If you aren’t familiar with cricket, it can be a difficult game to follow. There are a number of elements similar to baseball, paired with others that are utterly unique and sometimes baffling. It can be difficult to understand the Cricket strategies the players are pursuing, and even fundamental questions like “who is winning?” don’t always have simple answers. But once you know the basics, cricket is great
How The Cricket Game Is Played
How to play cricket? Just like baseball, there is a batting team and a fielding team. One member of the fielding team hurls the ball at the batsman; who wields a wooden bat and attempts to hit the ball around the field, scoring runs either by running or hitting the ball into the crowd. The fielding team tries to achieve two complementary aims; to get the batsmen out and to limit the number of runs scored by the batsmen. First, you need to understand cricket terms and terminology which will make you easier to understand how the cricket game is played.
The Rules of the Game, Cricket games explained
Cricket rules! Each team comprises 11 players. All 11 of the fielding team’s players take the field, along with two from the batting team, and two umpires. The game takes place on a grass oval, roughly 150 meters long and 130 meters across. In the middle of the oval is the ‘pitch’, a 22-yard-long strip of rock-hard earth covered by very short grass. At each end of the pitch stand three wooden stakes (‘stumps’ or ‘wickets’); with two wooden pieces (‘bails’) resting on top, giving the look of a small wooden castle.
Two batsmen take up positions on the pitch, at either end. One begins as the ‘striker’—similar to the hitter in baseball—and one begins as the ‘non-striker’—similar to a baserunner. The fielding team has roles roughly analogous to the fielding set-up of a baseball team; one ‘bowler’ delivers the ball to the batsman (as does the pitcher in baseball); one ‘wicket-keeper’ stands behind the batsman to receive the ball if it is not struck by the batsman; the remaining nine members of the fielding team arrange themselves around the field.
Cricket same as baseball
As in baseball, the bowler delivers the ball to the batsman, but, crucially, the bowler must deliver the ball with a straight arm. So, throwing is not allowed; the bowler must deliver the ball in a windmill action. The ball bounces on the pitch once before reaching the batsman. (It may bounce twice or not at all, but neither is desirable; the ball is not allowed to arrive above the batsman’s waist without bouncing). There are no restrictions on the permitted batting style; but the traditional stance is similar to a baseball stance, but with the bat held at hip-level with the end pointing back towards the wicket-keeper.
A cricket ball—cork covered by leather—is rock-hard, and will leave a fair bruise. The batsmen wear pads on both legs, one thigh pad, a cup (or a ‘box’, as it is called in cricketing parlance), gloves, and a helmet. In a marvelous illustration of the importance of priorities. Boxes were worn to protect male cricketers’ crown jewels right from the dawn of the game in the 16th century, while helmets weren’t worn to protect their skulls until the 1970s.
Play Ball
The bowler runs up to one end of the pitch and bowls the ball to the on-strike batsman; who is standing at the other end of the pitch, guarding his or her stumps. The batsman attempts to hit the ball to a vacant area anywhere in the 360 degrees of the field, in order to score runs.
If the Batsman A hits the ball to a suitably remote and vacant part of the field; the two batsmen may—but are not obliged to—run from their end of the pitch to the other; passing by each other as they go. If both successfully make it from one end to the other without the fielding team striking their stumps with the ball, one run is added to the batting team’s score. Also to the individual score of Batsman A (but not to the individual score of Batsman B). Now, Batsman B is on strike, and the next ball will be bowled to him or her; while Batsman A stands at the non-striker’s end.
So, Batsmen A and B are equals in that they can both contribute to their team’s score equally; just as any of the five players on a basketball court can score on any given possession. But only the on-strike batsman is able to score off of any given delivery; in roughly the same way that only one basketball player may shoot the ball at any one time.
