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CRICKET

The Absolute Basics

Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players on each side. Matches are officiated over by two umpires. Their decisions in the game are final.

Similar to baseball, one team will bat while the other takes the field. The aim of the game is to score more runs than the opposition. Yes, it’s that simple!

A game begins with the team captains flipping a coin to see which side will bat first. The winner of the toss can elect to bat first or to take the field first.

Batting

The batting side begins by sending in the first two players in their batting order. The striker will be taking pitches from the bowler while the other batsmen, the non-striker, will be at the other end of the pitch. The remainder of the team will wait off of the field for their turn to bat.

Bowls will be delivered to the striker in an attempt to get them out. When this happens, they are replaced by another batsmen. This will occur until all players are out, which will be the end of the innings.

Bowling

The bowler is the one who bowls the ball to the batsman.

The fielding team will disperse around the field to positions designed to either stop runs from being scored or to get the batsmen out. The bowler will takes the ball and bowl it to a batsman at the wicket, which are stumps in the ground that designate where the batsman should be. The wicket-keeper, who wears a pair of webbed gloves designed for catching the ball and protective pads covering the shins, will be behind the wicket. They will catch any balls that the batsman fails to hit.

The goal of the bowler will be to prevent runs from being scored by getting the batsman out. This is referred to as a dismissal in cricket.

When one bowler has delivered six balls, that constitutes as an over, A different member of the fielding team is given the ball and bowls the next over from the opposite end of the pitch. The batsmen do not change ends, so the roles of striker and non-striker swap after each over. Any member of the fielding team may bowl, as long as no bowler delivers two consecutive overs. Once a bowler begins an over, they must complete it, unless they’re injured or suspended during the over.

Fielding

Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, to limit the number of runs that the batsman scores and/or to get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or by running the batsman out.

If you want learn a very traditional English sport, sign up on Edupage (yrs 5 – 8) and come along.