Air Force buddy who grew up playing baseball in South Carolina and went to the Citadel a long time ago passed along the following story.
Whenever the British invited the Americans to a Cricket match they would take the field just as we would in Yankee Stadium. We were good sports and they knew Americans would hit the ball between the foul lines. The best British cricket clubs would clobber the American clubs every time because they utilized the entire field.
Check out the field and the fielding positions:
Cricket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia