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I also like this diagram of field positions for cricket: http://usa.cricinfo.com/perl/picture.cgi/001513

I first saw it on the travel channel. This guy was explaining how simple cricket is to an American tourist, and they did an animation that added the positions one by one.. it was hilarious.

That is an amzing treasure trove of information, even for casual fans.

Baseball hasn't got anything on cricket as far as statistics go. Have a look at statsguru http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru. Pretty much every ball ever bowled is documented these days and has been for quite some time.

Cricket and Baseball have similarities in that they're both highly statistics based games.
In Cricket, the scores are most definitely public domain. I used to work for a company called Cricinfo as one of their admins in it's earlier days, and it's stats database (statsguru) is arguably the most complete source of statistics for cricket in the last few decades.
It was started by a group of fans into an ongoing company, simply because the stats on cricket were public domain. And it's raised a good sum of money in sponsorship for cricket along the way, and been a focal point for fans around the world.
Now, if the statistics for Cricket were deemed to be in the public domain, as it was quite possible for people to watch the match, tell someone else, and they could discuss it anywhere at any time, what makes Baseball different (apart from the fact that the organisers are trying to gouge money on everything they possibly can)?

Except at cricket & rugby

http://live.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/SUPERS /SCORECARDS/AUS_ICC-XI_SUPERS_ODI1_05OCT2005.html

Australia: Winner of ashes for x times before this year.

Australia: Current World Champions of Cricket.

Australia: Leading the Cricket Test and ODI ICC tables.

Good teams are remembered for their victories (Eng Ashes 2005).
Great teams are remembered for their losses (Aus Ashes 2005). Similar is the case with Rugby.

:)

If you think softball is slow, try Cricket. Test matches take up to 5 days and then the game may still be a draw. http://www.cricinfo.com/

Do check http://cricket.org/ though --- a.k.a. http://www.cricinfo.com/

I would guess that American sport following is split between at least Baseball, Football & Basketball. Then, the support & interest is further split between the different teams/clubs that play in the NBA, MLB & NFL.

In India (and also Pakistan & Sri Lanka I guess), the sport following is almost all cricket -- and then the fans are mostly interested only in the national team's performance, in international matches.

This, along with the 1 billion plus population in this part of the world, might go some way towards explaining why this non-American sport makes the top 10...

Cricket is game , that though pretty much unknown in North America , is pretty popular in the rest of the world.Check this or this or this for more info.

Thanks for the website compliment - I try :)

In Zimbabwe, yes, there is a dismal failure. I wouldn't put it down to race relations all that much though, although they do play a part. Bob Mugabe (the president) is severely abusing his own people, most of whom are black, as is the majority of the political opposition. Personally I think he's simply grown power hungry and arrogant. My own country's relationship and attitude toward him I find shocking and disgusting, treating him like there's nothing wrong, but I have no reason to believe that what has transpired in Zimbabwe will repeat themselves in South Africa - we don't have a Mugabe.

In South Africa I don't see overwhelming trouble in the near future. Economically we are growing, but too slowly. This can only worsen when Aids starts hitting our labour force (this sounds heartless, but it is the bigger picture. Obviously I feel for the human element as well). This will hurt our economy, certainly. However, I don't think the country will descend into civil anarchy or anything like that - if anything I think the overall situation will improve despite all these problems.

The government appears to be beginning to get a handle on many issues which have plagued the country since democracy in '94. It is widely predicted that the ruling ANC, which currently has 70% of the vote and accordingly the 2/3's majority they need to pass any bill in parliament, will not see a majority anywhere near that big again. Accordingly politics will become more representative in the near future (say after two voting periods - 10 years), where the ANC will be in charge most likely but the other parties will wield considerable parliamentary influence as well. This can only be a healthy and good thing for a democracy.

Let me put it this way: I'm a white male Masters student at a South African university, and I have no intention of leaving the country when I graduate. I feel positive about the country's prospects. A good intro to the country can be found at this site, while this is the official internet gateway to the country.

Onto the cricket...

Yes, a Test cricket match, one of the two major international varieties, is scheduled to take 5 days. The other version takes about 6 hours, while a newer, shorter version recently introduced takes about 3 hours. The basic rules are explained here much better than I am capable of doing so. I personally think it is the most awesome of sports, which may of course be slighly tempered by the fact that South Africa is quite good at it...

An excellent cricketing link if you have a further interest is here.

Hope this is concise enough. Always a pleasure to spread some info about my home or my favourite sport!

In other news, the Kasner family also contemplating lawsuits against cricketers who earn fame bowling leg break googley bowler Shane Warne and Anil Kumble

apologies to non-cricket loving folks and moderators

In other news, the Kasner family also contemplating lawsuits against cricketers who earn fame bowling leg break googley bowler Shane Warne and Anil Kumble

apologies to non-cricket loving folks and moderators

That actually looks a lot like a cricket scorecard. Here is an example.

Like with baseball, these are usually printed in alongside newspaper articles.

I'm actually enjoying this discussion. I am learning a lot about baseball, which I have only ever seen before via American movies, and hopefully Americans are learning something about cricket.

Quick, name the countries that have won Olympic gold medals in cricket.

Great Britain. Idiot.