21 July 2011
7-8.30 pm
Canton Public Library
1200 South Canton Center Road
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Michael Makin, M.A., D. Phil.,
Professor of Slavic Languages
and Literatures, University of
Michigan
(mlmakin@umich.edu)
Information Director, Michigan
Cricket Academy
(http://micricketacademy.word
press.com/)
President, Motown Cricket
Club, in the Michigan Cricket
Association league
(www.michca.org)
Himself, in his youth, a very
mediocre cricketer, but always
a sports fan, and now the
father of two youth cricketers
(ages 15 and 12)
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Games have been played for millennia …
But until the last 200 years they were
mostly “folk games”, some of which
survive to the present (horseshoes, for
example)
Team sports were also played, but every
village had its own rules and customs
All around the world people played games
with a big ball that could be thrown or
kicked, and games with a smaller ball (or
similar) that could be hit with a stick
In many countries, versions of those folk
team games also survive to this day – for
example, Russia’s lapta, England’s
rounders – but when one or more versions
of those games became standardized and
widely played in the same way, a modern
sport was born
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Gradually, in more recent centuries, out of
those folk games have emerged modern,
organized sports played in roughly the same
way first across a whole country, then across
the world
The sticks, stones, and gates supposedly
used by shepherds in the English hill country
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… slowly turned into bats, balls, and wickets,
with widely agreed sizes and shapes, used in
games with a set of rules applied everywhere
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They didn’t “invent” modern team sports
They created them, mostly in modern,
industrial society, out of what already
existed …
… by codifying folk sports
Giving them sets of rules that everyone
played by.
Enabling sophisticated development,
commercial settings, widespread
competition, etc.
So out of the ancient game of Real (Royal)
Tennis, which is played on indoor courts
of different shapes at different locations,
and out of other racquet games, comes
quickly-codified Lawn Tennis at the end
of the C 19th, as a pursuit for the English
middle classes, soon spreading to the
rest of the world
Only a few modern, professional sports
are codified before industrialization…
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Lots of different stick and ball
games played around Europe
Something like modern golf
begins to emerge in Scotland
in the C17th, and is codified
early in the C18th, before the
Industrial Revolution
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So golf is very different in
character from all other major,
international sports (for
example, it has a notionally
rural, not urban setting,
requiring lots of land)
Cricket has a somewhat similar
early history
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The world’s second-most popular team
sport was also codified early (C18th), which
helps to explain why it so different from
other team sports – its modern shape
expresses its rural roots, not modern, urban
character
Even its junior relative, baseball, has playing
conditions that are quite different from
cricket (because baseball emerges in the
second half of the C19th as a codified sport).
Like other pre-industrial codifications,
cricket’s codification was done largely to
make gambling easier and less likely to lead
to violence and/or legal suits
Like golf, modern cricket retains many signs
of its pre-industrial roots: requires a large
ground; top form of the game played over
five days; domestic competition in its
homeland (and elsewhere) not between
urban, but regional teams, etc…
As with Association Football, Rugby, Golf,
and Tennis, the British Empire and British
trade helped spread other codified, British
sports across the world
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The creation of the codes of football
… out of round and oval-ball games played
everywhere in the world (and different in every
locality)
Thus Association Football (so-called because it
had the first governing body, 1863, and hence
the nickname soccer from “Association”), then
Rugby Football, later in two codes – one
amateur, one professional, all shaped by the
social and economic practices of urban,
industrial Britain
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Australian, American codes develop later; while
the Gaelic code emerged in 1887 to repel the
invading English codes and protect the
traditional, folk game in Ireland (here an
interesting counter-example: for political
reasons, native folk sports were codified,
politicized as national, anti-colonialist activities,
and, therefore, subsequently retained their
popularity in Ireland)
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British-codified sports, led by Association
Football, spread globally because:
Britain led the world in industrialization (and
then exported its industrial practices and/or
had them copied)
The British empire brings British culture to
every corner of the world
Britain was first and foremost a trading nation
(lots of contact everywhere, lots of expats)
C19th Britain promoted the idea that organized
sport had a powerful moral and ideological
role, an idea that found echoes world-wide.
