I don’t like cricket – I love it, yeah

Summer’s here. Time for cricket. Here’s a beginner’s guide to the game so you can talk cricket at the office or BBQ. 

Summer’s here. Along with the buzz of mozzies comes the sound of cricket on our screens. With lots of us going back to the office after the long shutdown, it’s nice to have an extra topic up your sleeve to help with team bonding.

Yet even the biggest cricket tragic will appreciate that the game and its terminology can seem puzzling to those of us who haven’t grown up playing or watching cricket.

If a lack of knowledge is preventing you from joining in a cricket convo at work get up to speed with this quick guide to the game of cricket.

One of the earliest references to the sport was in 1478 – “criquet meaning a wooden post” in France. In 1598 that had become “creckett” in England which may have come from Middle Dutch with “krick” meaning stick. 

Played on a large field or “ground”, cricket involves a bat, a ball and two teams. There are 11 in a team with one player extra, the “twelfth man” who is a reserve in case a fielder is injured.   

The aim of the game – in its traditional “Test” format – is to score “runs”. A run is scored when a batsman hits a ball bowled to them and then runs between two “wickets” positioned in the centre of the cricket ground.

A wicket (origin being a small gate) is made up of three upright stumps stuck into the ground and spaced so that the ball can’t pass through. Bails are placed across the top of these ready to be broken when a batsman is bowled out (or run out, stumped or hits the wicket). A fielder holding the ball can also break the wicket with his hand or arm.

The wickets are guarded by a batsman who uses his bat to block the bowler from hitting the wicket. When the bowler is successful, he’ll hit the wicket with the ball. This precarious structure is what batsmen try to keep in place while bowlers try to knock them down.

The game is divided into “overs” or a set of six balls bowled to the batsman from one end of the pitch to the other.  When a fieldsman catches the ball without a bounce “on the full” that’s been hit by the batsman who is then “out” and can make no more runs. The next batsman then comes to the “crease” (area marked by white lines) to continue batting for the team.

The batting team continues until 10 of their batsmen are out.  There are many ways to get out including being caught, bowled, leg before wicket (LBW), stumped, run out and hit wicket.

A specified number of overs are played, depending on the format of the game. Tests matches are played between national teams over 5 days; however, there are other shorter formats of the game like One Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20 Big Bash. The number of overs varies: one day (50 overs per side) for ODIs, and 20 overs per side for T20 – about a 3-hour game.   

Ready to talk cricket? Great, here are some topics you might like to use to engage the cricket nut at work or hold your own when the BBQ conversation swings to summer sport.   

Start by asking about their favourite team and how they’re going. That might be Australia or India, South Africa, England or New Zealand or the West Indies or any other of the 125 countries that play the game internationally. From there you could move on to upcoming games such as the Test or One Day series. You could also ask them who they think will win various tests and one-day series.

The bowling action in the game is undoubtedly the most spectacular to watch for both experts and novices. There’s the speed and the virtuosity of the performance. There are two main style of bowling in cricket – pace and spin. Pace as the name suggests is all about how fast the ball is bowled to dismiss the batsman. Spin bowling refers to how the ball is spun as it’s bowled toward the batsman.

Not everyone can discern the subtle techniques masked by speed and plenty of conversation fodder can be found in the best way to spin the ball for success.

The role of the batsman is pivotal in all forms of cricket. Stroke play is an important part of cricket. A good batsman can read bowlers and can change their technique to suit the attack. It’s always exciting to watch the batsman in the T20 format due to the speed of their responses. They can also work out the strategy that the other captain is trying to deploy to get on top of the opposition.

It seems that everyone has an opinion on officials’ decisions and there’s lots of room for discussing whether umpires got it right or wrong when they make a call. Electronic appeal technology has helped resolve many disputes but there’s still room for interpretation, so you can always have a chat about that with any cricket tragic.   

Then there’s the selectors – no one ever seems to agree on who should be selected for a cricket team, especially national teams. That’s just part of the game and another potential hot cricket convo topic.

While scoring can seem arcane to the outsider, there’s logic to it. The game is measured in “overs” – six balls to the over, with ODIs and T20 games having a maximum of 50 and 20 overs per side respectively. One run is added to the total for every successful “run” the batsmen complete between the wickets. Four runs are awarded if a batsman can smack the ball to the boundary rope, and six runs are given to big hits that clear the boundary on the full.  

To interpret the way the score’s presented on the board keep in mind the first is the number of wickets lost followed by the number of runs scored, for example: 3/47. When a team loses 10 wickets, their batting innings is over. 

There’s no shortage of personalities in cricket. They can attract a cult following in their home countries so take care if you’re going to criticise the star of a particular team. Star cricketers will certainly be a major drawcard at any game. For example, Virat Kohli, the captain of India is a high-profile player and would be a great topic of conversation around the world.

Then there’s Pat Cummins, the new captain of Australia and David Warner, arguably our star batsman along with Steven Smith who is now also the vice-captain despite a controversial ball tampering incident some years ago. So, plenty of conversation starters here.

Cricket is a surprisingly subtle game. Even when it seems that not a lot is going on to the casual non-cricketing observer, a complex strategy may be in play. As you build your knowledge and confidence in talking cricket you may like to venture an opinion on some of these nuances with your cricket-loving work mates.

In short, cricketer fans love the game and if you show a genuine interest to know more, they’re bound to respond. It can take a bit of time to get into, but cricket can be very addictive once you do.

It’s summer and it’s time for cricket. Isn’t it time you came up to speed with one of the world’s most intriguing games?   

However, if you prefer feet to bats, we cover the world’s best football with Premier League and Women’s FA Women’s Super League on Optus Sport.

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