A Tribute to My Fanatical Sport: Cricket
Cricket – one of the most famous sports.People are crazy about watching cricket match,especially in Asia.Unfortunately,cricket is not an Olympic sport.Cricket was played in the 16th century in England for the first time. It is played between two teams.Each team has eleven players.There are also three umpires:neutral umpire, leg umpire and third umpire. Neutral umpire stands at the bowling end of the cricket pitch and makes most decisions of catches and LBWs, while theleg umpire watches over run-outs and stumps, but when both umpires rarely fail to decide –usually run-outs and stumps – then the third umpire is called for. The third umpireis sat in a room and decides the outcome after watching that moment on TV in slow motion. If he turns on the green light, then it means that the batsman is not out, but the red light indicatesthat the batsman is out.
There are three formats of this game which are approved by the International Cricket Council:
- Test
- One-Day
- Twenty-Twenty (T-20)
Test:
In a Test match there is no limit of overs, and the team have five days to play. Both teams try to stay on the pitch as much as possible and score more and more runs.
One-Day:
In a One-day match,there is a limit of 50 overs. The team that is batting tries to score runs within 50 overs and avoid losing wickets, and the team that is bowling tries to take wickets and stop the other team from scoring. After the 50 overs are done, the teams switch roles and the basic drill of the game is repeated. The team that bats first sets a target score which the other team must surpass in order to win.
Twenty-Twenty (T-20)
T-20 is similar to One-day format butplayed over a few hours with each team batting for a single inning of 20 overs instead of 50 overs.
Basics of Cricket:
During the game thirteen players (bowlers, batsmen, fielders, and a wicket keeper) including two umpires will be on the ground. Nine players of the batting team will be sitting in the pavilion and wait for their turn to bat. The batting team scores runs to set a target for the other team.If the second team achieves the target then they win the game, and if they don’t, they lose the game. Some players are called bowlers because they are good at bowling and some players have good batting skillsso they are called batsmen but if they are good at both then they are called all-rounders.
Equipment required playing:
Wooden bat;cork ball; wooden stumps andbails;protective gear like knee pads, loin guards, helmets, gloves and elbow guards.
Teams from different countries participate in cricket. Prominent national teams are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, West Indies and Zimbabwe. All teams specially strive to win three big events of cricket: One day International World Cup,T-20 World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy. Australia has won the most ODI World Cup tournaments and then West Indies.
ODI World Cup winners:
Year Winner
1975 West Indies
1979 West Indies
1983 India
1987 Australia
1992 Pakistan
1996 Sri Lanka
1999 Australia
2003 Australia
2007 Australia
2011 India
2015 Australia
Overall T-20 World Champions Summary: (West Indies won the most T-20 World Cups)
Year Winner
2007 India
2009 Pakistan
2010 England
2012 West Indies
2014 Sri Lanka
2016 West Indies