If you've been tapped to coach a youth cricket team, have friends who are fanatics about the game or just been asked to join in a casual game, you'll need to learn the basic rules and positions of play. The basic concept of cricket resembles that of baseball -- hitting a thrown ball to score runs in successive innings. But the overall rules differ significantly.
Game Play
Each team has 12 players but only 11 take the field. The 12th man is substituted in if there is an injury. If your team is in the field, you need to get the batters out by bowling the ball overarm at stumps that lie at both ends of a 22-yard area that's called the wicket. If your team is bowling, you can get the batter out either by catching a hit ball or hitting the stumps. If your team is at bat, you'll try to score runs by hitting a ball around the oval cricket field. You score a run every time you reach and cross the set of stumps at the opposite end of the field. You score four runs if the hit ball ball reaches the perimeter of the field and six if the ball crosses the field's perimeter without bouncing.
Fielding
If you are the fielding team, one of your mates will be the wicketkeeper and one will be the bowler. The other nine members of your team are positioned around the field where your captain wants them. The only placement restriction is that as the ball is delivered, no more than two fielders can be in the quadrant of the field that is backward to the portion of the field called "square leg." If the batsman who faces the bowler is right-handed, the leg side of the field is to the bowler's right. If the batsman is left-handed, the leg side is to the bowler's left. The point on the field called square leg is square of the wicket on the leg side of the field. If you are bowling, you must conform to certain restrictions. Your arm has to be straight, meaning you cannot cock your elbow, as the ball is bowled and you have to bowl the ball overarm, not underarm.
Innings
While 11 players will bat, your team is "all out" when 10 wickets have fallen. However, your team doesn't have to be "all out" for your inning to end. If your captain decides your team has scored enough runs, he can make a "declaration" and end the inning.
Leg Before Wicket Law
One law of cricket, No. 36 to be exact, is one of its most controversial and is similar to the offside rule for football. It's called leg before wicket, or LBW. The umpire makes an LBW decision, which results in an out for the batsman, if it appears that the ball would have hit the stumps if its path hadn't been blocked by a batsman's body or pads. This can happen only when the ball is pitched outside the line of the leg stump, meaning the ball was headed straight toward the stumps as opposed to toward the spot the batter occupies. This is the most important factor in an LBW decision. Also, an out is not called if the ball hits the bat prior to hitting the batsman's pad.
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