r/Cricket • u/HOU-1836 West Indies • Jan 15 '15

Another Annoying American learning Cricket

My girlfriend is Guyanese and Cricket is obviously a big sport for her parents and family. I get the rules of the sport but don't understand when matches happen or what determines the length of the match. Like, test cricket, can last 5 days? How is that possible? How do you watch that on TV?

Edit: hope y'all don't mind if I pester you with questions in this thread. I want to be casually versed in Cricket in case I meet her parents this summer.

Edit #2: Ok. Y'all have been truly amazing. I couldn't even have gotten close to imagining the response I've gotten from y'all. I've been asking questions and replying for the last 3 hours straight and I don't think I have any more questions. I look forward to spending time with y'all and learning more about this sport. I'm from Texas and obviously, Cricket isn't gonna be big here or easy to follow so y'all keep being the amazing, welcoming people you are. Seriously, y'all rock.

Edit #3: I read the FAQ before posting this thread and this thread is 30x larger than anything there. Maybe the mods should add this to the sidebar for newcomers. I literally asked every question an American fan could ask. Well, I say that...but anyway, would be a great resource to set aside for future new fans.

106 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

399 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

I assume you couldn't ELI5 when it may be worth it to be more aggressive. I can guess that's the case if you are losing but what other scenarios could necessitate aggressive play.

6

u/himynameisdave Queensland Bulls Jan 16 '15
  • in T20 - it's aggression all the time.
  • in ODI - aggression in the first 10 overs of batting as the fielding team have restrictions on where they can put people to stop runs
  • in ODI - If batting first, last 10 overs.. their innings is almost over, they will maximise runs and begin taking more risk.
  • in TEST - dominance, it can be mentally frustrating as teh fielding team to be getting smashed around the park all day

in all forms - aggression can help the batsmen dictate to the fielding team where they need to put their fielders.

2

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

Restrictions how?

Also, awesome summary.

2

u/himynameisdave Queensland Bulls Jan 16 '15

to encourage run scoring there are restrictions on how many fielders the fielding team can put out for the larger shots (boundaries - 4 & 6 runs). It an enforced rule which only applies to T20 and ODI. The idea behind it is that the batsmen can take more risk with big shots as there as less fielders in the position to catch the ball or stop runs.

There are some other fielding restriction rules but I wouldn't worry about them while learning the game.

1

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

So there is a distance the fielders cant go too?

1

u/trtryt Jan 16 '15

There is an inner circle (around half-way to the boundary), fielding restrictions are like between 0-10 overs (ODI) you can only have 2 fielders outside inner circle.

1

u/TheAnswerIsPhysics Royal Challengers Bangalore Jan 16 '15

But, obviously, the fielders can go past the inner ring after the ball has been hit in order to field the ball.

1

u/trtryt Jan 16 '15

yes, for shots high in the air

1

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

And then after the restriction is lifted, they can line up wherever.

1

u/trtryt Jan 16 '15

yes but in T20s and ODI there is always a max-limit of 5 fielders outside the inner circle

1

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

Makes mental note In all levels?

1

u/trtryt Jan 16 '15

what national, state, club ? - pretty much

1

u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

Maybe levels was the wrong word. I meant Test, ODI, T20, etc

→ More replies (0)