It's Just Not Cricket! Trivia Quiz

Answer:

At first glance, the fielding position names may seem completely random (and even weird!), but there is some semblance of logic. While the batter is facing the bowler (pitcher in baseball terms), they stand side on, as done in baseball. They can bat either left-handed or right-handed - hence talking about left side and right side of the field does not make much sense in cricket terms. The half of the field closest to the batter's legs is called the 'leg side' or the 'on side' (both terms are used interchangeably). The half of the field closest to the bat is called the 'off-side'. Off and on were ostensibly derived from from the offside and near (on) side of a horse or carriage; the off side is the opposite side to which a rider mounts the horse or the driver walks beside the carriage.

Distance from the batter may be indicated by the descriptors 'long', 'deep' 'short' and 'silly'. Long and deep are just inside the playing boundary, short is close to the batter and silly is, as the name suggests, crazily close to the batter! A cricket ball is hard and hurts when the batter hits it into you (personal experience here!). The purpose of the fielders is two-fold: i) to catch the ball before it bounces, meaning the batter is 'out', and to field the ball to prevent runs being scored. Hence fielders are placed to catch or stop balls that are hit very well by the batter and those that are poorly hit or hit the edge of the bat. The analogy with baseball is very apt here with the exception that fielders cover almost the entire 360 degrees around the batter as there is no such thing as a foul hit.