Friday Nights are for Cricket

An American attempts to understand one of Britain’s oldest sports

By Darienne Stiyer

If you were to read the bath towels and handkerchiefs in the gift shop of London’s storied Lord’s Cricket Grounds that "explain" cricket to a foreign visitor, you would think they were intentionally making fun of you for not knowing anything about the sport. And you would be right. But in our defense, the whole new set of terms alone is enough to scramble the brain. Trying to learn and remember the rules then becomes an even harder task.

One thing that was easy to remember was the claim our Lord's tour guide, Tony, so eloquently made: watching cricket is thirsty business. Luckily, I got to test that theory out first-hand at the sold out Surrey-Kent t20 cricket match later that day at the Oval. The idea was reinforced when not even ten minutes after finding my seat and sitting down, a man behind me questioned why I wasn't drinking a beer yet. "You need a beer when you watch cricket," he said. So I promptly went and ordered one. Beer in hand, as there were no cup holders, I settled in to watch the game.

I understood some of the rules, so I did a mental check of all the ones I knew. 11 fielders for Kent including a wicket keeper and a bowler. Check. Two batsman for Surrey. Check. That exhausted most of my knowledge.

The game started and I found myself cheering along with the rest of the crowd. When the batsman hit the ball across the rope, everyone cheered and the younger kids held up signs with the number four to signify the number of points the team had gotten from the play. When the batsman hit the ball into the air, over the rope, and into the seats, the cheers were louder and instead of a four the kids held up a six. For someone who knew very little about the sport, it was an incredibly handy way to tell which plays were the important ones. That, and the line of fire shooters that erupted after the big plays.

An hour and a half later, Surrey got out with 205 points and it was Kent’s turn to bat. It was during the beginning of Kent’s innings that I started to get the hang of cricket. I really only had one major question remaining – what the hell is an over? I had at least two different people try to explain it to me and I am still not sure what it is.

The excitement of the fans didn’t lessen as the game went on despite the fact that the home team, Surrey, was looking as if they were going to lose. It begged the question whether there were a lot of Kent fans that came out for the game. I asked someone who knew more about cricket than me and he said that the fans who come to watch cricket games like these – meaning t20 matches – don’t really pick a side. They’re mostly there to have a good time and have some fun watching cricket.

Some fans took the fun into their own hands towards the end of the match. There was not one but two separate “pitch invasions” by men who jumped onto the field and ran around, only to get tackled to the ground a minute later by one of the field security team. The crowd cheered at the tackle each time.

Kent ended up winning the match by two points with two balls left, so they had it in the bag. At least that is what I was told by more knowledgeable cricket fans than myself. I can now boast, however, that I know more about cricket than I did before, so the experience wasn’t totally wasted on me. And I can confidently confirm Tony’s assertion that cricket is indeed thirsty business.