Evening star., 1949-08-07
lust Between
Ourselves . .
Philip n. Love-

ball is to Americans-a favorite
form Of summer madness.
Just as nearly every vacant lot
in every city, town and village in
the United States is filled at this
time of year with baseball players
and their fans, nearly every open
space in Great Britain is fllled
with cricketers and their followers
So devoted to cricket are the Bri-
tish that they even played it at
Ell Alamein, scene of some Of the
toughest fighting of World War II
At first glance. cricket appears
to be very similar to baseball. but
on closer examination. it turns
out to be altogether different. The
players hit ball with bat, score
runs and have innings. but there
the similarity ends. The ball is
red, the bat a sort Of paddle
Eleven men play on each side, and
there are only two innings. An
inning may last as long as two
days, however, and q match can
take anywhere from an afternoon
to five days.
The field on which the game is
played has no official size or shape
In many matches. the boundaries
are determined only by the size
Of the crowd.
Cricket spectators are almost
silent in comparison with baseball
fans. A few gentle handclaps and
an appreciative, We'll played
sir" are the equivalent of base
oall crowds widest applause. Um-
pires are treated with the greatest
respect; even when 1t is clear to
every one that q player is out. the
umpire is asked, very politely
How is that?" And no matter
how he says it is, he is never
abused or threatened.
The man at bat is called the
"batsman," and the pitcher. is the
bowler" The 22-yard space over
which the ball travels from the
bowler's hand is the pitch" At
each end of the pitch is a wick
et," three wooden "stumps" with
a bail" across the top.
AS in baseball, the batsman tries
to hit the ball as far as he can.
The bowler, on the other hand,
tries to hit the batsman's wicket
II the wicket is hit, the batsman is
"out," or "bowled." He also is out
if he Is caught while trying to
make a run (to the opposite
wicket, if he hits his own wicket
or If his wicket Is thrown down
while he is trying for a run. If
he moves too far out of position
while making a hit. he can be
"stumped" by the wicket keeper
Catcher. And If one of his legs
gets in the way of the bowl, he is
"1.b.w.," which means "leg before
wicket"
Nobody seems to know how or
when cricket started, although it
is generally agreed that it was be-
ing played by boys in early Tudor
times. In 1866 it was outlawed by
King Edward Nv on the ground
that it was detrimental to the
practice of archery"
The terms wicket" and bail"
come from the times when shep-
herds playing the game used the
wicket gates of their sheep pens
as aiming points. Stump" is de-
rived from the days when most
of the trees in Kent were cut
down to build ships, and boys used
the remaining stumps as wickets.
Some other cricket terms are:
Silly point" = position so dam
gerously close to the batsman that
it's considered silly to play there:
maiden" six consecutive bowls
without a run being scored: "six, "
the nearest thing to a home run:
that trick" the equivalent of
three strikeouts, and sticky
wicket" meaning that the field is
muddy.
There is also something like
baseball's seventh-inning stretch.
Then. no matter how exciting the
match. it is stopped for-yes, you
guessed it-tea.
Il X -
Four Arlington Village girls
Mary Jane Morley, IL: Melody
Marshall. IL: Linda Thompson, IL,
and Joy Hawkins, 7-gave an out
door Punch-and-Judy show re-
Gently for the benefit of the
Arlington County Children's Home
for Convalescents. Neighbors do
mated cake. cookies, candy. lemon
ade. flowers. ETC., which were auc-
toned. The tidy sum of $40 was
presented to the home through
Social Medical Director Mary
Gold.