Did you know that the first ever international cricket match was between the USA and Canada? Predates the first Test match between Australia and England by 33 years. The Philadelphia cricket team was actually very good in the early part of last century, but membership was decimated during the First World War and never recovered.
Yes I do when they are outside. We had one in our office for what seemed like weeks.
They are much better kept in the backyard. You know the rules. No swinging in the office!!! ;D!
This post was edited by Merlin at December 1, 2018 10:09 PM MST
My father and brother are big fans of cricket, both international and county, but I'm not that keen on it. I can be persuaded to watch it for a couple of hours if the play is of a very high standard.
Not if you actually study it and know the game. For example, what effect does a pitcher's positioning on the rubber have on the break of the pitch? You have no idea, do you?
Have you ever seen a ball curve in one direction, bounce and break in completely the opposite direction? Experienced a frisson of fear when a huge man is about to hurl a missile at you at 100mph, knowing that he wants it to hit you? In baseball, if a batter is hit by a pitch, he gets a free base. Do you know what a batter in cricket gets for free when he gets hit? A bruise. In baseball, to be legal a ball must pass with a window - over the plate, above the knee, below the shoulder. A legal delivery in cricket has to be within the batter's reach, be bowled from at least 22 yards away and not bounce more than once. It can be on his toes or up his nose. In front of, behind or right AT him. When the batter plays his shot, it can go in any direction perfectly legally, it needn't be within the 90 degree arc defined as the no-foul zone in baseball (there are no fouls in cricket). The fielding captain must place his fielders to counter this, in an area twice the size af a baseball field. Runs are easier to score, there are far more ways a batter can be out, the raised seam and shiny surface of a cricket ball causes it to swing in the air - and when it starts to scuff, cricketers will shine one side only, to cause it to swing towards the scuffed side even more due to drag. Then when the ball gets old, the perspiration and saliva used to shine the ball (artificial substances are not allowed) causes one side to weigh more than the other, so it can swing in reverse. In baseball, you get 18 innings (nine each team) in one afternoon. In cricket, a single inning can go for days.
I've seen a bit of it. One of my colleagues was also a baseball umpire and tried to get the rest of us interested. Frankly, it strikes me as a simple game for simple folks, like soccer. Strategy is absent.
Your lack of knowledge of baseball hardly equates to a lack of strategy in the game. Know what double switch, hit-and-run, LOOGY, pinching the corners, and pitchout mean? You should have quit while you were ahead instead of criticizing that which you know little about.
Stu, he's right; you're faltering here. If I remember correctly, Slart is a trained cricket *referee, albeit not at the professional level, making him but more knowledgeable about the sport than not only the average person but also more than a non-fan in a country where it's not even played. Additionally, being a sport that's been popular in his native country for at least a century, coupled with the fact that he has been indoctrinated in it from a young age, he's got you in this one.
*I may be wrong about Slart being a referee, it might be another Aussie on here with whom I have confused him.
~ 
Randy D 