New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 98 runs in the first match of the ICC World Cup. I know this will be late news for almost every NZer, but just in case there are some who slept all through yesterday, or were otherwise not able to communicate with anyone or have access to the radio, television, newspapers, Internet or smoke signals, remember you read it here first.
For those who are unfortunate to live where the gentlemen’s sport of cricket is unknown, New Zealand and Australia are co-hosting the 2015 ICC World cup between 14 February and 29 March. The competition sees 14 countries compete for the cup, playing the ODI (One Day International) version of the game. The countries taking part are (by ranking) England, South Africa, India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan, Scotland, and United Arab Emirates.
If you are unsure how the game of cricket is played, here’s a simple explanation:
- You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
- Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
- When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.
- Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
- When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
- There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
- Depending on the weather and the light, the umpires can also send everybody in, no matter if they’re in or out.
- When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game
The rules, of course, are much more complicated but the above explanation should go a long way to making sense of the game.
Another Spectrum 
15 Feb, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Bwahahaha! And i always wanted to know the ins and outs of cricket – well played Sir Barry, well played. It is apparent that you were waiting for this exquisitely opportune time in cricket history to re-appear to your waiting audience. Welcome Back!
15 Feb, 2015 at 4:33 pm
It’s nice to be back 🙂
15 Feb, 2015 at 4:44 pm
“When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.”
Huh? What? That makes no sense. I still don’t understand it. I prefer American football and the Super Bowl or American baseball and the World Series. They make perfect sense to me.
15 Feb, 2015 at 7:42 pm
Well, this explanation of baseball makes no sense to me:
This is a game played by two teams, one out, the other in. The one that’s in sends players out one at a time to see if they can get in before they get out. If they get out before they get in, they come in, but it doesn’t count. If they get in before they get out, it does count.
When the ones out get three outs from the ones in before they get in without being out, the team that’s out comes in and the team in goes out to get those going in out before they get in without being out.
When both teams have been in and out nine times, the game is over. The team with the most in without being out before coming in wins unless the ones in are equal. In which case, the last ones in go out to get the ones in out before they get in without being out.
The game will end when each team has the same number of ins out but one team has more in without being out before coming in.
15 Feb, 2015 at 9:49 pm
Barry when you explain the ins and outs of cricket with that Kiwi accent it just makes it all so clear. 😀
16 Feb, 2015 at 3:42 am
Pretty straightfoward, right?
16 Feb, 2015 at 3:42 am
um, “straightforward.”
17 Feb, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Well, in my opinion its about as straight forward as the Pope being Protestant.
15 Feb, 2015 at 8:06 pm
And Doobster, how come the World Series is called that when it is open only to North American teams?
16 Feb, 2015 at 3:43 am
Who cares about the rest of the world, Barry? This is ‘Merica!