I want to learn to enjoy this sport but holy hell the terminology and rules seem so cryptic
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Two sides: batting and fielding.
Fielding side does all they can to get the three sticks behind the batsman (the stumps/the wickets) dislodged with the ball. When that happens, the batsman is out.
Batsmen hit like mad to prevent that from happening. The further they hit, the more they can run between the two wickets, and hence the more runs they can score. All the way to the boundary is automatically four runs. All the way to the boundary without touching the ground is six runs.
Also, batsmen are “vulnerable” while running. They have a protected area called a “crease” (a white line on the ground). They run between creases to score runs. If the ball hits the stumps at any time when they’re not inside the crease, they’re declared out.
And if they hit the ball and it’s caught before it touches the ground, they’re out too.
That’s it in a nutshell.
An old one but a [good](https://www.futilitycloset.com/2009/12/27/cricket-explained-to-a-foreigner/) one:
* You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
* Each man that’s in the side that’s in the field goes out and when he’s out comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
* When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
* When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.
* Sometimes there are men still in and not out.
* There are men called umpires who stay out all the time, and they decide when the men who are in are out.
* Depending on the weather and the light, the umpires can also send everybody in, no matter whether they’re in or out.
* When both sides have been in and all the men are out (including those who are not out), then the game is finished.
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To oversimplify… two teams of 11 players take it in turns to “bat”, where their objective is to score as many points as they can before they run out of time or players. The team not batting, ie the bowling/fielding team, has to use their skills and tactics to limit the points the batting team can accumulate.
So there are two wickets. A wicket is made of 3 vertical posts called stumps and two horizontal sticks called bails. There’s a line in front of each wicket defining the “creases” where the batsmen stand. There are 11 players per side. There’s a coin flip to decide who bats first. The batting team will send two batsmen onto the field and the fielding team will send all 11 outfielders. The batsmen will stay on the field until they are out. A bowler will throw the ball in the direction of one of the batsmen’s wickets which the batsmen can swing at with his bat. The batsmen is out if:
* The ball hits the wicket and knocks over the bails
* The ball hits the batsman’s leg and the umpire determines it would have hit the wicket if not for the batsman standing in the way.
* The ball is hit in the air and caught by a fielder.
* The ball hits the wicket while the batsman is out of the crease.
* There are more specific rules that can get a batsmen out, but they’re rare.
The batsmen are trying to score runs. Normally a run is scored when the batsmen run to each other’s creases. The batsman is considered to be in the crease if his bat is in the crease. A run is also automatically scored if the bowler breaks the rules when delivering the ball or if he bowls it too wide or too high. If a batsman hits the ball in bounds but it then goes out of bounds or touches the boundary, it’s an automatic 4 runs. If the batsman hits the ball in the air and it lands out of bounds it’s an automatic 6 runs.
If the fielding team get 10 batsmen out, they change sides as the last batsmen on the team cannot bat alone. After both teams have gotten 10 outs, that’s called an innings. When a bowler has delivered 6 legal balls that’s called an “over” and a new bowler will deliver balls in the opposite direction to the other wicket. Depending on the format, you may play 1 innings or 2, and might have a limit on overs per innings. The longest format is called test cricket which is 2 innings, no limits on overs, and can last 5 days.
This could be long but I will start simple using as much ***terminology*** as I can.
2 players are opposing each other: the ***Bowler*** and the ***Batter.***
The Batter is trying avoid getting ***out*** and at the same time scoring as many ***runs*** as they can until they are out.
The Bowler is on the ***Fielding*** team and ***bowls*** overarm the ***ball*** six times to the Batter and this set of 6 Balls is called an ***Over***.After an ***Over*** the bowler is swapped for another player on the ***Fielding*** team.
An Over must be six legal ***deliveries*** of the Ball according to this brief criteria:
* The Ball is bowled with a straight overarm.
* At least part of both the bowler’s feet must be behind/inside the line on the ***Pitch*** called the ***Crease***.
* The Ball either bounces on the surface of the ***Pitch*** or if the ball is did not bounce then cross the Batter’s ***Crease*** lower than the height of the ***Stumps***.
