I recently signed up for a local cricket league despite having never really played before. I currently play tennis semi-competitively and imagine that would help me out in regards to hand-eye coordination and movement, but was wondering what to expect or if there is anything I should be prepared for.

I know nothing about the sport but I'm intrigued. It's obviously hugely popular in parts of the world.

I'm looking for a website (or websites) that can help familiarize a total newbie with the sport. Videos to illustrate rules, game play, etc. would probably be immensely helpful.

Thanks in advance!

I'm an American who loves baseball and always wanted to learn cricket given baseball's roots in cricket. I finally learned over COVID and now love it. Right now is the Cricket world cup (about to be the semifinals), so I thought I would put up a post about the basics that I learned to help some of you baseball fans learn the game.

Also, you can watch Cricket on ESPN+. Australia just beat Afghanistan in an incredible run chase. Afghanistan scored 291 runs and looked like they were in complete control. Then Glenn Maxwell came in and lit it up while also going through crazy cramps. He ended up scoring 202 points to complete the chase and win it for Aussies.

I not at all an expert and am still learning strategy, but I thought I could help some other people who were like me and loved baseball but couldn't understand cricket. Some of this I am sure many know. This is also not meant to be exhaustive or perfectly accurate, but more just a noob's guide to help you get into the game. If I am incorrect on any of these, please correct me and I'll edit the post.

• Teams don't alternate every three outs, but instead one team bats and tries to score as many points as possible. The other team then "run-chases" by trying to beat the other team's score. (Scoring discussed below)

• Two batsman are on the field at a time essentially standing on a "base", but in cricket instead it's just a line the batsman must be past to be "safe". There are wickets (three sticks with indicators on top to detect if a wicket is hit) on each side and kind of represent the base, but a batter just needs to be past the line.

• The "bat" is more of a paddle and the swinging motion is often more like a golf swing given the bounce. However, batsman will generally try and make contact in any way possible to defend the wicket.

• If a batsman hits the ball, the batters may switch sides and get a point for each time they switch while the ball is in play. So if I hit it and switch once with the other batsman, then I get a single and that's one point. Switch twice and its 2 points.

• If the batsman gets a "single", then the other batter is now up.

• If the batsman hits the field boundary on the ground, it counts as 4 points and the batsman keeps batting. If the batsman hits the ball out of the field of play, it counts as 6 points. I think of a 4 as a like off the wall double and a 6 as a dinger.

• The scoring above is why cricketers score so many points. It's also much easier to get a single and not really thought of as a great outcome. Cricketers dig the long ball.

• The field is an oval. The batsman is defending the wicket and trying to whack it out in any direction. Since it counts as 4 if the balls hits the boundary, defenders will sprint and dive to keep it in which gets exciting.

• For bowling (pitching), the bowler typically will bounce the ball on its way to the wicket. This is actually much more difficult to hit than a ball in the air which is why baseball doesn't allow the bounce.

• There are "spinners" or bowlers who specialize in creating spin so the ball bounces crazy. There's also bowlers specializing in speed.

• A batsman keeps batting (and on the field) until they get out. Getting out in cricket is far more punishing since that batsman is done for the game. A team is done batting if all 10 batsman get out.

• Outs can come from:

1. caught balls,

• 2) if a "bowler" (pitcher) hits the wicket without the batter hitting the ball. Think of two as a pitcher hitting the strike zone (batsman are allowed on top of the plate and are much more focused on defending the wicket than a batter defending the zone).

• 3) if the fielders hit a wicket while one of the batsmans is still trying to get to the other side. Think of three as like a runner is trying to advance to the next base and gets caught. Only in cricket, you hit the wicket instead of tagging the batsman.

• There are ten "batsman" or players on each team. In traditional cricket, you'd need to get each batter out which is why games could take forever.

• In modern ODI cricket, which is the type played at the WC, each team instead gets 50 "overs". An over consists of six battable balls. So basically each team gets 300 "pitches" to score as many points as possible (assuming all 10 batsman don't get out first). Potentially, the first two batsman could take all 50 overs if neither ever gets out

• There's also T20 Cricket which is originated in India and consists of 20 overs.

So a batsman could keep batting and hitting dingers for all 300 pitchers and potentially score 1800 points. Realistically, cricketers mark 50 points or 100 points as very good scores for a batsman.

I don't know all the rivalries, but Pakistan vs. India is always a banger.

Thanks to u/DoyersDoyers for further clarification on how original test matches work. I'll just quote because they go into good detail on some of my favorite aspects of cricket. I forgot you could stop batting because you don't think the other team could catch you, which I think is baller.

"While there have been "Timeless Tests", most Test matches (or traditional cricket as you're referring to it) have a limit of 5 days. Each team has 2 innings to bat but they don't need to finish them to win. If you've built a big enough lead, you can "declare" and force the other team to start batting. If you keep batting and keep building your lead but the 5th day comes and goes, all that work was for nothing and you tie."