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Inzamam Cleared on Ball Tampering Charges (October 2006)

Inzamam-ul-Haq, captain of the Pakistan cricket team has been cleared on charges of ball tampering. However he has been suspended from Pakistan's next four one-day international matches (ODI) because the chief match referee of the International Cricket Council, Ranjan Madugalle, found him guilty of the charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
The case dates back to the Oval in August when the Pakistan side refused to play after the tea interval on the fourth day's play after the Pakistanis had been penalized five runs for ball tampering during the middle session of the day's play. In response the umpires in charge of the match, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove called the game off and declared England the winner by forfeit.
The case turned into an opened diplomatic conflict between Pakistan and Australian and had huge consequences in the cricket world. The Pakistani labeled Hair a racist as he has had a number of quarrels with Asian teams over his long career. After hearings were held behind closed doors Inzaman has been cleared of charges but found guilty of the charge of disrepute as a result of the Pakistani protest. Inzaman will not play Pakistan's first four matches of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy tournament that will be held in India next month. Inzamam will not appeal his four-match ban. The ban given to Inzamam was the lightest that could have been given to him. The penalties available on this type of charge range from a ban of two to four test matches or four to eight one day internationals.

Cricket History
History of the Sport

Cricket has been an established sport for hundreds of years. It was created in the form we recognize today in England and is popular mainly in Great Britain, though it is by far the most popular sport in South Asia and is important also in Wales, Australia, and the West Indies.

The biggest misunderstanding that many “westerners” have (North Americans, mainly) is the length of the game. Depending upon the form of the game being played, a game of cricket can easily last over six hours a day for upon to five days, with numerous breaks (referred to as intervals) for teas, lunches, and other social pauses. For the fans of the sport, cricket is intense and extremely competitive between countries, and people are very loyal to their home teams in much the way of soccer fans.

There are 42 laws of cricket, developed and held by the Marylebone Cricket Club in accord with the main cricketing nations. When playing certain games, the teams may alter some rules, and others may be made to supplement the main rules. For example, modifications to the fielding positions or structure of the playing may apply to one innings games.

In a single innings match (one innings per team) that requires a set number of deliveries, if the game is interrupted and postponed because of weather, a mathematical formula (that happens to be very complex) called the Duckworth-Lewis method, is used to recalculate a new target score.

The terms used in the sport have also come to be confusing for those who have not followed cricket over the years. For example, in a two-innings game, if the first team is dismissed during the second innings with a score that still trails the score of the other team from the first innings, they are said to have lost by an innings and “n” runs (“n” being how many runs they were behind at the end of the first innings).

Probably the most confusing thing is the number of different forms of cricket. In most sports that are followed by North Americans, there is a single set of rules that cannot be altered. There is also only one form of the game (for example, there is not more than one way to play football or basketball), so it’s hard to understand a sport that can be played several different ways, and then altered on top of this.

Cricket for Beginners
Terminology

Cricket terminology can be confusing to those who are not avid followers of the sport, and just like all team sports, they have their own set of positions and terms that come along with the game. Below is a guide to some of the different terms you may hear that will help you better understand your first cricket game.

• A bowler is much like a pitcher in baseball, delivering the ball (a hard ball that is approximately fist-sized) to the batsman. He also defends the wicket (goal) in front of which he stands.
• A batsman stands with a bat (made of willow) at the wicket opposite the bowler, aiming at the ball with the bat. He attempts to hit the ball and move across the pitch to at least reach the creases, with the goal of reaching the opposite wicket to complete a run.
• Fieldsmen are similar to the outfielders in baseball, with the job of chasing down the ball and returning it, with the intention of catching a batter and getting him “out”.
• The pitch is the clay rectangle in the center of the field where most of the play occurs. The creases are lines across the pitch, which are used to determine if a delivery is fair.
• Caught – when a fielder catches the ball without it first bouncing off the ground. This would occur after the batsman has hit the ball or it has come into contact with the batsman’s glove.
• Bowled – the ball delivered by the bowler his the stump (wicket) and has dislodged at least one of the bails (the crossplanks). The credit goes to the bowler for the play and batsman’s dismissal.
• LBW (leg before wicket) – when the ball that was delivered hits the pad or the leg of the batsman and the umpire believes it would have hit the stump. This goes against the batsmen, and the bowler is credited with a dismissal.
• Hit wicket – when the batsman knocks down a bail by accidentally hitting the stump while swinging or taking off for the first run. The bowler is again credited with a dismissal.
• Obstructing the field – when a batsman purposely keeps a fielder from fielding the ball. The batsman is dismissed, but no one is credited for this out.
  This is just a short list of terms used in a typical cricket game. However, when you think about a game that could last up to five days in some of its formats, obviously you’ll hear a lot more. At least, though, you won’t fall behind watching.