* The Ball is not bowled ***Wide.*** A Wide ball awards the Fielding team a ***- Sundry*** run.
The Batter can get out or ***Dismissed*** in several different ways and here are the most common:
* In a ***delivery*** either Ball or the Batter removes the wooden ***bails*** from the top of the 3 ***stumps*** on the ***wicket*** that the Batter stands in front of.
* The Bowler can be ***caught out*** when the ball touches their bat (even just grazing or glancing the bat is enough) and a player from the fielding side catches the ball before it touches the ground.
* The Batter can be judged out ***Leg-Before-Wicket*** if they use their legs or body to block a ball that was otherwise going to hit the **Stumps**.
* The ball or batter removes the ***Bails*** while the batter is ***outside their crease***. This can be called ***Run Out*** if the batter was running, ***Stumped*** if the ***Wicketkeeper*** removes the bails without the batter running, and a ***Mankad*** when the bowler removes the bails of the wicket at the bowlers end.
* The Batter cannot touch the ball, handle the ball, or deliberately block the ball with their body or they are out for ***Obstructing the Field.***
* The Batter cannot strike the ball more than once.
A batter is not obligated to run when hitting the ball.
A Batter can score runs in a number of ways:
* Scoring a ***Boundary.*** Hitting the ball to the ***Boundary Rope*** which is the edge of the playing area. 6 runs are awarded to the batter if the Ball does not touch the ground or player and travels through the air over the Boundary Rope. 4 runs are awarded to the batter if the ball touches the rope or the ground before passing over the rope.
* 1 run is awarded to the batter when they cross the Crease at the ***Bowler’s end*** of the Pitch. The batter may repeat this as often as they like by crossing the Crease at the Batter’s end. Each Crease to Crease at awards one run to the current Batter. **If at any point the Ball touches or passes over the Boundary Rope then these runs are discarded and not awarded to the Batter.**
So far so good?
I have only explained the basic play required for 2 people in a backyard/street/at the beach.
With a small group there are no teams and each player bats once and every player has a turn bowling an over until all players have had a turn batting. After the last batter the player who had the most runs wins. In a casual game a 6 run boundary is usallyOUT as the player has hit the ball out of bounds (like the backyard fence – woops!).
Let’s move onto an organised game:
* Each side has 11 players, usually no substitute/bench players even at the highest level of play.
* There are 2 batters on the pitch, one active Batter at the ***Batter’s End*** who can score runs and is receiving the deliveries of the balls from the Bowler. The other ***Batting Partner*** is inactive and starts each delivery at the **Bowler’s End** their only roles is to run to the opposite ***Batter’s End*** Crease when the active batter runs to the ***Bowler’s End*** Crease. Whoever ends up at the Batter’s End is the active Batter for the next delivery.
* Each batting side plays an ***Innings*** and has 10 ***Wickets*** (here the term Wicket is an OUT).
* The ***Bowler’s End*** changes ends after every ***Over***.
* One of the fielding side is a ***Wicket-Keeper*** and they may have gloves and stand behind the Stumps of the Batter’s End.
* There may be a limit on how many Overs the Innings will go for. The popular shorter variation is ***T-20*** (“Twenty-Twenty”) which has each innings go for only 20 Overs and afterwards the batting team starts fielding and the fielding teams starts batting. ***ODI*** (One-Day-International) has 50 overs of the same format as T20.
* The game is not played when it is wet or raining. Games may be abandoned or if a side had their Innings interupted by the weather then some format use a complicated mathematical calculation (Duckworth-Lewis Method) to adjust the scores and determine a winner.
* There may be a limit on how many overs each player from the fielding side can have. It is usually not possible for only 2 fielding players to continue swapping the Bowler role for an entire Innings.
* Usually the ball is used for the entire innings unless its condition is too poor to continue playing with and then is usually exchanged for a similarly aged ball (age in Overs). A new ball is used for a new innings.
There is a massive glossary of terms and phrases that make the game easier to understand with only a radio/audio broadcast. There are many different words for how the ball was bowled, how the ball was hit, and the many different possible fielding positions.
