How Do You Play Cricket?

Answer 1

On an oval grass field in the centre of which is a flat strip - the pitch . At each end of the pitch is a wicket - including a set of wooden stumps. One team bowls the other bats. The pitch is also called the wicket . A player from the fielding team the bowler propels a hard apple sized cork and leather ball from one wicket to the other. The batting player defends his wicket and tries to strike the ball before it hits his stumps. The batsman tries to run between the wickets exchanging ends with another batsman at the other end. Each time they do this the batter scores a run which compiles the score of the batting team. The remainder of the bowlers' team stand in the field. These fielders try and catch and return the ball to prevent the scoring of runs.

Answer 2

On an oval grass field in the centre of which is a flat strip - the pitch . At each end of the pitch is a wicket - including a set of wooden stumps. One team bowls the other bats. The pitch is also called the wicket . A player from the fielding team the bowler propels a hard apple sized cork and leather ball from one wicket to the other. The batting player defends his wicket and tries to strike the ball before it hits his stumps. The batsman tries to run between the wickets exchanging ends with another batsman at the other end. Each time they do this the batter scores a run which compiles the score of the batting team. The remainder of the bowlers' team stand in the field. These fielders try and catch and return the ball to prevent the scoring of runs.

Answer 3

Each meet or tournaments has different rules.

In classic cricket 5 days game test match two inning are played, the are like 9 innings of Base Ball.

In each innings there are 10 players out.

Over consist of 6 balls(each Bowler throws, a boll six time). Then the other bowler takes over.

In library you will find a book on cricket with rules and regulations, and pictures.

Answer 4

I am one among the 90% of the cricket fans who have never played cricket. For many of us, it is an entertainment and an occasion to cheer up the team, out of patriotism.

Answer 5

i only came to know when i played with a bat and a ball.

Answer 6

With a wicket

Answer 7

Please check the following link for detailed information about cricket:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

Answer 8

I always like to win.

Answer 9

with a gal

Answer 10

The three marks: '+', '*', and '~' indicate that the adjective shown at the bottom of the list can be used to describe a modification of that position, as shown in the example.
------------------------------... 1 wicket keeper
/ \ 2 first slip
/ e h \ 3 second slip
/ \ 4 third slip
/ \ 5 gully +
/ \ 6 point +*~
/ \ 7 cover +
/ 2 j \ 8 extra cover +
| 43 1 d | 9 mid-off +*
| 5 | a mid-on +*
| 6 # i c | b mid-wicket +
| # | c square leg +~
| 7 # b | d leg slip
| 8 | e third man
| | f long off
\ 9 a / g long on
\ / h fine leg
\ / i bat-pad
\ / + deep (near boundary)
\ / * silly (near batsman)
\ f g / ~ backward (more 'up')
\ / eg.
------------------------------... j deep backward square leg

(This picture will be replaced with an inline image when I have time.)

Other modifiers used to qualify positions:
square: close to a line perpendicular to the pitch, through the batsman;
fine: close to a line straight along the pitch;
short: close to the batsman.

The only restriction on field placements is that, at the time the ball is delivered, there must be no more than two fielders in the quadrant of the field backward of square leg. (This rule exists mainly for historical reasons - see the Bodyline section below.)

Sometimes fielders close to the bat wear helmets for safety. When not in use, the helmet (or any other loose equipment) may be placed on the field (usually behind the wicket-keeper, where it is unlikely to be hit by the ball). If any such loose fielding equipment is hit with the ball, five runs are scored, either to the batsman who hit the ball or as the appropriate form of byes. The ball is then considered dead and no further runs can be taken, nor can a batsman be run out.

If a fielder is wearing a protective helmet, and the striker hits the ball so that it bounces off the helmet, he may not be out caught off the rebound. If a ball rebounds from any other part of the body of a fielder, he may be out caught if another fielder (or the same one) then catches the ball before it hits the ground.
Injuries and Substitutions

In case of injury, substitutes may replace any number of fielders. A substitute may only field - he may not bowl, nor bat. A substitute may not keep wicket. A substituted player must return to the field as soon as he is able to resume playing without danger.

If a batsman is injured, he may retire and resume his innings when fit again, so long as his team's innings is not over. If a batsman is too injured to bat when no other batsmen remain to come in after a wicket falls, his innings must be forfeited and his team's innings ends. If a batsman is able to bat, but not run, then another player may run for him. The runner must wear the same equipment as the batter, and performs all his running. The injured non-runner must remain behind his crease at all times when the ball is in play or risk being run out, even if his runner is safely behind a crease.

If a bowler is injured during an over and cannot complete it, another bowler must bowl the remaining deliveries in that over. The bowler chosen to finish the over must not be the bowler who bowled the previous over, and must not bowl the over immediately following either.

A player may not leave the field for injury unless the injury is sustained on the field. An injured player who takes the field may not leave because of his pre-existing injury, unless it is clearly aggravated further on the field.
Adverse Weather Conditions

Play is suspended at the umpires' discretion for rain. Light rain is usually tolerated, though nothing heavier, because of the possibility of damage to the pitch. If the players are off the field, they must remain off until the rain has stopped completely. During rain the pitch is covered with waterproof material to protect it. Often the bowlers' run-ups and an area around the pitch are also covered.

During very windy conditions, sometimes the bails will tend to blow off the top of the stumps. If this becomes a problem, the umpires can decide to play without bails. In this case, the wicket does not need to be broken by uprooting a stump, and the umpires must take full responsibility for deciding, in a reasonable manner, whether the wicket is broken or not.
Umpires Signals

The umpires signal various events with gestures, as follows:
Out:
When a batsman is out, the umpire making the decision raises one hand above his head, with the index finger extended.
Not Out:
There is no formal signal to indicate that a batsman is not out. The umpire can either shake his head `no' or not signal at all.
Four:
A four scored by the ball reaching the boundary is signalled by an arm extended horizontally and waved briefly back and forth in a horizontal arc.
Six:
A six is signalled by raising both arms straight over the head.
No Ball:
A no ball is signalled by holding an arm out horizontally.
Wide:
A wide is signalled by holding both arms out horizontally.
Byes:
Runs scored as byes are signalled by raising one arm over the head, palm open.
Leg Byes:
Leg byes are signalled by raising one leg and tapping the knee with one hand.
Dead Ball:
If the umpire has to signal dead ball to prevent the players from assuming that the ball is still alive, he waves both arms across each other in front of his abdomen.
One Short:
One short is signalled by touching the tip of one hand to the same shoulder.
TV Replay:
If an umpire wishes the third umpire to make a decision based on a TV replay, he signals by drawing a large square shape in the air with both hands, spreading them out high in the air in front of him, bringing them down, and then together again.
The Two Forms of Cricket

Cricket is played in two very distinct forms. The first is limited duration, in which a specific number of hours of playing time are allocated and each team plays two innings.

The second is limited overs, in which each team plays one innings of a pre-determined number of overs.
First Class Cricket

First class cricket matches are the most prestigious games, played at a professional level. The top level games are international Test matches, played betwen countries. There are also domestic first class cricket competitions. First class matches are of limited duration. Test matches will be described first, then any differences for other first class matches will be described.

Test matches are played over five days, with six hours play each day. Each day's play is divided into three sessions of two hours each, with a 40 minute break between the first two session for lunch, and a 20 minute tea break between the last two sessions. A short drinks break is taken once an hour, or more often in very hot weather. Play usually goes from 11:00 local time to 18:00, although this may be varied if sunset occurs early. The scheduled close of play time is called stumps. Test matches are never played under artificial lighting.

Each team has two innings, usually played in alternating order. Each innings is over when either ten batsmen are out, or the captain of the batting side declares the innings closed (for strategic reasons, more later). When all the innings are completed, the team with the most runs wins. If there is a tie, the result stands (this is rare - it has only ever happened twice).

