Teen Wellness Cricket

Cricket at Evergreen Junior High

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When most people in the United States hear the word “cricket”, they think of a small insect that produces a chirping sound by rubbing its legs together. What would you say if someone told you that cricket is a sport that started as early as the 12th century? The first real cricket club to be established was the Hambledon Club in England, which flourished in the second half of the 18th century. Cricket has been growing and is recognized around the world as a competitive sport.

Cricket is similar to baseball. Cricket and baseball have two teams that play the game. Cricket has 11 players on each team and baseball has 9 players on a team. Each team in baseball has one pitcher out in the field. Cricket has 2 pitchers that play at the same time out in the field. A circular bat is used in baseball, where in cricket the bat is flat on one side.

There are two batters that are each sent to a base. The bases are across from each other and 22 yards apart. The first batter in cricket can hit the cricket ball in any direction. He does not have to run every time he hits the cricket ball. He chooses when it is a good time to run by coordinating it with the alternate batter (who is on the opposite base). The batter and alternate batter can keep running back and forth between two bases by passing each other. They are free to keep running as long as they can protect their bases that has the wickets (three vertical sticks that are equally spaced to cover a width of 9 inches with 2 bails (horizontal sticks) lying across the top of them) behind it. Each time they touch a base it is counted as a run. The runners are welcome to stop anytime at the base to protect his wickets. If a wicket gets knocked down then the batter is out, otherwise the batter bats again. Once the first batter is out the alternate batter will become the main batter. A third batter will take the place of the alternate batter And so on. Once a batter is out they do not get a chance to bat again later in the game. They have to wait until their team goes out in the field then he will participate again.

In the USA, the batting team has to get 10 outs or a maximum number of 240 pitches have been reached before the team out in the field gets to bat. After one team finishes batting, there is a tea break (sandwiches and drinks). After the break, the team that has been fielding will get its chance to bat. Each team only goes up to bat one time.

In baseball, there is only one batter at home plate. The batter can only hit the baseball into the field in front of him one-time. Once the ball is hit, the batter has to run to a base. The batter has to run in sequence from home base to 1^st base, then 2^nd base, 3^rd base and home plate again. The type of hit will determine how many bases the batter may run to. Once the batter has stopped running and it has been determined that the batter is safe on the base, that batter’s role switches to a base runner when another batter steps up to home plate. A team will only get runs when a runner crosses home plate. The players on a team can keep rotating into batting and running positions until they get three outs. Once the team has three outs, the other team out in the field will return to the dugout so they will have a turn to bat. The game is played for 9 innings. The batter can bat again in other innings.

Cricket is now played at the school, club and professional levels all around the world. The West Indies, Australia, Pakistan, India, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and South Africa are the teams participating in cricket at its highest level, the World Cup Cricket Competition.

It has even become popular in the colleges and universities around the United States. There are eight structured cricket regions in the United States. Cricket is played at young adult level all the way to senior level. Cricket is truly a life longevity type of sport. If you would like to learn more about cricket, you can go to www.nwcl.org (this is the Northwest Cricket League).