For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Cricket and Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Indai

Contact No.- 09404955338,09415777229

E-mail-dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net; dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

Cricket and Mahatma Gandhi

Cricket is a bat and ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a big field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowl and fields, trying to oust the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings.

There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed; five relatively common and five extremely rare. The common forms of dismissal are bowled, caught, leg before wicket, run out, and stumped. Less common methods are hit wicket, hit the ball twice, obstructed the field, handled the ball and timed out these are almost unknown in the professional game. If the dismissal is obvious the batsman will voluntarily leave the field without the umpire needing to dismiss them. Otherwise before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side must appeal. This is invariably done by shouting how's that? Normally reduced to howzat? If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say out. Otherwise he will shake his head and say not out. Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stampings. Mahatma Gandhi never supports this game because it is very much time taking game. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Other passengers spend the day in much merriment. Sports have been going on for the last week. Subscriptions were collected for awarding prizes, and we had to part with a guinea each. Among the games are deck cricket, ring tennis, egg-and-spoon race, etc. The sports will be over on the 12th and prizes distributed on the 14th. At night the passengers dance, and the band plays twice a day. Even Sir Richard Solomon takes part in the sports. The chief reason why we have not been able to participate in them is Mr. Ally’s poor health and my own studies. There are no sports on Sundays. There is a “Church” gathering in the Saloon where prayers are offered according to Christian custom.”1

Cricket was first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had developed into the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organized activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of a great cricket match with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697 and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance. Mahatma Gandhi told, “I am sending you 3 numbers of The Times of India. After you have seen and admired pictures I want you to cut out Gaekwar, the Jam, and the Cricket Team. We might one of these days want to reproduce these pictures as supplements, and it would be better for you also to file any other pictures you may come across and consider well enough for use.”2

A cricket match is divided into periods called innings during an innings one team fields and the other bats. The two teams switch between fielding and batting after each innings. All eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but only two members of the batting team are on the field at any given time. The key action takes place in the pitch, a rectangular strip in the centre of the field. The two batsmen face each other at opposite ends of the pitch, each behind a line on the pitch known as a crease. The fielding team's eleven members stand outside the pitch, spread out across the field. Mahatma Gandhi told, “A childish argument has been going on between two American whites whether the North Pole has, in fact, been discovered or not, and if it has, then, by whom. One of them is Dr. Peary and the other, Dr. Cook. Both of them claim to have stood on the North Pole. Dr. Peary challenges Dr. Cook’s claim, and the latter that of the former. Men have almost lost their heads over this argument. Newspapers are full of the controversy. Reports about it and reports of football and cricket fill all the space in them. It is beyond my understanding what good the discovery of the North Pole has done the world; but such things are regarded as important sign-posts of contemporary civilization. What exactly is their importance they alone can say who claim to understand these matters. I for one regard all these things as symptoms of mental derangement. That one should just fritter away one’s time for want of a proper occupation, or, out of greed, cast about for ways of getting rich at any cost I would not want even an enemy to be reduced to such a plight.”3

Behind each batsman is a target called a wicket? One designated member of the fielding team, called the bowler, is given a ball, and attempts to bowl the ball from one end of the pitch to the wicket behind the batsman on the other side of the pitch. The batsman tries to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket by striking the ball with a bat. If the bowler succeeds in hitting the wicket, or if the ball, after being struck by the batsman, is caught by the fielding team before it touches the ground, the batsman is dismissed. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, to be replaced by another batsman from the batting team. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Our forefathers did wonderfully well without the fashionable sport of today. Sport indulged in for the sake of developing the body is of some use. But we venture to suggest that agriculture; the inherited occupation of Indians indeed of the human race is better sport than football, cricket and all other games put together. And it is useful, dignified and remunerative. Football and cricket may be well for those who have the drudgery of the desk work to go through from day to day. But no Indian need undertake that task. We therefore advise our young sporting friends to take Mr. Haggar’s remarks in good part and leave the contemptible work of clerks, newspaper sellers, etc., for the independent and manly field-work. They have before them the brilliant example of Mr. Joseph Royeppen who, though a barrister, took up hawking and latterly did manual work on the Passive Resistance Farm.”4

