The world of sports is already a thrilling industry with high profile athletes performing at their best. Many athletes seek to crossover from their sport into another one which always brings about a lot of media attention as well as audience excitement. For instance a recent crossover event was last summer’s high profile fight between MMA fighter Conor McGregor and boxer Floyd Mayweather caused a great deal of interest and has even led to negotiations for a possible second fight. In some situations, athletes end up converting over completely to the other sports. Even though some sports are rather similar, such as baseball and cricket, the conversion can still be difficult for the athlete.
The sports of cricket and baseball have many similarities. Both sports are played with two teams with similar positions such as batters and fielders. Pitchers are featured in both, however, they are referred to as bowlers in cricket. The pitcher/bowler pitches a ball to the batter who then tries to hit it to get on base as its referred to in baseball. In cricket, the base is instead known as a stump. In both games, the team with the most runs wins. A special player is positioned behind the batter, which is the catcher in baseball and the wicketkeeper in cricket.
Of course, cricket and baseball also have some substantial differences. The playing field varies between the two. With baseball being played around a diamond with bases positioned at the corners. However, cricket is played on a pitch which is essentially a strip of ground. There is a batter at each end as they bat in pairs, running between the ends. If the two players are able to switch positions, a run I scored. This is much different than in baseball where the players must run around the diamond, touching all four bases. Innings are also different with baseball having three outs per team and cricket having 10 outs. Pitchers can pitch an entire game of baseball but cricket bowlers can only bowl six legal ball deliveries then they must rotate.
With the similarities between the two sports, it is no surprise that athletes from both sports have crossed over into the other. For example, after a great career as a cricket player, Kieran Powell tried to enter the world of professional baseball. He participated in spring training exercises for both the Mets and Brewers. Japanese baseball player, Shogo Kimura, attempted a similar crossover but into cricket. Despite the similarities, the overall ways of performing hits have been a challenge.
As time goes on and the wide world of sports seems to become less wide, there will undoubtedly be even more athletes who attempt complete crossovers into related sports. It will be interesting to see how many are able to overcome the challenges and can fully integrate themselves into the game.