Columbia University Cricket Club

The Columbia University Cricket Club is an organisation dedicated to Commonwealth émigrés who find themselves missing this delightful sport. The organisation competes on the local and regional level, usually with local cricket clubs. They adhere to the laws of cricket as laid down by the Commonwealth Cricket League.

What is cricket?

Cricket is a game involving bowlers, batsmen, fielders, keepers, bails, stumps, and wickets. It is very easy to understand. As the famous tea towel explanation puts it:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

Quirks of cricket

• Full blown cricket, also known as Test cricket or International Test cricket lasts for up to five days. There are breaks for lunch, for tea, and for drinks at set intervals.
• Supposedly, in the debate on the future government of the United States, John Adams said that if leaders of cricket clubs could be called "presidents", there was no reason why a leader of the United States could not be called the same.
• George Washington played a game of cricket with his troops during one long, boring day at Valley Forge.
• The two nations represented at the first international Test in 1844 were Canada and the United States. The United States team was comprised of New Yorkers, and the game was played at St. George's Cricket Club, which was located in Harlem.
• The rules of cricket are referred to as "laws", because like laws, they are open to interpretation at the discretion of the umpire.