There are a host of sports out there you can play, from the ‘four seasons’, hockey, baseball, basketball and football, to the individual sports like running or cycling, but if those don’t catch your interest, maybe it’s time for a game with a little more history, a little more cultured and with a lot more rules: cricket.
And just in time to capitalize on your piqued interest the cricket club is starting up again the first Sunday of May and is looking for players. All coaching and equipment is provided by the club.
Don’t worry, it’s not as hard or as complicated as you might think.
“If you know baseball, it’s similar. It’s hitting the ball and getting runs,” manager of the club Bikram Bhangu, said.
Though the core of the sport may be the same as the beloved sport of our neighbours to the south, there are a couple extra rules to the game you must learn before you rush out to the École Baker Elementary School to take a swing.
The sport is a complicated one once you enter
the minutiae of proper names and the more complex area of the rules governing the sport. The essence of the game though, and all you really need to have a go, is no more difficult than football.
First you have the pitch, which is a rectangle measuring 20 metres in
length and is 3 metres wide. At each end is a wicket, essentially three sticks in the ground which balances two small pieces of wood between them. The pitch is in the middle of the field. The field size is largely unregulated, though it is usually round, and for professional
play the International Cricket Council (ICC) does have regulations
that specify the largest and smallest sizes for the field.
On the pitch, the offensive team has two batters standing in front of the wickets. The defensive team has all 11 players, nine on the field, one bowler and one wicket–keeper.
The fielders act much like they might in baseball. The bowler is similar enough to a baseball pitcher, except the bowler bounces the ball. The wicket–keeper functions much like a catcher.
Simple as baseball.
Similar to baseball, the offensive team has only a batter, only in cricket there are two.
The bowler bowls, the batter bats. If the bowler hits the wicket and it falls, the batter is out. If the batter hits the ball the two batters run to switch places. Each run is a point.
If during the run a fielder hits the wicket, the batter whose wicket it is is once again out. That happens until the captain calls the innings, or until ten of the offensive team’s batters are out.
The players then switch and continue until the game is won.
That is the essence of cricket, stripped though, of the finer points of the game.
You can give Bhangu a call at 250-992-3262 or Kiran Puri at 250-992-7929 if you’re interested.
