Cricket & Baseball: More Similarities and Differences

[@benetedmunds]

I never liked or understood cricket, but one summer was the "Ashes" - a biannual series of test matches (5 5-day international matches) between England and Australia. It's a thing. Every morning, I'd turn up in our staff room (I was teaching summer school) and two of my colleagues would be discussing what had happened the day before. And - OMG! They were talking about things like the weather (i.e. atmospheric pressure, humidity, etc.), the state of the ball - how worn or malleable it was, the state of the crease - as the match progresses, the ball repeatedly bouncing in the same rough area starts to deform the terrain... and that's BEFORE talking about the talents of the players, their psychological frames of mind, etc. Simple to understand, intricate to master! Also, it has always struck me that it's a team sport in which an individual can, on his own, win the match. The batsman can outscore the entire opposing team. The bowler can lay waste to the opposing batting order!

[@garybewick4774]

And yet, it's all those apparently minor factors that the captain has to take into account. Overcast and humid? It's a good day for swing bowling (Almost like a curve ball). The balls funding can influence which way it will curve. Is the pitch cracking? Your spin bowlers are likely to get some unplayable deflections. Do you set your field close to try and put batters out, risking the opposition getting easier boundaries or a deeper field, slowing their scoring rate, but having less liklihood of catches? Is there a particular type of delivery a batsman has a known weakness to? The rules are reasonably simple, but cricket captaincy is probably one of the sporting roles with the most complexity to account for.

[@captainwalker9536]

very well put. test cricket will teach you a lot

[@tomharris380]

Yeah Test Cricket really is the ultimate form of the game because it incorporates all these elements and as the game progresses over potentially five days they become more and more relevant. Not to mention the stories that develop over a five match series between the same two teams (Like the Ashes). Test Cricket is like a great novel, the other formats are fun but with the greatest respect ultimately fairly superfluous in comparison.

[@andrewpatton5114]

Baseball used to be the same before the designated hitter rule: a pitcher could throw a shutout and hit a home run for the win.

[@Hen16]

I think cricket is as complex as baseball, it is just that the complexity is introduced in a different way. In baseball, the complexity comes from within the rules themselves, as you described. In cricket, the basic rules are easy to understand, but the range of different ways a player/team can choose to play make it more complex in that way.

[@mrsock3380]

Also, the reasons he gave for baseball being more complex doesn't make sense, you can teach a 5 year old the basic rules of baseball and having them play a game just as easily as cricket. It's not as if you can't play a game of baseball without knowing all the rules.

[@benjaminmelikant3460]

@@mrsock3380 Was just coming here to say something similar. In terms of describing the basic gameplay of both games, neither of them are very complicated, but when you get into more nuanced rules of the game, you start to see terrible complexity emerge with both. Recently started getting back into baseball again and realized there are still a ton of little rules that I never knew or understood, so I get where that idea is coming from, but that to me seems true of both games.

[@sogekek]

I cant even make you understand cricket in a day

[@srikan463]

Yes. In sports rules have to be simple and players needs to be creative. That's what cricket is all about. In Baseball players rather than concentrating on hitting the ball they concentrate on stealing runs by playing hide and seek. That is stupid.

[@MrTheboffin]

​@@srikan463 For a game to be fair definitely. Baseball has so many rules and exceptions to the rules and abuse of the rules their is almost more of a focus on the rules than on the game. The fact you can decide to simply give a player first base rather than risk a home run is silly and is honestly unsportsmanlike. On the other hand, baseball does have much higher highs in excitement with the double and triple plays.

[@baerlauchstal]

On bowling styles: the distinction is really, I think, less among types of delivery than among *delivery actions*. One type of bowler takes a long run-up and whips the arm over quickly. A second takes a short run-up and tweaks the ball with the fingers. A third takes a short run-up and rolls the wrist in the release. These actions are so distinct from one another that it's very difficult to become proficient in them all (unless your name is Gary Sobers). They're also trivially easy for batters to distinguish, so there's no way of disguising one as another. So they exist as separate things; each bowler generally specialises in one of the three (unless their name is Gary Sobers). Now, *within* each of those three broad categories there are multiple types of delivery. The first type, pace or seam bowling, consists of inswingers, outswingers, slower ones, off-cutters, leg-cutters and so on. The second type, finger-spin (or offspin, or orthodox spin) consists, for right-handed bowlers, of offbreaks, arm balls, doosras etc. The third type, wrist-spin (or leg-spin) consists (again for righties) of legbreaks, googlies, topspinners, flippers... Ideally, those individual balls are delivered with disguise, so the batter doesn't know, within the overall delivery style, what they're getting. Hope that makes sense. Which game is more complicated? I'm not sure. I think limited-overs cricket may be more straightforward (though the tactics involved in setting the field in cricket are incredibly involved compared to baseball), but test cricket has additional subtleties, mostly having to do with the possibility of matches being drawn. That means that in order to win, it's not sufficient to score more runs than the opposition (it's necessary, but not sufficient). You also need to bowl them out twice within the time limit. That can sometimes mean, for example, that you may want to deliberately stop batting before your side has been retired, in order to leave enough time to force the win. It's generally when I try to explain all that that the eyes of my Canadian wife start to glaze over. An additional *tactical* complexity in cricket (not a complexity in the rules, but a complexity stemming from the rules) has to do with the fact that you can score at whatever pace you like; there's no "three strikes and you're out", and no requirement to run when you hit the ball. That sometimes creates a tension between scoring runs and staying safe: batting can be done in an attacking or a defensive mode. For this reason, so can bowling, and fielding, and field-placement. The interplay between high-risk and safety-first modes of play creates tactical subtleties that aren't quite reproduced in baseball. One thing I'd say of both games is that any complexity is worth it. These are two of the most rewarding sports in the world to follow.

[@CHOOCHx51]

Baseball pitchers do also have categories based on delivery, or more specifically, arm action in their pitches: over the top, 3/4, sidearm, submarine, each type fairly intuitive (pitch is released with arm near vertical, pitch is released with arm near 45 degrees, pitch is released with arm near horizontal, pitch is released with arm beneath parallel to ground). Pitchers are very commonly categorized by their arm action, tho it is not uncommon for a pitcher to change arm action when throwing certain pitches or just as a mix up. Arm action also plays a large role in how a pitcher’s different pitches act. A more over the top arm action lends more to a straight and heard fastball, as well as a vertically breaking curveball. The more toward sidearm a pitcher gets, the more their pitches tend to move horizontally, where a 3/4 or sidearm pitcher will tend to see even their 4-seam fastball (a pitch that inherently travels the “straightest”) having some amount of horizontal movement.

[@satyakisil4289]

There are also the distinction between chest on and side on bowlers, rollers vs slingers - slingers being either overarm(Jasprit Bumrah) or sidearm(Lasith Malinga). Knucle bowlers are there(Liam Plunkett comes to mind) as well as the carrom bowlers(made popular by Ajantha Mendis). Most bowlers are right handed, a smaller proportion are left handed and rare exceptions include ambidextrous bowlers.

[@hmao4466]

Well said.

[@flamingfrancis]

@@satyakisil4289 You need to study the actual delivery and release point for bowlers like Malinga and other slingers such as Thommo and Tate. You WILL find that at the release point ALL bowlers are front on. They are side on in delivery stride but observe what happens next. Bowlers like Tate were also injury prone and as with elite pitchers like John Smoltz they adjusted the angle of the arm to lessen the stress on the pronation of their arm.

[@satyakisil4289]

@@flamingfrancis uh... what's your point? What's the issue with being front on? Perhaps you're thinking about front on and side on and saw Malinga being sidearm, which you mistook for side on...

[@charleswolfson8675]

I've moved from the U.S. to Australia in 1986 at the age of 33. I've coached and played baseball here for the past 30+ years. I knew nothing about cricket when I got here, but soon became a big fan of the game, especially the test match format. I think a huge difference between baseball and cricket is the importance of the condition of the pitch and the condition of the ball. As you'd know, a wicket may be "flat" (greatly favoring the batters), "turning" (greatly favoring spin bowlers), or "hard" or "green" (greatly favoring fast bowlers). And, in a test match, the condition of the wicket will change throughout the day and day to day, for example, making it much harder for the team batting last to "chase" a total to win. And, as a ball wears over many overs, the fielding side will constantly be working one side of the ball to enhance "swing". There's nothing remotely comparable in baseball.

[@RRaquello]

In the early days of baseball that concept of "working" the ball was common because they'd only use one or two balls a game. It would get beat up and dirtier and darker as the game went on, and in those days the spitball was legal, so the ball would get spit on and most players chewed tobacco in those days so it can be imagined what the ball came to look like as the game went on. That's why it was called the "dead ball" era, because the ball became impossible to hit for long distances. This changed when Ray Chapman was killed by a pitched ball in a game in 1920. As a result of this, the spitball was made illegal and umpires were instructed to throw out balls that became dirty. It completely changed the game, probably the biggest single change in the history of baseball.

[@bubs45]

I grew up watching baseball but as I got older I lost interest in the game. I got into cricket as a teenager after a trip to India. I had a few people explain cricket to me, but most of what I learned was by watching it. I think you did a better job explaining it that I do.

[@lezurrbolt4308]

Great

[@skbuch16]

i am an Indian American who grew up playing organized baseball yet followed Indian cricket my whole life due to my heritage. I always told my friends that cricket was the more complicated sport due to the weird terminology, endless fielding positions with silly names, and other quirks. But after watching your two videos, I realize that’s just because we all came from a place of shared understanding about baseball/softball rules and gameplay. You have totally changed my perspective on this with your example of young children (both in the videos and comments). And the point about rules following an “internal logic” is just brilliant. As a lover and player of both sports for 20 years, I can confidently say that you are correct that at their core, for a person new to both sports, cricket gameplay and rules are simpler to understand. On the flip side, if you are trying to explain either sport to a fan of the other, both will seem equally ridiculous and complicated. One last thing that I’m sure you came across in your research on cricket is that it actually is the precursor to baseball in America. Obviously, cricket was invented way earlier by the British and was played in America up until around the mid-1800s when baseball was invented. As a result, I have often viewed baseball and its rules as a sort of progression or evolution of the rules of cricket. Like cricket with extra layers to it and more culturally American adaptations. Much love to you for making these videos.

[@Goodgodbhanu]

Duckworth and Lewis method isn't just complicated to you, it is complicated even for the professional players, umpires and the match referees too! SA once tied a match (which they could have easily won) simply because they didn't understand that Duckworth and Lewis gives out Par score which means they have to score one more than the Par score. Instead they scored the Par score, match was tied and they were eliminated out of the 50 overs World Cup!

[@listerofsmeg884]

Cricket, surely the only sport whos wiki article includes a mathematical theory 😂

[@surojeetchatterjee]

@In Wellens we trust not only run rates, it changes based on wicket falling as well.

[@davidbenton8775]

Most definitely! I doubt baseball has anything as opaque as D-L just listening to the professional pundits and commentators in an ODI with multiple rain delays is enough to demonstrate. They simply ask the computer for the new target and take it as a sort of 'heavenly decree'. The actual method of calculating the required number is hideously complicated.

[@EarlJohn61]

@@davidbenton8775 What constitutes a "Baulk" by pitchers is quite confusing to me... (An Australian cricket/Australian rules football follower)

[@अजिङ्क्यगोखले]

@Goodgodbhanu The match you are talking about (i assume it's from the 92 WC) did not use D/L method. The D/L method was introduced after that.

[@mohitvyas97]

3:52. Shane Warne was a beast. RIP legend

[@SectorOne350]

rip

[@philmccracken179]

Was that the guy who was going around on TV trying to demonize people for not getting the vax then soon after “suddenly died” of heart problems? Is that the guy you hope Rests In Peace”? He wouldn’t let his fellow humans live in peace when he was alive… ironic huh?

[@michaelviljoen2161]

We tried to Warne people.

[@newremote]

This video and your earlier one are probably the best introduction to cricket that I've seen on KZbin. Man, there are some poor ones! Something that often comes up in videos is the fact that the same ball can be used for up to 500 deliveries or more before it's replaced by a new ball. It's mentioned as just another quirky difference between cricket and baseball, but it has a huge impact on the way tactics are conceived and carried out in cricket. Over the long period in which the ball is flung on the ground at speed for hours, belted with the bat and thrown about the field, it goes through big changes. The surface loses its shine and roughs up, the seam flattens out, it gets softer etc etc. This has a major effect on how it moves in the air and bounces off the pitch (the ground), which makes the captain's decisions about what bowlers to call on and when to make the changes, crucial and difficult. The fact that the pitch is also changing, being worn by batters' and bowlers' movements, the pounding with the ball, and the weather itself, and that this wear and tear happens in different places, all have to be taken into account because it will favour some bowlers over others. Players can't rough the ball up (to help the finger spinners do their stuff) but they can keep one side shiny, usually by rubbing it on their trousers with the aid of a little sweat. This helps the pace and swing bowlers get the ball to move sideways in the air. Anyway, there's a lot going on for the captain factor in, without even mentioning the strengths and weaknesses of the two batsman who happen to be in, and getting the right match-up with your bowling attack. A long post, but the short version is: The constant wear on the ball, and the ground it bounces on, is central to the game, especially in the longer forms. That's why the crowd throws the ball back.

[@flamingfrancis]

In the longest format of Test cricket the ball is changed every 90 overs.

[@newremote]

@@flamingfrancis According to several sources, including the MCC Laws of Cricket, it's 80 overs in matches of more than one day's duration.

[@matthewmitchell6899]

Yup, it's definitely 80 overs for the ball change. This is why Joe Root got a wiggle on last Sunday and knocked off the required runs by the 79th over. Another few deliveries and New Zealand would have had a new ball which would have made it much easier to get the remaining England batsmen out

[@newremote]

@@matthewmitchell6899 Exactly. For my reply I just checked that it applied beyond test matches. Yes, Joe Root got a wriggle on from the start, and once they'd got the first 20-odd fairly easily it seemed to be inevitable.

[@EarlJohn61]

In first class matches and Test Matches the ball is *allowed* to be changed after 80 overs (480 legitimate balls/pitches). *It isn't compulsory.* If the fielding captain feels he has a better chance of taking wickets or restricting runs with the older ball he can keep using that. *BUT* once he's taken a new ball, there's no going back.

[@abbu.robinson]

South African and huge cricket fan. Very good points and thank you. Regarding the types of bowlers, their are know for their style "pacer" "spinner" etc. In the context of the game they will be tagged as the "opening bowler"(first 2 overs) "power play bowler" (first 10 overs excluding the first 2) "death bowler" (last few overs OR the overs close to when the second team approach the runs target when they are "defending the runs") or in test matches "up front" (early in an innings or at the beginning of a session of play) Another point on bowlers, some are used to "dry up runs" by repeatedly bowling "tight" meaning they don't allow room for the batsman to play aggressive shots, while others might be more aggressive in trying to get wickets but will be more "expensive" in how many runs they "leak". So each bowler within their style will have an arsenal of deliveries they can use, and will change their preferred one based on the context in the game. But their definition remains "seamer" "off-spinner" etc Hopefully this was more helpful than just jargon (edited to avoid autocorrect nonsense)

[@EarlJohn61]

And few, if any of these tags apply to First Class matches or Test matches.

[@evanamster946]

Dude, I just want to say I watch a bunch of sports channels and yours is absolutely up there with the best of them. Your aesthetic style is really clean, easily digestable and very informative. Rooting for you and hoping you continue to grow, 3.67K is not nearly enough for what you deserve.

[@SportsExplained]

I appreciate that!

[@zaphod4245]

I'd argue that cricket is easier to learn, but harder to master. The basic rules are much simpler as you say, but as you get to a more advanced level there are intricacies and advanced strategy which make cricket more complex.

[@pranavgandhar4604]

for 3 year kid , it is easy to teach cricket , cricket rules are flexible , base ball rules are not that flexible, needs professional ground

[@desamster]

Baseball has a lot of intricacies and advanced strategy as well.

[@mwwoggy]

Regarding the bowling types you asked about: technically, there are actually 3 types of bowling: Fast Bowling, Medium-Paced Bowling and Spin Bowling. Fast, as the name implies, is all about the speed of the ball - some of the fastest bowlers can reach into the high 90mph one or two have cracked the 100mph mark. This doesn't mean that they only bowl flatout all the time, they have variances in their aresenal (eg: slower balls). Medium Pace are those bowlers that just can't generate the same amount of speed as the Quickies - but they're usually have a much more varied number of balls they can use in their arsenal. They are also normally far more accurate in where they pitch the ball up and can hit very small targets on the pitch causing batsmen to get pinned down. The problem with Medium Pace is that it's sort of dying out a little with teams going more for pace or spin. Lastly, Spin (which is the slowest form of bowling) relies on the ball having heavy rotationimparted on the ball so that when it hits the ground, it veers off depending on what type of spin is applied to the ball. Both Pace and Medium bowling can be split into 2 sub-categories: Seam and Swing. Seamers rely on the ball changing direction on the bounce depending on how the ball is spinning while in flight. It's call Seam because usually the orientation of the seam of the ball can be directly related to the outcome of the ball's bounce. Swing, on the other hand relies on the ball swinging laterally through the air before it hts the ground, This is dependant on the condition of the ball - usually, the fielding team endeavour to keep one side of the ball smooth and shiny and rough the other side of it up to create a difference in air speed over the surface of the ball causing the ball to veer off through the air. SPin also has 2 main categories of bowling: Leg and Off (also called Wrist) spin. Basically, it's Left or Right breaking balls once they've hit the pitch. There are also various deliveries where the rotation of the ball causes different effects instead of just a Left/Right break, but these are usually seen more as varioations within the bowlers capabilities.

[@saswatmohanty8132]

Correction: Leg spin is called wrist spin Not off spin(Finger spin)

[@mwwoggy]

@@saswatmohanty8132 Sorry, I stand corrected - Leg is Wrist and Off is Finger

[@dweller6065]

IMO a better bowling typology would be 1. Spin (wrist/finger) 2. Seam/Cutters 3. Swing 4. Fast

[@TomDillon13]

Back in first school (aged like 7-9) we used to play QwikCricket in PE, which was basically a simplified version of the game designed for schools. You'd have plastic bats, wickets with no bails and basically you were forced to run whenever the ball was bowled. I remember it being a lot of fun. It is definitely a simpler game to explain than baseball, and I think it's purely because "hit ball, run" is a very easy concept to describe.

[@Honey.1.1]

Its called tip and run now

[@flamingfrancis]

Baseball too, has much simplified variants developed for juniors. The game of T Ball (baseball and softball) is the oldest game scaled down for juniors. Regardless of skills all kids play an equal part.Baseball also introduced RIF (reduced injury factor) balls

[@suhridguha2560]

you also have to know when not to run otherwise run out is a thing

[@TomDillon13]

@@suhridguha2560 One of the rules of Qwik Cricket in school was that you had to run whenever a ball was bowled, regardless of if it would run you out - it was designed that way so that everyone got a turn to bat.

[@suhridguha2560]

@@TomDillon13 that makes sense

[@iandshaw]

I liked your analysis of the complexity of each game. I'd never really considered it before, but the gameplay of baseball does seem to have more rules to learn. Similarly, American Football's rules are inherently more complicated than Association Football (soccer). That's not to say that baseball is overall more complex. With both cricket and baseball, and indeed almost any pastime, the more you delve into them, the more nuances there are to understand and appreciate. When, many years ago, I read How Life Imitates the World Series I gained another level of appreciation for baseball that I would never have gained from simply watching. The major difference that you have yet to explain is the way the ball is treated. In baseball, polishing or scuffing the ball are strictly prohibited. In cricket, the ball naturally gets scuffed from contact with the ground. Deliberate scuffing is not allowed, but polishing is, which is why you will often see players with red patches on their trousers, from repeated rubbing. A cricket team will go to great effort to maintain a shine on one half of the ball, while allowing the other side to degrade. By holding the ball with the shiny side to the left or the right, a 'swing' bowler can use the difference in aerodynamics to get the ball to move laterally in the air, much like a breaking ball or slider.

[@RRaquello]

In American football, I don't think the average fan has any idea what's really going on. I have a cousin who was a high school and college player. He played NCAA Division III football, which is not a high level, and was an offensive lineman, and still we used to talk about blocking schemes and all the variations, and this is the foundation on which the whole offensive game is built, and if all you do is watch, on TV or in person, you don't see any of this. You can't understand it unless you sit in on a coaching session with game films broken down and played in slow motion over & over. Yet you hear these stupid blow hard fans talking like experts on key plays in a game when they have zero idea of what really happened. And they also bet good money on something they don't understand.

[@manasik6108]

The Duckworth-Lewis Method is complicated even for people who follow cricket regularly. My parents are hardcore cricket fans and I remember them asking how this thing work they said no idea coz it depends on lot of factors.

[@stephentaylor4788]

Thank you so much for the videos, they are a great way of explaining the game that I enjoy. I also enjoy baseball too and the nuances that it brings. You asked about spin vs fast bowling and why bowlers aren't multi disciplined. The answer to this is learning time and how different the 2 arts are. It takes a long time to learn how to spin the ball effectively and while you are learning that you cannot learn the same skill of bowing fast. As a bowler to learn how to bowl fast you have to have a completely different run up to bowl, a different grip of the ball and a different thought process in terms of where to bowl it. With baseball, the gather is the same, the action is the same it's only the grip that differs. In cricket, everything has to change. Faster bowlers are actually referred to in the game as 'seam up' bowlers because of how they hold the ball with the seam between the index and middle finger. Spinners hold the ball almost 90 degrees to that, to twist their hands and wrist allowing the ball to pitch with the seam being at 90 degrees from the pitch in the hope that it will turn sideways when it bounces. I would also like to add that the 2 fundamental differences between baseball and cricket, (that being the 360 degree playing field and more importantly the fact that the ball bounces), are what bring spinners into the game. At the beginning of an innings, (team at bat), the ball is shiny and new and so the faster bowlers get more bounce and 'carry', (speed off the pitch), and perhaps also sideways movement in the air, (called swing), as the ball ages and the pitch also changes due to weather and people running in to bowl, the ball ages and doesn't bounce as much or bounce as fast off the pitch; here spinners come into their own because the ball being rougher will allow it to grip on the surface and therefore turn more off the surface once it bounces. It is the fact that the ball isn't changed and the pitch they are batting on changes over time that allows slower bowlers to be very deadly. In your previous video you referred to 'professional cricket'. I know there have been plenty of comments on this, but not one that I feel hits the mark. Cricket has in fact adopted an American term that describes it perfectly. It's franchise cricket and exclusively 20 overs or fewer, (professional cricket has been around for over 100 years, similar to baseball). They are domestic teams set up inside countries and they bid for the players they can to represent them during the timescale of that franchise tournament. (Usually 2 months in duration). The best US parallel I can find is either baseball or ice hockey, as they have a wider international field playing. If I take Ice Hockey, it would be all the nations having their own franchise tournaments, (US, Canada, Sweden, Russia, etc), and the players moving around the leagues based on how much they would be paid to represent. The chief franchise tournament in cricket is the Indian Premier League, (IPL). As we stand right now though, (and this could be argued against, but I would defend my statement), winning tournaments for your country far outweighs franchise cricket. So using the franchise ice hokey analogy, players can play in any league they want, but ultimately are contracted by their countries to represent them when they call. So Wayne Gretzky could be playing in a tournament in Sweden, but would dip out of that to play for Canada, as the nation holds the rights; (yes I know for those wishing to rip that apart that not all nations can afford to contract their players, but as a general rule it stands). I think it is also worth noting that risk vs reward is a massive part of cricket. yes you can throw the bat at everything, but once you are out...that's it, no turning back. You are gone. First class cricket does have 2 innings I understand, but limited overs cricket does not. So how hard do you go at it? Once again thank you for the love of my favourite sport; and I also love watching baseball. You have gone a brilliant job at explaining this game, don't stop doing it, it is actually the 2nd most watched sport in the world behind soccer and not by much, (thank you the Asian sub-continent). I would love the US to fall in love with this game, but being so big, you might get a little too good at it.

[@SanidhyaM-mj5ue]

A 'spin' baller is basically a bowler that can turn or 'spin' the ball after it bounces, they are also usually the slower bowlers. Now spin has majorly 2 types of bowlers, leg spinners and off spinners. Off spinners are right-handed bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball from right to left (for a right-handed batsman). The ball typically spins in the opposite direction for a left-handed batsman. Off spinners generally rely on accuracy, subtle variations in flight and pace, and the ability to generate turn off the pitch. Leg spinners, on the other hand, are right-handed or left-handed bowlers who use their wrists and fingers to impart spin on the ball from left to right (for a right-handed batsman). The ball spins in the opposite direction for a left-handed batsman. Leg spinners are known for their ability to generate significant turn off the pitch, as well as variations in bounce and trajectory. In summary, the main differences between off spinners and leg spinners lie in the direction of spin imparted on the ball and the techniques used to achieve it. Each type of spinner brings its own unique challenges for batsmen and requires different skills to master. A pace baller is usualy the bowler that adds pace into the ball. The ball is held diagonaly from the seam and if relesead at the right pace, the ball will swing in the air. BTW there are also different types of batters; Defensive, Radical, balanced, and brute. Defensive batter are usualy slow playing batters and have a lot of technique, so they usually play Tests or ODIs for example: rahul dravid or joe root. Radical are a bit faster but still on the slow page so usually test or ODI, sometimes t20. for example: Virat Kohli. next is balaced. they are slightly more faster with run rates varying around 125-150. the also usually play ODI or t20, less of test. for example: Shubhman Gill. Next are Brute. these guys are complete powerhouses. They have a lot of run rate and are usually used to make some quick runs. they are less thechnical and do anytype of shot. example; glenn maxwell, Travis head. hope this helped

[@chandranrajiv]

I agree. Basic gameplay of cricket is simpler. For the team batting - don't get out, score as many runs as you can. For the fielding team, restrict the batting team from scoring runs, get as many batsmen out as possible. 2 innings with one team each getting to bat. They who scores most runs wins. Both scoring runs, and getting out follow a limited number of straightforward rules. The more obscure rules are to ensure fairplay eg certain types of no-balls, out for handling ball, or delay in coming out to bat etc. Crickets uncertainties and complexities comes from the huge number of variables at play that effect the game. Type of pitch, ground conditions, moisture, wind, temperature, composition and temperament of team, selector decisions, choice to exercise review, ball being used, the time the match is played, the type of cricket being played and decision making surrounding these. The rules are simple. Complexity is an emergent property and not imposed.

[@mwwoggy]

This was an awesome video - really good work! I totally agree with your assessment of which sport is easier to learn, and I think the main reason is that Cricket's laws are straight up rules - ball is in play, bowler bowls, batsman hits, fielders try to prevent ball from getting to boundary and try to get the batsmen out. Whereas, in Baseball, rules are contingent on what has happened beforehand (you examples of tagging up and what the other batters standing on base need to be concious of while they're not batting anymore are spot on). Like any sport, there are nuances to certain situations in Cricket, but it's far more cut and dry. One thing that I wouldn't say you got wrong, but is not wholly correct was the bit about the Super Overs - these only happen in large tournaments (eg: World cups) and T20. Standard ODI's (non-world cup matches) and Test Matches don't use them - the games are just declared a draw. Also a small side note to that: at the start of evey tournament, there are tournament rules that can dictate changes to this, specifically to that tournament - think of them as house rules. Examples of this would be: the inclusion of a Super Over if needed, The number of overs that need to be played by both teams to constute a match in case of bad weather, How many appeals a team can have, etc. These are generally the same for every tournament, but sometimes they're not.

[@RRaquello]

One baseball rule that I find even long time baseball watchers don't understand is a single aspect of the tag up rule. If you have a runner on first base and the batter hits a long fly that the runner thinks the outfielder won't catch, he takes off. Say he gets past second, is in between second & third and the outfielder makes a miraculous catch. Returning to first base, the runner has to tag second base on his way back to first. This doesn't come up often, so a viewer might not know or remember the rule, but if you think about it the reason for the rule is obvious. If he didn't have to tag second on the way back, he could just cut across the infield back to first base. There are a thousand little rules like that in baseball, things that may come up only a couple of times a season, but you have to know them to keep out of trouble. Try to explain the infield fly rule to a seven year old Little League player.

[@jaydarl2]

As someone who finally made an effort to learn Cricket, I agree with your last point. Once you understand it, it is a more straightforward game to understand if one were starting from zero in both sports.

[@HiromiHonda]

One interesting thing you'll see here in Brazil (maybe in other countries too, I don't know): there's a game called bets (or taco) that's basically two people per team cricket. It's pretty popular and played by kids on the street using scraps of wood, discarded bricks and tennis balls.

[@epsity5124]

apparently there is a town in Brazil where cricket is more popular than football,the main contributing factor is that the kids played bets or taco,

[@peterwallace8441]

Good video. I think the main difference between the sports is the variations due to the pitch and atmospheric conditions in cricket (spoiler: my knowledge of baseball is rudimentary). In baseball it's hard to hit the ball. In cricket it's relatively easy. In a test match a team might "toil in the field" for hours with no sign that they can possibly get a wicket. Then again on a damp and overcast morning the ball might swing so much that a team might be skittled out for a very low score. I don't think baseball creates this variation of opportunity between bat and ball.

[@colinyffzxlorimer1903]

Brilliant. I'm a lifelong cricket fan. If you don't know either game cricket is a much easier game to watch and understand. After watching baseball on tv for years I had to buy a Johnny Bench book to understand the game. Now I have a great appreciation for both sports

[@tassiehandyman3090]

This is an old video now, but as a newly minted fan of baseball who grew up on cricket... I watched 2 no hitters in the last few days (Dylan Cease for the Padres, Blake Snell for the Giants), and I couldn't help noticing that in both cases, not one person from the opposition team appeared to congratulate the pitcher. I can't shake the feeling that if the players had grown up playing cricket before they switched to baseball, there's a good chance that would have been different...🤷‍♂️😏...🏏⚾️

[@saswatmohanty8132]

6:24 The duckworth lewis system is so complicated that 99 percent cricket watchers also don't know how that works 🤣🤣🤣

[@SportsExplained]

Good because I certainly don’t!!

[@colinwhite6904]

Duckworth - Lewis is like a swear word in South Africa! 😅

[@w.j.m8731]

The reason why bowlers in cricket have a certain title is due to the scale that separates a fast bowler and a spin bowler I'm a fast bowler and I don't really understand spin bowling I can't do it very well and I know spin bowlers that can't get wickets in giveaway a lot of runs when fast bowling. pictures kind of throw in a similar way and at a similar point well with cricket it's a lot more on your hand placement the speed you come in and where the ball bounces or if it bounces at all. I do think the cricket is a much easier game to understand all the points you made in this video are very true and I would add to it that cricket is much more dynamic T-20 the hundred and T10 are all examples of where cricket has made itself more versatile and easier to understand. Also cricket has not the same old card and kind of old-fashioned player code of contract. Players are allowed to celebrate if they hit sixes or if a player gets out. I've been watching and following baseball for years and I still don't understand the game today watching your video I learn something new. It's just a slight inconsistency when you talk about super overs super overs don't continue until when you was decided if the game is still a draw after both teams have batted the winner is decided through amount of wickets conceded or amount of boundaries scored or your net run rate

[@guyfaux3978]

"Third strike not caught" and "byes/leg byes" are similar in the sense of that the receiver of the ball, the "catcher" or "wicket-keeper," hasn't made a clean play on the ball and as a result, the team at bat can take advantage of the situation. I mean, that's how I figured out what a bye or leg bye was.

