Pearland’s Moosa Cricket Stadium hosted its first ever Cricket For The Community Festival on Sunday. Cricket has over 2.5 billion followers worldwide, over 20 million fans in the U.S. and is second only to soccer in world popularity. The event hosted two official minor league games and offered Cricket 101 classes for adults as well as a clinic for children to learn the basics. (Photos by Eric Sauseda)
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Batsman + Wicket (stumps and bails) + Wicket Keeper = Cricket -
Fans hanging out in the shade -
Moosa Cricket Stadium offers covered seating -
A cricket ball is made of leather and has stitches around the circumference in the middle, very similar to the size of a baseball -
Moosa Cricket Stadium in Pearland is privately owned and is America’s newest accredited international cricket venue -
A player runs beyond the boundary to get the ball -
Cricket family enjoying the festival -
Stadium layout with a good image of the how the round field is laid out with the rectangular pitch in the middle -
The wicket which consists of stumps (the sticks standing up) and bails (the small wooden bits atop the stumps.) -
Players react to game action -
Cricket fans take in a couple of games -
A bowler delivers a ball to a batsman. The bowler starts well away from the pitch, runs toward the batsman and makes a huge wind up for a nearly impossible overhanded bouncing throw that somehow the batsman hits -
Teams, players and officials -
Batsmen running between the wickets which consists of stumps (the sticks standing up) and bails (the small wooden bits atop the stumps) in order to score a point -
A player with sunscreen gets ready to play -
A cricket clinic was offered to kids to teach them the very basics -
A batsmen with his cricket bat -
There’s a cricket coaching camp coming up if you’re interested! -
Players play bare handed -
Cricket fans enjoying the day’s events -
This is a cricket game ground crew. One guy to flatten the dirt in the pitch and the other guy repaints the lines on the pitch -
A bowler eyes the ref after what he believes was a bad call -
Batsman can play until they get out. They can be hitting for a long time -
Cricket basics were handed out to spectators who were not familiar with the game -
A batsman in full swing -
A player suits up -
Scoring one run by each player running to the other side, if they can do it more than once, they will. If the batsman hits the ball without touching the ground and it goes beyond the boundary, that’s worth six points, if it does the same thing but bounces, that’s four points. You can score single points, four points or six points in cricket. -
Kids play a makeshift game of cricket -
Whack! -
Cricket fans -
A series of photos showing a bowler throwing the ball -
Players wear huge pads as they can frequently be hit by the ball -
These are the only players who wear gloves in the game, the wicket keeper (catcher) and the batsman -
Cricket family -
The throws from the bowler (pitcher) almost always bounce to the batsman. They can bounce it low or high depending on the throw. This is a major difference between cricket and baseball. -
Batsmen talking it out -
Cricket fans in the stands -
A cricket bat with an unofficial rubber ball -
This sign basically reads, “Watch out for home run balls” – A sixer is a long hit, in the air ball that goes out of the boundary and scores six points. If the ball does the same thing but bounces out, that’s only four points. -
It’s like a Zamboni, but there’s no ice, just dirt… so more like a Sandboni -
Cricket fan in the stands -
A.B. was the emcee for the day’s event and games -
Huddle up boys! -
Cricket fans -
Gloveless cricket player throwing the ball back into the pitch -
Players catch the ball, which is very similar to a baseball as it is leather with stitches around the middle circumference of the ball. The only players with gloves are the Wicket Keepers (catchers) and the Batsmen. -
Cricket fans -
Coach plays the cricket version of fungo with his players. He bats the balls out to them to practice catching (without gloves, thank you) and throwing -
This is the ground crew. One guy that repaints the lines in between the wickets on the pitch -
These guys work for MiLC (Minor League Cricket) and they hosted the clinic for the kids -
Both batsman score one run by running to opposite ends, back and forth, before the wickets are knocked over by the ball, which results in an out -
Cricket fans enjoying the day -
A new batsman walks to the pitch -
They see me rolling