I want to learn to enjoy this sport but holy hell the terminology and rules seem so cryptic
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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.
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