Cricket Wickets and a Dog Named Knickers

A bunch of American students trying to play cricket. Yup, it must have been quite a sight.

This morning Bill taught Katie, Clara, Anne, Eric and I how to play cricket in Hyde Park. We weren't exactly sure what we were doing most of the time (even once Bill explained the rules), but we still had a whack at it (sorry, bad pun).

And while cricket is similar to baseball, we quickly discovered some differences:

• Cricket's played in a 360-degree field, so there's no such thing as a foul ball.
• You can't strike out in cricket but ...
• ... cricket bats are significantly heavier and more awkward to swing than baseball bats.
• There aren't four bases in cricket, just two wickets.
• Communication between the two batters (yes, two) is crucial to score runs. Points are scored when the two batters run past each other on their way to the wicket on the other side of the pitch.
• Forgetting to carry the bat with you when you run can cost you quite a few runs.
• There are a lot more rules and terminology to remember in cricket than in baseball.
• There's a lot more strategy and thinking involved in cricket than baseball. It took us forever to get used to the fact that you don't have to run to the wicket after each hit.

Usually you don't play with so few people, but we did have one more player I haven't mentioned yet: Knickers the dog. While Bill was setting up the wickets, a tiny dog trotted up to us and looked expectantly at the ball in my hand. Taking his cue, I threw the ball across the field and he darted after it. We ended up chatting with his owner for a while and even invited her to play with us.

After a few hours of play, we were exhausted so we called it a day. Besides, by that point we had realized none of us would ever become professional cricket players, and in true London style, it had started to rain a bit.

As promised, here's a photo of all of us on our make-shift cricket pitch.


Front: Bill and Knickers, Back (from left to right): Anne, Clara, the Sports Marketing professor (sorry, I don't remember her name), me and Katie.