Cricket on a Sunday

Despite the many years I've spent traveling around the former British empire, I've never quite been able to figure out cricket. It seemed the most inscrutable and interminable of sports--bowlers and overs going on for days. And all while dressed in lovely white outfits.

Douglas Adams had an interesting take on cricket--in his parallel universe, cricket players were actually storm troopers, killing machines. And they wreaked a bit of havoc when materializing during an important match.

In reality, cricket is complex, more a game of strategy than action, not unlike baseball. Even much of the terminology is similar--hits, outs, runs. But the mathematics is more complex, with a hit being worth from zero to six runs, depending on how and where it is hit. There are two hitters, multiple pitchers (here called bowlers), two bases, ten outs and 50 overs. Well, in a single day match. In test cricket, which can go on for days, the numbers change.

Sunday there was an India-Pakistan one day match, which the entire country watched with rapt attention. Pakistan did well initially, but then was proven not to have as good a strategy as thought--leaving your best hitters until last, or so Imran Khan declared loudly and frequently, is not a way to win.

Anyway, one of the best reasons to watch cricket is Dhoni: