The first live, professional sporting event I attended was of a baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York City sometime during high school.  Fast forward to 2016, and I am sitting in the stands watching my first cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. 

I, along with my friends, watched both the women’s match and men’s match of Australia vs. India, and it was an epic experience. 

I have seen bits and pieces of cricket matches on T.V., but did not know all the rules of the game.  Watching the two matches live, accompanied by commentary and explanations by my friends, provided a crash course in cricket lingo and knowledge, and I was brought up to speed relatively quickly. 

Soon, I too, was sitting at the edge of my seat, rooting along, and feeling the nail biting suspense of not knowing which team would emerge as the winner.

To give a bit of history, the British first played cricket, and it became the national sport of England in the late 18th century.  Cricket is played in many countries. The International Cricket Council lists 105 countries as their members.  It is played by men and women and quite popular in England, the Indian subcontinent, Southern Africa, the West Indies, and Australasia.

It can be a bit daunting to understand the game the first time. So, here is a very simplified explanation of the game, in case you get a chance to go to one.  If you understand baseball, it can make it easier to understand.

The particular match we attended is called a Twenty20 International (T20I) match, and this type of match first began in 2005. 

THE TEAMS

There are two teams of 11 players each.  A coin toss determines which team bats and which bowls & fields the ball.  The team that decides to bat, sends two batters at a time to bat.  The team that decides to bowl and field, has all their players out on the playing field.

THE PLAYING FIELD & EQUIPMENT.

Cricket is generally played on an oval field.  The actual playing surface where the batting and bowling action takes place is a rectangular strip called the ‘pitch,’ which is similar in function to the dirt diamond of a baseball field.  The pitch has three wooden posts called ‘stumps’ on either end of the rectangle.  Two dowels called ‘bails’ are placed on the top of the stumps.  A cricket bat is flat on one side, unlike the baseball bat.  A cricket ball consists of cork covered by leather. Players also use a variety of face and body guards to prevent injury.

THE PLAY

There are different formats for playing. A format called “Test Cricket” lasts up to five days. (Yes, five days!) I attended the T20I format which is completed in one day (thank goodness!)

The balls are thrown by the baller in groups called an ‘over.’  Each over consists of six consecutively thrown balls. The T20I allows twenty overs per side.

Two batters stand on either end of the pitch in front of the stumps – guarding the stumps. One of the batsman faces the pitcher (called a ‘bowler’ in cricket).  There is a technique in the way the ball is thrown at the batter, which is different from the baseball pitch. The bowler on one side of the pitch throws the ball to the batter on the other side.  The batter hits the ball away. The batter can play as long as the live ball hit is not caught by any fielder from the opposing team or the ball does not dislodge any of the bails on top of the three stumps behind the batter.  If either of the event occurs, the batter is out and returns back to the team.

After every over, the bowler is replaced with another bowler who then throws the ball from the opposite end of the pitch than the previous bowler did. Both teams get two innings to bat and score runs. An inning is completed when at least 10 of the players get out, or the prescribed number of overs are completed.

SCORING

If the batter facing the ball hits it away, the pair has a chance to score runs by running to opposite ends of the pitch, essentially switching sides with the other player.  Each “side switch” is one run.  Alternatively, if a hit causes the ball to roll across the outside boundary line on the oval grass field, it is 4 runs.  If the ball is still in the air passes the boundary line, it is 6 runs.  There is a lot of strategy, to either run, or hit well enough to score 4 or 6 runs.

WINNING

The objective of the game is for a team to score more runs than the opposing team and win. The team that has the most runs wins.

 Now that you are familiar with the rules of the game, I will recap some of the highlights and results.  Shane Watson, the captain of Australia’s men’s cricket team, hit his first 100 in a T20I match, and was the first to do so as a captain.  I would say both the women’s and men’s matches I watched were fairly close.  Australia’s women’s team won the match by 15, and India’s men’s team won the match by 7. 

I found the end of the men’s match to be quite exciting, as India won in the last bowl by scoring a final hit of 4 points.  Overall, India’s men’s and women’s teams won the series against Australia, the women winning the three match series at 2-1 and the men winning the three match series at 3-0.

In addition to a great game, food, and lively, enthusiastic fans, there were bouts of music breaks, opportunities to “MAKE SOME NOISE” from both sets of fans cheering and appearing on the big screen, and fireworks at the break and at the very end of the men’s match.  These were all nice additions to the day.

Sydney was also one of the host cities of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, and I had an opportunity to attend the live event the weekend after the cricket match.  Rugby Sevens started in 1883 in Scotland. 

Sydney was one of ten host cities worldwide for 2015-2016, with the rest of the events taking place in Dubai, Cape Town, Wellington, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and London.

Rugby Sevens is a 7-man game, and is a faster-paced version of the 15-man game.  Because of this, the matches are quite intense and interesting to watch.  There were 18 teams represented at the series: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, United States, Wales, and Zimbabwe.

I would describe rugby as a mix of American football and soccer, with a little bit of wrestling and even a gymnastics/cheer routine thrown in.  American football uses a football as the sporting equipment, and in rugby, there is a rugby ball…pretty simple, right?  Unlike American football, rugby players do not wear special padding or even helmets!  Within the first two hours of the series, I had seen at least two major injuries where players were taken off the field. 

Each team is trying to cross to the other side and pass the “try line” (like the end zone in American football), and can accomplish this using two methods.  The first is by passing the ball to their teammates, but backwards, while running forwards.  The second option is to kick the ball down the field while running forwards (like in soccer).  If that is not challenging enough, no worries!  The other team is only trying just as hard to intercept or tackle the opponent in possession of the ball. 

Once a tackle occurs, the player must give up the ball to the other team or risk the other team gaining penalty points.  If a team is successful in grounding the ball past the try line (the ball must touch the ground), then there is an opportunity to score additional points by kicking it through the goal posts (like a field goal).

To summarize, here are the rules of Ruby Sevens simplified in 7 steps:

1) There are 7 players on the field per team

2) The match is played in two seven-minute halves, with a two-minute break at half time

3) Players can kick the ball with their feet forwards

4) Players can only pass the ball with their hands backwards

5) If a ball is grounded past the try line, 3 points are scored

6) If the ball is then successfully kicked through the goal posts, 2 points are scored for a conversion

7) If a player is tackled, they must give up the ball or the other team gains 3 penalty points

How did rugby remind me of a gymnastics/cheer routine?  Well, for some tosses of the ball back onto the field, teammates will coordinate catching the pass by lifting one of the players up above their heads in a pseudo-pyramid form that you see in gymnastics or cheer competitions.  This allows for the ball to be thrown higher and ensures that the team will maintain possession of the ball, and avoid an interception by the other team.

Because this was advertised as a festival, many fans came dressed in group costumes, and it really felt like Halloween.  Some examples included those dressed in chicken outfits, a group dressed as Donald Trump, and even a Prince Charming who was interviewed on the big screen during a break.

I had a chance to meet and take a picture with one of the players on Fiji’s rugby team, the winning team of the 2014-2015 series.

Later in the evening, there was a concert performance by The Veronicas, an Australian pop-rock pair from Brisbane, who delivered a high-energy show matching the atmosphere created from the engaging matches happening that day in the stadium.

Attending a cricket and rugby match for the first time was a riveting experience, and I am so thankful for the opportunity, and amazing memories.  Next time I see a cricket or rugby match live or on T.V., I’ll be cheering.