[@LoneVocalist]

In limited over cricket, there are opening bowlers (starters) and death bowlers (closers). Signature sequence of pitches sounds like what the stock ball is for a cricket bowler. You can break down cricket bowlers in two main categories: Fast/Pace bowlers and Spin Bowlers. Fast bowlers come running in and bowl as fast as they can, ranging from 80 to 100 miles per hour. They try to swing the ball in the air (lateral movement) and/or "seam" the ball to a degree by landing the ball on the seam so the ball can deviate off the ground. Spin bowlers are a different beast. They take a few steps, bowl at a much slower pace, and give ball lot of revs. Because of their slower pace, the ball gets ample time to grasp the ground which combined with revs cause deviation (called spin or turn) in the intended direction. Spin bowlers can be finger spinners, or wrist spinners. A finger spinner is more accurate, but usually can't generate as many revs as the wrist spinner. A right handed finger spinner is called an off spinner, a left handed finger spinner is called left arm orthodox. Off spinner turns the ball from left to right (on your TV) and the left arm orthodox spinner turns right to left. Wrist spinners aren't as accurate, but because they use they who wrist to put revs on the ball, they generate more turn. Right arm wrist spinner is called a leg spinner and turns the ball from right to left from you TV's POV. Left arm wrist spinner is called left arm unorthodox or "Chinaman" for short (nicknamed by salty English batter after getting out to a left arm unorthodox to an an Asian bowler long ago). Chinaman bowlers turn the ball left to right. Notice the directions are important because some batters are right handed while others are left handed. A note on describing cricket to a 3 year old, LBW is generally not implemented outside of pro cricket. So a 3 year old will just be told to hit the ball as far as you can, don't let the ball hit the wickets, don't get caught out, and run if you can make it.

[@liausdhfsdgfgf]

As a cricket fan who loves the game and has watched and played cricket all his life, In just last 5 years i learned baseball through a mobile game and watched a few matches afterwards. I can easily say that in my opinion, BASEBALL IS LESS COMPLICATED IN TERMS OF LAWS. It's fairly easy. Cricket is a game of technique, if you don't know the technique or haven't developed it, you cannot play. Baseball appears to be more blunt and straightforward than cricket. But at the end I would say I love both games.

[@jamescurran9002]

Thank you for your statement on which game is more complicated. I tried to explain some of the things you mentioned to half the Pacific Rim ( Cricket fans in Australia), plus a few more like Fair Territories and Players having gloves making it more difficult for the batters, but with no success. So thank you for articulating .

[@alisiddef]

Cricket is by far the easier to sport to play and understand at base level. The more official cricket gets, the more complicated (relatively) it gets. Which is the same for other sports as well like futbol, basketball or hockey. But baseball is harder to understand at elementary level too because of its inherent complicated rules. If you were to watch street cricket (in Pakistan) or beach cricket (in West Indies), it is such an easy sport to pick up and play.

[@iammattbarker]

I have heard Americans say that cricket is harder to play in the back yard because it requires more equipment. That simply isn't true. It's the same as baseball. You just need a ball and a stick and you adapt the rules however you want. As cricket is a runs based game, in backyard cricket it's common to dispense with physically running and just assign a run for every hit. Also you might assign two runs for hitting the house on the bounce and four runs for the back fence. Also, to save the windows, anything hit on the full is out.

[@RockSolitude]

RIP Shane Warne. He really was the best of the best. Unmatched bowling great and one of the best cricket brains there was.

[@xlerb1637]

Heh heh heh heh. Cricket brain.

[@jpgale]

There is an english school game that is the literal foundation of baseball called rounders. Having played, cricket and rounders and softball in the us, the transition was not hard due to the similarity of rounders

[@Azeria]

1:43 that’s Trent Bridge! I could see those flood lights from my childhood bedroom, and my first job was in the McDonald’s across the road. When I mention I’m from Nottingham most Americans think of Robin Hood, but Aussies mostly mention Trent Bridge ❤

[@museruse1]

Baseball - Complex to understand for a novice Easy to master once you are a novice Cricket - Easy to understand as a novice Hell to master for a novice Armageddon when it comes to the DLS method

[@smitmahajani7663]

Other people have explained how bowlers are categorised into pacers and spinners, so I won't go into that. However, there are indeed equivalents to what you'd called starting pitchers and the different types of relief pitchers. However the list isn't as long in cricket, as it is in baseball, and these roles are defined very broadly similarly across all cricket formats, but there are crucial differences. This is how it goes in Test cricket: There are two opening bowlers (since in cricket, the ends change after each over so there will always be two bowlers operating at a given time). These opening bowlers operate with the new ball and their role is to set the tempo and to build pressure, so as to get some outs/wickets. Their job is to get the top order of the batting out, while giving away very few runs. This puts pressure on the batting team. Then come the 1st change and 2nd change bowlers. Their job is to keep up the pressure and take wickets as well. They've to work with a slightly less new ball, and they too try to get wickets obviously since that's the job of any bowler, but they're expected to take more wickets and get the middle order batters out. The change bowlers and opening bowlers are collectively called "specialist bowlers" since they're in the team to get wickets (while not giving away many runs obviously). They're the ones expected to get the most wickets of the opposition batters. Then comes the 5th, and occasionally the 6th bowler (in Test cricket, teams only play 5 bowlers usually, but rarely might have a 6th bowler too). These are called support bowlers. The support bowlers can of course take wickets too, but their main job is to support the specialist bowlers as the name suggests. They're expected to not leak runs and keep up some pressure, while the specialist bowlers take some rest before coming on to bowl again. Remember in Test cricket, since there is no limit on the number of overs per bowler (as is the case in limited-overs formats), specialist bowlers bowl for much longer "spells" (basically the period a bowler bowls any number of their own overs one after the other is a spell of his/her). So that's why specialist bowlers need enough rest. Support bowlers might also come in if one of the other bowlers is injured. The opening bowlers, change bowlers and support bowlers also operate with different conditions of the ball (new+hard+shiny, old-ish+slighly soft+less shiny and then, very soft+ quite worn out). As you said, the ball is the same on cricket so the condition of the ball determines a lot of bowling strategies in cricket. In limited-overs cricket, the bowlers are defined according to the phase of game. Before that, you need to know what a powerplay is: A powerplay is period of fielding restrictions, and each powerplay (PP) has different maximum limits on the number of outfielders the fielding/bowling team can have. T20 cricket has 1 powerplay from overs 1-6 of the innings, in which only 2 fielders are allowed in the outfield, after which the limit is 5 fielders for the rest of the innings. In ODI cricket, Powerplay 1 (overs 1-10) has a limit of 2 outfielders, PP 2 has a limit of 4 and PP 3 has a limit of 5 outfielders. These dictate the bowling and batting strategies. In T20 cricket, there are 3 phases of an innings: The Powerplay (Overs 1-6), the middle overs (overs 7-16) and the death overs/slog overs (overs 16-20). So then you have powerplay specialists (within this, bowlers who bowl overs 1-3 are also called new ball bowlers since they operate with the new hard ball), middle overs bowlers and death over specialists (they bowl with the worn out ball). One-Day/ODI formats have a similar breakup: 1st powerplay (overs 1-10), 2nd powerplay (overs 11-40), also called the middle overs, and 3rd powerplay (overs 41-50), of which overs 45-50 are also called the death overs/slog overs phase. So here, you've new ball bowlers (usually bowl during most of the 1st PP), middle overs bowlers and then the death/slog overs bowlers (usually bowl most of the last PP). In limited-overs cricket, each bowler can only bowl a maximum of 20% of the total number of overs in the innings. So you need 5 bowlers in your team no matter what. However, nowadays usually, all teams in limited-overs cricket play an additional 6th bowler just in case one of the 5 is getting hit for runs. Even in cricket, lefty bowlers and lefty batters are given a lot of attention. As of now, they're even rarer in cricket than in baseball. Also, just like in baseball, there is also a batting order with defined roles, although they're defined in a different manner. Broadly there is the top order, then middle order and then the tailenders. Just like in baseball, each category has their defined roles. You can read about it in detail here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batting_order_(cricket) Btw, you've a great channel! Keep up the good work! :D

[@flamingfrancis]

You cannot generalie and state that pitchers conform to an "order" in the manner cricket bowlers are used. Field managers often call on a specific left or right handed pitcher depending on the strengths of the batter.Statistical analyses have long been a Manager's tool in baseball. Compilation of data has been used as performance indicators for over a century. Also substitutions to the batting order are a lot more prevalent in baseball. The use of the term "switch hitter" as used in cricket is a steal from baseball where any batter can be substituted at any time, even within an at bat..

[@smitmahajani7663]

@@flamingfrancis I know pitchers don't confirm to an order. I was mainly focusing on making a comparison. And how does it matter that cricket borrowed a term from baseball?? I don't see what's the relevance here. Just seems like you were offended at something I didn't even offense to, and now are trying to show that baseball is better, whereas I like both sports.

[@andredacosta8768]

90% of baseball is watching the pitcher try to throw the ball into an imaginary box while an opposing batter tries to hit the ball, preferably while it is in that box. The judgments of where that box exists is entirely in the imagination of the umpire. In cricket, the bowlers aim for and batsmen defend a very real and tangible wicket.

[@whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

So the pitcher question is very interesting and it's complex. Being a baseball and cricket fan and an engineering graduate, let me try to answer. So cricket 'pitches' or 'bowls' are categorised in two broad groups. Seam/Fast bowlers and Spin bowlers. Spin bowlers try to leverage the unpredictable bounce or movement that you get when you drop a ball rotating at a very high rpm. Whereas the fast bowlers make use of the 'seam' position to 'swing' or move the ball in desired direction. The fast bowlers bowl it at a very high speed and that momentum takes the ball to the batters end and the unpredictable bounce effect is not captured. Whereas spin bowlers bowl a bit slow but relys on trickery to deceive the batter. In baseball, we do not have the classification because we don't bounce the ball in baseball. In physics terms, baseball pitches follow magnus effect where as cricket pitches follow boundary layer effect for fast bowlers and simple Newton's conservation of total momentum for spin bowlers. And this segregation is mainly down to the seams. Baseball has that horseshoe seam, that makes the air around the baseball when moving more uniform, this the pitcher has to generate trickery by rotating it at high rpm. In cricket due to the diagonal seam air stays differently around the ball. This can be a very nice sports science video. There has been a lot of research work done on this space in last decade. And in Cricket the pitchers are not termed as closers / relievers because all 11 players on the team sheet including batters and bowlers have to field. And if a team starts with 5 bowlers, the captain can shuffle who will bowl first or second or how many overs at a stretch. The batting line up in cricket is similar to baseball. There's no DH in cricket. So pitchers have to bat, if needed. You have the best batters on top 4 'top order'. Then the 'middle order'. Finally the pitchers come in to bat at the 'tail end'. Also, in cricketing history, we have been fortunate to see quite a few Ohtani like two way players over the years. In cricket we call them the 'all-rounders'

[@MrEnergee1987]

Cricket sometimes feels like a game within a game

[@00mpa1oomp4]

Excellent video! so here are more in-depth details for a person who has got the basics of cricket down: 1) TYPE OF BALLS: in the test cricket format, they only use red balls and the countries are free to decide the type of ball they choose for a series or matches. for eg, England has excellent pace & swing conditions, so they play with a slightly smaller ball produced by 'Duke', whereas India favour spin conditions, so you tend to see balls created by 'SG' which works excellent on Indian spinning tracks. likewise, other cricketing countries choose balls as per their conditions,; 'Duke' & 'kookabura' are the most common balls chosen For one day international & t20, white kookabura balls are used dominantly as per ICC's regulations 2) TYPE OF PITCH: every country has pitches as per their favoured environmental condition, for eg, England & New Zealand have excellent pace & swing pitches, Australia & SA have pace & bouncy pitches, and India & Sri Lanka have nice spinning pitches. but it doesn't mean that you can only create a specific type of pitches in a country. In a test match, the home team is free to select the type of pitches they want to curate and you often see the home team heavily favoured to win their games as they will create pitches that favour their bowler's strength slightly. While for a one day international & a T20 matches, teams have to adhere to more strict conditions which level the playing field 3) Test cricket: One exciting aspect of test cricket is that the pitches deteriorate over the period of 5 days, so essentially, you can start the game on day 1 with excellent hard pitches which gives your bowlers & batsman a nice track to start with but by the time 5th day rolls in, the pitch's condition might be different as to day 1, so you have to adapt your game & strategy with the changing conditions.

