Not Cricket

Saturday evening found us parked again at Darley Abbey in Derby. The car park adjoins a cricket field where a game was underway. I decided to watch and take some pix and see if I could figure out what was going on. The game is quite similar to American baseball in that 99% of the time the players just stand around, looking intense, and scratching their private parts. There the similarities end, however. In cricket, they all wear the same white uniforms, which is confusing. They do not chew. Detailed statistics are kept, I understand, though in a form unintelligible to baseball fans. An inning is called an innings. Innings are called innings, too. The batter is called a batsman. The pitcher is called the bowler, and he has his own 22 yard-long runway for winding up and delivering the...bowl. The runway is called the pitch. The ball is about the size of a mature plum. There are no bases, as such. Batsmen are dismissed rather than put out. There are also wickets, stumps, and creases and other matters very different from baseball. However, each side has 11 players, making cricket more similar to American football than baseball; in that respect.

They were still playing as darkness fell. It was all very edifying, but I don't care if I never go back.

The is the view from behind home plate; I saw no umpire; perhaps he is also
wearing white

Still behind home plate; everyone is poised...something is about to happen...

This is the cricket clubhouse

These are the fans, not including me; no one was selling nor consuming peanuts 
nor crackerjack, nor hot dogs, nor beer, nor anything else 

This is the view from 1st base; well, where 1st base would be...

View from right center field; look just right of dead center and you will see the
bowler winding up to deliver his bowl; whoa! a 93 mph fast-ball bouncing off
the turf in front of the batsperson! Swing and a miss!

View from 3rd base...apparently a break in the "action"; or perhaps the 7th
innings stretch; at which point, thus edified, and ready to set down my
impressions of this great Commonwealth sport, I returned to the car park