When you hear the word cricket, what do you think of first?

 

当你听到cricket这个单词时，你首先会想到什么？

A small, chirping insect?

一种小小的，喳喳叫的虫子？

Or a summer sport between players in white trousers and woollen jerseys who stop for a 20-minute tea break in the afternoon?

还是穿着白裤和毛衣的选手们玩的一种夏日运动—这种运动在下午时会有20分钟的午茶休息时间？

The chances are, if you're in England, India or Australia,you'll be thinking of the latter,where the sport is watched, played and adored by millions.

如果你在英国，印度和澳大利亚，你很可能会想到后者，因为在那里有数百万人观看，参加和热爱这项运动。

But in many other parts of the world the sport is virtually unknown.

然而，实际上在世界上其他很多地区，人们对这项运动还知之甚少。

Many outsiders are put off by its complicated laws,unintelligible terms,and mind-boggling statistics.

很多门外汉因其复杂的规则，难懂的术语和令人惊讶不解的数据而失去兴趣。

With games that last for days or even weeks and scores that look more like share prices than sports results,how do we begin to understand this game?

这项运动会一连持续数天甚至数周，其比分更像股票价格，而不是赛事结果，对此，我们怎样才能了解这项运动呢？

Well in its most basic form cricket is a bat and ball game,not unlike baseball in that it involves two teams of players:

从板球最基本的形式来看，它就是一种用球板和球进行的比赛，跟棒球差不多，也需要两组球员:

one batting and the other bowling and fielding.

一组球员击球，另一组球员投球和接球。

Like football, both teams have 11 players.

跟足球一样，两组各有11名队员。

When bowling, the aim is to hit the wicket,while the batsman tries to defend it and hit the ball far away to win runs.

投球员投球时，目标是击中三柱门，而击球员则要防守好自己的三柱门，为赢得比分还要把球远远地击出去。

If the bowler hits the wicket then the batsman is out,and the next one from the 11 in the batting team takes his place.

如果投球员击中了三柱门，那么攻方的击球员就出局了，并由攻方11名队员中的下一位补上。

When they are all out the batting side's total runs are added up and the teams swap sides until the second side is also all out.

当攻方队员全部出局之后，该队的全部得分便累加起来，然后双方攻守互换，当另一方也全部出局之后，比赛结束。

Whoever has the most runs at the end wins.

哪一队得分最多，哪一队就是最后的赢家。

Simple? Well, that's just a taster.

简单吗？不过，那才刚刚入门。

If you're interested there's a whole world of cricket out there,with its leg-before-wickets, silly mid-ons and doosras.

如果你对板球运动感兴趣的话，还有很多东西需要你了解呢，如击球员违规用腿截球，右外野手低级失误和投旋转球。

And if learning the finer points of cricket sounds like hungry work,you can always take comfort from the fact it's the only sport where lunch and tea are formally included in the order of play.

如果学习板球的细节像一份使人容易饥饿的工作，那么你总可以从这项运动中得到安慰，那就是在所有运动中，它是唯一一个在比赛过程中允许享用午餐和下午茶的运动。