If the batsman is successful in striking the ball and the ball is not caught before it hits the ground, the two batsmen may then try to score runs for their team by running across the pitch, grounding their bats behind each other's crease. Each crossing and grounding by both batsmen is worth one run. The batsmen may attempt multiple runs or elect not to run at all. By attempting runs, the batsmen risk dismissal, which can happen if the fielding team retrieves the ball and hits a wicket with the ball before either batsman reaches the opposite crease. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Exercise is just as essential to mankind as are air, water and food, though it is true that man cannot get on for a long time without air, water and food as he can without exercise. It is a fact of common experience, however, that one cannot enjoy really good health without exercise. We have to interpret exercise in the same way that we did “food”. Exercise does not necessarily mean moidanda, football, cricket or going out for a walk. Exercise means physical and mental activity. Just as food is necessary for the mind as much as for bones and flesh, so also is exercise necessary both for body and mind. If the body has no exercise, it is sickly and, if the mind has none, it is dull. Stupidity should also be regarded only as a kind of illness. It betrays sheer ignorance to describe as healthy a wrestler who, though adept at wrestling, is mentally a bore. There is a saying in English that he alone is healthy who has a sound mind in a sound body.”5

Mahatma Gandhi told, “The vaidya advised him to take short but regular walks. The patient protested that he was too weak. The vaidya realized that he was, in fact, a timid man. He thereupon took the patient with him in his carriage. On the way he purposely dropped his whip. The patient, out of politeness, had to get out picking it up. The vaidya immediately drove off. The poor patient had to follow, panting hard for breath. The vaidya having made sure that the former had covered a fairly long distance, turned the carriage back, picked him up and told him that, since walking was the only medicine for him, he the vaidya had forced him to walk even at the risk of appearing cruel. By this time, however, the patient was ravenously hungry and had forgotten all about the whip episode. He thanked the doctor, went home and ate his fill. Those who are not in the habit of walking and suffer from indigestion and its accompanying ills should try the experiment.

In the West, they have invented games like cricket for such people. Another way is to observe some days in the year as holidays, when more games are played, and to do some light reading by way of mental exercise. This is one method which we may consider. To be sure, spending time in sports does give some exercise to the body, but exercise of this kind does nothing to improve the mind. We can see the truth of this from numerous instances. What proportion of men of high intellectual caliber shall we find among those who regularly play cricket or from among the large number who play football? In India, what do we observe as regards the mental development of the princes who give their time to sports? Again, how many of those with well-developed intellectual powers are sportsmen? Experience shows that highly intellectual men are seldom sportsmen as well. The British nowadays are very much given to sports. Their own poet, Kipling, has described these sportsmen as enemies of the mind, and adds that they will also prove themselves enemies to their country. In India, our intellectuals seem to have found a different way. They provide exercise for their minds but relatively very little or none for their bodies. These people are lost to us. Their bodies are enfeebled by excessive intellectual work. They are continually pursued by some ailment or other and just when they have gained enough experience to be of real use to the country, they pass away. From this we may conclude that neither exercising the brain alone nor the body alone is enough and also that exercise which serves no useful purpose, namely, that derived from sports, has little meaning. Real exercise is that which trains, continuously, both mind and body alike. He alone who takes such exercise can preserve good health. The farmer is the only such person.”6

If the batsman hits the bowled ball over the field boundary without the ball touching the field, the batting team scores six runs and may not attempt more. If the ball touches the ground and then reaches the boundary, the batting team scores four runs and may not attempt more. When the batsmen have finished attempting their runs, the ball is returned to the bowler to be bowled again. The bowler continues to bowl toward the same wicket, regardless of any switch of the batsmen's positions. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Then, what are those to do who are not farmers? The exercise obtained from sports such as cricket leaves much to be desired. We must, therefore, think of a form of exercise something like what the farmer gets. Businessmen and others similarly placed can make a garden round their house and regularly spend two to four hours a day digging there. Hawkers get exercise from their own work itself.”7

