Cricket Confusion

This year is my first year as a “cricket mom,” which is exactly what it sounds like: the cricket equivalent to a soccer mom. The social leagues appear to focus on soccer and rugby in the cooler months and cricket in the warmer months, so it is possible to be both. My son is VERY into cricket at the moment and is participating in a league as well as taking extra classes at school. I think this is great because we are not the most athletic of families, and I’m all for him finding some sort of physical outlet that he enjoys.

I, however, do not enjoy or understand cricket.

That’s a real problem because cricket games can be incredibly long and the league that he is in requires parent volunteers to help umpire and score the games, neither or which I am remotely able to do. Cricket has got to be the most confusing game ever invented. I understand the basics: there is a batting team and a bowling team. A bowler throws the ball towards one of two batters standing next to three vertical sticks with two horizontal sticks resting on the top known as wickets. (I’m not sure if one stick is a singular wicket or not…) The bowler is trying to bounce the ball once on the ground before hitting the wickets while the batter tries to hit the ball with a cricket bat in such a way that it is out of control of the bowling team which also has a number of players scattered about in a circle around the pitch where the batters and wickets are. Oh yes - there is another set of wickets and another batter at the other end of the pitch. If the batter hits the ball or if the bowling team loses control of the ball, then the batters run back and forth between the wickets. Every time they make it to the other side, they get a point. However, if the bowler hits the wickets then there are negative points. Did I mention the point values change depending on the league rules? There are also wide balls, byes, and something important happens if one of the outfielders catches the ball before it hits the ground, but the batter isn’t out…. As I said, I’m confused.

This game makes no sense to me, and it probably doesn’t help that I’m trying to find equivalents to baseball. Where are the strikes, balls, and bases? I knew that moving to a different country would mean exposure to different and new things that I would do my best to learn about and understand, but cricket may be the thing that confounds me no matter how hard I try. I simply don’t get it.

Even worse, I should know how to score! This might as well be in a foreign language because I have no idea what to do with this type of scoring sheet that other parents fill up with dots, slashes, Ws, and numbers:

Sample Scoring Sheet

So if anyone has any good resources for understanding cricket, please send them my way. And if you’re coming to New Zealand, cricket is a close second to rugby in popularity, so prepare yourself for this strange, seemingly never-ending game. The only good part is that you’re encouraged to have an adult beverage during the games.