How is cricket played?

Question

I would like to know how cricket is played and scored. I have no clue, but I sit and watch like an idiot every time its on trying to figure it out. I dont mean the darts game.

Answer 1

The only similarity to baseball is the batsman runs back and forth to touch wickets and score goals after hitting the ball.

How the Game is Played
Part of the reason cricket is misunderstood by Americans is that in a lot of ways it looks like baseball. A batsman in the popping crease with the umpire and the wicketkeeper behind him looks for all the world like a batter at the home plate complete with catcher and umpire. But that is where the similarity ends so to speak. Cricket is played on a field, but a "pitch" is not a pitch, but a "bowl". The ball is not thrown, but "bowled" overhand to a "batsman" or "striker", not a batter. There are more than two dozen fielding positions with odd names, yet only 11 players in the field at one time. There are more than five or six ways to get a batsman out, all with names that on the surface don't seem to relate to circumstance. By now you get the idea. The language of cricket is more confusing than the actual game. As Americans we tend to get glassy-eyed and throw up our hands. To us it seems that cricket is a lot like the British government: which is the only constitutional government in the world without a written constitution.
Try as you might to wrap your mind around that one, so it is with cricket. Just when you think you understand it, an unwritten rule or new term pops up to throw you entirely off balance. With that said, we offer an incomplete guide to the game written by Americans for Americans. We're sure we will hear from cricketers around the world and we will include their comments and criticisms as we add to this guide.

LAWS OF THE GAME
Cricket teams consist of 11 men, cricketers or players. Regular matches consist of two innings with one team at bat and the other in the field. The team at bat tries to score runs while the goal of the team in the field is to get 10 of the 11 members of the opposite team out. When the team in the field accomplishes that feat, they get their turn at bat and the opposing team takes the field. When both teams have batted it is considered an inning, which can last a considerable length of time.

Generally speaking, at the end of a two-inning game (which can last as long as five days*) the team with the most runs is the winner, but as in baseball it may not be necessary for the game to be played to its conclusion in terms of outs. If a team is so far ahead in runs after only one inning at bat, and the opposing team has had two innings at bat, the game is over and the winners are declared to have won by "innings". On the other hand, a team can be declared the winner by a number of wickets. For instance, if the opposing team has had two innings at bat and is in the lead, and your team goes ahead in runs after six players have been gotten out, your team is declared the winners by four wickets, the number of players not gotten out for the inning to be declared over.

*Five day matches are the norm for full international matche. Three and four day matches are the norm for other "first-class" matches - matches which are played by professionals. Club matches (played by amateurs) are usually much shorter - many UK amateur leagues matches last five hours (a summer's afternoon). Such matches are one-innings matches, not two innings matches. In high-summer, village cricket matches can be scheduled to last for as little at two and a half hours and can be played during the week.

THE PLAYING GROUND
Cricket can be played just about anywhere. The field can vary in size and terrain or playing surface...both of which must be factored into the strategy of play. The playing surface at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford on Philadelphia's Main Line where some of the games of the 4th Annual Philadelphia Cricket Festival were contested, is actually the club's lawn tennis courts converted for cricket. Needless to say, the grass is like a putting green and even the most pathetically hit grounder can roll forever. The grounds at the Germantown Cricket Club we were told were is much the same, but Cope Field at Haverford College (the third venue for the games of the 4th Philadelphia Cricket Festival) is by comparison unkempt; the grass longer, presenting an entirely different set of fielding problems.

Back to business. At the center of the field is the pitch where much of the action takes place between the bowler, who delivers the ball, and the batsman or striker who attempts to hit it and score runs. Here's how that all works.

The pitch is 22 yards long and has wickets at each end. Wickets consist of three round, 28-inch high wooden "stumps" with grooves across the top into which are placed two small wooden "bails". At one set of wickets is the "bowling crease" which works something like a pitchers mound and at the other end is the "popping crease" which works something like a batters box. The bowler must release the ball from within the bowling crease and the batsman must keep one foot within the popping crease while at bat. If a batsman fails to stay in the popping crease he can be "stumped" which is when the wicketkeeper (catcher) uses the ball to knock the bails off the stumps for an out.

Guide to Cricket Cricket Watchers Guide How the Game is Played Bowler vs. Striker The Ball & Bowling Ins & Outs of Scoring Fielding Positions Glossary of Cricket Terms Cricket in America North American Cricket Clubs C.C. Morris Cricket Library

Answer 2

Cricket is a bat and ball sport played between two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field (which is usually roughly oval), in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a set of three parallel wooden stakes (known as stumps) driven into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known as bails) laid on top of them. This wooden structure is called a wicket. A player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowls a hard, fist-sized cork-centred leather ball from one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching a player from the opposing team (the batsman), who defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden cricket bat. The batsman, if he or she does not get out, may then run between the wickets, exchanging ends with the other batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been standing in an inactive role near the bowler's wicket, to score runs. The other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years. It originated in its modern form in England and is popular mainly in the present and former members of the Commonwealth. In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport. It is also a major sport in places such as England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bermuda, and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, which are collectively known in cricketing parlance as the West Indies. There are also well established amateur club competitions in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Kenya, Nepal and Argentina, among others; there are over one hundred cricket-playing nations recognised by the International Cricket Council.

