Top 10 facts for moderate cricket blagging:
1: There are 2 teams. Each with 11 players. The teams both bat and field. At anyone time there will be the whole of one team (who are bowling and fielding on the pitch) and 2 of the other (who are batting - therefore holding cricket bats).
2: They play on a pitch, and the middle is called the crease. Traditionally creases were frowned upon in cricket attire - they used to wear white, this has now changed significantly and the cricketers are now much scruffier.
3: The men in funny hats and jackets are called the umpires. There are 2 of them. Dickie Bird is probably the most famous (although he has now retired).
4: At the beginning of the match - a coin is tossed by one of the umpires and one of the captain calls heads or tails - to decide who goes into bat first. This is obviously very scientific.
5: There are many different types of matches - resulting in different lengths of a game. The World Cup is a one day tournament - so 50 overs for each side. FYI - Tests are 5 days in length (the Ashes is a test series).
6: The idea of the game is to bowl out the opposing side for as small amount of runs as possible. Runs are scored by the batsman running between the wickets. Yes, it really is that simple.
7: I inconspiculously introduced the word 'wicket'. The wickets are at either end of the crease and a batsman tried to protect his wicket. Batsmen can be out for a number of reasons - don't worry will list in different blog - I know you must be intrigued.
8: The wicket is made up of 3 stumps (like sticks in the ground) and 2 bails (that balance at the top of the stumps and look like sausages).
9: Earlier I mentioned the word 'over' - an over consists of 6 balls that the bowler bowls at the batsman. The cricket ball is red and it hurts if it hits you on the head.
10: Every over is bowled from one end or the other - this evolves after each over. Bowlers are not allowed to bowl consecutive overs.
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Saturday, 3 March 2007
My Dad, Ian Botham and how it all began...
When you grow up with a Dad who you love and who loves you and cricket, then somehow I think you end up loving cricket. Well that's my experience, although it could also be something to do with having a life size cardboard cut-out of Ian Botham in our hallway... This is how it was in my childhood home, family photos and works of art squeezed in between prints, books and other cricket memorabilia.
Ian in the hallway was quite a remarkable sight and he in return saw much of my formative years. It was Ian that saw me stumble about as I tried to quietly come home late after one to many snakebite and blacks. It was he who saw as I hurriedly hid a half empty and ancient stolen bottle of Cointreau in my bag, he watched with that smug grin on his boundary hitting face as I sneaked in my first boyfriend and then saw the tears as said boyfriend and I finished time and time again. (oh how my heart was broken).
Good old Ian was also keeping watch as I left for University, seeking new adventure. He stayed there for a few years after, watching my coming and going come rain or shine, sober and drunk. It was only a couple of years ago that Beefy went into official retirement in our house, hitting that lofty four for the last time.
The strange thing of course being that good old Ian didn’t even know it. He was far too busy playing the game of the gods, the game of gentlemen, the game that remains much maligned by much of the population, the game of cricket. If you look up cricket in The Oxford English Dictionary;
“a game played on a grass pitch with two teams of 11 players taking turns to bowl at a wicket defended by a batting player of the other team”.
Sounds simple, and well I suppose it is really but simple in the same way that so much of life, love, dating and relationships are simple. Simple in the fact that they should be, but generally aren't. It should all get easier as you get older, and you understand more, but then you find yourself making rookie mistakes and being right back at square one. But stick with it, as with life, cricket is worth all of the effort in the end.
This guide could of course be seen as patronising, but it isn’t. It is designed to assist the single or not so single girl come to terms with cricket, the history, the rules and what leg before wicket really means. Cricket is supposed to be the gentleman's game and so here we are really just equating and combining the too. Gentlemen and the game. You have a man who's a cricket fan, this blog will help, you want a man, this blog may help, you don’t give two hoots about a man, this blog may make you laugh. Who knows and no promises.
It is important to point out from the start that I know a lot of women already love cricket and probably know more than me. Fine. Also, I know that many women play cricket and definitely no more than me.
Anyway, the time just seems right, for this Girls Guide to Cricket or perhaps more specifically, the Girls Guide to the Cricket World Cup. Where conclusions and comparisons will be made and drawn between normal life, and well, cricket.
Ian in the hallway was quite a remarkable sight and he in return saw much of my formative years. It was Ian that saw me stumble about as I tried to quietly come home late after one to many snakebite and blacks. It was he who saw as I hurriedly hid a half empty and ancient stolen bottle of Cointreau in my bag, he watched with that smug grin on his boundary hitting face as I sneaked in my first boyfriend and then saw the tears as said boyfriend and I finished time and time again. (oh how my heart was broken).
