Cricket in America! Are you joking?

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the game of cricket has been played in the United States for several decades. Cricket is played in fifty states with the major cricket centers being New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Chicago and Texas.

Currently there are 36 established leagues, 650 clubs and over 12,000 senior players. A national youth program was recently established for junior cricketers in the United States.

Cricket is played mainly in public parks. Most games are played on matting wickets and a few are astro-turf. Southern California has four natural turf playing surfaces and Florida has two.

Cricket is still considered to be an amateur sport in the United States and is played mostly on weekends.

The Colorado Cricket League consists of teams from Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Coal Creek, Littleton and Colorado State University.

What is cricket?

Cricket is a team sport for two teams of eleven players each. A formal game of cricket can last anything from an afternoon to a few days.

Although the game play and rules are very different, the basic concept of cricket is similar to that of baseball. Teams bat in successive innings and attempt to score runs, by running between the stumps at each end of the cricket pitch, while the opposing team fields and attempts to bring an end to the batting team's innings.

There are several ways a batsman can be dismissed:

Caught — When a fielder catches the ball before the ball bounces and after the batsman has struck it with the bat

Bowled — When a delivered ball hits the stumps at the batsman's end, and dislodges one or both of the bails

Leg before wicket (LBW) — When a delivered ball misses the bat and strikes the batsman's leg or pad, and the umpire judges that the ball would otherwise have struck the stumps

Run out — When a fielder, bowler or wicket-keeper removes one or both of the bails with the ball by hitting the stumps whilst a batsman is still running between the two ends
After each team has batted an equal number of innings (either one or two, depending on conditions chosen before the game), the team with the most runs wins.

(Note: In cricket-speak, the word ``innings'' is used for both the plural and the singular. ``Inning'' is a term used only in baseball.)

What equipment is used?

Cricket Ball:
Hard, cork and string ball, covered with leather. Similar to a baseball (in size and hardness), but the leather covering is thicker and joined in two hemispheres, not in a tennis ball pattern. The seam is like an equator, and the stitching is raised slightly. Traditionally the ball is dyed red, with the stitching left white. White balls are also used, for visibility in games played at night under artificial lighting.

Cricket Bat:
Blade made of willow, flat on one side, humped on the other for strength, attached to a sturdy cane handle. The blade has a maximum width of 108 millimetres (4.25 inches) and the whole bat has a maximum length of 965 millimetres (38 inches).

Stumps:
Three wooden posts, 25 millimetres (1 inch) in diameter and 813 millimetres (32 inches) high. Spikes extend from their bottom end and are hammered into the ground in an evenly spaced row, with the outside edges of the outermost stumps 228 millimetres (9 inches) apart. This means they are just close enough together that a cricket ball cannot pass between them.

Bails:
Two wooden crosspieces that sit in grooves atop the adjacent pairs of stumps

Protective Gear:
Pads, gloves and helmet for batsmen to wear to prevent injury when struck by the ball

Shoes:
Leather, usually with spiked soles for grip on the grass

Clothing:
Long pants and shirt (long or short sleeved depending on the weather) A woollen pullover is worn in cold weather. For games played with a red ball, the clothing must be white or cream. With a white ball, players usually wear uniforms in solid team colours. A hat or cap with a peak is usually worn to reduce glare from the sun.

International Fellowship of Cricket Loving Rotarians

In 1993 Rotarians from several countries established the International Fellowship of Cricket Loving Rotarians. Members of this Rotary fellowship have travelled to the United Kingdom, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and to the West Indies to play friendly cricket games against other Rotarians.

In professional cricket it is common for balls to be bowled at over 90 miles per hour (144 kilometres per hour). Cricket played by Rotarians is played at a much more sedate pace and is more about Rotary fellowship than intense competition.

The next international gathering of Cricket Loving Rotarians will be in Sri Lanka in February 2007. Information is available at
http://www.rotarnet.com.au/IFCR/index.html