I posted last week about the proposed MCC exhibition tracing the relationship between baseball and cricket. One of the ways cricket has borrowed from baseball over the years is in the terms and phrases that it conjures up. If you listen to commentary of cricket games, you will often hear the odd baseball word or phrase thrown in. Another one has just been added to the list.
Everyone has gone ‘switch-hit’ crazy over the last couple of days thanks to Kevin Pieterson’s audacious shot playing against the Kiwis on Sunday and, of course, the resulting hoo-hah over whether it is legal and ‘within the spirit of the game’. The MCC held an emergency meeting today and has decided that the shot is legal. That means plenty of cricketers (from village parks to county grounds) will be making fools of themselves trying to hit from their weaker side, and ‘switch-hit’ will become an established part of cricket parlance.
Richard Williams from the Guardian has likened Pieterson’s play to switch-hitting in baseball and makes reference to arguably the greatest exponent: Mickey Mantle. KP’s batting was/is controversial because he switched during the bowler’s delivery.  Williams makes the point that ballplayers cannot switch from one side of the plate once the pitcher has started his wind-up. I can just imagine someone leaping from one batter’s box to the other while trying to hit a 97 MPH fastball! That 0.4 second reaction time is short enough already.
Switch-hitting is seen as being a perfect new addition to this brave new world of Twenty20 cricket, driven by the money of Indian franchises and Sir Allen Stanford.  The latter reckons Twenty20 could be the format to sell cricket to America. I’m not the slightest bit convinced of this, much as I enjoy watching the odd game of Twenty20 myself. If we’re being honest, Twenty20 is trying to grab hold of some of the things that make baseball such an appealing sport to play and watch and throwing out a pale substitute in comparison. I’ve no doubt that cricket-mad countries like India will continue to lap up Twenty20, but having watched a couple of games on TV recently they do quickly become very repetitive. Unlike baseball.
In fact far from making America turn to cricket, Twenty20 is more likely to encourage cricket fans to give baseball a look, which can only be good news. If they do, they’ll at least recognise a switch-hitter when they see one.
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On a cricket note, Mal Loye who plays for Lancashire tried Pietersen’s switch-hit 4-5 times during a Twenty20 match which was televised on Sky a few days after the ODI in question.
On a baseball note, talking of switch-hitters have you heard of a Yankees draftee called Pat Venditte, a switch-pitcher. In his debut for Staten Island Yankees yesterday there was a big argument when he faced a switch-hitter over which side they would both face. There is a video link to the incident here if you’re interested: http://riveraveblues.com/2008/06/20/watch-the-nine-minute-venditte-fiasco-3103/