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There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night
Ten to make and the match to win
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play, and the last man in.
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And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat.
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
The sand of the desert is sodden red –
Red with the wreck of a square that broke
The gatling's jammed and the colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed its banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks –
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the school is set,
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind –
Play up! Play up! And play the game!”
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Henry Newbolt, “Vitae Lampada” (1892)
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Classic expression of the idea that British school sports
prepare boys to be men in the Empire
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…Sons of the sheltered city-unmade, unhandled, unmeetYe pushed them raw to the battle as ye picked them raw from the street.
And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learned in a breath,
Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?
So? And ye train your horses and the dogs ye feed and prize?
How are the beasts more worthy than the souls, your sacrifice?
But ye said, "Their valour shall show them"; but ye said, "The end is
close."
And ye sent them comfits and pictures to help them harry your foes:
And ye vaunted your fathomless power, and ye flaunted your iron pride,
Ere ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could shoot and
ride!
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your souls
With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals.
Given to strong delusion, wholly believing a lie,
Ye saw that the land lay fenceless, and ye let the months go by
Waiting some easy wonder, hoping some saving signIdle -openly idle-in the lee of the forespent Line.
Idle -except for your boasting-and what is your boasting worth
If ye grudge a year of service to the lordliest life on earth
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Do ye wait for the spattered shrapnel ere ye learn how a gun is laid?
For the low, red glare to southward when the raided coast- towns burn?
(Light ye shall have on that lesson, but little time to learn.)
Will ye pitch some white pavilion, and lustily even the odds,
With nets and hoops and mallets, with rackets and bats and rods
Will the rabbit war with your foemen-the red deer horn them for hire?
Rudyard Kipling, from “Islanders” (1902)
Kipling, anxious after the Boer War, anticipates that
Germany will go to war with Britain, and fears that the
British care more about sports than warfare
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In the early nineteenth century, wealthy British
aristocrats would put together ad hoc teams for
matches on which they wagered large sums
By the end of the century, formal league tournaments
existed in England, and an English national team
began playing international fixtures, first and
foremost with what remains the greatest opponent
for the English: Australia
Other nations in the Empire, and later the
Commonwealth, followed suite
By the middle of the C20th India, Pakistan, South
Africa, New Zealand, and the West Indies (the
Anglophone countries of the Caribbean) were all
competing at the highest level
Later came Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh
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Until the Civil War, cricket was very popular in the USA
Baseball began to take over in the second half of the C19th (a
more urban game, requiring less space and less time)
But in the C20th expatriates from major cricketing countries kept
the game alive
And it is now again a burgeoning sport across the USA
In MichCA alone, 22 teams compete in two leagues this year, and
there is a second set of leagues in Michigan, run by another
cricketing body
The USA has national teams at the U-15, U-19, and senior level,
and they are becoming more competitive every year
Canton opened its first cricket ground last year.
Players born in the following countries have appeared for
Motown Cricket Club in the last two years: USA, India, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, South Africa, England, Trinidad
“Before the Civil War, a time when baseball was little more than an
unorganized children's game, cricket was the most prominent team sport in
America, a testimony to England's continued influence upon American
tastes and trends. Bolstered by the country's success in the annual United
States vs. Canada cricket matches that began in 1853, and by the visit in
1859 of an English all-star cricket team, cricket seemed destined to become
America's future national pastime”.
“Most of the country's ante-bellum cricket interest centered in the Eastern
cities of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, but Michigan also got caught
up in cricket fever. At least half a dozen cricket clubs were active in the
state during this period, including the Pioneer Cricket Club organized by
Michigan students in 1861, the University's first documented foray into the
world of organized athletics”.
“Cricket, however, was on a path of irreversible decline that continued
uninterrupted, with the exception of a few locations like Philadelphia, to
World War I, by which time it was little more than a curiosity played only by
immigrants from cricket-playing countries. And that has been its status ever
since”.