Here are some important things to note:
* A ***fast bowler*** bowls fast and somewhat straight.
* A ***Spin bowler*** puts a lot of ***spin*** on the ball so when it bounces its trajectory is hard to predict.
* Fielding players may use saliva on the ball and rub the ball on their uniform so that one side of the ball is much smoother and less air-resitant then the other. The effect is noticeable for fast bowlers who will bowl and the ball will ***Swing*** to one side because of the smoothness of the ball.
* A ***Batting*** ***Order*** is the list and order of batters that will play the Innings. ***Top Order*** batters are strong and usually face the early balls which are very tough to defend. ***Middle Order*** Batters are good when the balls has seen more action and is a little older. ***Lower/******Bottom Order*** Batters are usually the weakest batter and usually the best Bowlers on the team.
* A ***Century*** is 100 runs and a signifacnt milestone. A ***Double-Century*** is 200 runs. A ***Half-Century*** is 50 runs and is significant in smaller games and for ***Lower/Bottom Order Batters***.
* A ***Duck*** or ***Going out for a Duck*** is a Bowler getting out for Zero runs. Zero kind of looking like a Duck’s Egg. There are variations like gold, silver, diamond depending on how many balls the batter has faced or how many overs the bowler has balled.
* A ***Maiden Over*** is an Over where no runs are scored.
* ***Leg Side*** is the side of the field where the batter has they legs on. ***On Side*** is the side of the field the batter’s bat and body usually faces when batting.
Its a very simple sport. Score more runs than your opponent. It gets complicated after that.
Lol.
So there are two sides in a game, and each team must bat and bowl (field). To decide who goes first, the Umpire will ask the team captains to pick heads or tails and then the coin is flipped. The winner of the toss *gets to choose* if they want to bat or bowl first.
*(Choosing whether to bat or bowl can be a huge decision effecting the outcome of the game, when all factors such as conditions and team selection are considered. If the weather is good and the pitch is dry and flat, you may ideally want to bat first, put some runs on the board and then when you are all out, the opposing team comes into bat at the end of the day, when conditions may be less favourable for batting.)*
After the toss has been decided, the fielding team will get ready and the two first batsmen will get ready. Two batsmen from the batting side will come out and they are partners. One will decide to take what is called “the strike” which is the business end of the pitch, where the bowler will be bowling to.
The batting teams objective is to score as many runs as possible, whilst losing as little of their wickets as possible.
The bowling teams objective is to take all ten wickets from the batting team to get them “all out”.
Each batting team has 10 wickets. A Wicket is three stumps on the pitch with two “bails” that sit on top. The job of the batsman is to protect his “wicket”, i.e to not get out. Here are the ways a batsman can be given out:
1.) The bowler bowls the batsman out. The ball hits the wicket with enough force to dislodge the bails completely from the top of the wicket. There must be clear air between the bail and the wicket stumps for this to be given out. 99.95% of the time, the bowler has bowled the ball with enough force that it will almost certainly dislodge the bails. However, in some rare instances, the ball has clipped the wicket stump and *not* dislodged the bail. The batter in this case, is not out.
2.) The batsman can be “caught” out. The batsman hits the ball and a fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground, or goes over the boundary rope. Sometimes the batsman “edges” the ball, or clips it unintentionally and the ball goes behind the stumps and the wicket keeper or a fielder catches it. Other times, the batsman might connect with the ball intentionally but get it wrong and smash the ball straight to a fielder who takes the catch.
3.) Leg before wicket. The batsman misses the ball with their bat and it hits their pads or feet, in front of the stumps. The ball must make contact with the pitch in line with the stumps and then go on to hit the stumps should the batsman not be in the way. It’s basically cheating to block the bowlers ball with your legs or feet, so the bowling team must appeal to the umpire and say “how is that?” which essentially means “is he out, umpire?” and the umpire will make a decision, based on the above criteria.
