I know people really enjoy being ignorant about cricket but you can literally learn how it’s played in about 5 minutes. It’s very easy to learn the basics.
A great many British people don’t understand it either. This book [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GGXFV6C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GGXFV6C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) sold quite well in the UK. A friend of mine (who was mystified by the sport) was given it and lent it to me.
It is absolutely not a simple matter of hitting a ball with a bat and then running. Yes, that’s the essence of what you might think of as the core part of the sport – but it would also describe baseball (equally baffling for much the same reasons).
What needs explaining is the fact that you do not simply keep trying to hit the ball and score runs until all your side is out and then swap over. Someone who just played cricket at school as I did, will have no idea what a commentator is saying when they talk about “avoiding the follow-on” and so on.
School cricket absolutely consisted of the best players standing around hitting the ball and running and the rest of us spending half the time sitting around in the cold and the other half the time standing around bored on a field. It is a game that should be banned as a core school sport.
I watched the national team from Antigua train one afternoon. It must have been in the 80’s and nobody broke a sweat. I have found Frog jumping to be more entertaining.
Cricket is very easy to play with very simple rules! Cricket requires at least thirteen players, consisting of three grabbers, three taggers, five twig-runners, one center tagger, and the player at whack-bat. The center tagger lights a pinecone on fire and throws it to the player at whack-bat. The player hits the pinecone and runs to knock a cedar stick off the cross rods. Then the twig-runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls “Hotbox.” Finally, the score down are added up, then divided by nine.
I went to a boarding school patterned after Eaton etc… and they made us play Cricket in JS (up to age 13). I was bowling and there was a pop up by the batter. I charged for the ball and dove, made the catch and my shoulder collided with a teammate going for the ball. I sat up covered in blood, his blood. My shoulder had connected with his face, broke his nose, orbital bone, knocked out some teeth and he was laying face down convulsing on the ground.
He spent a week in hospital.
The next day before I could get to cricket practice the head master said “you’re starting Rugby today, lad”.
As a cricket fan, I can say this is a little bit inaccurate. At 3:03 the ringer licks his fingers and that is clearly an illegal move. Had the referee noticed it, It would have caused the ringer to lose 2 forward short gullies in the next over.
This just needs some sort of scoreboard at the bottom of the screen with numbers that make it looks like the score is 567-3. I think I grasp the basic concept of Cricket, but I find the score keeping impenetrable.
Every time I see cricket highlights on here it just looks like a sport from an alternate reality because I don’t understand and have had “Learning Cricket” on my bucket list for decades.
I could imagine that this would be even funnier if you know cricket rules because it’s so absurd and far from actual cricket. Atleast I think/hope so lol
Bill Bryson wrote about it in his book ‘*In a Sunburned Country*’ and summed it up rather nicely:
​
>After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn’t fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don’t wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players — more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.
>
>Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute’s pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher’s mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress’s strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a miss-stroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket.
>
>The mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each others noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished overnight and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it.
Good video. I was once on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong and a nice gentleman tried to explain cricket, I gave up after an hour. Maybe if I’d had ten or more hours of patience I’d have gotten it.
Do be honest the more gifs I see of cricket, the more I understand.
​
Sticks behind batter are very significant. You can throw the ball at those sticks in (most?) circumstances and get an out.
If you catch the ball over the fence, its still a home run equivalent. You must stay on the playing field, not past that plastic lip thing on the edge of the field.
If you don’t get out, you keep batting.
The outfield is 360 degrees from the batter. He can just barely touch the pitch and it can still go over the plastic fence for ants.
I get the joke, but cricket is actually a very fun sport. As an American who grew up overseas playing it, people here lack the patience to understand the sport. It’s not terribly complicated, but provinciality prevails. Also, there are different versions of the sport depending on how fast-paced and exciting you want it to be.
I know people really enjoy being ignorant about cricket but you can literally learn how it’s played in about 5 minutes. It’s very easy to learn the basics.
Brilliant Commentary
[deleted]
I think people who think cricket is confusing have never watched a minute of it.
They bowl the ball, and the person with the bat hits it, and then they run a bit. It’s baseball without the steroids.
Jiskefet!
Kamoulox
People outside of the US enjoy something and Americans can’t stand it. Gotta trivialise it.
I saw the video being 5minutes long and decided “yeah, this is actually is exactly like cricket, because i’m not watching that”
This is my goto when explaining what I think of cricket
Only non-cricketers laugh.
The others don’t invite me back
A great many British people don’t understand it either. This book [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GGXFV6C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GGXFV6C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) sold quite well in the UK. A friend of mine (who was mystified by the sport) was given it and lent it to me.
It is absolutely not a simple matter of hitting a ball with a bat and then running. Yes, that’s the essence of what you might think of as the core part of the sport – but it would also describe baseball (equally baffling for much the same reasons).
What needs explaining is the fact that you do not simply keep trying to hit the ball and score runs until all your side is out and then swap over. Someone who just played cricket at school as I did, will have no idea what a commentator is saying when they talk about “avoiding the follow-on” and so on.
