Madazine
Copyright© 2017 by Scriptorius
Chapter 68: An Introduction To Cricket
Bill: Well, Joe, you said you wanted to see a game of cricket, so that you could compare it with your own national game of baseball. Here we are at a test match, England versus Australia at Lord’s. It doesn’t get bigger than this.
Joe: I’m looking forward to it. Now, they seem to be ready to start. Why is that umpire holding his arm out like that? Some kind of delay, is it?
Bill: We can’t begin until exactly eleven o’clock, so we have a few seconds to go. Ah, the arm’s gone down. Now we’re off ... Oh, I say, the bowler’s lost his run-up. He’ll have to go back and try again.
Joe: Why? He appears to be running at least thirty yards. Doesn’t he have enough time to shuffle his feet or something to get it right?
Bill: No. Look at the disc he put down. That’s his marker. When he’s getting into his stride, he has to land his forward foot at that spot, or his approach will be all awry. Now, here he goes. Oh, dear, he’s had to abort again.
Joe: Now what?
Bill: The batsman isn’t satisfied. Yes, I see what it is. He wants the sightscreen moved.
Joe: Sightscreen? Ah, got it. You mean the big board over there on the boundary. It serves the same purpose as the batter’s eye screen in our game.
Bill: That’s right. It has to be behind the bowler’s arm, so the batsman doesn’t lose sight of the ball in the background.
Joe: Gee, this game takes quite a while to get underway, doesn’t it?
Bill: Sometimes. Here we go again. Third time lucky, Joe. Oh, the batsman still isn’t happy. Ah, I see. He has a wasp or something buzzing around him. Look at the way he’s wafting at it.
Joe: I wish he’d quit waving his arm and start swinging the bat.
Bill: Oh, he’ll get round to it any minute now. See, he’s all set. Oh, my goodness. There’s a spectator walking along the edge of the field, right behind the bowler. Silly man should know better than that. We can’t have the batsman distracted. Ah, the fellow’s sat down. Away we go. Well, actually, we don’t.
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