[@richardthomson4693]

They use pink balls in Australia and UK for night test matchs

[@pritishbose6611]

hello everyone, I'm from India and we here are mostly diehard cricket lovers. while i was seeing thiss video i realized that the creator asked if anyone knew about the various types of bowling. as someone who has watched cricket over the years, i will explain the various types of bowlers. the two main types of bowlers are fast bowlers and spin bowlers. in fast bowling category, bowlers are sub categorized based on how fast they can bowl. from medium, medium fast, fast medium and fast. the quickest type is the "fast" category with bowlers able to hit speeds of over 140 km/hr speeds. Variations of a fast bowler would be slower balls, yorker and bouncer. A bouncer would be a ball landing in the middle of the pitch and bouncing high enough to reach the height of the batsman's chest. At fast speeds of over 130 km/hr this would allow the bowler to create shock and awe in the batsman taking them by surprise. A yorker is where the ball lands just around the feet of the batsman, thus not allowing him to get under the ball and smack it. fast bowlers also try to deceive batsman by ocassionally bowling slower than normal. say a bowler usually bowls at speeds of around 130 km/hr, his slower ball would be around 100 km/hr. also various types of slower balls are leg cutter, off cutter and back of the hand. off late, slow bouncer and slow yorkers have also been invented by bowlers to further deceive batsman. For spinners the main categories are off spin, leg spin and left arm spin. the first two types of spin bowlers are categorized based on the way they hold and release the ball. for a right hand batsman, a leg spinner would normally make the ball land in front of him and spin away from him. for an off spinner it's the opposite with the ball coming into the right hand batsman. also besides their normal delivery spinners have variety of balls like googly (turns the opposite way to how it would normally spin), flipper( ball bounces higher than normal), straight (no spin just goes straight on). Usually a cricket team would try to have as many types of bowlers in their teams in order to make it harder for the opposition batting team to score runs. playing every type of bowler is different. a batsman would have to keep in mind the different types of shots he can and cannot play against each type of bowler.

[@AnkitSingh-s7c1y]

If you understand the rules of cricket, you can get addicted to this sport. Believe me!

[@SimonHeartfield]

One thing I have noticed in recent years is baseball terminology being used by cricket commentators - "switch hitter" "change-up" and "clutch" I've all heard recently.

[@aharnishchowdhury3474]

they have kinda become popculture sports lingo

[@SimonHeartfield]

@@aharnishchowdhury3474 Just been reading an article in the Guardian about T20 introducing pinch hitters as substitutes.

[@pronkb000]

"Pinch-hitter" is another baseball term that's moved into cricket, though it originally referred to moving a player up in the batting order (which you can do in cricket--another major difference) as opposed to a substitute.

[@dmreturns6485]

Cool. Watched both videos. Cricket fan here. Short notes about the experience of watching cricket. 1 - Test matches - Played over a week. Typically you don't watch the whole thing. You just checkin on how the game is going like watching the news. The game continues in the back ground whilst you do the shopping or go to work or mow the lawn. Randomly through the week dramatic things happen, everyone reviews replays and discusses ... then it's quiet again and you go about your day. 2 - Day / Night matches (limited overs) - No one watches the first innings. The second innings where one team is chasing the score of the other is where the action happens. Because the chaser only has to win by 1 single run, they can carefully balance their aggression and risk. They can go hard when they need to pick up the pace or play conservatively to be safe. The end result is the tension builds and tightens. Most matches "go down to the wire" ending in the chasing team needing to score a small number of runs off the last remaining bowls and forcing them to take risks right at the end. The Day / Night games tend to end with white knuckle tension. Good fun.

[@Chalisque]

Thinking along those lines, I tuned into the IPL match between RCB and PWI only to find that I'd missed Chris Gayle hitting 175 of 66 balls and that the second innings was basically a formality.

[@leaguesmanoframsgate]

Aww, I was looking forward to watching someone try to explain the Duckworth-Lewis method to baseball fans. To be honest, it's a job of work trying to explain how the damn thing works to cricket fans. The solution I've come up with is this: when rain stops play after a certain point, the officials consult a combination of high-end statistical mathematics, rune casting, and an oracular blood sacrifice to arrive at a reduced target for the batting team to reach with the time that's left on the clock, so to speak. For instance, the batting team might be a hundred runs behind when rain stops play, and when it resumes they only have to score seventy to win. This was all worked out in the late Nineties by some professional mathematicians, who I am reliably informed were about eighty percent cable-knit sweater with holes in it by volume. That's the basics of it; anything more complicated than that will probably be explained during the match broadcast, with amusing reference to how complicated the whole thing is. As a lifelong cricket fan and mere dabbler where baseball is concerned, I'm still confident that baseball has more complicated sets of rules in it, because the actual rulebook for baseball is something that can stop a cannonball at fifty yards. However, I venture to say that there is no single rule that is itself so maddeningly convoluted as the Method. It is the province of people with calculators and ear hair like the coat of an Afghan hound, and in my opinion cricket is all the better for it.

[@SportsExplained]

Poetry. thank you.

[@SportsExplained]

Poetry. Thank you.

[@tropictiger2387]

One great aspect of cricket is that its a game of endurance. Both teams have eleven players and these players make up their batting order. At least ten of the eleven batters have to be dismissed (Out) for a team's innings to be over. There are specialist bowlers and specialist batters. There are also all-rounders who can do both but usually not as well as specialists. A team's batting order usually starts out with their best batsmen at the beginning and their worst batsmen at the end, these are usually the specialist bowlers. Bowling disciplines can be divided into three broad categories. Fast bowlers, swing bowlers and spinners. The interesting part of this is that you see the different types of bowlers during different times of the game. The reason for this is because the state of the ball and the state of the pitch. When the ball is new fast bowling is at its most effective. This is because the ball is still smooth and passes through the air smoothly without losing much speed. As the ball gets more worn swing bowling becomes more effective. A common tactic is for a team to polish only one side of the ball. They do this because as one side of the ball becomes rougher than the other it experiences more drag while going through the air causing it to "Swing" to one side. This effect can also be varied by imparting more or less spin along the seam of the ball when bowling it. When the ball gets really roughed up and the pitch has taken damage, from being played on, spin bowling is at its most effective. Spin bowlers bowl the slowest but their balls are the most unpredictable. They impart spin onto the ball by either using their wrist or their fingers to roll over the ball while bowling it, when the ball lands it then bites into the pitch and bounces in the direction it is spinning. Spinners often target particularly rough patches of pitch as that is where they can get the most deviation in direction out of the ball. This is the reason why stadiums keep a collection of match balls and when a ball is broken or lost the most similar one is chosen to replace it. The state of the ball is a vitally important part of the game. Before a match starts, before the coin toss, both captains will examine the pitch and decide if they want to bat or bowl first. The decision comes down to what the state of the pitch is and how well they think their fast bowlers can use the new ball and how quickly they think the ball will deteriorate. In test cricket a new ball gets introduced after eighty overs and can be a major shake-up for batsmen who have become used to facing slower balls but its not as effective as at the start of the game because of the rougher condition of the pitch. I would be very interested in an American football explained for Rugby fans video.

[@discodavid26]

As a Brit the thing about baseball I found hardest to get my head around ( other then the American terms/names off things) is until very recently it was almost 75% equivalent to rugby ( and it’s two main codes) in that you nearly had two nearly separate sports off the American and national leagues one with dh’s (designated hitter) and one without ……… and trying to figure out with one if either was better!? Cricket if your familiar with the more “Anglo” names and terms is pretty simple other then 3 things …… the maths for duckworth Lewis affected matches …… memorising general fielding position names other then bowler’s and wicket keepers …… and once you get past the first 4/5 easy ways to get an batsman out reasons 6,7,8,9 happens so rarely that it’s hard to remember them as ways to get an batsmen out!

[@dweller6065]

The best way to gain an appreciation of the difficulties of either sport is to play it. There are a lot of cricketers in Aust who play baseball in the winter. Ian Chappell - former Aust national cricket captain and doyen of the game - would be highly qualified and interested in sharing his thoughts.

[@amalkumar2775]

fun fact : most of the cricket fans doesn't understand the duckworth lewis method 😁

[@MemeTeam6900]

Cricket is easier to understand but kind of hard to play bcz it's harder to bowl the ball (many fast bowlers suffer from back injuries) and it's also hard to judge the ball so it's very hard for the batsman to play if he/she cannot pick up what type of delivery it is

[@jonrichardson8461]

A good intro on many levels. Two big differences not mentioned are that cricket is more of a batter’s game - a lot more runs are scored and there maybe only a few batters get out in the course of a day in Test cricket, or only ten or fewer in the 300 balls bowled in one innings of a 50-overs game. Baseball is more of a pitcher’s game - scoring runs are hard, and batting is more about failure when even with a good batting average you only get a hit in play 30% of the time. Ther other obvious difference is the role of the pitch and how it affects the game: grass wickets vary hugely from country to country and even day to day, in terms of hardness, amount of grass, moisture, amount of abrasion, etc., affecting speed, bounce and deviation off the pitch. Whereas in baseball the ball does a lot more through the air than the cricket ball - 2 seam, 4 seam, cutter, slider, curve ball, slurve, sweeper, etc. The ball will rarely keep swinging, I.e. curving through the air after the ball loses its shine and even then it can be hard to fool the batter completely. I’d add that batting is far more complex in cricket in terms of the number of different shots- 360 degrees to hit towards, defence and attack, forward and back foot, horizontal and vertical bat shots etc etc. Whereas pitching is perhaps more complex than bowling, although throwing the ball as a pitch is more natural than the bowling action.