If by the end of the final day's play all the innings are not completed, the game is a draw, no matter who appeared to be ``winning''. Thus the strategic importance of sometimes declaring an innings closed, in order to have enough time to dismiss the other team and so win the game.

The order of the innings alternates except when the follow-on is enforced. This can occur if the second team to bat in the first innings scores 200 or more runs fewer than the first team. The captain of the first team may then ask the second team to follow on, i.e. to bat its second innings immediately, and defer his own team's second innings until afterwards.

Whenever a change of innings occurs during a session, a ten minute break is taken. If the end of an innings occurs within ten minutes of the end of the first or second sessions, the ten minute break is lost and the scheduled interval is shifted to begin immediately. If the end of an innings occurs within ten minutes of stumps, the day's play ends early.

Test matches are played with a red cricket ball. A new ball is used for the beginning of each innings. The same ball must be used throughout the innings, being replaced only in the following cases:
The captain of the bowling team may elect to take a new ball at any time after 80 overs have been bowled with the previous ball.
If the ball is lost, it is replaced.
If the ball is damaged, either by the stitching coming undone or the ball becoming clearly non-spherical, it is replaced.

In cases 2 and 3, the ball must be replaced by a previously used ball of similarly worn condition to the old ball, as chosen by the umpires. If the ball is ever hit so that a spectator gathers it, the spectator must return it so that play can continue.

On each day of play in a Test match, a minimum of 90 overs must be bowled. If the bowling team has not bowled the required minimum by the scheduled stumps time, play is extended until the required number of overs have been bowled. Whenever an innings ends, the number of overs to be bowled is recalculated, disregarding the number of overs bowled so far during the same day. The required minimum is calculated to be the number of minutes of play remaining, divided by 4 and rounded up. On the last day of play, this formula is used up until one hour before stumps, then fifteen overs are added to the result. If extra overs are bowled before the time one hour before stumps on the final day, then there still must be a minimum of fifteen overs bowled after the time one hour before stumps. All of these conditions are recalculated for time lost due to poor weather, at a rate of one over per 4 minutes of lost time. If a day's play ends early because of poor weather conditions, all calculations are reset for the next day.

If there is heavy cloud cover, the umpires may decide that the ambient light level is too low and that the batsmen may be in danger because of difficulty in sighting the ball. If so, they offer the light to the batsmen, who may agree to leave the field or may decide to play on. If the light deteriorates further, the umpires will offer again. If the batsmen decide to leave the field and the light improves, the umpires make the decision to resume play.

If a fielder leave the field for any reason and then returns during the same innings, he may not bowl until he has been on the field again for as much time as he spent off the field.

Test matches are played in Series between two of the official Test nations. A Test Series consists of a set number of matches, from one to six, all of which are played to completion, even if one team gains an unassailable lead in the Series. Series of three or five matches are most common. Some pairs of nations compete against one another for a perpetual trophy. If a Series between two such nations is drawn, the holder of the trophy retains it.

Non-Test first class cricket differs from Test cricket in only a few respects. A non-Test first class match is usually four days long, not five. In a four-day game, the cut-off figure for enforcing the follow-on is 150 or more runs behind the first team. The formula used to determine the minimum number of overs bowled in a non-Test first class match may be different to that used for a Test match; there is no standard regulation.

Non-Test first class competitions are usually round-robins amongst several domestic teams. Other first class matches include single games between visiting international sides and domestic first class teams.
One-Day Cricket

One-day cricket differs significantly from first class cricket. A one- day match is played on a single day. Either a red or a white cricket ball may be used, and play under artificial lighting is allowed.

Each team gets only one innings, and that innings is restricted to a maximum number of overs. Usual choices for the number of overs are 50, 55, or 60. Each innings is complete at the end of the stipulated number of overs, no matter how many batsmen are out. If ten batsmen are out before the full number of overs are bowled, the innings is also over. If the first team's innings ends in this manner, the second team still has its full number of overs to score the required runs. The timing of the innings and the break between them are not regulated.

Whichever team scores the most runs wins. A tied score stands. There is no draw result. If the match is washed out, so that the innings are not played, the game is declared a no-result.

In each innings, each bowler is restricted to bowling a maximum number of overs equal to one fifth of the total number of overs in the innings. Either a single new ball is used for each innings, or two new balls which are alternated between overs. (This is often done with white balls because they wear much faster than red balls.) New balls are never taken during an innings, but replacements for lost or damaged balls are taken as in first class matches.

In case of rain interruption to the first innings, the number of overs for each innings is recalculated so that they will be the same. If rain interrupts the second innings, making it impossible for an equal number of overs to be bowled, the number of runs scored by the first team is adjusted to compensate. There is no standard adjustment formula - one is decided beforehand for any given competition. There is also a predetermined number of overs which must be bowled in each innings for any result to be considered valid; if this limit is not reached the game is a no-result.

Because of the emphasis on scoring runs quickly, wide balls are enforced much more strictly in one-day cricket.

One-day competitions are played either as Series between pairs of international teams, round-robin competitions between groups of international teams, or round-robins between domestic teams. A World Cup one-day competition is played between all the Test nations each four years.
Strategies, Tactics, and Trivia

All of the rules of cricket have been described above, as well as some other information which is not ``rules'', such as names of fielding positions. The rest of this file is concerned with other information which is useful to know, but not actually ``rules''.
Bowling Styles

There are two basic approaches to bowling: fast and spin. A fast bowler bowls the ball as fast as practicable, attempting to defeat the batsman with its pace. If the ball also swings in the air, or seams (moves sideways) off the pitch because of bouncing on the seam, it can be very difficult to play. A spin bowler has a more ambling run-up and uses wrist or finger motion to impart a spin to the ball. The ball then spins to one side when it bounces on the pitch, thus also hopefully causing it to be hard to hit. Fast bowlers are generally used with a new ball, while spin bowlers get more spin with a worn ball. There is also medium pace bowling, which concentrates more on swing and seam than pace.

A swing bowler will hold the seam of the ball at a certain angle and attempt to release the ball so that it spins with the seam at a constant angle. With one side of the ball polished and the other rough, differential air pressure will cause it to swing in the air.

A seam bowler attempts to keep the seam vertical, so that the ball hits the seam when it bounces on the pitch and deflects in its path either to the right or left.

A fast bowler can also pull his fingers down one side of the ball as he lets it go, imparting a small amount of sideways spin to the ball. This can cause the ball to move sideways off the pitch. Such a delivery is called a leg-cutter if the ball moves from the leg side to the off side of a right-handed batsman, or an off-cutter if moves from the off to the leg. A specialist spin bowler can get a lot more spin that a fast bowler bowling cutters, however.

There are two types of spin bowling: off-spin, and leg-spin. Imagine holding a ball in your right hand and, for simplicity's sake, throwing it. If you twist your hand in a clockwise direction on release, then the spin on the ball will be such that when it bounces it will spin to your right. This is essentially off-spin bowling (so called because, to a right-handed batsman, the ball spins from the off side to the leg side). The off-spin delivery itself is called either an off-spinner or an off-break. An off-spin bowler will sometimes not spin the ball so much, putting more pace on the delivery. Such a delivery is called an arm-ball.

Now imagine twisting the ball anticlockwise and releasing it from the palm so that it `rolls' over the base of the little finger. This gives the ball spin in the opposite direction, so it spins left when it bounces. This is basic leg-spin (because to a right-handed batsman it spins from leg to off). The basic leg-spin delivery is called a leg-spinner or leg-break.

