Cricket

Here is a good place to get started:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/fixtures/default.stm

Lord's - the home of cricket! http://www.lords.org/latest-news/top-stories/

Hi Kathy, I always loved baseball, and when I moved back to the UK, cricket was a total mystery- til someone explained it to me- now I love it!

You can certainly go to Lords or The Oval in London and watch a first class county match or even an international Test Match.

BUT

Cricket is played everywhere and especially on most parks on most Sundays in the summer. All you need to do is take a blanket or rug to sit on and talk to the other spectators. You give a bit of polite clapping from time to time ( clapping at a well turned leg-drive is about as emotional as it gets for many Englishmen ) and then you retire to the pub and talk like an expert for the remainder of the evening ( after-match blather is part of the ritual ).

P.S. If you come across an amateur team called 'Runway XI' - the overweight, over the hill wicket keeper is me!

I forgot Cricket isnt big in the US... I agree witht he previous poster - you wont have much trouble finding a game!!

i also think that a local game would be much better to watch - personally i think its more 'colourful' hehe!

Ah Cricket. My father was actually captain of a local cricket team here in the States. My mother recently gave me his cricket gear to keep :-)

We have lots of friends from other countries who are cricket fans, and I would love for my kids to see a local match. We'll be in the Oxford area (Abingdon) so I will look out to see if there is a match on our first Sunday there. It always struck me as such a civilised sport.

We watched part of a cricket match a few summer's ago in August in Oxford. It was taking place in a field alongside the Thames canal/river near where they go punting. As you face the canal from the bridge over it in Oxford, it was on the right hand side. The field was behind a tall hedge. It seemed to be college students playing. The game seemed to be going on all afternoon. We were on a canal boat we had rented, so it was our view from the boat's deck. We had tied up there overnight. Abingdon is not too far from there.

I learned the game of Cricket years ago in Australia. As I recall you will be looking for a limited side, they only last "forever" as opposed to "forever and ever". LOL.

Finding a match is a great way to get some authentic local flavor and connect with locals. Ask someone who is paying attention to the game to explain it to you and you are off and running.

I think the county cricket season is starting up this weekend. So just about anywhere a game should be able to to be found

Thanks, everyone! I like the idea of finding a local game in a park on a Sunday afternoon. Our Sunday afternoons will be in Edinburgh and London. Any recommendations for finding a game in either of those cities?

We have loved taking foreign visitors to baseball games and are looking forward to experiencing another culture through one of its "national pasttimes".