Even though we’re not a nation of baseball players, it’s surprising how many people get the two games mixed up (not so much in this country where cricket is as “British as tea”, but abroad).
What is Cricket?
Played between two teams of eleven, cricket is a bat and ball game. Cricket is England’s national summer sport which is now played around the world in lots of different countries.
The game is played on a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch inside of a large oval pitch and the purpose is to score more runs than the opposing team. There will be two batters on from one team without the other field players. When the batter hits the ball, they run with the bat to the other side of the 22-yard area. Both batters will run back and forth to score as many runs as possible before the opposing team get the ball. If the opposing team get the ball before they even run, they have no runs.
What is Baseball?
Baseball is also a bat and ball game, but it is played between two teams of 9. Baseball originated in Ohio, United States and is played all around America.
There are four white bases laid out around the field in a diamond shape. The batters and the defence alternate positions depending on who is batting. The pitcher throws the ball at the batter and they run around the diamonds for a ‘run’. The team that scores the most runs wins the game.
Cricket and baseball are both popular bat and ball games; they have many similarities in gameplay and equipment, although there are differentiators which make each game quite unique.
Similarities
- Batsmen attempt to hit a ball thrown at them by a bowler or pitcher.
- The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
- Both sports have two teams with fielders, batsmen and bowlers/pitcher.
- Fielders on both of the teams attempt to stop the ball by catching it.
- The batsmen try to score as many runs as they can by running between markers/base whilst the ball is in flight after they have hit it.
- There is a certain fielder which stands behind the batter and they are called a wicketkeeper in cricket and a catcher in baseball.
- The batsman is out when they don’t complete their run before a fielder throws the ball back to base or stumps.
Differences
- In baseball, the ‘strike zone’ is left for the umpire to decide whereas in cricket the strike zone is the wickets behind the batsman.
- In baseball, there is a single home plate, unlike cricket where there are wickets marked at either end of the field.
- The bats for cricket and baseball are different. A cricket bat has a round handle with a flat wooden bottom, whereas a baseball bat is a longtapered cylinder with a handle ending at a knob. The bat for baseball used to be wood but it is now made from aluminium. The cricket players rest their bat down whereas baseball players hold their bat upwards.
- Cricket batters’ bat and run in pairs where they run to the other end of the pitch, making this a run. In Baseball the batter needs to run around the 4 bases in the diamond and this is called a run.
- Baseball is played on a diamondshaped area with bases in all of the corners, unlike cricket where the there is a strip called the pitch where there is a batsman at each end.
- Whilst appearing similar, the balls are different. In baseball, the ball has a rubber cork centre wrapped in string and covered in white leather with red stitching. Whereas the cricket ball consists of cork covered in red leather with white stitching. The cricket ball is heavier than the baseball by around 12 grams.
We stock a wide range of cricket bats at great discounted prices off RRP.