British Icon #3: Cricket

Is there any game more baffling than cricket? But really, who cares about learning the rules when there are so many more important things to pay attention to: those dapper white uniforms; the tea the spectators drink and the cucumber sandwiches they eat; the word “wicket;” and the cool and genteel nature of the game itself. Who cares how it’s played?

Willow bats

Natty attire

But for those who really do want to know, the purpose of the game is to score more runs than the other team. That’s simple enough. Until you throw in terms such as chinaman, googly, silly point, wrong'un, and flipper. And then there’s the “run-out” and the “LBW” (Leg Before Wicket) which I looked up but am so not going to explain because I can't.

Cricket is played with a willow bat and a hard, cork ball encased in leather. It's played on an oval pitch. There are eleven men on each side. It’s been played in England since the sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century it was England's national sport. That’s all I know.

Watch a video of cricket's best wickets