Jul 19 2008
Cricket
Know the game!

We all love the game of cricket! It’s a West Indian thing. And no matter how much our West Indies team keep playing with our emotions when ever a cricket match featuring them is being played at the Beausejour Cricket Grounds, be sure that you have your tickets early because it is guaranteed to be a sold out event. With that little said, how much do we know about the game of cricket? If you are like some who keeps wondering what are they talking about when the say third empire, off and leg stump then we will help you with some cricket info. Enjoy!

We will first start with the laws of cricket.
The Marylebone Cricket Club is the framer of the Laws of Cricket, the rules governing play of the game. The Laws are intended to apply to all two innings matches; the International Cricket Council has implemented "Standard Playing Conditions for Test Matches" and "Standard Playing Conditions for One Day Internationals" to augment the Laws of Cricket. Similarly, each cricketing country has implemented Playing Conditions to govern domestic cricket. The Laws provide for One-day, or Limited overs cricket (including Twenty20) by stipulating that the number of innings per side may be one or two, and that each innings may be restricted to a maximum number of overs, or a maximum period of time. The Laws retain the Imperial units as they were originally specified, but now also include metric conversions.
The Laws are organised into a Preface, a Preamble, forty-two Laws, and four appendices. The Preface relates to the Marylebone Cricket Club and the history of the Laws. The Preamble is a new addition and is related to "the Spirit of the Game;" it was introduced to discourage the increasing practices of ungentlemanly conduct. The Laws themselves deal with the following:

The first four laws cover the players, the umpires and the scorers.
• Law 1: The players. A cricket team consists of eleven players, including a captain. Outside of official competitions, teams can agree to play more than eleven-a-side, though no more than eleven players may field.
• Law 2: Substitutes. In cricket, a substitute may be brought on for an injured fielder. However, a substitute may not bat, bowl, keep wicket or act as captain. The original player may return if he has recovered. A batsman who becomes unable to run may have a runner, who completes the runs while the batsman continues batting. Alternatively, a batsman may retire hurt or ill, and may return later to resume his innings if he recovers.
• Law 3: The umpires. There are two umpires, who apply the Laws, make all necessary decisions, and relay the decisions to the scorers. 2 umpires are on the pitch and a third umpire is in the pavilion helping the 2 umpires.
• Law 4: The scorers. There are two scorers who respond to the umpires' signals and keep the score.
Next week we will continue with more laws and definitions.