“EXCERPTS FROM SPRING TODAY 1999 EDITORIAL
IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS CRICKET BY
TOM MELVILLE”
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The aim of cricket is simple - score more runs than the opposition.
But the game is played in different formats and in some games it's
possible to get a draw even if you don't score as many runs as the
opposition.
The game is played on a large field, although the ball is delivered
and hit on a central strip, know as the pitch or wicket.
At opposite ends of the pitch are the wickets or stumps which the
batsmen have to protect
By running between those two sets of stumps, or by hitting the ball
beyond the boundary ropes, the batsmen score runs
By hitting the stumps with a delivery missed by the batsman, by
catching the ball on the full after it has been hit by a batsman, by
throwing down the stumps before a batsman has reached the crease
(cf tag or force in basball), by hitting the stumps when a batsman
has left his crease to play a shot, or by hitting the batsman’s body
with a delivery in line with the stumps, a batsman is dismissed (out)
Eleven men field and bowl, up to eleven men may bat, but only once
in each innings
There is no foul territory – balls are live when hit around 360
degrees; you do not have to run if you hit the ball; you can run if you
have not hit the ball
There are far more fielding positions than fielders – the captain must
position fielders according to the state of the game
Bowlers deliver the ball to the batsman from 22 yards, after taking a
run-up; usually the ball will bounce in front of the batsman; it will
often move in the air and/or off the pitch; fast bowlers can bowl up to
100 miles an hour, spin bowlers bowl much slower, deceiving the
batsman with the trajectory and with turn off the pitch
Professional and international matches can last for several days with
each side batting twice. Most recreational games last a day or less
Confused? It's not that difficult. Check out what the BBC has to say
about the game:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/rules_and_equipmen
t/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/skills/default.stm
Introduction to Cricket
Equipment
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England’s Jonathan Trott
batting today at Lord’s in the
first Test Match (five-day
match) of a series against
India, current top team in the
world
Trott is trying to place the ball
where there are no fielders,
and then to score runs; but he
is also defending his stumps –
if they are hit by a delivery, he
will be out.
Note his equipment, and that
of the Indian Wicket Keeper
and captain, M. S. Dhoni: pads,
gloves, helmets and other
protection (the ball is very
hard; it takes courage to face
fast bowling, players are often
hit and sometimes injured)
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Indian spinner Harbhajan
Singh bowling last month in
a Test Match between the
West Indies and India
A spinner takes a short
run-up, and uses his
fingers or wrist to turn the
ball in the air, whereas a
fast bowler has a longer run
up, and uses speed, and
movement in the air and off
the pitch to beat the
batsman
The ball must be delivered
from besides the stumps,
with a straight arm
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South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes,
one of the greatest close
fielders of all time, takes a
diving catch.
In the field, only the WK has
pads and gloves; everyone else
catches the ball bare-handed
Rhodes is wearing a colored
uniform because he is not
playing in a five-day Test
Match, but in a match that
lasts only one day, in which
teams may bat only for a
limited number of deliveries.
“Limited-overs” matches must
end in a result; Test Matches
and other multi-day matches
can be won, lost, or drawn (no
result). Draws can be dull or
amazing exciting as teams
battle to prevent defeat
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The inside of a cricket ball is made of
cork while the outside is made of red or
white leather. The leather is then stitched
together around the centre and this area
being called the seam.
This seam is slightly raised and it's this
area which fast bowlers use to hit the
pitch when it bounces.
With a little help from the pitch, the angle
of the delivery will (hopefully) change
direction and cause lots of problems for
the batsman.
One ball is used for many deliveries:
when the ball is “new” it moves faster,
and fast bowlers bowl it; as it ages and is
roughened, the spinners will use it more,
since it will turn more, gripping the
surface as it bounces and “doing more”
in the air
In different climatic conditions the ball will
“behave” very differently – swinging
through the air and moving off the pitch
in England, keeping low on the Subcontinent, and turning more on dryer
wickets.
