Cricket's exact roots can't be traced, but the sport evolved into its current form in England. The first version of the rules were recorded in 1744---and as result many of them seem outdated or complicated---but a knowledge of the basic rules can allow you to play cricket with relative ease. The essence of the game is to score more runs than the other team.
Basic Rules
Cricket teams are made up of 11 players each. They play on a pitch 22 yards long with a set of three stumps at either end.
The game works in overs. An over is six legal deliveries---for every illegal ball, another delivery must be bowled. An illegal delivery is called a "No Ball" or a "Wide," meaning the ball is out of the batsman's reach, either too wide or too high. The aim of each delivery is to get the batsman out and prevent him from scoring runs. When an over is complete, a different bowler will bowl another over from the opposite end of the wicket. The rest of the team will consist of a wicket keeper behind the stumps, and the remaining nine players positioned around the field. One umpire stands behind the stumps at the bowler's end of the pitch to make decisions on legal deliveries and wickets, while another stands at 90 degrees to the batsman.
The opposing team has two batsmen in the middle (one at each end of the wicket), with the aim being to score as many runs as possible and not get out. Runs are scored by running from one end of the wicket to the other or by hitting the ball over the boundary that surrounds the pitch. If the ball bounces before crossing the boundary, that is four runs, and if the ball does not bounce before crossing the boundary it is six runs.
When a batsman is out, he is replaced by a new batsman. After 10 batsmen make outs (10 wickets have fallen) then it is the end of an innings, and the teams switch roles.
Wicket Rules
There are many ways to make an out:
Bowled out (when the ball hits the stumps and removes a bail from the top).
Caught out (when a fielder, bowler or wicket keeper catches the ball after contact with the bat).
Leg before wicket (when the ball strikes a batsman on the leg without touching the bat and is in line with or going on to hit the wicket).
Run out (when a fielder, bowler or wicket keeper removes a bail with the ball before the batsman attempting a run has crossed the batting crease).
Stumped (when the wicket keeper removes a bail while the batsman is outside of the batting crease).
Hit wicket (when the batsman or his bat strikes the stumps and removes a bail in the motion of playing a shot).
Timed out (when the new batsman takes more than three minutes from the fall of the last wicket coming out to the middle of the pitch to bat).
Double hit (a batsman is out if he hits the ball twice to gain runs but can touch the ball again to protect his stumps).
Handling the ball (when the batsman purposely uses a hand not on the bat to touch the ball).
Obstructing the field (when the batsman distracts or obstructs a member of the other team by word or action or hits the ball after it has been touched by a fielder).
The two on-pitch umpires make decisions on whether the batsman is out, supported at a high level by a third umpire who is off the field of play with television replay access.
Pitch Dimensions
The wicket---or distance between each crease---is 22 yards. The pitch to the left side of a right-handed batsman is known as the leg side, and the pitch to the right side of a right-handed batsman is known as the off side (and subsequently the stumps are known as leg, middle and off stump). The boundary distance will vary depending on the space available but must be a minimum of 70 yards from the end of the pitch and 65 yards from the side.
Game Formats
Cricket comes in different forms: test matches, one-day matches, limited overs matches and twenty20 matches.
Test matches have no limit on overs and are defined by a maximum of five days, with both teams having two innings each (a team can win if their total from one innings exceeds the opposition's total from two).
Matches also can be played over two or three days, usually with one innings each or with little chance of a result. Domestic cricket is traditionally played in the same format as test matches but over four days.
One-day matches are limited to 50 overs per inning and only one innings each.
Limited overs games can be capped at 45 or 40 overs per innings and again only one innings each.
Twenty20 matches are limited to 20 overs per innings with one innings each.
Member Comments