After a bowler has bowled six times in an over, another member of the fielding team is designated as the new bowler. The new bowler bowls to the opposite wicket, and play continues. Fielding team members may bowl multiple times during an innings, but may not bowl two overs in succession. Mahatma Gandhi told, “They are made on cornfields and farms. I would urge you to think this over and you will find innumerable illustrations to prove my statement. Our colonial-born Indians are carried away with this football and cricket mania. These games may have their place under certain circumstances. But I feel sure that for us, who are just now so fallen, they have no room. Why do we not take the simple fact into consideration that the vast majority of mankind who are vigorous in body and mind are simple agriculturists, that they are strangers to these games, and they are the salt of the earth? Without them your and my existence would be impossibility, whereas you and I are totally unnecessary for their well-being.”8

The innings is complete when 10 of the 11 members of the batting team have been dismissed, one always remaining not out, or when a set number of overs has been played. The number of innings and the number of overs per innings vary depending on the match. Mahatma Gandhi told, “The idea that, if our boys and youths do not have football, cricket and such other games, their life should become too drab is completely erroneous. The sons of our peasants never get a chance to play cricket, but there is no dearth of joy or innocent zest in their life. Thus, it is not difficult to change the present trends in education. Public opinion must be in favour of this change. The Government then will have no option but to introduce changes. ‘Those who like the above scheme should come forward to undertake experiments on these lines while public opinion is in the making. When the people see the happy results of these experiments, they will of their own accord want to take them up. I think such experiments will not entail much expenditure. I have not, however, written this article with a commercial mentality. My chief object was to ask readers to consider the meaning of real education and I shall hold my effort to have been duly rewarded if this article is of any help to them.”9

Each wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed in a straight line and surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is 28.5 inches and the combined width of the three stumps is 9 inches. Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's safe territory and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the "popping crease, the bowling crease and two return creases. Mahatma Gandhi told, “We must see that it is well protected. Walking regularly and energetically for an hour and a half in the morning and for the same period in the evening in open air keeps it healthy and the mind fresh. The time thus spent is not wasted. Such exercise, coupled with rest, will invigorate both the body and the intellect, enabling one to learn things more quickly. I think games like cricket have no place in a poor country like India. We have a number of inexpensive games of our own which afford innocent joy.”10

The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be 22 yards apart. A bowling crease is 8 feet 8 inches long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The popping crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is 4 feet in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least 8 feet. Mahatma Gandhi told, “I include in the term “physical training” sports, games, etc. These, too, have been little thought of. Indigenous games have been given up and tennis, cricket and football hold sway. Admittedly, these games are enjoyable. If, however, we had not been carried away by 1 1877-1947; exponent of Oriental art and culture; Curator of Fine Arts Museum, U.S.A; author of Transformation of Nature in Art, Dance of Shiva, etc. enthusiasm for all things Western, we would not have given up our inexpensive but equally interesting games like gedi dado, gilli danda, kho-kho, mag matali, kabaddi, kharo pat, nava nagelio, sat tali, etc. Exercises which provided the completest training for every bodily organ and the old style gymnasium where they taught wrestling have almost totally disappeared. I think if anything from the West deserves copying, it is drill. A friend once remarked that we did not know how to walk, particularly when we had to walk in squads and keep step. Silently to walk in step, by hundreds and thousands of us in twos and fours, shifting the directions from time to time is something we can never do. It is not that such drill is useful only in actual battle. It can be of great use in many other activities in the sphere of public service. For example, in extinguishing fire, in rescuing people from drowning, in carrying the sick and disabled in a doli, etc., previous practice in drill is a valuable aid. Thus, it is necessary to introduce in our schools indigenous games, exercises and the Western type of drill.”11

When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his delivery stride must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler breaks this rule, the umpire calls No ball. The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out if the wicket is broken while he is out of his ground. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Now let us examine our body. Are we supposed to cultivate the body by playing tennis, football or cricket for an hour every day? It does, certainly, build up the body. Like a wild horse, however, the body will be strong but not trained. A trained body is healthy, vigorous and sinewy. The hands and feet can do any desired work. A pickaxe, a shovel, a hammer, etc., are like ornaments to a trained hand and it can wield them. That hand can ply the spinning-wheel well as also the ring and the comb while the feet work a loom. A well trained body does not get tired in trudging 30 miles. It can scale mountains without getting breathless. Does the student acquire such physical culture? We can assert that modern curricula do not impart physical education in this sense.”12 The primary concern of the batsman on strike is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket and secondarily to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies. Each completed run increments the score. More than one run can be scored from a single hit; but, while hits worth one to three runs are common, the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary on the full. The batsmen do not need to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary.