[@James-kg9mf]

I’m late to this video so someone’s probably said something but I’ll just dump all my bowling knowledge here. -The subcategories to spin bowling are leg spin and off spin which is basically just which way the bowler makes the ball turn. For example, a leg spinner will turn the ball away from a right handed batsman when the ball bounces. -The subcategories to fast bowling (also known as seam bowling) basically just boils down to the pace of the bowler. Most seamers will bowl in and around 80mph and will use the seam to deceive the batsman. The two main ways to do this is through bowling swing when the ball moves through the air, or bowling cutters where the ball changes direction after it bounces. The other art is known as fast bowling. This is done by specialist bowlers who can bowl at over 90mph and mainly use fear factor to get their wickets; bowling the majority of their delveries short into the pitch so the batsman fear being stuck by the ball in the body or head and then use this doubt to mix up the length and go for the stumps. -Another way you can spilt bowlers is actually similar to baseball; using the role they play in the innings. For example in a test match your opening bowlers will almost always be your the seamer who get the most movement as a new ball has a move pronounced seam and more lacquer and so is move likely to move. It’s more prominent in limited over cricket as you get “death bowlers” who’s job it is to see out an innings and are particularly important to the team that bat first and are protecting a target. Most death bowlers specialise in two run preventing delivers. The slower balls which are mentioned in the video but also a Yorker which sees the bowlers pitch the ball at the batsman’s toes making it challenging to get the bat down in time to stop it hitting the stumps (this is risky though as if the bowler misses this length even slightly either way it becomes very easy for the batsman to hit powerfully)

[@michaelfarrow5817]

Cricket has complex rules. There are 10 ways to get out, formerly 11. It just so happens that 99% of the time it's by the main five ways. The most common way of the other five is "hit wicket" where a batter (or his equipment) dislodges their own bails, which is either strange (Pietersen's helmet being knocked off and straight through the stumps) or hilarious (when Inzamam fell over). Secondly, and this is where you get deep in the weeds with cricket, is the definition around off-spin and leg-spin. The idea that has be propagated for decades is that leg spinners use their wrist to generate spin and off spinners use fingers. In fact, nobody worth their salt uses their fingers in the way everybody has been led to believe to generate spin. Muralitharan, the greatest off-spinner of all, was a wrist spinner. Recent off-spinners either use the wrist (Nathan Lyon being the obvious one) or use non-standard grips, including squeezing it between the fingers or even flicking the ball. You can't get the revs on the ball with the "unscrew the lightbulb" grip and movement.

[@json_bourne3812]

Something very critical that wasn't mentioned about the cricket ball is that the "wear" is usually uneven, and intentionally manipulated to be worn that way, particularly in test matches. Bowlers, especially fast bowlers, will "shine" one side of the ball to keep its smoothness while the other side gets more rough. When bowled, this causes the ball to naturally curve through the air despite being bowled with no spin - allowing even fast bowlers to create sideways movement without changing their style. This is why in test matches you'll often see players with red patches on their legs, since they've been rubbing the ball so much!

[@sundoga4961]

Another reason Cricket seems impenetrable is the jargon, which can be a bit esoteric.

[@Reyalis3]

The main problem for with me Baseball is the relentless ad breaks, any pause... ad break, Baseball used to get shown over here (UK C4 then C5) and there was only one ad break per inning which was great

[@aaronbcj]

Cricket is like mental marathon and the ball really stings or break bones so batters need to stand ground and show discipline to take blows (faster bowlers) and keep concentrating for longer periods. Baseball is like sprint it also needs extreme concentration but for shorter time and mental toughness is not as much as cricket but tests composure.

[@SimonNZ1984]

Hey mate enjoying your videos and your learning about a new sport. Connecting a couple different cricket points made here - the umpires having a box of game worn balls in case the ball goes missing, and the different types of bowlers. Here goes: a brand new cricket ball is a deadly weapon. At the start of an innings a new ball is given to the fielding team. It is shiny, the stitching is thick. The fast bowlers, the ones who full-on run towards the crease, take advantage of this, getting the ball to break left or right by bouncing it on the stitching (seam bowler) or by keeping one side shinier than the other, getting the ball to curve in the air (swing bowler). Deadly fast and moving unpredictably, the batting team need their best batsmen to 'open the batting' and face these deliveries. Then, as the inning goes on and the ball wears, those fast bowlers become less effective. This is where spin bowlers and other types of bowlers come into play. So, back to the first point: if the ball gets lost over the fence or whatever, the umpire does their best to pick a replacement that matches the wear on the ball so as not to give either team an easier or harder time than they were having with the previous ball.

[@biggrub8365]

Love it when I find one of these videos

[@nithishkumarnatarajan.t9275]

In cricket At the time of bowling , you are not allowed to chuckle the ball which means throw the ball with your elbow is being bent , fast bowler are are bend elbow while bowling while the spinners could only upto 15°. Another thing is being when the ball comes directly to you without striking the ground and bouncing off it while if it above you waist then it's a no ball then 1 run us given to the opposite tram and same ball doesn't counts so you have bowl it again while the free hit is given

[@game-a-verse5594]

Technically, you are right. But sometimes, you are also partially - very partially - recognised for the time your bought into at, example: Death Over Bowler (Death overs are the last overs in the inning, for limited over cricket). 1 thing is that you are not officially recognised for the time your bought into.

[@kashiffarid8175]

Neutrally speaking, I agree that cricket is easier to "explain" to a person who's never heard of it, but as far as complexity in play is concerned, cricket is up there with the major world sports, and arguably more complex than baseball. The complexity first of all comes from the three formats, which are tactically totally different from one another. A good player of one format is often not even selected for the other. The 2nd reason cricket is more complex than baseball comes from the fact that bowlers are allowed to bounce the ball on the pitch. Firstly, it adds another dimension to the game. A ball could be bowled on any line and length, unlike baseball in which all deliveries are what cricketers call "full tosses". Since the bowlers are allowed to bounce the ball, the pitch on which it bounces comes into play. Cricket has a variety of pitches, depending on the conditions and how they are prepared. Some are conducive to lots of spin, some to high bounce, others to lots of movement of the ball after bouncing (called "pitching" in cricket). Baseball has a variety of ways in which the ball is thrown. Some balls curl away, some dip, some rise, some are skower, etc. Cricket once again, has all that and more. The fast bowlers can also bowl upto 100 mph, and at that pace, "swing" the ball either in to or away from the batter, just like in baseball. The can also get it to dip. The swing part happens in air, just like baseball. The ball swings differently when it's new and when it's old, so that's another thing. On TOP OF THAT, there's the pitch. When the fast bowlers swing (curl) the ball in the air, they also make it land on the seam. When the seam of the ball hits the ground at an angle, it causes the ball to move one way or the other from the deck. It might happen that the ball curls one way, and moves the other way after hitting the seam. Imagine if the curlers in baseball swung one way in the air, and then changed the direction 180 degrees mid-air. That's just fast bowling. Then come the spinners. There are two kinds of spin bowlers, the finger-spinners, and the wrist spinners. Each of these two categories individually has as many variations in deliveries(bowls) in its arsenal as the number of different variations in deliveries (pitches) in baseball combined. I won't get into the details to keep the comment short. My point being, as you yourself said, the pitchers all bowl in the same way, with the same set of at most 7-8 variations? Bowlers in cricket are of three categories, and all three have different sets of 7-8 variations each, which they can bowl on different lengths (how close or away from the batsman they bounce it, i.e the new dimension I mentioned earlier). The third reason cricket is more complex comes from the ovalness of the field. Baseball players only hit in the area cricketers call the V. That's only 1/4th of the area the cricket players have at their disposal. This results in a wide range of shots the batsman can play, and a wide range of plans the fielding side can make to counter them. There are upwards of 2 dozen kind of shots (style of hits) a batsman can hit, all around the ground. That 360 degree hitting makes for excellent entertainment value, as well as making it more complex. The fielding team has to decide which ares to protect, and thus forces the batsmen to play some ridiculously cool, innovative shots at times. Some cricket batters (Alex Hales, for one), decided to give baseball a go for fun, and did pretty well in it. It's no surprise, as they only had to manage a third of what they had to in cricket while batting. You rightly said that the V area of baseball is hard to explain to a kid, but you didn't remember the array of shots he would have to learn to do well in cricket. Players some times switch hands mid-shot to utilize the vacant areas. The ball swings differently when its new vs when its old. The amount of grass on the pitch, how moist or rough it is, and how it wears and tears over the course of play directly affects the way in which players play. Different areas of the world have different soil compositions, and hence suit certain kind of players. For someone born in Australia, coming and playing in Pakistan might be a nightmare and vice-versa, because the ball spins more in Pakistan and bounces more in Australia, owing to different kinds of soil found in these places. These complexities are not found in baseball, because the ball doesn't bounce. "Conditions" in baseball only refer to the weather perhaps, and fyi, that also has its effect in cricket. The ball swings more when its cloudy, skids more if it's rained before, roughens quickly in dry weather. The conclusion being, cricket has almost all of the complexities of baseball (like-for-like substitutes), and a multitude of complexities on top. Football (soccer) might be even easier to explain than cricket or baseball, doesn't mean it doesn't have its range of complexities, that only come into play when someone delves into it. Baseball is harder to explain (because of its rules), but less to offer in terms of complexities in actual gameplay. Hope I get a response

[@pramodjamkhedkar7504]

A few unique characteristics of cricket are the roles played by the age of the ball, the pitch, and the weather conditions in how the play turns out. Especially in a 5 day test match (I dont understand baseball well enough. So cannot comment on Baseball comparison). The ball -- It is used for 80 overs in a test match, and goes through different phases, and different types of bowlers are used to make it most effective in each phase. The new shiny ball is primarily used by the fast or medium fast bowlers (0-20 overs). The ball is hard and shiny and swings (curves through the air) most effectively in this stage. Bowlers in fact prep the ball to swing it more (by keeping the shine on one side by spitting on one side and rubbing it against their white pants giving them, the characteristic red color, while other side roughs up and the imbalance causes the swing). As the ball becomes older, it roughs up and starts gripping the surface of the pitch. At this stage the spin bowlers are used to extract spin from the ball (20-80 overs). Towards the later phases of the ball "age" (50-80 overs) the ball gets really rough and starts reverse swinging. Fast bowlers are again used to "reverse swing" the ball. Watch reverse swing explained here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iV7VppuBeMSMZpI The pitch -- Since in cricket the ball bounces on the pitch, the nature of the pitch (how hard it is, how much grass is left on the top, whether a heavy or light roller is used before the match, whether any dew exists on the grass on the pitch, etc.) plays a key role in the game and also greatly exaggerates the home advantage (primarily in test cricket). Indian pitches are slow and dusty favoring spin bowlers, Australian pitches are fast and bouncy favoring fast bowlers, and English pitches are good for swing bowlers. This gives a great advantage to the home team which are used to the bounce and behavior of the pitches. So, it is indeed a BIG deal for a team to defeat a rival team on their home turf (In last 100 years, India has won a test series in Australia only once). That is why touring teams come weeks in advance to a test series to get used to the "environment". Interestingly, while not in the rulebook (and may be against the spirit of the game), it is common knowledge that home team captains have had influence in how the pitch is prepared by the ground curator ahead of a test match. This has been a point of contention in cricket. Also, over the course of a test match (5 days) the nature of the pitch changes. A new first day pitch with green cover may favor fast and swing bowlers, but their effectiveness may lessen by the 5th day. Similarly, a 5th day pitch which is roughed up, may suddenly become more effective for spin bowlers on the last day of the match. Time of the day also plays a role -- in the morning the pitch may be covered in dew giving an advantage to fast bowlers, which may no longer apply by the time it is noon or in the afternoon. These factors play a major role in the captain winning the toss to determine whether to bowl or bat first, or even when to declare the innings, which bowlers to bring on which days, or during which session of day (morning, afternoon or evening). This video explains why "greentop" pitches seam: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6umcnurrNaWhdE This video explains spin friendly pitches: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nofMqJ-Ol9Wmq6s The weather -- it plays a moderate but important role in how the play turns out. Generally, it is observed that sunny conditions favor batsmen, while overcast conditions have favored bowlers. So over 5 days, a cloud cover can suddenly change the course of the game in the favor of the bowling team, which can get a couple of wickets (I have seen enough test matches to witness this).