Rules of Scoring runs in Cricket
The rule that one run is earned for running once extends to infinity. If Batsmen A and B manage to run all the way up and all the way back, their team scores two runs. If they run three times, their team earns three runs. And if they can run eleventy-hundred times, their team would earn eleventy-hundred runs. In practice, there is a limit to how many times the batsmen can physically run 22 yards before the fielding team retrieves the ball from the finite expanse of the field; so it is uncommon to see batsmen run even four times. (Cricketing lore is filled with likely apocryphal tales from years past of batsmen running dozens and even hundreds of runs as fielders struggled to find a ball lost in long grass, or fetching an ax to chop down a tree in which a ball lodged.)
The batsman can also score by hitting the ball all the way to the boundary at the perimeter of the field. If the ball is hit to the boundary, touching the ground at least once, the batting team scores four runs. If the ball is hit all the way over the boundary (like a home run in baseball), that’s six runs. These are simply known as ‘fours’ and sixes’. The batsmen do not need to run in order to earn these scores, unlike in baseball; where a player must round the bases after socking a dinger.
Bowler End Action rules
On the other hand, a delivery may produce no action. The batsmen may choose not to swing at the ball and let it sail harmlessly to the wicket-keeper; or may choose to strike the ball with his or her bat but then not run; unlike in baseball were running on a live ball is compulsory. There are no balls and strikes; as long as a player is not given out, there is no penalty for, say; swinging and missing at a delivery. There is also no strike zone, nor any ‘live-ball’ part of the field—the whole of the field is a fair-play territory; and the batsmen can hit the ball anywhere they please in order to score runs.
As in baseball, the play is not continuous: once a ball has been bowled and play has come to a stop, the ball is deemed ‘dead’, and play only resumes when the bowler delivers the next ball.
The batting team commences their innings (yes, it’s innings, not inning) with Batsman A and Batsman B on the field. They will bat together in partnership, together with accumulating runs for the team; until one (say, Batsman B) is given out. At that point, Batsman B is done batting for the day, and will trudge glumly back to the dressing room; to be replaced on the field by Batsman C. Batsmen A and C will bat together for a period, until one is given out, to be replaced by Batsman D; and the process repeats all the way down the line.
Cricket Innings Break
The innings ends when one of the last two batsman standings is given out, meaning that the bowling team has taken ten wickets (made ten outs, in baseball terms). The lone batsman will remain ‘not out’, but the innings will have finished; for he or she has no more partners to bat with.
Bowlers bowl six deliveries at a time—this constitutes one ‘over’. A bowler cannot bowl two overs consecutively, so after Bowler A bowls the ball six times, he or she retrieves his/her hat and sunglasses from the umpire (who chivalrously holds them during the over) and takes up a position in the field. Bowler B, who was in the field during the last over; will bowl the next six balls but will deliver the ball from the opposite end of the pitch than Bowler A.
Fielding Strategy
Typically, Bowlers A and B will bowl in tandem for a period, alternating overs. Between overs, the fielding team must reassemble so as to face the opposite end of the pitch, and so the broadcast usually cuts to a quick commercial break, while the batsmen huddle in the middle of the pitch for a short conversation about the state of the game, their tactics, and what to have for dinner. Once the fielding team is in position (usually after 30-45 seconds), play resumes.
As in baseball, the fielding team may dismiss the batsmen in a variety of methods: in cricket; there are exactly 10, only five of which are common. The umpire signals that a batsman is out by holding his right index finger up in the air. Whereas in baseball outs are common and by definition happen at least 51 times in one three-ish-hour game. In cricket they are much rarer. Every out (or ‘wicket’) is extremely valuable—once you’re out, there’s no coming back later in the day—and they may occur hours apart. Double plays are not allowed; the ball is dead when a wicket is taken.
The five common modes of dismissal of Cricket are as follows.
1. Bowled
To be bowled out is when the bowler successfully bowls the ball past the batsman’s defenses such that it crashes into the stumps and knocks at least one of the bails off. This is by far the most gratifying mode of dismissal for a bowler, and the most crushing for a batsman. A satisfying and humiliating wooden clunk sound adds to the theatre.