The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman who, armed with a bat is on strike at the other end. The bat is made of wood and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches. Mahatma Gandhi told, “Friendship can exist only between equals, but one should feel compassion towards all. We cannot throw a cricket bat at a dog to hit it. How would we feel if our parents or teachers did that to us? Even if we are obedient sons of our parents, how would we feel towards them if they threw a bat at us to hit us? We shall not discuss here what our duty towards a dog is. It is certain, however, that it is not right for us to hit one. Forgiveness lies is not being angry even with a dog which may have bitten us. Tit for tat is a wrong principle. It is certainly not based on forgiveness. What can we gain by being wicked with the wicked? The good of both lies only in our showing love and compassion even for such persons.”13 Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of overthrows by a fielder returning the ball. If an odd number of runs are scored by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total. The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batsman who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: yes, no and wait are often heard.

Mahatma Gandhi told, “I do not know whether you have been touched as I have been by the sight of these prize-winners who do not know the distinctions between Brahmin and non-Brahmin, Hindus and Mussalmans, rich and poor. They have also one thing in common, namely, the poverty of this land and those who belong to rich families have cast in their lot with those who are the poorest in front of us. I do not know whether you take the same interest, whether you have the same knowledge that you have of racing language. If in this assembly representing the poorest of India, if in spite of these you had prize-winners from the football ground, racing ground or the cricket field, I know what some of you will feel, I know how enthusiastic you will feel. But I do not know that you understand the language of spinners and carders. I do not know whether in spite of your having gone to the Exhibition you really understand the hidden meaning of these processes. If you do, then I know that you will have the same feeling that is welling up in my breast at this moment, when I feel impelled to speak out my mind to you in spite of my weak health.”14 Running is a calculated risk because if a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman is out of his ground the batsman is run out. When the bowler has bowled a no ball or a wide, his team incurs an additional penalty because that ball has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. The batsmen have to run to claim byes and leg byes but these only count towards the team total, not to the striker's individual total for which runs must be scored off the bat.

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of 9 inches. The hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 90 miles per hour, is a matter for concern and batsmen wear protective clothing including pads, batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers. Some batsmen wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. he game on the field is regulated by two umpire, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called square leg, a position 15–20 metres to the side of the on strike batsman. When the bowler delivers the ball, the umpire at the wicket is between the bowler and the non-striker. The umpires confer if there is doubt about playing conditions and can postpone the match by taking the players off the field if necessary, for example rain or deterioration of the light. Mahatma Gandhi told, “I am glad indeed that you are giving due attention to athletics and I congratulate you upon acquitting yourselves with distinction in games. I do not know whether you had any indigenous games or not. I should, however, be exceedingly surprised, and even painfully surprised, if I were told that before cricket and football descended upon your sacred soil; your boys were devoid of all games. If you have national games, I would urge upon you that yours is an institution that should lead in reviving old games. I know that we have in India many noble indigenous games just as interesting and exciting as cricket or football, also as much attended with risks as football is, but with the added advantage that they are inexpensive, because the cost is practically next to nothing.”15 If a batsman retires and cannot return, he is actually "not out" and his retirement does not count as a dismissal, though in effect he has been dismissed because his innings is over. Substitute batsmen are not allowed. A skilled batsman can use a wide array of strokes in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat it is called an edge. Batsmen do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs just by making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists or by simply blocking the ball but directing it away from fielders so that he has time to take a run.