[@ldf4064]

You will need a video for just bowling and bowlers. Cricket does have openers and closers, and holders and attackers, but while bowlers become known through their careers to fall into those categories, they are not classed as such. Because the cricket ball is allowed to bounce it introduces additional type of movement that a bowler can exploit, hence spin, seam, bounce, cut, or random (wobble seam), plus movement from the surface (uneven pitch, hard vs softer pitch, more vs less grass). To exploit all these options requires specialisation, hence differentiation between fast and spin bowler, seam or swing, off spinner or leg spinner. Also, because the ball is used a lot longer, the ball condition impacts what bowling options are better suited. Different cricket pitches also favour certain types of bowling. Differently aged cricket balls also allow different types of bowling deliveries (like reverse swing). Bowlers can also bowl over or around the wicket. Knuckle balls are also used in cricket.

[@kunal25roy]

Duckworth Lewis is even complex for daily cricket watchers... They use computers for calculating it...

[@johnnotownsend6958]

my favourite form of cricket is backyard cricket, on which is more cricket. we use wheelie bins as the wicket, tennis ball, and a plastic toy cricket bat

[@felixleiter5092]

Great video. Was born in England and as a child played cricket and baseball on the base. Have to say I like cricket a bit better. Btw, interesting fact about the baseball player who played for two teams in the same game due to a rain out. But in fact, one player was traded to the other team during the break between doubleheaders! (Sorry that I don't quite remember the details).

[@SportsExplained]

Found it. Interesting fact! www.mlb.com/cut4/cardinals-and-cubs-trade-outfielders-cliff-heathcote-and-max-flack-c232584078

[@YayDanMan]

3:46 why are bowlers defined by their typical style (or even more generally, pace) instead of role in the bowling line-up? Have to say first off it's a fascinating question, and I think it simply comes down the very different ways bowlers typically do their run-up before they bowl each delivery which makes it visually obvious as to what speed to roughly expect, and because the variations a bowler will use to try mix up their bowling pattern often come from other parts of the bowling technique, such as: -> Bowler's grip -> Release action (definitely go look at someone like Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga or Australia's Shaun Tait for an unconvential style 😉) -> Delivery length -> Flight of the ball -> Swinging the ball -> Cutting the ball (bouncing off the seam); and -> Spinning the ball (either by the fingers on the seam or a wrist flick on release) That's a really general overview for starters, otherwise I'd have a huge paragraph I could write - but given I only ever played local club cricket in 🇦🇺 I've at best a layman's understanding of how to describe bowling a cricket ball - and it's been a while since I've played to boot! Pub quiz - For those who don't know, anyone want to try guess what my typical bowling style of an off-spinner aimed to do?

[@IvyANguyen]

This was a nice series of videos explaining the basics of Cricket to those of us who mainly grew up in `Baseball countries´. I think both sports are probably same difficulty in understanding but depends on which you are used to. If I grew up in a `Cricket country', I bet I would find Cricket to be easy to understand a Baseball to be the more confusing one. Are there any countries that do both sports equally at the same level? I know regionally both sports in exist in, say, the Caribbean, but I expect it to be one sport or the other depending on country.

[@surojeetchatterjee]

True, but as who played both the game, cricket is more fun & interesting. It's more constant sports both batter & bowler(pitcher) & fielders gets opportunity to play more. Infront of cricket baseball looks little lazy version game with similar patterns.

[@surojeetchatterjee]

Canada played cricket WC once & has a baseball team as well. Canada has a good cricket batter who scored a century as far as I can remember.

[@stephenkerensky710]

Cricket is much more complicated because of the many different types of stroke the batter can play, the different ypes of deliver the bowler can bowl, the movement of the ball off the pitch and the effect of the weather. After all, batters can be at the wicket for several hours and some of the likelihood of getting them out is down to their average score and the bowler`s average. The captain doesn`t just decide who goes in but where the fielders stand and what type of bowling will be used. Fast bowlers can use tactics of intimidation and sometimes batters have to ba for long periods while carrying an injury.

[@SportsExplained]

Another commenter put it pretty well. Both games are complex. The basic gameplay of cricket is simpler and the complexity of cricket comes from all of the possibilities that exist at any moment. The gameplay of baseball is more complex, and the complexity comes from the rules of the game and the possibilities. The other commenter put it a lot better than I just did!

[@aaronbcj]

You can play "soft" cricket inside your bedroom or backyard and set custom rules like no need to run to collect runs etc... every group has their own modified rules based on number of players, field size etc which makes cricket very versatile to play... many of us don't use LBW rule

[@jasoncrane]

Great video (as was the one before this). I'm sure this has been covered, but every time I think "I want to get into cricket," the hardest part (living in the US) seems to be to actually watch the matches.

[@SportsExplained]

ESPN+ carries the Indian Premiere League and a lot of international matches.

[@jasoncrane]

@@SportsExplained Thanks!

[@supradeepreddyalamuru4798]

Rules wise yeah cricket is easier. Tactical aspects... No cricket is much more complex and multilayered.

[@matthewc171]

bowlers in cricket are catagorised by either the speed that they bowl or the direction that the can turn the ball off the pitch . spin bowlers can either by off spinners or leg spinners , with a third catagory of a mystery spinner which are a lot rarer . off spiiners turn the ball away from the right hander towards the off spinner , leg spinners turn the ball into the right hander towards the leg side . these spinners are still called these named when bowling to a left handed batter . In the catagory of a spinners there is also finger spinners and leg spinners generally use the palm of thier hand to bowl the ball . finger spinners tweak the ball wen bowled with thier fingers . There a lot of different variations allowed , as long as the bowlers arm is straight on delivery and above the horizontal ( not bowling under arm ) and not breaking any other rules such as the bowlers front foot being beyond the crease on delivery. In addition fast bowlers , medium pace bowlers and slow bowlers exsist .

[@guywilcox3922]

It's a strange one. As a cricket fan (of many years) I found the basics of baseball really easy to understand and to pick up. Maybe it helped because we used to play rounders and softball at school. But I think baseball is more complex- stats, types of pitches, strategies etc. I see that you have some baseball videos on here so will watch them. Glad to see you're enjoying cricket too, and your other video is excellent. It really works well explaining cricket but using baseball terms for Americans .

[@jamescurran9002]

I think that when i was still.playing pickup baseball games in the empty lot 9n my street. Cricket would have been a great substiture , given we only had 4 to 8 players , split into two teams, when using Cricket rules, it would have allowed one batter against the rest as fielders or pitchers. Batter faces every opponent pitcher im sn inning. I like the setup especially for pickup games. Much easier to do.

[@nutyyyy]

I agree the laws are cricket are more intuitive once you hear them. The complexity of cricket is moreso in the strategy and tactics. The fact there's a limited number of balls plays a big role in this. As the ball becomes more worn, especially if its uneven, it becomes less predictable for the batsman. A new ball favours the batsman, whereas an old ball favours the bowler and fielders. I'd say cricket is more strategic given you can score various amounts of runs in a single ball, but there's obviously risks involved in going for a six vs protecting the wicket and maybe grabbing a single run or no runs.

[@Britonbear]

Some of us played rounders at school; that gives you the basic idea of baseball.

[@RealHooksy]

In cricket, the ball is “bowled”, not thrown. Your arm must not bend at the elbow, and straighten when you release it. It must also be bowled over arm Above the shoulder) not under arm. It usually bounces before you hit it, but doesn’t have to. If it doesn’t bounce, it’s called a full toss, and must not be above the batter’s waist for safety ( a recent rule change). The Ball can only bounce once before it reaches the batter. There are many other rules which differentiate it from baseball, but it is also played in many formats. The longest is called “test” cricket, which is played over 2 innings per team for up to 5 days, with 6 hours playing time per day. Time lost for rain or bad light is usually lost for good, but can be made up in limited circumstances the same day or the next day. As ne name suggests, Tesk cricket is a test of mental and physical endurance, and the best form in my opinion. It can have many plot twists throughout a day, and you can go from leading to trailing many times over 5 days. “One day” games are played with 1 x 50 over innings per team.an over has 6 deliveries). This takes about 7 hours to complete. “Twenty/20 games are played over 20 overs each team, and take about 3 hours to complete. This is a relatively new phenomenon, and is played domestically and internationally. The USA will likely have a national competition soon, and I think it will prove popular with expats initially, but probably the locals too I think. It’s an exciting form of the game which is easy to understand, but lacks the nuances of the longer games. Its more a king to a baseball game, with many home runs (sixes) typically hit. Don’t forget to throw the ball back 😎

[@kevinchandradas]

Can you explain Baseball for Cricket Fans?

[@roshee5573]

What I think are the difficulties between both games is understanding the rules about how a batter can be out . Say the the “infield fly” rule in baseball or the LBW (leg before wicket) rule in cricket . There are many more examples

[@mrrossow124]

In cricket you can hit more than 50 shots as a batsman and each shot has its own name. And there are mainly 3 types of bowlers in bowling - fast bowler, medium-fast bowler and spinner each type of bowler has at-least 5 to 10 types of delivery and they are good at many types of grip. There are three types of spinners - leg spinner, off spinner and China man leg spinner. They all have 5 to 10 types of delivery.

[@btf_flotsam478]

The best way of summarizing the point of bowlers specialize in a particular style: they kinda don't. Within each sub-category (e.g. swing bowling, leg-spin, etc.) there is enough variation in how they can do it to keep the batter guessing, while baseball generally only has one way of doing each pitch (or two with knuckleballs). These bowling styles are so distinct and so capable of variety that it is worth specializing in one particular style and using it. If the batter is good against it, you could still be able to get him out with it, and there's always three other bowlers bowling three other styles to abuse any weaknesses a particular batter may have. All in all, I think cricket is slightly easier to understand than baseball partially for this sort of reason- while cricket does have its subtlety and nuance with its interactions, a lot of the stuff in it is fairly obvious; in comparison to having pitchers throw the ball to a different part of the same area and batters make smaller changes to their swing, a bowler could bowl the ball in a completely different way and batters can change their attack dramatically.

