Baseball and cricket may seem similar in the fact that they both require players using a “bat” to hit a ball while trying to score points, but the games are very different from one another. Baseball has long been known as America’s pastime and has been a staple of American sports since it was invented in the 1800’s. While baseball, and the rules as we know them, was not invented until around 1846 in New York, it derived its ideas from games like cricket and stickball played in other cultures. So, while American’s might thing that they were the ones that came up with the idea of two teams hitting a ball with a stick, they would be mistaken. The first reference to cricket is dated around the late 1500’s and was referencing a person that had played cricket as a young boy in the 1550’s. So, while baseball has been around for a while, Cricket most certainly pre-dates it by a couple hundred years. However, the first official international cricket match, was played between Australia and England in 1844.
What is the Difference Between Baseball and Cricket?
Now that we know that baseball was created through a mash-up of rules and ideas from different sports, like cricket, what are the differences between modern day baseball and modern-day cricket?
Equipment
Pads and Protective Equipment In baseball players are allowed certain types of protective equipment when playing in the field. Gloves on the non-throwing hand used for catching the ball are the main form of protection used on defense. Catchers are allowed to have helmets with face guards, shin guards and a chest protector in order to help protect them from the balls being pitched at upwards of 100 miles per hour. When batting, baseball players are allowed to wear helmets that can also have face guards, as well as shin guards and elbow guards to help protect them from being hit by a pitch, although the only required piece of a equipment while batting is the helmet. In cricket body pads and helmets are worn by the batsman only, however the fielders playing very near the batsman are allowed to wear protective gear as well.
Ball The ball in cricket and baseball are similar in that they are both composed of cork and string covered in leather. A baseball needs to weigh between 5 and 5 ¼ ounces while being 9 to 9.25 inches in circumference, while a cricket ball weighs between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces and measures 8 13/16 to 9 inches circumference.
Bats In baseball the bats are made of wood and are round and tapered towards the handle. They can be no more than 2.625 inches in diameter on the barrel and no longer than 42” long. In cricket, the bat is shaped more like a paddle. There is a round handle with a flat bottom, known as the blade. The blade on the bat can be no wider than 4.25 inches and the bats weigh anywhere from 2.5 to 5 lbs.
Rules of the Game and Scoring
The rules between cricket and baseball are one of the major differences between the two sports. In baseball runs are scored by running around all of the bases and touching home plate, while runs are scored in cricket by running the length of the ‘wicket’. In both sports you can also hit a ball out of the designated boundary area to score an immediate run, or in the case of baseball, a homerun. The other major difference between the sports is the field. In baseball the batters stand at one end of a triangular field and hit outwards, whereas in cricket the field is shaped like an oval and players stand more towards the middle of the field. So while the size of the fields are similar overall, their orientation and where the action takes place is much different.
Batting
In baseball, players bat around their batting order until 3 outs have occurred. Players in the batting order can bat up to 9 times per game depending on how long it takes for the other team to reach the 3 outs needed to switch sides. In cricket, players can only bat one time per inning, but can stay in the crease (similar to baseball’s batters’ box) as long as they don’t lose their wicket. Sometimes a player can bat for 2-3 hours before it’s time to change. This means a cricket match can last from between 3-5 days before determining a winner, where as baseball determines a winner at the end of 9 innings, unless the score is tied.
Cricket vs. Baseball
While there are many differences between
baseball and cricket that we did not cover in this article, this will give you a good idea as to how different the two games are. Each sport has its own little nuances in scoring, batting, pitching, and fielding, but the main differences lay in the equipment that’s used, the field dimensions, and scoring. The best way to learn the game of cricket or baseball is to start watching matches wherever you can find them. Cricket is extremely popular across many countries in the world where baseball is popular in far less, but there are many ways to watch both sports and many resources for learning all of the different rules and types of play.
