American Reacts Cricket Explained for Baseball Fans

The US beat Pakistan in the World Cup the other day. That's quite a big deal, you might want to check that out.

One minor but noticeable difference is that in cricket if the ball goes into the crowed it must be returned. This is because the age and state of the ball is part of game play and strategy. In limited over cricket there is a new ball for each innings, in test cricket I believe the ball is replaced every 80 overs.

A cricket ball weighs between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces. It's made of cork centre wound in string and covered in leather and hurts if it hits you especially in the jewels when it is acceptable to scream or faint 😁

Cricket is a very popular sport in many commonwealth countries but there are over 100 countries affiliated to the International Cricket Council.

Cricket balls can kill.

couple of minor corrections. when it said 118-5 it's not 5 people have gotten 118 runs because there are still two players at bat who have contributed 39 runs to that total (Kohli 29 & Hardik 10) so collectively it is seven players making 118 runs and five players that have been either run out or caught out. secondly in the following example it says there is a target of 222 which he says means the Indian side scored 222. this is incorrect. India would have scored 221 runs meaning England need to score one more run to win. both teams reaching the same number of runs would be a draw. also your observation about hitting the ball directly behind you does happen if you look up "cricket virtual eye" you can see an image of all the shots played in an innings, illustrating where each hit went.

You asked which countries are the best? Current "test cricket" rankings are: 1 Australia 30 3,715 124 2 India 26 3,108 120 3 England 30 3,151 105 4 South Africa 18 1,845 103 5 New Zealand 22 2,121 96 6 Pakistan 17 1,519 89 7 Sri Lanka 18 1,501 83 8 West Indies 19 1,563 82 9 Bangladesh 17 906 53 10 Zimbabwe 2 46 23 11 Ireland 4 58 15 12 Afghanistan 3 0 0

We used to play Cricket on Astroturf at School and, my God, the BURNS T_T To answer your Question "how Fast?" it's not as simple an answer. There are different types of Bowling, Spin Bowlers (usually take a very short jog/walk up to bowl) and they use the spin of the ball to bamboozle batters, their deliveries are usually 45-55mph. Pace Bowlers are the speed kings (there's actually 2 different types, Seam and Swing Bowling but I'll lump them both into 'Pace'), these are the guys who take a few dozen yard run ups to Bowl and they're usually 80-90mph+. The Ball: There's 2 types of Ball used in top flight Cricket, the most widely used is called "The Kookaburra", hailing from Australia, it's Seam is machine stitched so it's tighter compared to the other, being; "The Duke", hailing from England (where it is almost exclusively used), it's Seam is hand stitched which means it is more pronounced on the surface of the ball, this helps Pace bowlers get the ball moving through the air with their technique. Both are Cork and Rubber interior with two Leather outerhemispheres stitched together and weigh ~5.5oZ, it's like being hit with a Brick if you're not wearing Pads. Not an expert, feel free to correct anything I may have said in error :).

Hitting it backwards as you describe by spinning and swinging high is called a "hook" and is not uncommon at all. Usually it's at an angle, but it can in rare circumstances be directly backwards.

One thing - when India were 118-5, that means 7 batters have scored 118 runs. 5 are "out" while 2 are still "In".

Cricket is the second most watched sport in the world after Football ( soccer).

Btw atleast 5 bowlers are used in limited overs cricket and spin bowling is quite unique (Bowlers who bowl slow but turn the ball sharply to deceive batters).

In response to your question about batsmen hitting the ball directly behind them, the answer is yes. There is even a stroke (action by the batsman) of hitting the ball over their own head... very difficult but amazing to watch.

Cricket pitches in schools and local parks are often made of concrete, because, yes normal grass is no good unless it's had some serious manicuring. The grass pitches at professional Cricket grounds have full time greenskeepers that get paid the big bucks just to look after the grass. There's actually a Cricket World Cup occurring, right now, and in your part of the world, and I bet you haven't even noticed. The ball is hard leather and is as hard as a rock, it's harder than a Baseball. There are slow bowlers, medium pace bowlers and fast bowlers, the fast bowlers would bowl at speeds comparable to baseball, while the slow bowlers attempt to confuse the batters with spin.

Cricket world tournament is currently being held in Carribbean,New York and Dallas.

The ball is very hard, and a fast bowler can often deliver the ball at over 90 mph. The world's top teams are Australia, India, England, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Bangladesh (in approximately that order, though any of those teams can beat the others on a good day). The US ranks about 15th or so in the world, but had a great victory over Pakistan the other night. A couple of things not mentioned: consecutive overs are bowled from different ends of the pitch, so the batter whose on strike changes from one over to the next. And it's not just the field dimensions that change from ground to ground - because the ball is bounced, the consistency of the pitch can make a huge difference. The world cup games being played in the US at the moment include high-scoring matches in Texas and low-scoring ones in New York because of the differences in the pitches.

Being tall is an advantage, but not a huge one. Most of the best/fastest runners are short guys who can accelerate quickly.

Playing on concrete/asphalt... Yeah, that's a lot of ouch to be had. Especially with those diving catches.

Cricket bowling speeds can vary immensely. To focus on men, which is much faster than women, for Amateur cricket, think village cricket a spin bowler, meaning he will spin the ball left or right after it hits the ground will bowl at 25 mph, whereas a professional spin bowler will be much quicker 50 mph. A fast bowler village will bowl up to about 65 to 70 mph. A professional fast bowl usually is 80mph although top fast bowlers can be 95 mph. Keep in mind, bowlers can move the ball in the air, of which there are many way to do this and there ability to pitch the ball in many places on the length of the pitch, it is actually hard to judge where to hit the ball with the bat. The ball also to note is very hard, and at speed even with all the pads and helmet and box it's very easy to get hit and cause a lot of damage. Very few people would be able to face an 80mph ball, it's a scary thing, but even a spin ball at 45 can cause a lot of issues. Cricket is hard, it takes a lot of skill both bowling and batting. Fielders do not wear gloves with the exception of the wicket keeper and that ball hurts a lot when it is caught at speed and many people break fingers at some point when catching the ball. It's a great game, but it's hard, yet also full of tradition.

The Test cricket teams (i.e. top international teams) are: Australia, India, South Africa, England, West Indies (Caribbean), Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.