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“Law 6 of the Laws of Cricket, as the
rules of the game are known, limit
the size of the bat to not more than
38 in (965 mm) long and the blade
may not be more than 4.25 in
(108 mm) wide. Bats typically weigh
from 2 lb 7 oz to 3 lb (1.1 to 1.4 kg)
though there is no standard. The
handle is usually covered with a
rubber grip and the face of the bat
may have a protective film”.
The bat is made from willow, a
springy wood. A batsman maintains
his bat with linseed oil, after he has
“knocked in” a new bat. A good bat
may last several seasons
Different weights, shapes, and
weight distribution suit different
styles of play.
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Two umpires officiate the game on the field of play, but at
international level there's also a third umpire on the sidelines ,
using video equipment for review, and a match referee. One
umpire stands behind the stumps at the bowler's end of the pitch,
while the other umpire stands at square leg.
The umpire at the bowler's end makes most decisions on
dismissals but the square leg umpire (level with the batsman’s
legs, but usually some thirty yards into the outfield) will judge
stumpings and run-outs.
Only an umpire can give a batsman out after an appeal from the
fielding side. So, strictly speaking, every dismissal is made after
an appeal by the fielding side – they must ask the umpire if the
batsman is out – although if the dismissal is clear (bowled, clearly
caught) the batsman does not usually wait for the umpire’s
decision
The batsmen should be given any benefit of doubt.
This means that if an umpire is unsure about a decision, then the
batsman should be given not out.
The umpires change position at the end of each over (six legal
deliveries)
If a batsman stands his ground and no appeal is made by the
fielding side, then he shouldn't be given out by an umpire.
The umpires indicate no-balls, byes, leg-byes, wides (various
ways of scoring/conceding runs which are not scored by the
batsman), boundaries and sixes to the scorers, who keep a
running total of the runs scored.
The third umpire uses replays to rule on run-outs, stumpings,
whether a ball has hit the ground before being caught or when it's
unclear if the ball has crossed the boundary or not.
However, the third umpire can only rule if the decision is referred
to them by the umpires out on the pitch.
The match referee rules on disciplinary matters.
If a player shows disagrees by arguing with an umpire about a
decision then the match referee can fine the player in question.
It is a strong tradition of the game that umpires must always be
respected and arguing with the umpire is a very serious infraction
of the game’s written and unwritten rules.
In the picture to the left, a Test Match umpire is about to rule on
an appeal for a catch.
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The two captains toss a coin for the right to
choose whether to bat or bowl first. The captain
who wins the toss will take a number of factors
into consideration like the pitch, weather
conditions and the form of his side.
Because of the importance of the pitch, which
will change over the course of the match, and
the weather, winning the toss can and then
making the right decision (to bat or to field) can
be very important.
Play changes end after each over.
An over is six deliveries bowled by one bowler.
In other words, the fielding team must change
bowlers every over, although bowlers may bowl
a series of overs, but only alternating with
another bowler, bowling from the other end; in
limited-overs formats of the game, there is also
a restriction on the number of overs any one
bowler may deliver
When an over is completed play switches to
the other end and continues like this throughout
the game.
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A match will normally be played with each side
having one innings in a limited overs game or with
both sides batting twice in a game played over a
number of days. Test matches are played over five
days, while professional domestic “first-class”
matches are played over four days.
Limited over cricket involves both sides bowling
the same amount of overs to score their runs from,
with the winner being the team that scores the
most.
In most first class competitions each side will
receive up to 50 overs, but in schools cricket it is
oftena lot less.
However, if, for example, a team is bowled out
after 40 overs in a 50 over match, the other team
still has the full 50 overs in which to beat their
score.
Play in Test matches is usually split into three two
hour sessions, although a minimum number of
overs to be bowled in a day is also usually agreed
between the sides before a series begins.
A 40-minute lunch break is taken between the first
two sessions of a day's play, with 20 minutes
being allowed for tea after the end of the second
session.
Usually supporters speak of one or other team
being “on top”, rather than winning, since only the
final score indicates what has happened – during
the match, a team can bat well and seem to be on
top, but then lose wickets quickly and be under
great pressure
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In cricketing countries the pitch is, ideally, a
very finely-cut and very well-maintained strip
of grass on which batting and bowling takes
place. In the USA we normally play on artificial
pitches, which are easier to maintain: either
Astroturf on a concrete base, or matting, laid
on top of very well-rolled sand.
The size of the field on which the game is
played varies from ground to ground but the
pitch is always a rectangular area of 22 yards
(20.12m) in length and 10ft (3.05m) in width.
The popping (batting) crease is marked 1.22m
in front of the stumps at either end, with the
stumps set along the bowling crease.
The return creases are marked at right angles
to the popping and bowling creases and are
measured 1.32m either side of the middle
stumps.
The bowler must deliver the ball from behind
the crease, the batsman is “in” when part of his
body or his bat is behind the popping crease,
but he may, if he wishes, receive the ball
outside of the popping crease (although that is
to risk being stumped).
The two sets of wickets at opposite ends of the
pitch stand 71.1cm high and three stumps
measure 22.86 cm wide in total.
Made out of ash the stumps have two bails on
top and the wicket is only broken if at least
one bail is removed (cricket bats are always
made of willow)
If the ball hits the wicket but without knocking
a bail off, then the batsman is not out.
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The game prides
itself on the spirit in
which it is played
Although rivalries are
fierce and rules are
often broken,
handshakes and
camaraderie also
characterize cricket,
from club level to the
international game
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Batsman who score
50s and 100s
receive special
attention
Bowlers who take
five or more
dismissals in an
innings are also
regarded as having
achieved a
landmark feat
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Best batsman in the world
today: Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Other fine batsmen: Mahela
Jawardene (Sri Lanka), Ricky
Ponting (Australia), Alastair
Cook (England), and many
others
Great modern bowlers: Dale
Steyn (South Africa), Harbhajan
Singh (India), Graham Swann
(England), Shoaib Akhtar
(Pakistan), and many others
Great all-rounders (bowl and
bat): Jacques Kallis (South
Africa), Daniel Vettori (New
Zealand)
Great wicket keepers: M. S.
Dhoni (India), Kumar
Sangakarra (Sri Lanka)
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The International Cricket Conference runs
cricket
There are ten full member countries, 36
associate members, and 60 affiliate
members
The USA is an associate member
And we are part of the Central East Region,
which covers 11 states, though Illinois and
Michigan are the main cricketing states
MichCA is one of two cricketing bodies
running adult tournaments in Michigan
Its stated mission is to “promote the game
of CRICKET in the state on Michigan
through the development of infrastructure,
involvement of businesses, communities,
government bodies and the school
districts. Develop MICHCA as one of the
premier cricket bodies and position
MICHCA as a key player / contributor to
USACA and ICC.”
Michigan Cricket Academy is the only body
in the state devoted exclusively to the
development of youth cricketers. It runs
coaching sessions, holds tournaments,
develops players who participate in adult
leagues, and sends teams to youth
tournaments across the country
Michigan Cricket Association
(MichCA)
Established 2001
Charter
Members
MichCA
Governing
Body
P&R
Treasurer
Chairman
Vice
Chairman
Secretary
Executive Members/Committees
Committees: Constitution, Event Management, Finance, Grounds, Media,
Rules/Discipline, Schedule, Stats, Umpiring, Website/Database, Youth Cricket
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Now we can watch
some excerpts from
a famous series –
England vs
Australia for “The
Ashes” in 2005 …
… and look at some
cricket equipment
http://micricketacademy.wordpress.com/
Michael Makin,
Information Director, Michigan Cricket Academy
mlmakin@umich.edu
734-646-4821
www.michca.org
Shahid Ahmed
Chairman, Michigan Cricket Association
shahidahmed123@hotmail.com
248-890-2153