The interesting thing about leg-spin is that if you **** your wrist at various angles you can in fact, with the same basic bowling action, produce spin in different directions. With the wrist cocked a little towards the inside of the arm, you can produce top-spinners. Go further and you actually end up producing spin in the same direction as an off-spinner. A ball bowled in this way by a leg-spin bowler is called a wrong 'un, or sometimes a googly . Probably trickiest of all is a ball bowled with the hand in the same position as a top-spinner, but released from under the hand, thereby gaining back-spin. This ball is called a flipper.

(Mike Whitaker tells me that a flipper is actually bowled from the back of the hand like a normal leg-spinner, but with the forearm twisted outwards, so the ball spins about a vertical axis. I'm not sure which of these is correct, so I'm mentioning both here!)

Mike has also kindly supplied a graphic which attempts to show the arm and wrist action of the different leg-spin deliveries. Sorry for those with only ASCII browsers, but this is too difficult to show in ASCII! For those of you with graphical browsers, the following diagram shows a view of a (right-handed) leg-spinner's arm, from in front (i.e. batsman's point of view). The rotation of the ball out of the hand is the same in each case, with the ball spinning with the seam as an ``equator''.



So right handed spinners fall into two classes: off-spinners, with their simple off-spin and arm-ball deliveries; and leg-spinners, with their leg-spinners, top-spinners, wrong 'uns, and flippers. Leg-spinners are naturally much more difficult to bat against, because of the great variety of balls they can produce, but they are actually rarer than off-spinners because it is so much more difficult to bowl reasonably accurately with the leg-spin hand action.

For left-handed spin bowlers there is a whole different system of nomenclature!

A left-handed bowler who uses the same action as an off-spinner is called an orthodox spinner. Such bowlers are not uncommon. A left-hander who bowls with the same action as a leg-spinner is called an unorthodox spinner - and these are the rarest bowlers in cricket. The left-handed analogue of the leg-spin delivery (which spins the opposite way, of course) is called an unorthodox spinner. The top-spinner and flipper retain their names. And the left-handed analogue of the wrong 'un is called a Chinaman .

Typical bowling speeds are:
Fast bowler:
130-140 km/h (80-90 mph)
Medium pace bowler:
100-130 km/h (60-80 mph)
Spin bowler:
70-90 km/h (45-55 mph)

Bowlers also make use of the state of the pitch, which is quite crucial to the game, and is one of the things the commentators look at in great detail before the game begins. Because it's a natural surface, there are usually small inconsistencies in its flatness, hardness and elasticity. Over a multi-day game, or even over a single day, these become more pronounced, so it often gets more difficult to bat as the game progresses. Spin bowlers in particular often find that they get much more spin from an old pitch than a freshly prepared one.

Some of the different types of balls bowled have special names:
Bouncer:
A ball bounced short so that it bounces high, usually chest height or higher as it passes the batsman.
Yorker:
A ball bounced very close to the batsman's crease. This is difficult to score from and often gets batsmen out, but is difficult to bowl without accidentally bowling a full toss.
Batsman's Shots

The different types of shots a batsman can play are described by names:
Block:
A defensive shot played with the bat vertical and angled down at the front, intended to stop the ball and drop it down quickly on to the pitch in front of the batsman.
Drive:
An offensive shot played with the bat sweeping down through the vertical. The ball travels swiftly along the ground in front of the striker. A drive can be an on drive, straight drive, off drive, or cover drive, depending in which direction it goes.
Cut:
A shot played with the bat close to horizontal, which hits the ball somewhere in the arc between cover and gully.
Edge, or Glance:
A shot played off the bat at a glancing angle, through the slips area.
Leg Glance:
A shot played at a glancing angle behind the legs, so that it goes in the direction of fine leg.
Pull:
A horizontal bat shot which pulls the ball around the batsman into the square leg area.
Sweep:
Like a pull shot, except played with the backmost knee on the ground, so as to hit balls which bounce low.
Hook:
Like a pull shot, but played to a bouncer and intended to hit the ball high in the air over square leg - hopefully for six runs.
French Cut:
An attempt at a cut shot which hits the bottom edge of the bat and goes into the area behind square leg.
Reverse Sweep:
A sweep with the bat reversed, into the point area.

