When an American goes to his first cricket match you can bet he'll come away thinking he's seen the world's dullest national game. But to all Englishman, things couldn't look more different. Cricket is to him--and has been almost since Magna Carta--the one sport truly beyond comparison. Some men like soccer, and some prefer rugby, while Scotsmen may say field hockey is better than either. But none will disagree about cricket. Its lack of action is its boast, not its shame. Its long matches, which last anywhere from one afternoon to four full days are as joyfully undertaken as the vigils of fishermen. In fact cricket has much the same appeal . . . you have long periods of time when you do nothing, but then for a moment you must act with all your strength and skill.

The basic idea of the game is for the batsmen to defend their wickets. They use special bats with a long, flat, four-inch wide blade. The wicket, a device peculiar to cricket, is a lineal descendant of the ancient cottage wicket gate. In present form it consists of three thin poles or "stumps" spaced exactly three inches apart, with two little wood cylinders, or "bails" mounted on top.

The game uses two wickets, which face one another at either end of the 22-yard long "pitch." One batsman comes out and stands in front on a wicket ready to defend it. Another batsman stands beside the other wicket. The enemy pitcher or "bowler" pitches overhand from the undefended wicket towards the defending batsman and tries to hit his wicket. If he can do so, the unlucky batsman will be declared "stumped," and will have to retire off the field, to be replaced by a teammate. Since a team numbers eleven players, the enemy will have to knock out nine such men before the side is "out."

Meanwhile the batsman tries to hit the balls bowled to him, and to make a score. The basic scoring unit is a run up the pitch to the other wicket. A batsman can make one any time he has hit the ball far enough away from his wicket to risk leaving it undefended. If he thinks he is safe, he nods or calls to his fellow batsman at the bowler's wicket, and the two change wickets and fast as they can. This of course means the second batsman will defend. If the enemy has still not returned the ball, he can order another run. Variants on this are the "boundary" scores: if a batsman can hit the ball right off the field, he counts four or six runs, depending on whether the ball bounced within the field. To stop him, the enemy captain disposes his ten other players at strategic places where they can catch or stop the batsman's shots, and return the ball speedily to the wicket.

No mention of crickets is complete without a comment on its props. For instance, for the spectators there must always, be oak trees for shade, and deck chairs of a low enough pitch fro a mid-game slumber. For the game itself there must be a perfect oval field, sown with the lushest English turf; and for the players, there must be a bat, preferably a finely-sprung precision instrument autographed by some of the legendary greats of cricket. Also there must be compete game uniform, including immaculate white sneakers, white flannels, white shirt, and cap--each player wearing a distinctively colored cap of his own choice.