Wickets, Bowlers and Batsmen

January 18, 2015

View from our company's box at Wanderers Stadium.

We stepped into the box overlooking the centre of the field, and knew immediately that this was the way to watch cricket. But, by the 38th over we still had not had the opportunity to watch the genius AB de Villiers. Then, with a little under 12 overs to go, we got the chance; in walked AB, and you could sense the excitement amongst the South African fans. We watched tentatively as AB braced for his first ball. We had no idea what we were in for.

Before I go any further, I should set the tone; I know very little about the sport of cricket (shocking, I know). Given how monumental the sport is in South Africa, but also how monumental this particular game turned out to be, I thought I should call for back up in order to make sure I did this game the justice it deserves.

When I first sought assistance, this is the definition I was provided (thanks, Google):

"You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. 

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. 

When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!"

While entertaining, I thought we could use a bit more detail in order to actually figure out this game...

R, the R in R and C, is a native South African and a long-time cricket player and supporter. Basically, he lives and breathes the sport. The first cricket game M and I saw was R's. And so, R was the obvious choice to assist me with this post. I posed R the five questions below (in italics). I should preface this that I did make a few edits to his responses, as naturally, R could talk/write about cricket for days :) Thanks so much for your help, R!

Unfortunately R was not at the game, so I don't have a photo of us with him on game day. But, we ran into some friends from work on our way into the game. This is a sport for all and one that many South Africans have grown up spending there weekends watching.

1. For those not familiar with the game of cricket, can you give us a quick rundown of the sport (principles/rules of play) and its history in South Africa?

A quick rundown of a game which could potentially take days to complete...

Cricket is played between two teams of eleven players. The field is defined by a boundary (giant oval). Somewhere near the middle of the field is the cricket pitch (a 22x2 yard rectangle). At each end of the pitch, three sticks (called wickets) are stuck into the ground next to each other.

The first team batting sends their first two batsmen onto the field. The objective is to score as many runs, from as few balls as they can, without getting out. The batsmen guard the wickets at opposite ends of the pitch while the bowler (similar to the pitcher in baseball) bowls the ball to one of the batsman (note: that unlike baseball, the ball is required to bounce prior to reaching the batsman and the ball is not thrown, but bowled with a straight arm). The batsman, using a cricket bat, attempts to hit the ball. If he is successful, both batsmen run towards the set of wickets at the opposite end of the pitch from where they are guarding, in order to get a run. Unlike baseball though, a batsman does not always have to run if he hits the ball. If the ball is hit along the ground and it reaches the boundary before a fielder can stop it, it counts as four runs. If the batsman hits the ball in the air and it clears the boundary it counts as six runs (home run!..only M calls it that).

Obviously the bowler and the fielding team are attempting to get all the batsmen out in as few runs as possible. Batsmen can get out in a number of different ways: bowled (where the ball from the bowler hits the wickets), caught (where a fielder catches the ball after the batsman has hit it and before the ball bounces), run out (similar to baseball, where the fielding team hits the wicket before the running batsman makes it back) and Leg Before Wicket (LBW; a very complicated rule which even some umpires don’t understand!).

Once the batting team has had its chance, the fielding team has a turn to bat, and tries to score more runs than the other team. The winner is determined by the team with the most runs at the end.

Drinks and snacks served in the box. Perhaps this is why we enjoyed the game so much?

2. Most people assume that cricket is a five-day event- but this is only one type of cricket. Can you fill us in on the various types? And, for clarity, is it a "game" or a "match"? Or something else entirely?

Cricket games are called “matches.” There are three different formats of cricket. The first, and widely considered the pinnacle of the sport, is the five-day “Test” match. Each team has two innings, and the winning team is the one with the most runs at the end of the two innings combined. The batting team can face an unlimited number of overs (a set of six balls bowled from one end of the cricket pitch).

The second format is "One-Day International" (ODI). As the name suggests, the match takes place in one day, with each batting team having one inning, and facing a maximum of 50 overs. Again, the team with most runs wins.

The final and newest format in the "20-0ver" match. The concept is the same as a one-day match, just that the teams are limited to a maximum of 20 overs per inning.

Game in play.

3. Before we dive into this specific game, which countries play cricket? Who is currently considered to be the "world leader" of cricket?

There are currently ten countries in the world who are considered the “test playing countries,” which are the countries who are allowed to play all three formats of the game. These countries are: South Africa, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

I promise I am not being biased here, but if we take Test Cricket as being the pinnacle of the game, then currently South Africa are ranked #1 in the world, and we have been since 2012. That being said, there are separate rankings for one-day cricket, and currently Australia is ranked #1 and are the current world champions after winning the World Cup earlier this year. Over the last 20 years, Australia has been the team to beat in most forms of the game.

Grainy i-phone photo: every time AB De Villiers broke a record they posted it on the jumbo-tron. They must have been busy!

4. Okay, now let's talk about the game/match that happened on the 18th of January 2015. Who was playing and why was it significant?

The match in question was a One-Day International between the South Africa Proteas and the West Indies. The World Cup, which is played every four years, was starting in the middle of February 2015 and this game (which formed part of a five match series), was being used by both teams as final preparations for the World Cup. South Africa has always held the upper hand in contests between the two countries, and cricket fans were expectant of a strong South African showing.    

During intermission (they have "tea" and "lunch" breaks during cricket...seriously) the crowd was allowed down onto the field.

5. Can you describe the game for us? What made this game so historical?

Cricket loves statistics. Everything about the game is recorded; the number of runs a batsman scores in his career, the number of innings he plays, his average, his highest score, the highest individual score of all time, the highest team score of all time, the fastest score per balls faced to reach certain milestones, and so on (I could fill up many more lines with this list but these are the important ones in the context of this match).

The West Indies won the toss and chose to field (bowl) first. The first two batsmen for South Africa got off to a really good start, batting for 38 of the 50 overs until the first wicket fell. The score at this stage was a very respectable 247. To add some context, generally a good score for a team in 50 overs in anywhere between 275 and 325 so South African was already in a good position.

For batsmen, reaching 50 runs and then 100 runs in a single inning are significant milestones. AB smashed his way to 50 from just 16 balls, which won him his first record of the game (the previous record was 50 off of 17 balls set back in 1996). But AB was not done there; he promptly batted his way to 100 off 31 balls! This earned him record number two; AB smashed the previous record by five balls, as the old record for 100 was off of 36 balls. The records continued to pile up, and South Africa ended on a massive total of 439 in their allotted 50 overs – only four runs shy of the highest team score of all time!

The West Indies put up a brave fight, but they ended their innings on 291 (remembering that I said a normal good score was anywhere between 275 and 325, they did not embarrass themselves). It was just the fact that the pure skill of AB de Villiers was the massive difference between the two sides.

The late Robin Williams once said that “Cricket is baseball on Valium.” I am pretty sure he would change his opinion on this if he had been able to witness AB de Villiers bat!