The Official Rules Of Cricket

The concept of cricket is similar to baseball. Cricket has innings, outs, runs and players who throw a ball that is similar to a baseball in size and hardness to batters holding a wooden bat. However, cricket's official rules governing pitchers, batters, innings, outs and runs are dramatically different than baseball's official rules. Each team has 11 starters, and all of them bat and play in the field. Substitutes can only replace nonpitching fielders.

Rules for Bowlers

The pitchers in cricket are called bowlers. A bowler cannot throw more than six consecutive pitches, but he can return to bowl after the second bowler throws six pitches. The six-pitch sequence is called an over. If a batter makes an out, a bowler can pitch to more than one batter during an over. All 11 fielders can bowl. Bowlers cannot bend their elbows when they throw the ball. However, they are able to throw the baseball-like ball up to 90 mph because they can run before the throw. They are allowed to bounce the ball to the batter.

Rules for Batters

Two players from the batting team are always on the cricket field. The one currently batting is called the striker; the other is the nonstriker. They stand 22 yards apart in what are called creases, the equivalent of a batter's box in baseball. The ball is thrown from the nonstriker's crease. The striker can hit the ball, but he does not have to run. If he doesn't run, the ball is not in play and the fielding team cannot record an out. When the striker runs, he and the nonstriker run toward each other's creases. Both men must run with their bats.

Rules for Outs

The batting team becomes the fielding team after 10 outs. Each cricket team's collective at-bat is called one innings rather than half an inning or one inning. One innings can last for days. It's common for a team to score hundreds of runs in one innings. Professional games last two innings. There are 10 ways to record outs. Three are common. The first involves the bowler knocking a small piece of wood called a bail off a 28-inch-high wooden structure called a wicket. The wicket is behind the batter, who often is trying just as hard to prevent an out than hit the ball. Fielders can also record outs by catching a ball hit by the batter or by knocking the bail off the wicket with a throw.

Rules for Runs

The batting team scores six runs when the ball is hit over the cricket field's fence, which is approximately 85 yards from the batter's crease, and four runs when the ball hits the fence. No running is required. The most common way of scoring is to run from one batter's crease to another. Batters score one run when they both reach the opposite crease. They can keep running and scoring, but they are risking an out because a fielder can knock a bail off the wicket if the ball is in play. The ball isn't in play when the batters are in the creases.