Baseball and cricket together

 There is no denying the fact that cricket and baseball have lot to share as technique, action, ground and method of both the sports are almost similar. The major similarities include bat, ball, keeper, bowler, fielders, batsman and umpires. Then what is
left? Just wickets, stumps and methodology. Cricket is the national game of the Great Britain while America takes pride in baseball—-both the world powers possess both the big games. The National Baseball Hall of Fame in America has steeped forward for the
first time in history to wed baseball and cricket through an exhibition names as “Swinging Away:How Cricket and Baseball Connect”.

The exhibition has been arranged with collaboration among Marylebone Cricket Club of London, National Baseball Hall of Fame and C.C Morris Cricket Library. The exhibition features equipments of both the sports along with historic references, some key historic
moments and historic and cultural influences of the games.

This is really a pleasant scene where wickets are placed, a cricket keeper and a baseball keeper are standing, umpires of both the games are holding positions, bats, balls, pads, helmets, gloves and uniforms of the two games are placed and fielders are lined
up. The entire view seems to be natural and it is felt as if both the sports have been wed and are posing for picture-taking ceremony.

Despite the fact that both the great nations are averse to each other’s national sport, this exhibition is a commendable and marvelous move. The Americans have no much interest with cricket and the English find to time to play baseball. It is interesting
to note the games have not been able to penetrate in each other’s nation despite the fact that America had been a colony of Britain for many years. Cricket is still considered to be a luxury of the upper class in America. 

One thing that varies hugely between the two games is their level and ratio of popularity as cricket is played all around the globe in every region but base ball is merely confined to the American region. There is a big cause behind this difference. As Britain
had been a great colonial power and it ruled almost all regions of the world,so the game of cricket spread everywhere. Most of the Asian and African nations own and play cricket as a colonial legacy. On the other hand, America did not step outside of the region
and so the baseball.

This exhibition will play an important role in bringing both the sister sports close to each other. The new generation will have an opportunity to learn the points of convergence between the two games. The curator of the Hall of Fame, Tom Shieber, says,
“My riff on that is whoever wants to learn baseball had better learn cricket.” He further elaborated, “By putting them together, it is almost like baseball is going to hold your hand and you learn about cricket. Hopefully, the mystery will be cleared up a
little.” In the exhibition, Shieber himself poses as a cricket wicketkeeper.

Holding the exhibition, the Americans have demonstrated great open-heartedness.  It is a welcoming note for Cricket. This exhibition will prove very helpful for the Americans to seek the roots of both bat-and-ball sports and explore their mutual relationships.

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Posted by Sharjeel Ahmad on Feb 6 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry