Sports Recommendation

Cricket

Cricket is a team sport that trains your hand-eye coordination and the maneuverability of your four limbs. It is popular in countries such as the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, South-Africa, India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka.

The origin of cricket

The origin of cricket can be roughly traced back to the 13th century. According to various sources, cricket was hailed as a noble sport invented by Edward I, the king of England at the time. In the 18th century, the Marylebone Cricket Club from England established the first laws of cricket - the prototype of modern rules of cricket - and is the only organization that is entitled to amend the rules.

The development of cricket

Wickets used in cricket competitions in the early days of the sport only had two vertical stumps and one long bail. This was eventually modified to the wicket with three stumps and two bails we see today. The International Cricket Council was founded in 1909 to manage international cricket affairs and hold international competitions, and has over 100 member institutions nowadays. The Asian Cricket Council founded in 1983 is an affiliated institution of the International Cricket Council. It mainly promotes and develops cricket in Asia, and now has 25 members including Hong Kong.

Cricket has over a hundred year of history in Hong Kong and the first cricket game to be played in Hong Kong took place in 1841. The Hong Kong Cricket Association was founded in 1968 to promote local cricket, and has held the “Hong Kong Cricket Sixes” - a competition recognized by the International Cricket Council – many times since 1992.

Cricket pitch and gear

Cricket is played on a turf pitch. The cricket pitch is rectangular in shape, and is usually 20.12m long and 3.05m wide, while the artificial turf should be at least 17.68m long, 1.83m wide. Placed at both ends of the pitch are three wooden stumps surmounted by two wooden bails to make up a “wicket”. The bowling and batting areas are designated respectively on both ends of the pitch.

A cricket ball consists of cork covered by red leather. In men’s cricket, the ball weighs between 155.9 to 163g, while the ball used in women’s and youth’s cricket is lighter and smaller. The bat is made of wood, and its length and width must not be more than 96.5cm and 10.8cm respectively. The ball used in the game must be confirmed by the umpire and the captains, and kept by the umpire until a coin is tossed to decide who will play offence or defence when the game starts.

The gear of a batsman

The rules of Cricket

Cricket is a sport which is comprised of batting, bowling and fielding. The game is played between two teams of 11 players each, with one team batting while the other defending. The two playing teams decide whether they will play one or two innings in one match for each side. The offending team will send two batsmen each time, and one will bat while the other will help with the scoring. All eleven members of the defending team, including the bowler, will take to the field. If the bowled ball hits the wicket behind the batsman, he may be dismissed. The other members of the defending team would then be fielders, who will attempt to catch the ball if the batsman manages to hit the ball to stop the batsman from scoring. After the batting team finishes its inning, the two teams will switch position, and eventually the team with the higher score wins the game. In addition, although all members of the team playing offence has the chance to bat, the whole team is out if ten of them are struck out.

The objective of defending team is to strike all batsmen out. There are several ways to achieve this, namely by bowling them out, which means the bowled ball delivered by the bowler hits the wicket (regardless of any ball contact with the batsman’s bat, gloves or any part of the his body); by catching them out, which means the ball is caught by fielders inside the pitch after it has touched the batsman’s bat or gloves but has not yet touched the ground; or by running them out, which means a member of the fielding side catches the ball after it is bowled, and hits the wicket with the ball fairly and reasonably before the batsman's body and his bat are in the area behind the popping crease.

The Hong Kong cricket athlete strongly bowled the ball during the competition. The left corner of the photo is a wicket.

Promoting cricket

The Hong Kong Cricket Association regularly holds cricket leagues and proactively promote cricket among secondary and primary students through trainings and competitions and enable local students to be exposed to cricket. The Association also holds training events, fun days and related programs in community to increase public interest in cricket. For further details, please visit the website of Hong Kong Cricket Association (www.hkcricket.org) or call the Association (Tel: 2504 8103) to enquire.

Sources :
International Cricket Council (http://www.icc-cricket.com)
Asian Cricket Council (http://www.asiancricket.org)
Hong Kong Cricket Association (http://www.hkcricket.org)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket)