"From grubbers to googlies--a beginner's guide to the great English pastime"--Cover.

Rev. ed. of: What is a googly? 1993.

Why This Book? -- Where Did Cricket Come From? -- Where do Lord's and the MCC come in? -- When did cricket become 'modern'? -- Who was this Bradman bloke? -- Why do they complain that cricket isn't what it was? -- What is Cricket? -- Is it like rounders? -- How many people play in a cricket match? -- What happens on the cricket field? -- Why do they all change ends? -- Yes, but what's the point of it all? -- How are runs scored? -- How do you get somebody out? -- When, and why, do they all shout 'Howzat!'? -- Who's Winning? -- How do you win at cricket? -- Winning a one innings match -- Winning a two innings match -- How can you spend five days playing cricket and still draw? -- Why is it always raining? -- What Do All the People Do? -- Batsmen -- What is the batting order? -- When does the best batsman bat? -- Why do batsmen tap the ground with their bats? -- What is a square cut? -- Don't the batsmen get hurt? -- Bowlers -- Who are the bowlers? -- Why do bowlers have to make the ball bounce? -- How does the captain decide which type of bowler to choose? -- Who are the bowlers with long run ups? -- What is a medium pacer? -- Why do bowlers rub the ball on their trousers? -- How do they make it bounce funnily off the pitch? -- Aren't slow bowlers easy to hit? -- What is a googly? -- Fielders -- How do they all know where to stand? -- What are 'silly mid off' and 'short leg'? -- Why don't the fielders wear gloves? -- Who is the twelfth man? -- Umpires -- What does the umpire do? -- Who are the umpires? -- What About Tactics? -- What keeps the spectators so interested? -- What does the captain do? -- The toss (and the pitch) -- Tactics of the fielding captain -- Tactics of the batting captain -- What goes through the mind of the bowler? -- What are the batsman's tactics? -- So is there some kind of master plan? -- Do Cricket Matches Last For Ever? -- What is Test cricket? -- Which counties play county cricket? -- Which is the type of cricket that almost looks interesting? -- What type of cricket do they play on the village green? -- What About All Those Numbers? -- Why do they like all those numbers? -- Who keeps the score? -- How do you know when to clap? -- How can you tell if it's a good score? -- Do I need to know any of the famous statistics? -- Am I Ready to go to a Match Now? -- What should I take to a match? -- Why do they shout when I walk past the white screen? -- But What Makes Cricket so Special?.

Cricket Explained offers the sports enthusiast a user-friendly introduction to baseball's British cousin, a game that shares with America's national pastime the common ancestor "rounders."

This is the definitive beginner's guide to the game of cricket, written by a world authority on the sport, the co-inventor of the Coopers & Lybrand World Cricket Ratings System. Cricket Explained takes the reader from the game's fundamentals -- basic rules, terminology, equipment -- to the finer points of strategy, individual playing styles, and cricket lore.

The book includes a combined glossary/index for easy reference and is illustrated throughout with the lighthearted drawings of British cartoonist Mark Stevens. So even if you don't know "short leg" from "silly mid off" or a bowler from a batsman, you'll come away from Cricket Explained with an understanding for this truly international sport which, like baseball, is loved both for its elegant simplicity and its vexing complexity.

Among the topics covered in Cricket Explained's concise, user-friendly entries are: -- Cricket's history-- Making sense of the action on the field-- Batsmen and the batting order-- Fielders and fielding positions-- Fielding and batting tactics-- Scoring and statistics-- Bowling strategy-- How many players are required-- How runs are scored, outs are made, and a game is won-- Umpires and the rules-- Bowlers and their individual styles-- Different types of cricket played throughout the world