2. Caught
To be caught out is self-explanatory. If the ball is caught by a fielder after striking the batsman’s bat and/or glove, and before the ball hits the ground, the batsman is out. If, however, the ball only strikes another part of the batsman’s body or armory (e.g. legs or helmet, and without hitting the bat or glove), the batsman cannot be out caught.
Note that a fielder attempting a catch near the boundary must stay in bounds, and if the fielder touches the ground on or beyond the boundary while in contact with the ball, the ball is deemed to have reached the boundary. That is to say, a player cannot toe-drag over the boundary like in the NFL, or catch the ball and fall into the crowd as in baseball. Out-of-bounds rules similar to basketball apply, and the player must be in-bounds while in contact with the ball.
3. Run Out
To be run out is similar to being thrown out in baseball. If the batsmen attempt to run, and the fielding team is able to throw the ball into one of the sets of stumps before the batsman can make it to the white line (the ‘crease’) at that end of the pitch, that batsman is out. The fielding team can either strike the stumps with the ball via a direct hit; or a player can catch the ball and then knock off the bails with the hand(s) that is/are holding the ball. Or, they can just do this:
4. Stumped
The stumping is essentially a sub-set of the run out, where the wicket-keeper breaks the stumps of the on-strike batsman after the batsman has inadvertently moved out of his or her crease while swinging at and missing at the ball. The same rule applies that the stumps must be broken while the batsman is out of the crease. So if a batsman swings and misses but remains established behind the white line, they cannot be out stumped.
5. Leg Before Wicket
The cricketing rule of leg before wicket, or LBW, surely ranks as one of the more complex rules in all of sport. Imagine the difficulty of explaining soccer’s offside rule, crossed with the byzantine legal definition of a catch in the NFL. The essence is this: if the ball strikes the batsman on the leg (or any other part of the body) without first hitting his or her bat or glove; and the ball would have otherwise gone on to hit the wickets, the batsman is out.
The name is a literal description of the mode of dismissal: the ball hit the batsman’s leg before it would have gone on to hit the wickets; leg before wicket. Today, umpires have access to technology which not only tracks how the ball did travel through the air (like in tennis), but predicts where the ball would have traveled had it not come into contact with the batsman.
This technology is used in many of the higher forms of the game. Although India is notably skeptical and refuses to consent to the use of the technology in its matches. The teams are given a prescribed number of reviews per game.
How to Score Runs in Cricket
Throughout a batting team’s innings, they will accumulate runs, and the fielding team will accumulate wickets (outs). If at a certain point the batting team has scored 72 runs and has lost three wickets, their score will be ‘3/72’; or “three for seventy-two”. If that team scores two runs off of the next ball, their score ticks along to 3/74; because they have still only lost three wickets, but have now scored 74 runs. A player who has faced 40 deliveries and has scored 30 runs will have a score written as “30* (40),” with the asterisk indicating that he or she has not yet been dismissed.
If 18 overs have been completed, and the bowler has bowled three balls in the 19th, the number of overs bowled will be represented by: “Overs: 18.3.”(Because there are six balls in an over, the progression goes 18.3, 18.4, 18.5, 19.0—i.e, each number after the decimal represents one ball bowled, not one-tenth of one over.)
No ball rules
There are two common infractions committed by the fielding team: a no-ball (most commonly, when the bowler delivers the ball with his or her front foot in front of the white line at the end of the pitch, similar to a foot fault in tennis); or a wide (when the ball is bowled behind the batsman or out of his/her reach).
A no-ball or a wide awards one run to the batting team must be re-bowled—it does not count toward the six balls in that over—and means that a batsman cannot be dismissed by that delivery, except by runout or stumping.
So, if a player has his or her castle shattered by a delivery that is called as a ‘front-foot no-ball’, the batsman escapes dismissal and remains in the game, sort of like the free play an NFL offense gets if someone on the defense is offsides.