Good old Ian was also keeping watch as I left for University, seeking new adventure. He stayed there for a few years after, watching my coming and going come rain or shine, sober and drunk. It was only a couple of years ago that Beefy went into official retirement in our house, hitting that lofty four for the last time.
The strange thing of course being that good old Ian didn’t even know it. He was far too busy playing the game of the gods, the game of gentlemen, the game that remains much maligned by much of the population, the game of cricket. If you look up cricket in The Oxford English Dictionary;
“a game played on a grass pitch with two teams of 11 players taking turns to bowl at a wicket defended by a batting player of the other team”.
Sounds simple, and well I suppose it is really but simple in the same way that so much of life, love, dating and relationships are simple. Simple in the fact that they should be, but generally aren't. It should all get easier as you get older, and you understand more, but then you find yourself making rookie mistakes and being right back at square one. But stick with it, as with life, cricket is worth all of the effort in the end.
This guide could of course be seen as patronising, but it isn’t. It is designed to assist the single or not so single girl come to terms with cricket, the history, the rules and what leg before wicket really means. Cricket is supposed to be the gentleman's game and so here we are really just equating and combining the too. Gentlemen and the game. You have a man who's a cricket fan, this blog will help, you want a man, this blog may help, you don’t give two hoots about a man, this blog may make you laugh. Who knows and no promises.
It is important to point out from the start that I know a lot of women already love cricket and probably know more than me. Fine. Also, I know that many women play cricket and definitely no more than me.
Anyway, the time just seems right, for this Girls Guide to Cricket or perhaps more specifically, the Girls Guide to the Cricket World Cup. Where conclusions and comparisons will be made and drawn between normal life, and well, cricket.
Friday, 2 March 2007
Bobby Dazzler ...
So is it really that unusual for a girl to like cricket? Apparently so if the reaction that I get when offering up an opinion in the pub is anything to go by… shock and horror, a blonde in her twenties with something to say on cricket…
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't claim to be Michael Atherton or Simon Hughes or anything but I do love cricket, have been watching it forever and find myself becoming more and more drawn to reading books about it. I just hope I don't turn into a wisdom worm, spitting out statistics on players from the nineteenth century. God forbid!
But I have rather scarily started a blog on cricket for girls or for boys. Doesn’t really matter. It may be funny, it may not be. It might be serious, it may be futile. It could talk about how fit some cricketers are. And how some are not.... Haven’t really thought that far ahead.
So, Michael Vaughn is back leading the troops to the Caribbean, how fabulous! I have to admit to being a massive fan, I think he is probably the most inspirational of England captains, but sadly his books are really rather dull... as with many sportsmen I think it may be a case of stick to what you're good at darling... and no, not getting injured.
Vaughnie of course is not as much as a scribe as dear Freddie, who has written no less than three books - what a chap! Not only is he a full time dad, husband and all round hero, but he also gets home after a long day on the pitch and starts to write down the thoughts on his life. Wowzers, what a guy!!
Of the other members of the current team, KP and Andrew Strauss have both written books, with very flash front covers might I say, and Monty has two that he is apparently writing at the moment. Must be quite hard to write two entirely different books about yourself at the same time…
My favourite cricket books though have to be ‘Dazzler’ and even better ‘Dazzler on the Dance Floor’ by, well you’ve guessed it the Dazzler himself. Perfect for any cricket or indeed tango two stepper...
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't claim to be Michael Atherton or Simon Hughes or anything but I do love cricket, have been watching it forever and find myself becoming more and more drawn to reading books about it. I just hope I don't turn into a wisdom worm, spitting out statistics on players from the nineteenth century. God forbid!
But I have rather scarily started a blog on cricket for girls or for boys. Doesn’t really matter. It may be funny, it may not be. It might be serious, it may be futile. It could talk about how fit some cricketers are. And how some are not.... Haven’t really thought that far ahead.
So, Michael Vaughn is back leading the troops to the Caribbean, how fabulous! I have to admit to being a massive fan, I think he is probably the most inspirational of England captains, but sadly his books are really rather dull... as with many sportsmen I think it may be a case of stick to what you're good at darling... and no, not getting injured.
Vaughnie of course is not as much as a scribe as dear Freddie, who has written no less than three books - what a chap! Not only is he a full time dad, husband and all round hero, but he also gets home after a long day on the pitch and starts to write down the thoughts on his life. Wowzers, what a guy!!
Of the other members of the current team, KP and Andrew Strauss have both written books, with very flash front covers might I say, and Monty has two that he is apparently writing at the moment. Must be quite hard to write two entirely different books about yourself at the same time…
My favourite cricket books though have to be ‘Dazzler’ and even better ‘Dazzler on the Dance Floor’ by, well you’ve guessed it the Dazzler himself. Perfect for any cricket or indeed tango two stepper...
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