The sport is followed with passion in many different parts of the world. It has even occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, the most notorious being the Basil D'Oliveira affair which led to the banning of South Africa from sporting events. Other examples include the Bodyline series, played between England and Australia in the early 1930s, and the 1981 underarm bowling incident involving Australia and New Zealand.

Answer 3

Cricket is played with two teams of eleven players, each with two umpires (referees) on an oval field.

In the middle of the field is what is known as a pitch. A pitch is a hard, flat strip of dry ground around 18 metres long. Two batsman are at the pitch at a time, both at different ends, with one facing the delivery of the ball from the bowler. The bowler runs up to the pitch where he bowls the ball overarm but releases the ball before he reaches the crease, which is a white line painted on the pitch. If the bowler oversteps the line, its no ball.

Teams score by getting runs. A run is completed when a batsman hits the ball and then runs to the other end of the cricket pitch, getting past the crease. The non striking batsman has to run to the opposite end as well. The batsman can run as many times as they like, but the batsmen can get out if their stumps are hit with the ball by a fielder before the batsman reaches the crease. The stumps are three sticks of equal size measuring around 90 centimeters tall with 5 centimeters separating them.

Other ways runs can be scored are by hitting boundaries. Boundaries are scored when the ball is hit and touches or goes past the outer edge of the field. Four runs are scored when the batsmen hits the ball and the ball hits the ground before reaching the outer edge of the boundary, and six runs are scored when the ball is hit and goes over the boundary without touching the ground. Runs can also be scored in the following ways: No balls, when the bowler oversteps the crease. If the ball rises above the batsmans head. A no ball is worth one run. A wide is scored when the ball goes outside the line of the pitch before coming in line with the batsman.

The fielding team can get the batsman out in several ways, by 1) catching him out. This is done when the batsman hits the ball with his bat and a fielder catches the ball on the full. By 2) bowling him out. This happens when the bowler bowls the ball and the ball strikes the batsmans stumps or bails. By 3) leg before wicket, or LBW. This happens when the bowler bowls it and the stumps being hit by the ball are prevented when the batsmans leg gets in the way. By 4) stumped, when the batsman comes forward to hit the hit but steps out of his crease, misses the ball and the fielder behind the stumps collects the ball hits the stumps before the batsman gets back behind his crease. By 5) run out, when the batsman attempts to score a run but has his stumps hit by the ball before he reaches the other crease. By 6) hit wicket, when the batsman hits his own stumps while trying to hit the ball. By 7) retired, when the batsman voluntarily decides to finish his innings, and 8) timed out, when the next batsman doesn’t appear on the pitch within two minutes of the last batsman getting out.
Each team has one inning of 50 overs. An over is a series of 6 bowls by a bowler. Each bowler can only bowl 10 overs maximum, and can only bowl one over at a time. The team that scores the most runs in their innings is the team that wins. If 10 of a team's batsman are out, the innings ends there regardless of how many balls are left to be bowled. A good score is 250 plus, and a disappointing score is around 150 or less, although it depends on the conditions of the area being played in.

Fielding and wicket-keeping: Fielders assist the bowlers to prevent batsmen from scoring too many runs. They do this in two ways: by taking catches to dismiss a batsman, and by intercepting hit balls and returning them to the pitch to attempt run-outs to restrict the scoring of runs. The wicket-keeper is a specialist fielder who stands behind the batsman's wicket throughout the game. His primary job is to gather balls that the batsman fails to hit. The wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. The wicket-keeper is also the only person who can get a batsman out stumped.

Over: is a series of six consecutive balls bowled by a single bowler. No bowler is allowed to bowl in consecutive overs. An over must consist of six legal deliveries. No balls do not count as one of the six balls in an over.

Umpires (referees): is a person who has the authority to make decisions on the cricket field. The umpire also keeps a record of the deliveries and announces the completion of an over. Cricket matches have two umpires on the field, one standing at the end opposite the striking batsman's end (behind the stumps) and one at square leg (in line with the stumps and a few yards to the batsman's leg side).

Decisions and signals of umpires: Four if a batsman scores four by hitting the ball across the boundary (not by actually running them), the umpire signals this by waving his arm back and forth in front of the chest. Six A six scored by hitting the ball over the boundary is signaled by the umpire raising both hands above his head. No-ball The signal is to hold one arm out horizontally and shout "no-ball", when the bowler oversteps the crease. And if the ball rises above the batsman’s head. Out There are many ways to get out in cricket, but there's only one signal. As soon as the index finger of the umpire goes up, the batsman's has to go.

Answer 4

Please check the following link, which gives complete details about cricket.

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