manipulate the ball to not just move through the air (like in baseball) but also move off the pitch (aka the wicket). This movement is the key. Without it the game is dull - it becomes too easy for the batter. If the pitch moves the ball too easily, it can become too hard for the batter, and the game can end up being too short (and dull in a different way.) A "good" pitch thus balances the skills of the bowler with the skills of the batter. Creating a good pitch is art, not science though.
  - topgrain2 3mo ago
    So you bowl the ball against the wicket so the batter can try to hit your bowl? And then if the ball you bowled hit another thing that is also a wicket, you got a wicket? Not confusing at all. :-)
    - senthil_rajasek 3mo ago
      There is more... The batter can swing, miss the ball completely and hit the wicket! Then it's a "hit wicket" and the batter is out. You still with me ;-)
      - 3mo ago
aidenn0 3mo ago
If outs are like in baseball, how can there be a "last ball" known before it is bowled -- in baseball balls are delivered until the final out is made.
- dismalaf 3mo ago
  True, forgot that difference. In cricket innings are a fixed amount of balls thrown (and fixed intervals for the bowler to be changed aka. overs).
pseudohadamard 3mo ago
What's the baseball equivalent to silly mid-off?
- dismalaf 3mo ago
  Infield shift? Although they recently made rules against it...