Understanding Cricket #1

Went to my first cricket match a few weekends ago, as guest of my good friend ("me mate" will take time to get used to) Mark.

We went to Lord's Cricket Ground, which calls itself  "The Home of Cricket."  Lord's is to cricket as Churchill Downs is to horse racing, or St. Andrew's is to golf -- it's the ultimate shrine to the sport.  Lord's is also home to the Marylebone (that's pronounced "MAR-lee-bone") Cricket Club, which maintains the official cricket rulebook.  Mark bought me a copy of the official rule booklet, which is called "The Laws of Cricket."

 My friend Karen was visiting:

We went to see "county cricket", which meant it was cheap (I think about eight pounds a person).

 Here is the outside of the stands.  The banners show various records set at the club, none of which made any sense to me.

 Here's a view of the pitch from down low

 This is a view of the club member's stands.  Very posh.

 Luxury boxes and cheap seats.  Not a big crowd for county cricket.

 "Has anyone seen the ball?" "I thought you had it." "No, I thought Oliver had it.  Oliver, have you seen the ball?" "When's lunch?"

Watching cricket is very relaxing.  It's really a great way to spend a lazy weekend day (or entire weekend).  Ignoring all of the language, what you are watching is:
1. A guy throwing the ball (the bowler)
2. A guy trying to hit the ball (the batsman)
3. A bunch of other guys trying to catch the ball if it is hit (the olivers)

Close inspection of this photo shows that even the umpire has a sponsor logo on his shirt.

 Stands are empty.  The group of people to the left are taking a tour of the stadium.

 Comparing cricket to baseball (always risky, since I barely understand baseball), cricket seems to move faster.  There's none of the endless fussing by the batter at the plate or by the pitcher on the mound.  The ball is hit on most throws, and since there are no foul balls, every hit counts.  This is why scores of 400 runs is not unusual, and an individual player can score 100.

 They are serious that you stay in your seat while the game is going on.

 This is the famous "father time" weather vane at Lord's.

 The teams take a 45-minute lunch break, and a mid-afternoon tea break.  The players have lunch in dining rooms at either end of the Lord's clubhouse.

 My goal in life is to understand what this means:

 This is the press box.  Called the UFO.

I think the reason I find cricket confusing is because of the language used to describe it.  Here is an actual quote from an article by Simon Wilde in the 21 August Sunday Times: "Striving for the follow-up yorker, Broad overpitched, allowing Tendulkar to get off the mark with a boundary, but there were few such gifts.  Tendulkar on 14 gave a half-chance return catch to Tim Bresnan, who also hit him with a short ball.  He has been out-thought by England's pacemen this summer but it was Swann who got him this time, gloving a sweep to first slip."  The only clause in that paragraph that I understand is "there were few such gifts," but I don't even follow what the gift was.

The rules are no easier.  Here's a quote from the Laws of Cricket:
LAW 36 LEG BEFORE WICKET
1. Out LBW
The striker is out LBW in the circumstances set out below.
(a) The bowler delivers a ball, not being a No Ball, and
(b) the, ball, if it is not intercepted full pitch, pitches in line between wicket and wicket or on the off side of the striker's wicket, and
(c) the ball not previously having touched his bat, the striker intercepts the ball, either full pitch or after pitching with any part of his person, and
(d) the point of impact, even if above the level of the bails,
either (i) is between wicket and wicket
or (ii) if the striker has made no genuine attempt to play the ball with his bat, is either between wicket and wicket or outside the line of the off stump
and,
(e) but for the interception, the ball would have hit the wicket.

As best as I can tell, this means that you are out as a batter if you intentionally let the ball hit you.

In summary, my first step in understanding cricket is to learn that it can be enjoyable to watch even if you don't know why certain things are going on.