Most of these shots can also be lofted, in an attempt to hit the ball over the close fielders (or the boundary). The batting strokes can be divided into two categories: Straight bat and cross bat. The straight bat shots are played with the bat held close to the vertical, and are the blocks, drives and glances. Cross bat shots are played with the bat held more horizontally, like a baseball bat. These include cuts, pulls, sweeps and hooks.

The following terms are used more informally and are not standard:
Hoik:
A wild swing intended only to hit the ball as hard and as far as possible, usually with little or no control.
Agricultural Shot:
Any shot played with very little skill.
More Weird Names

If a bowler completes an over without any runs being scored from it, it is termed a maiden.

If a batsman gets out without scoring any runs, he is said to be out for a duck . The origin of this term is unclear, but commonly rumoured to be because the '0' next to his name on the scorecard resembles a duck egg. A batsman out for a duck while facing his first delivery of the innings is out for a golden duck.

The runs scored while two batsmen bat together are called their partnership. There are ten partnerships per completed innings, labelled from first-wicket partnership to tenth-wicket partnership, in order.

A nightwatchman is a batsman who comes in to bat out of order towards the end of a day's play in a multi-day game, in order to 'protect' better batsmen. To elucidate, the batting order in an innings is usually arranged with two specialists openers who begin the innings, then the rest of the batsmen in order of skill, best to worst. The job of the openers is to bat for a while against the new ball. A brand new ball is very hard and bouncy, and fast bowlers can use this to great advantage and can often get batsmen out. So it is harder to bat against a new ball. It is also somewhat difficult to begin batting. A new batsman is more likely to get out than one who has been on the field and scoring runs for a while.

Now, in a multi-day game, it sometimes happens that a team's innings will have only a few men out towards the end of the day's play. If a batsman gets out with about half an hour or less until stumps, the batting captain will sometimes send in a poor batsman next instead of a good one. The idea is that the poor batsman (the nightwatchman) will last 20 minutes and so protect the good batsman from having to make a fresh start that evening and again the next morning. It is essentially a sacrifice ploy. Of course, it can backfire dangerously if the nightwatchman does get out before stumps. The nightwatchman is a tactic which is used about 50% of the time when the appropriate situation arises (which itself occurs perhaps once every 4 or 5 games). It just depends on how the captain feels at the time.

A sightscreen is a large screen positioned on the boundary so that it forms a backdrop behind the bowler, so that the striker can see the ball clearly. Sightscreens are white when a red ball is used, and black for a white ball.

A rabbit is a player (almost invariably a bowler, but sometimes a wicket-keeper) who is a very poor batsman. A ferret is an extremely poor batsman (so called because he ``goes in after the rabbits'').
Statistics and Good Performances

The following statistics are recorded:
Batsmen:
number of runs scored, time spent batting, number of balls faced, how out (and by which bowler and catcher if appropriate).
Bowlers:
number of overs bowled, number of maidens bowled, number of wickets taken, number of runs conceded (i.e. scored off his bowling).
Team:
extras, total runs, wickets fallen, overs bowled, total at each fall of wicket.

A single innings scorecard might look like this:
Australia - 1st Innings
M. Taylor c. Richardson b. Snell 12
M. Slater LBW. Donald 57
D. Boon b. de Villiers 68
M. Waugh not out 184
A. Border c. Rhodes b. Donald 0
S. Waugh c. Snell b. de Villiers 34
I. Healy c. Snell b. de Villiers 6
S. Warne run out 35
M. Hughes st. Richardson b. Cronje 10
C. McDermott b. de Villiers 41
G. McGrath LBW. de Villiers 9
Extras 16
Total 141 overs 10 for 472

