I thought cricket was like a really high-maintenance game. But it doesn't seem like something kids would like--is there a site that shows the basic rules?

Not even slightly! Honestly, I don't quite get all the rules of baseball or American football, but the hardest part of cricket is remembering if that mid-off is silly or not. The positions are a little oddly named.

The ultra-stripped down version we played on the heath was really just a bowler and a batsman and an impromptu wicket.

Basically, if you're up at bat, don't let anything knock the wicket over. But shielding it with your leg is cheating. If you're bowling, knock the wicket over with the ball.

simplest rules I could find

Thanks for the site! I think I understand it a lot better now. That's what I get for trying to get it from Monty Python skits.

Edit: Actually, from the description the wicket doesn't sound very stable. Wouldn't doing something like, I dunno, looking at it too hard knock it down?

That's what I get for trying to get it from Monty Python skits.

Otherwise, though, MP is a perfectly good representation of Old Blighty.

Otherwise, though, MP is a perfectly good representation of Old Blighty.

YEAH, BUT THEY COULD NEVER DO AMERICAN ACCENTS! ALL THEY DID WAS SHOUT AND THINK THAT COVERED IT! HOW ANNOYING!!

Wouldn't doing something like, I dunno, looking at it too hard knock it down?

If it were solidly built, what would be the point of trying to defend it?

ALL THEY DID WAS SHOUT AND THINK THAT COVERED IT! HOW ANNOYING!!

Especially considering what a good job Americans are doing with the British accents.

Actually, one of the reasons I've seen put forward for England currently being terrible at cricket is that English kids no longer do this, because their parents are too paranoid to let them out of the house.

A Mancunian I met in Charlotte informs me that a few years back there were teachers' strikes or budget cuts or something, and for a couple of years sports simply stopped being taught in the government schools.

Especially considering what a good job Americans are doing with the British accents.

To be honest, I rarely notice if someone is doing a bad USian accent.

Sorry, but there's so many of them, I lose track.

ALL THEY DID WAS SHOUT AND THINK THAT COVERED IT! HOW ANNOYING!!

Funnily enough, I really quite liked their attempts at Aussie accents for the University of Woolloomooloo.

If it were solidly built, what would be the point of trying to defend it?

Well, no, what I meant is that aren't there endless arguments that the wind knocked the wicket down, or that Mack truck rumbling by, or a butterfly landed on it, etc.?

And as for Americans doing British accents, come to Broadway sometimes. Plenty of Yanks playing Brits and doing pretty well. And you know most of those Watcher's Council folks, including Harris Yulin, were American. The other way around--well, Bob Hoskins in ROGER RABBIT and Kenneth and Emma in DEAD AGAIN were pretty good.