Cricket may be “somewhat impenetrable” to outsiders, per The Times, but only to those who resist penetration. The quadriennial Cricket World Cup, which started recently, “enraptures lovers of the game” from Durham to Durban, says the journal. I, for one, a perennial outsider, am spoiling for rapture.

The game’s lingo can be exotic: top-rated batter Babar Azam is said to average a “gaudy” 58 runs per game. More RPGs than 58 would qualify as “flamboyant.”

The lingo can wallop equally with understatement: veteran bowlers Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc “are expected to get more than their share of batters out.”

And a certain archly prim manière d’en parler can taste like apple pie: Ben Stokes, an ace at both batting and bowling, is an “all-rounder,” by gosh! The term could have issued from my grandmother’s lips.

EthicalDative isn’t a long-form blog, so I can’t précis the article’s whisper and promise on how cricket is played. A key to understanding the game is to forget baseball. The bowler gets a running start and usually bounces the ball to the batsman. The batsman is allowed to hit the ball in any direction, including backwards. There are two batsmen, not one, who take turns trying to hit balls. They may run between two low posts called wickets, or may decide not to.

That much I know.

(Victor Mather, “How to Become a Crickert Expert Just in Time for the Cricket World Cup,” New York Times, 10-4-23)

(c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved