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Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport
contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is
played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape, in the centre of which is a
flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of
the pitch is a construction of three parallel wooden stakes (known as
stumps) driven vertically into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known
as bails) laid across the top of them. This wooden structure is called a
wicket.
A player from the fielding team,
known as the bowler, hurls a hard, fist-sized, cork-centred, leather-covered
ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other. The ball usually
bounces once before reaching a player from the opposing team, the batsman,
whose job it is to defend his wicket from being struck by the ball. In
defence of the wicket, the batsman uses a wooden cricket bat to deflect the
incoming missile. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in
various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the
batted ball and throw it back toward the pitch in an effort to "dismiss" the
batsman. The batsman, if he or she does not get out immediately (by having
his wicket struck by a bowled ball, by having his batted ball caught in the
air, etc.), may then choose to run between the wickets, exchanging ends with
a second batsman (the non-striker), who has been waiting near the bowler's
wicket. Each exchange of ends successfully completed constitutes a run, and
the match is won by the team that scores more runs.
Cricket is
not just a game. The passion, the excitement and the emotions on display
during any match in which our country is involved, has to be seen or
experienced, to be believed. The Australians may be the best team in the
world, the English might claim that they had invented the game, but it is
this sub-continent which takes the game to a different level, where nothing
else matters. One can feel the adrenalin flowing through, not just the
players on the field, but also among those who watch the game. When there is
a match in progress, the nation comes to a standstill, the game is a
religion and the cricketers are akin to Gods. One can see the sport's
influence in every galli, street or corner of India.
We, the members of Indian Students
Association here at UHCL, have been organizing this Cricket Tournament every
summer for the past seven years. This summer too, the tournament is back to
entertain all of you. The rules and regulations have been announced already.
We cordially invite you all to take part and enjoy the matches, cheering
your team. The matches are played at Delta Parking lot, starting on June
26th, 2009. Join us in making this event a bigger success than what we had
seen the last time around.
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