International Sports Essays - Cricket, Fielding, Dismissal, Batting

International Sports International Sports Polo - How the game is played A polo match lasts about one and one-half hours and is divided into six 7 minute periods or chukkers. Since a horse in fast polo can cover two and one-half to three miles per period, he'll be too tired to play a second one right away. After resting for two or three periods, some horses can return to the game. Still, in championship polo, a player will come to the field with at least six horses. The mounts are horses, mostly thoroughbreds, not ponies. The object of the game is to score as many goals as possible. There are four players on a team and each assumes a specific position either offensive or defensive. However, given the enormous size of the playing fields, the momentum of the galloping horses and the ball's unexpected changes of direction, the game is very fluid, and the positions continuously change. There are few set plays in polo, and good anticipation is almost a sixth sense. With thousand pound animals running at speed there is a pre-eminent necessity for a right of way rule. The central concept in the rules of polo is the line of the ball, a right-of-way established by the path of the traveling ball. Like the rules of the road, there are do's and don'ts governing access to this right-of-way and crossing it. Within these limitations, a player can hook an opponent's mallet, push him off the line, bump him with his horse or steal the ball from him. Penalties are awarded as free hits. The more severe, the shorter the distance to the goal. The closer hits are almost certain goals. After every goal is scored, the teams change sides in order to compensate for field and wind conditions. A typical score would be 10-7. Polo games are played on the flat or the handicap. Every registered player is awarded a skill rating from C (-2, the lowest) to 10 (the highest). When a match is played on the handicap basis, the sum total rating of the players on the team is subtracted from that of the opposition. Any difference is then awarded to the lower rated side in goals on the scoreboard. Polo - The history Possibly the oldest team sport, polo's genesis is lost to the eye of history. An Asiatic game, polo was first played on a barren campground by nomadic warriors over two thousand years ago Valuable for training Cavalry, the game was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages. Known in the East as the Game of Kings, Tamer lane's polo grounds can still be seen in Samarkand. British tea planters in India witnessed the game in the early 1800's but it was not until the 1850's that the British Cavalry drew up the earliest rules and by the 1869's the game was well established in England. James Gordon Bennett, a noted American publisher, balloonist, and adventurer, was captivated by the sport and brought it to New York in 1876 where it caught on immediately. Within ten years, there were major clubs all over the east, including Newport and Long Island. Over the next 50 years, polo achieved extraordinary popularity in the United States. By the 1930's polo was in the midst of a Golden Age it was an Olympic sport and crowds in excess of 30,000 regularly attended international matches at Meadow Brook Polo Club on Long Island. The galloping game produced athletes who would doubtless have achieved greatness in any sport. Cecil Smith, the Texas cowboy who held a perfect 10-goal rating for a still-record 25 years. Devereux Melbourne, instrumental in formulating modern styles of play and Tommy Hitch cock, war hero and the best of the best in international competition for two decades. In the past 20 years, polo in the United States has undergone an unprecedented and remarkable expansion. At present, there are more than 225 clubs with over 3,000 players. Cricket - The rules There are 2 teams which have 11 players each. They play on a large circular or oval field batting area pitch at the center. At each end of the pitch is a 28inch-high wicket consisting of three vertical