Bowling - South Africa
O M R W
A. Donald 40 5 106 2
F. de Villiers 37 7 85 5
R. Snell 32 3 126 1
C. Simons 15 0 82 0
H. Cronje 17 2 73 1
FOW: 25, 99, 164, 164, 225, 238, 315, 345, 446, 472

The abbreviations are:
b. bowled by
c. caught by
st. stumped by
O overs
M maidens
R runs
W wickets
FOW fall of wicket

The team score is usually given as ``(number of wickets) for (number of runs)'' in Australia. In England, New Zealand, and some other countries it is given as ``(number of runs) for (number of wickets)''. Bowling figures are sometimes printed in shortened form, for example: Donald 40-5-106-2, de Villiers 37-7-85-5, etc.

The partnership scores can be seen from the differences between successive fall of wicket scores.

Good performances are considered to be:
A batsman scoring 50, or 100, or multiples thereof.
A partnership adding 50, or 100, or multiples thereof.
A bowler taking five wickets in a single innings.
A bowler taking ten wickets in a two innings match. (This is an excellent performance and a relatively rare feat.)
A bowler taking a hat trick, i.e. three wickets in three successive balls (perhaps in different overs). This is even more rare.

Each of these tasks is usually greeted with enthusiastic applause from the spectators. The crowd also usually applauds significant events such as: Any wicket falling, a six, a four, a good over from a bowler (one which the batsmen have great difficulty playing safely), a good athletic effort from a fielder to gather the ball, the innings total reaching a multiple of 50.

The number of runs scored in an innings average about 3 per over for a first class match, and 4 per over in a one-day match. The variation on these numbers can be quite large, differences of up to one run per over being not uncommon. In a first class match, a captain makes his decision on declaring the innings closed based on the remaining time in the match and the size of his team's lead. He will try to allow as much time as possible to bowl the opposition out, while ensuring they do not have enough time to score enough runs to win.

Over a single player's career, the two most important statistics are:
Batting Average:
The aggregate number of runs scored divided by the number of times the batsman has been out. The higher, the better.
Bowling Average:
The aggregate runs scored against a bowler divided by the number of wickets taken. The lower, the better.

Each of these averages is kept separately for Test cricket, first class cricket in general, and one-day cricket. A batting average above 30 is very good, 40 excellent, and 50 is legendary. Mention must be made of the Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman, whose career average was a record 99.94, far and away the greatest batsman ever to play the game. A bowling average below 25 is considered excellent.
Teams Which Play Cricket

The official Test Cricket nations are currently: England, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe.

The West Indies is actually a consortium of Caribbean countries: Barbados; Jamaica; Guyana; The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; Antigua and Barbuda; St. Kitt's-Nevis; Dominica; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat; and Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

Minor cricketing nations (which do not play Test cricket, but do compete for a place in the World Cup One-Day competition) include: Kenya, Fiji, Canada, The Netherlands, Bangladesh.

The most famous Test cricket Series is The Ashes, played every two years between Australia and England. The Ashes trophy is a small urn containing ``the ashes of English cricket'' (in reality the ashes of a set of bails), which ``died'' in a match in 1882 when Australia beat England for the first time. The Ashes are currently held by Australia, although the physical trophy is kept permanently in a room at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.

The most infamous event in cricket was the 1932-33 English tour of Australia - the Bodyline tour. The English team used a new tactic to get batsmen out, by bowling at their bodies and placing many fielders in short fielding positions backward of square leg. As the batsmen fended the ball away in an effort to protect themselves, the ball often flew off the edge of the bat into the waiting hands of the fielders, getting the batsman out caught. The English referred to this tactic as ``Leg Theory'', but the Australians, angry that the English bowlers were aiming at their bodies, christened it ``Bodyline''.

Several Australian batsmen were injured because of this, some seriously. The English tactics cause a diplomatic row between the countries. After the tour was over, cricket officials introduced the rules against dangerous bowling, and the restriction of no more than two fielders backward of square leg.