[@hifiaudioreview]

I've played both cricket and baseball a lot throughout my life, I'm now too old to play either! I enjoy them both and have no bias for one over the other. If you want to learn every single rule and nuance, I would say cricket is more complicated than baseball, but only if you want to know absolutely everything the game has to offer. On the subject of which game is easier to play, as a batter it is harder to hit the ball in cricket - there are more variations of delivery a bowler can master, than a pitcher in baseball. A batter in cricket has the added difficulty of trying to judge the bounce of the ball off the surface of the wicket - and the surface you play on has a huge effect on how the ball behaves - this is much more difficult than dealing with a ball that does not bounce before reaching you. There is also seam movement, cut, drift, swing, reverse swing, several variations of slower balls, faster balls, bouncers, yorkers, full-tosses and many types spin bowling to master in cricket. Yes, cricket is harder to master than baseball, at least that was my experience, but both games are fantastic to play and to watch. I love them both.

[@aloysiusjones3985]

Get into vets cricket. We got blokes in their 80s playing. 🇦🇺👍🍺

[@zaydrishad3712]

One more thing: an odi match can be tied as well, but in a high stakes situation( such as a World Cup final) the match will be taken to a super over. However, if it’s something like a group stage match, the match will be considered drawn and both teams will get one point( if you didn’t know already if in a group stage of odi world cups when a match is won the winning team will get two points)

[@lawrenceglaister4364]

Well done , that's two very good videos on cricket that explains the game very well . Baseball was played at least in England before WW2 as my grandfather was a referee , in the Midlands at a town called Derby there was a ground called The Baseball Ground , on two sides of the ground there was two buildings were supporters went and although not too deep I think they were 3 stories high , when baseball stopped a football team ( soccer ) played there ( Derby County ) and built two more building on the other sides for supporters

[@conween]

Love this channel! the content is on another level

[@SportsExplained]

Thanks! Feel free to subscribe & share

[@neilenglund2433]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the Wicket, or Pitch. The wicket plays a major role in each game because the wicket is different at each venue. Some are dry, some are damp with more grass. Here is Australia the Perth wicket is renowned as fast and bouncy were the Sydney wicket is know as a turning wicket meaning the spin bowlers get more turn with the ball. It's an art to prepare a wicket to last 4-5 days. You could write a book on wickets and wicket preparation.

[@gudmundursteinar]

The main reason Spin and Fast bowlers are classified differently is that there is such a difference in their physiques and there is a big difference in the kind of benifit they get from playing on dry (as in desert) or wet (as in temperate or tropical) conditions. Fast bowlers are strong and tall, they allows them to leverage their size and strength to bowl the ball as fast as possible. Spin bowlers need shorter arms and stronger joints to put spin onto the ball so that it flies strangely and bounces strangely making it hard for the batter to judge what it is going to do after bouncing. Typically fast bowling is better in dry conditions where the hard ground will bounce the ball better allowing it to keep it's speed and wet conditions are better for spin bowlers since the wet ground allows the ball's spin to affect how it bounces more. It's like the difference between a NFL wide reciever how has speed and reach and a NFL running back who has strength and agility.

[@SportsExplained]

Interesting.

[@LourensBrink]

I'm a South African cricket fan and got into baseball last year. Thanks mostly to MLB The Show. It took me a while to get used to the rules, but due to some of the similarities between cricket and baseball it was easier to make the transition. I love both games and both games have a long history and tradition worth exploring. The history of test cricket and the history of the 50 over (One Day International) World Cup is worth exploring. I think internationally cricket has the second most followers after football (soccer), which isn't surprising considering that one of the biggest fanbases can be found in India. I think one major difference is that cricket has become more and more of a batting game, whereas baseball seems to be more in favour of the pitchers. I could be wrong.

[@SportsExplained]

Major League Baseball is fairly evenly matched between batter and pitcher at this moment. This season is the first full season where the league has cracked down on pitchers using sticky substances, but the new baseballs seem to be a bit deadened. There was a bit there - especially at the beginning of the 2021 season - where it looked like pitchers were becoming too powerful, but the power has balanced out

[@zunaidparker]

@@SportsExplained talking about sticky substances, you HAVE to watch this video about the Australian ball-tampering controversy during their tour of South Africa. They were caught on camera illegally altering the cricket ball during a match, several players (including the captain) got banned for a year, the Australian head of their cricket board flew over to South Africa overnight to intervene, and the Prime Minister was forced to weighed in. The implicated team members were sent home. This all happened mid-series and they had to appoint a new captain for the final match. There's an awesome documentary here: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3zGp3t3mshpfa8 Of course this entire incident is made so much more juicy because Australia had been so dominant in the sport for decades and was the team everybody loves to hate. They always played the game hard using intimidation tactics on and off the field so tempers were ready to burst and there was a healthy sense of schadenfreude from the rest of the cricketing world when this happened to them.

[@yareyare_dechi]

@@zunaidparker I gotta say I was very unhappy about the sand paper incident, that shit is not on. But it's funny how everyone always bring up that incident and labels Australia as the worst cheats ever while every other team are complete angels. All of the teams have been caught cheating at one point or another. Hell, even the great Tendulkar himself was caught ball tempering. And the "fastest bowler ever" Akhtar was a drug cheat. At least Australia heavily punished Warner and Smith and made an example of them as they should have

[@zunaidparker]

@@yareyare_dechi none of the other teams were as hated as Australia because none of them dominated the game like Aus did during the 90s/00s. So the amount of attention on the Aus incident was 100x higher than any other team. Also because they play the game very hard on the field with sledging etc., people love to hate them.

[@yareyare_dechi]

@@zunaidparker true. But to me that just smacks of, "I'd rather work my mouth than work my skill"

[@roberttai646]

Thank you! Cricket was so confusing to me. Now it's less confusing. You comparison of complexities between cricket and baseball made me laugh. Baseball is pretty much impossible to understand by just watching one game. There are just too many things that can happen that don't in any single game. Not sure about cricket.

[@AmmaarMTM]

the difference between fast and spin bowlers are in fast bowling they try to deliver it as fast as possible and they try to swing it. swinging means the ball moves in a certain direction mid air. In spin bowling at the time of release the bowler spins the ball. these deliveries are slower and they change direction when they pitch(bounce). there are two types of spinners, off spin and leg spin.

[@tobygreppellini5960]

for me as a cricket player growing up and as someone who has seen some baseball the main difference to me is that cricket batting is more about defending your wicket and stealing runs from a bad bowl whereas baseball is more of an offensive batting game where u want to take advantage of any opportunity to get off the plate. Often in cricket you will just play the ball into the ground to defend a good bowl and a n overs often goes without a run as the batsman is forced into defensive play which doesn't really happen in baseball as you are more compelled to hit the good pitches in the box area ( duno what its called ) due to the risk of a strike out whereas in cricket u would swing on the wide balls that wont hit your wicket due to a lower risk if you miss.

[@tobygreppellini5960]

also to touch on spin vs speed bowling its risk vs reward. Fast bowling is harder to score runs off as it is often more accurate and harder to get a solid strike so forces more defensive play especially due to higher risk of LBW straight down the line. The most often way a fast howler gets an out is LWB or via a poor defensive batting play where the ball will hit the edge of the bat and be caught by a wicket keeper. however u can steal some runs if u can simply deflect it into a gap due to the speed. You will often find more fielders playing behind the wicket if you have a fast bowler up as they can be very hard to strike forward. Spin bowling is fast more risky as you are bowling slower so you can risk much bigger hits from a batsman LBW's then to also be more contentious however due to the unpredictable nature of a spin bowl it can cause you to make a bad connection high in the mid field or even get bowled straight out by a bowl you predicted poorly. its more common to see higher outs but higher runs vs a spin bowler and they tend to get more straight bowl outs and close and midfield catches. in terms of bowling style most fast bowlers can spin bowl to an extent but the ability to fast bowl is a physical trait that a lot of bowlers simple don't possess. most spin bowlers can bowl fast as well but generally not nearly at the same speed as a dedicated fast bowler generally due to physical limitations. Also since you switch each over and most teams will have 3 to 4 bowlers with a mix of styles you can generally keep to whatever bowling style you believe you are most likely to get another batsman out with or for non test matches the type of bowler you believe is likely to drop the least runs. for a little context i myself was a wicket keeper player under 16 and under 18 cricket for a local team and a spin bowler for my school my fast bowl was pretty bad id say about 45mph at a push. for context a player on my under 16 team could bowl at 75mph at the age of 15 ( which was bloody terrifying as a wicket keeper )

[@deepanshupayaal]

I beg to differ with you that cricket is easier than baseball. As I have played both the games at national level, I think I am qualified to comment. ( I know playing baseball nationals in India is kinda piece of cake and nothing to brag about😅). My cricket coach was one of the members of the district baseball association. So basically trials were held at my academy and about 90 percent of all players were from cricket . Before conducting trials, he gave a short 30-40 mins crash course about baseball and everybody were good to go. That tag up rule, third strike run etc were a bit complicated at first but I got comfortable after few innings. Baseball is more entertaining for fielding side than in cricket and catching with gloves is so fun and satisfying. But overall, I believe cricket is more entertaining and skill intensive.

[@mattbecker3066]

5:16 On super-overs in cricket: The rule that you keep playing super-overs until there is a winner is relatively new. Until October 2019 a maximum of one super-over would be played and if the scores were still tied then the team who had scored the most boundaries would be the winner. Interestingly, the clip you chose (the super-over in the 2019 World Cup final) was decided by this boundary rule, and was the catalyst for the rule change, the boundary rule being viewed as an unfair way to decide the World Cup. As a side note, I’d say that the denouement of the 2019 Cricket World Cup final was the single most exciting bit of sport I have ever seen, and I’m talking here across all sports, including the epic 2019 Wimbledon Men’s Singles final which was reaching its conclusion *at the exact same time*. (I’m an England fan so biased, but still…) If you ever need to convince someone of how amazing cricket, or any sport can be, just get them to watch the last 30 minutes of this match.

[@thecaliforniadream1973]

Baseball seems to me way easier to understand than cricket. But then again, I played little league and started watching games on TV since I was about 5 years old. I literally can't even remember a time in life before I understood it.

[@neill392]

Another point worth making, about 1st class cricket, is that the playing surface over the course of the 3,4 or 5 days, will change. The surface dries and cracks and can become scuffed by the feet of bowlers. The bowlers will look to exploit these cracks to make the ball change direction after it hits the surface. Between innings, the batting team are allowed to have the playing surface "rolled", this could be the sort of hand roller that you might use in your garden (A light roller) or it could be the sort of motor driven roller that is used to lay tarmac on roads ( the heavy roller).

[@marlonmagdadaro4165]

"Baseball compared & cricket some more" is what I got from the thumbnail.