4.) Run out/stumped. The batsman must stay in his crease (a line on the pitch infront of the stumps) if he doesnt want to get run out or stumped. The problem? Batsmen have to “run” as in, the batsman on strike can with his partner run between the stumps making sure the batsmen cross to score a single run. The jeopardy is that the fielding team may see this attempt at a run and throw the ball at the stumps to try and score a direct hit, or throw the ball to the keeper to try and get the batsman stumped out. If the batsman is not in his crease before the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, then they are out. However if the batsman is in their crease, they are “home” and cannot be stumped or run out.
5.) Hit stumps/hit wicket. The Batsman can accidentally sit on or hit their own stumps and if the bails are dislodged, they are out.
6.) Retired hurt. The Batsman may get injured and have to retire from the game. Incidentally they have failed to protect their wicket but are also not out but as there are only substitutions on the fielding team, the batting side unfortunately lose a wicket.
So those are the most common ways to get a batsman out.
The bowling team also have rules to abide by:
1.) Wide balls. The bowler MUST bowl the ball between the horizontal pitch lines. If they do not, the umpire will give it as a wide ball and this is added as a single run to the batting sides total runs scored. The bowler must bowl the ball again.
2.) No ball. The bowler must not overstep the crease at his bowling end, as this is considered to be cheating as the bowler could gain an advantage, being able to bowl the ball faster and over a shorter distance. If the umpire spots a “no ball”, no matter what happens after the ball has left the bowlers hand, the batsman cannot be given out either bowled, stumped or caught. The batsmen can still run between the wickets however they can be given out run out if the fielding team can hit the stumps without the batsman reaching them before the ball dislodges the bails. A no ball delivery must be bowled again. A single run is added to the score of the batting team.
3.) Excessive high bounce. The bowler can bowl what is called a “short ball” where the idea is to get the ball to bounce further away from the batsman to get it to bounce into their midriff or shoulders. The idea is to catch the batsman off guard trying to hit a ball that is not an ordinary ball. However, the umpire can ask the bowler to limit the number of short balls in an over (6 balls bowled by the bowler) to keep the spirit of the game unblemished and to limit the danger of short balls in bad conditions such as poor light or rain.
4.) Running on the pitch. When the bowler comes in to bowl, they might overstep the crease and run on to the area the batsman usually uses for batting when the ends swap (more on this in a moment). The umpire will take this seriously and issue one warning to the bowler. If a bowler runs on to the pitch, their spiked shoes might damage to the playing surface and give an undue advantage to the bowling team and the bowler, as any balls pitched into a damaged surface may behave unpredictably and get the batsman out where as they would not have if the surface was undisturbed.
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Scoring runs
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1.) Running between the wickets. Simply put, the batsmen run and swap ends, crossing in the middle without being stumped or run out. Importantly, even if they are run out or stumped, if the batsmen cross, the run is still given.
2.) Hitting the ball to the boundary with only one bounce or more. This is called a “four” as the batting team score four runs for reaching the boundary with the ball bouncing.
3.) Hitting the ball to the boundary without it bouncing. This is called a six and scores six runs for the batting team.
4.) Extras. These occur when the bowling team make mistakes such as bowling wides, no balls or giving away “byes”. Byes are when the batsmen does not hit the ball with the bat but the ball still runs away to the boundary or the batsmen run between the wickets.
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Game formats
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1.) One day 40 or 50 over cricket. The 50 over version is rare nowadays but 40 over cricket is live and well. Basically each team must bowl 40 overs in an allotted time and the team that wins is the team that scores the most runs. Typically the game lasts an entire day from 10:00 am to about 7pm, with drinks breaks, lunch and tea occurring at fixed points.
2.) 20/20 or 20 over cricket. A much shorter version of the game, brought in to revitalise cricket audiences in a dwindling fan base. The game is action packed as teams look to score quick runs as they only have 20 overs in which to do so. The team that scores the most runs wins.
3.) The Hundred. A brand new format introduce a few years ago, both sides have 100 balls to bowl – the game is a couple of overs shorter than 20/20 and the players are drafted rather than signed on contracts etc.
4.) Test Cricket – the pinnacle of the game. A gruelling 5 day match between two teams to weed out the men from the boys and really put the best to the test. Each team must bat and bowl *twice* in 5 days. The winner is the team who scores the most runs.
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Ask me anything about cricket.
Are you allowed to steal bases?
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