School cricket absolutely consisted of the best players standing around hitting the ball and running and the rest of us spending half the time sitting around in the cold and the other half the time standing around bored on a field. It is a game that should be banned as a core school sport.
I watched the national team from Antigua train one afternoon. It must have been in the 80’s and nobody broke a sweat. I have found Frog jumping to be more entertaining.
“most people” = Americans.
I do understand and enjoy cricket but this video always makes me laugh. The commentary is spot on.
Yeah–pretty much. LOL
As far as I can tell it’s basically baseball, with only two bases.
My cricketer friend said playing cricket is just an excuse to drink. Can’t fault him.
Can’t be an English game of cricket without an egg sandwich 🥪
Cricket is very easy to play with very simple rules! Cricket requires at least thirteen players, consisting of three grabbers, three taggers, five twig-runners, one center tagger, and the player at whack-bat. The center tagger lights a pinecone on fire and throws it to the player at whack-bat. The player hits the pinecone and runs to knock a cedar stick off the cross rods. Then the twig-runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls “Hotbox.” Finally, the score down are added up, then divided by nine.
Is this what English is like to non-English speakers?
So it was a draw?
I went to a boarding school patterned after Eaton etc… and they made us play Cricket in JS (up to age 13). I was bowling and there was a pop up by the batter. I charged for the ball and dove, made the catch and my shoulder collided with a teammate going for the ball. I sat up covered in blood, his blood. My shoulder had connected with his face, broke his nose, orbital bone, knocked out some teeth and he was laying face down convulsing on the ground.
He spent a week in hospital.
The next day before I could get to cricket practice the head master said “you’re starting Rugby today, lad”.
That ring fringe though…
As a cricket fan, I can say this is a little bit inaccurate. At 3:03 the ringer licks his fingers and that is clearly an illegal move. Had the referee noticed it, It would have caused the ringer to lose 2 forward short gullies in the next over.
Here’s the original https://youtu.be/E_6d3JBBo4s
I can’t believe I watched all 5 minutes of that… Well done!
This just needs some sort of scoreboard at the bottom of the screen with numbers that make it looks like the score is 567-3. I think I grasp the basic concept of Cricket, but I find the score keeping impenetrable.
I have no idea what’s going on, very accurate 10/10.
Every time I see cricket highlights on here it just looks like a sport from an alternate reality because I don’t understand and have had “Learning Cricket” on my bucket list for decades.
Checkin-da-door
I could imagine that this would be even funnier if you know cricket rules because it’s so absurd and far from actual cricket. Atleast I think/hope so lol
The way he fringed that ring. A true professional!
What is this from?
Bill Bryson wrote about it in his book ‘*In a Sunburned Country*’ and summed it up rather nicely:
​
>After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn’t fix in a hurry. It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don’t wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players — more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.
>
>Imagine a form of baseball in which the pitcher, after each delivery, collects the ball from the catcher and walks slowly with it to center field; and that there, after a minute’s pause to collect himself, he turns and runs full tilt toward the pitcher’s mound before hurling the ball at the ankles of a man who stands before him wearing a riding hat, heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radio-active isotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg. Imagine moreover that if this batsman fails to hit the ball in a way that heartens him sufficiently to try to waddle forty feet with mattress’s strapped to his legs, he is under no formal compunction to run; he may stand there all day, and, as a rule, does. If by some miracle he is coaxed into making a miss-stroke that leads to his being put out, all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called and every one retires happily to a distant pavilion to fortify for the next siege. Now imagine all this going on for so long that by the time the match concludes autumn has crept in and all your library books are overdue. There you have cricket.
>
>The mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each others noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished overnight and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it.
From the world of sport, the Cointon Spinkywompers have flomped the Floingboing Welfenclompers, 70 Fluff to 40 Flave.
I can’t believe I watched the whole thing.
Good video. I was once on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong and a nice gentleman tried to explain cricket, I gave up after an hour. Maybe if I’d had ten or more hours of patience I’d have gotten it.
“most” people understand cricket. it has been played or is watched by billions around the world.
this is how it looks to Americans
Do be honest the more gifs I see of cricket, the more I understand.
​
Sticks behind batter are very significant. You can throw the ball at those sticks in (most?) circumstances and get an out.
If you catch the ball over the fence, its still a home run equivalent. You must stay on the playing field, not past that plastic lip thing on the edge of the field.
If you don’t get out, you keep batting.
The outfield is 360 degrees from the batter. He can just barely touch the pitch and it can still go over the plastic fence for ants.
Never has the sentence “[And they are going for the threesome](https://youtu.be/E_6d3JBBo4s?t=240)” caused less excitement.
Brilliant Commentary
I get the joke, but cricket is actually a very fun sport. As an American who grew up overseas playing it, people here lack the patience to understand the sport. It’s not terribly complicated, but provinciality prevails. Also, there are different versions of the sport depending on how fast-paced and exciting you want it to be.
This is actually more entertaining than cricket, so as a outsider, this is not at all what I think cricket is.