Fundamentals - the joker
Jukka-Pekka Vainionpää wearing the Joker’s vest next to his teammates What is a joker? If you are coming from a cricket background, the joker can seem like a very strange concept indeed; in baseball, the joker is much more familiar than you may think. A joker is like a designated hitter in baseball, like you see in American League rules, but the role is much more tactical and has more scope than simply substituting a place in the lineup for a pitcher. There is no equivalent in cricket, so it is worth explaining what a joker is in pesis in some detail: The international rules state that “A team can use three different jokers at bat during each offensive half. The use of a joker does not cause any other player in the batting order to lose his turn at bat.” As to when a joker can be used: “The use of a joker need not be announced beforehand. A joker can take a turn at bat, if the player in the batting order hasn't settled at bat. A joker cannot be taken away from batting if he