The innings is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side. In theory, all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they all do so. Depending on the type of match being played, each team has one or two innings apiece. The term innings is also sometimes used to describe an individual batsman's contribution. The main aim of the bowler, supported by his fielders, is to dismiss the batsman. A batsman when dismissed is said to be out and that means he must leave the field of play and be replaced by the next batsman on his team. When ten batsmen have been dismissed, then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen in. This batsman is termed not out. Mahatma Gandhi told, “My own recollection is that I had not any high regard for my ability. I used to be astonished whenever I won prizes and scholarships. But I very jealously guarded my character. The least little blemish drew tears from my eyes. When I merited, or seemed to the teacher to merit, a rebuke, it was unbearable for me. I remember having once received corporal punishment. I did not so much mind the punishment, as the fact that it was considered my desert. I wept piteously. That was when I was in the first or second standard. There was another such incident during the time when I was in the seventh standard. Dorabji Edulji Gimi was the head master then. He was popular among boys, as he was a disciplinarian, a man of method and a good teacher. He had made gymnastics and cricket compulsory for boys of the upper standards. I disliked both. I never took part in any exercise, cricket or football, before they were made compulsory. My shyness was one of the reasons for this aloofness, which I now see was wrong. I then had the false notion that gymnastics had nothing to do with education. Today I know that physical training should have as much place in the curriculum as mental training.”16 At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. One takes station at the striker's end to defend the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner, the non-striker, is at the end where the bowler is operating. Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order, decided by the team captain. The first two batsmen the openers usually face the hostile bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The top batting positions are usually given to the most competent batsmen in the team, and the non-batsmen typically bat last. The pre-announced batting order is not mandatory and when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next.

An innings can end early for three reasons: because the batting side's captain has chosen to declare the innings or because the batting side has achieved its target and won the game, or because the game has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time. In each of these cases the team's innings ends with two "not out" batsmen, unless the innings is declared closed at the fall of a wicket and the next batsman has not joined in the play. In limited overs cricket, there might be two batsmen still not out when the last of the allotted overs has been bowled. Mahatma Gandhi told, “I have never attended cricket matches and only once took a bat and a cricket ball in my hands and that was under compulsion from the head master of the High School where I was studying, and this was over 45 years ago. This confession does not in any shape or form mean that I am opposed to games; only I have never been able to interest myself in them. In the circumstances it would simply mystify the people if I now came out with a new card even though it might be for the laudable purpose of winning more English friendships and more English sympathy and support for the cause which makes life worth living. I hope you will appreciate my difficulty and therefore inability to help you.”17

He bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries and each set of six balls is called an over. This name came about because the umpire calls over! When six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batsmen do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can bowl unchanged at the same end for several overs. The batsmen do not change ends and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice-versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at square leg now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and vice versa. Mahatma Gandhi told, “It will give you joy, greater than your cricket or tennis. I have repeatedly said that money will come if I have real, intelligent, honest workers. As a boy of 18 I began my education in begging. I have seen that money can be found easily if we have the right kind of workers. Money alone will never satisfy me. I would ask you to pledge yourselves to devote a definite number of spare hours to Harijan service. As you, Mr. President, have said, I am a dreamer. I am indeed a practical dreamer. My dreams are not airy nothings. I want to convert my dreams into realities as far as possible. Therefore, I must hasten to auction the gifts I have received from you.”18 All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together. One of them is the wicket keeper who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower legs. The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl and he is responsible for setting the field, though usually in consultation with the bowler.

The bowler reaches his delivery stride by means of a run-up, although some bowlers with a very slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. A fast bowler needs momentum and takes quite a long run-up, running very fast as he does so. The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 90 miles per hour and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile. Some fast bowlers make use of the seam of the ball so that it curves or swings in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batsman into mistiming his shot so that the ball touches the edge of the bat and can then be caught behind by the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder. Mahatma Gandhi told, “You are right. If we can do without communal institutions, it would be good. But I am unable to say that there should be no Muslim or Hindu Universities as I am able to say positively that there should be no communal cricket. The communal universities, if their origin is not tainted, may conceivably serve a national purpose. Thus the Hindu University and the Muslim University may, as they ought to, be seats of communal concord. But communal sports seem to be a contradiction in terms. I wholly agree with you that there should be, as there are, non-communal colleges and hostels. Unfortunately the virus has entered even these. Let us hope that it is a passing phase.”19 A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler. A well-balanced team usually has five or six specialist batsmen and four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers. A player who excels in both batting and bowling is known as an all rounder. One who excels as a batsman and wicket-keeper is known as a wicket-keeper/batsman, sometimes regarded as a type of all-rounder. True all rounders is rare as most players focus on either batting or bowling skills.

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