Cricket

Cricket is a game popularly played in various parts of the world, but is most popular in countries such as England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, the West Indies, Pakistan and India. Cricket is a team sport with two teams comprising of 11 active players and one designated substitute. It is similar to baseball with the objective of the game being to get the most runs in order to win. This sport is played in a circular- or oval-shaped field. Most of the action happens in the center of the field, which is called the pitch. The objective of each team is to score more "runs" than the other team and to completely "dismiss' the other team. In cricket, one team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible without being dismissed ('out') while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the other team's batsmen and limit any runs being scored. When the batting team has used all its available overs or has no remaining batsmen, the roles become reversed and it is now the fielding team's turn to bat and try to outscore the opposition.

Pitch, wickets and creases: The pitch is 22 yards (20 m) long between the wickets and is 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match and team tactics are always determined with the state of the pitch, both current and anticipated, as a deciding factor. Each wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed in a straight line and surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails. Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach.

Bat and ball: The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of 9 inches (230 mm). The bat is made of wood and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (108 mm) wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (970 mm).

Umpires and scorers: The game on the field is regulated by two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called "square leg". When the bowler delivers the ball, the umpire at the wicket is between the bowler and the non-striker. Off the field and in televised matches, there is often a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence.

Innings: The innings is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side. The term "innings" is also sometimes used to describe an individual batsman's contribution. When ten batsmen have been dismissed (i.e., are out), then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen "in". This batsman is termed "not out".

Overs: The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over.

Team structure: A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers.

Bowling
Usually, there are four to five bowlers in a team. They are the players who are designated to pitch the ball and try to get the batsmen out. The legal limit for the pitch is six balls, after which the bowler has to stop and throw another set from the opposite end of the pitch. During the bowling action the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend further, but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegally then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball.

Fielding: All players in a team are considered fielders. With the exception of the wicket keeper or the catcher, they can be spread out anywhere in the field. The wicket keeper has to catch the ball and guard the wicket. The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.

Batting: At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. Batsmen are members of the cricket team responsible for scoring a run during a game. Teams can choose as many batsmen as they want. However, there are usually six to seven batsmen assigned. Two of them position themselves at the opposite ends of the pitch. The bowlers roll the ball to one side of the pitch and the batsman tries to hit the ball and run to the other side. When this occurs, it is considered as a run.

Runs: Runs are scored in several ways. A single run is when a batsman hits the ball and the batsmen are able to run across each other once before the ball is returned to the wickets. Double or triple runs are similar to single runs, but they are able to cross two to three times before the ball is returned to the wickets. Four runs occur when the batsman is able to make the ball roll past the boundary. It can also occur if the batsmen are able to run across four times before the ball is returned to the wickets. The maximum number of runs that can be made per ball is six. This can be done when the batsman hits the ball over the boundary, which is equivalent to a home run. If the ball is rolled to beyond the designated playing zone, the result is that an additional run is added to the total. The pitch is then repeated. If the bowler rolls the ball over the prescribed height or it crosses the limits, an additional run is also added and the pitch repeated.

Extras: Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways:

1. No ball – a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inappropriate arm action; (b)overstepping the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In addition, the bowler has to re-bowl the ball.
2. Wide – a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach; as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled
3. Bye – extra(s) awarded if the batsman misses the ball and it goes past the wicketkeeper to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way (note that the mark of a good wicketkeeper is one who restricts the tally of byes to a minimum)
4. Leg bye – extra(s) awarded if the ball hits the batsman's body, but not his bat, and it goes away from the fielders to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way.

Dismissals: There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. The most common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), ";run out", "stumped" and "hit wicket". The unusual methods are "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out".

Innings closed: An innings is closed when:

1. Ten of the eleven batsmen are out (have been dismissed); in this case, the team is said to be "all out"
2. The team has only one batsman left who can bat, one or more of the remaining players being unavailable owing to injury, illness or absence; again, the team is said to be "all out"
3. The team batting last reaches the score required to win the match
4. The predetermined number of overs has been bowled (in a one-day match only, most commonly 50 overs; or 20 in Twenty20)
5. A captain declares his team's innings closed while at least two of his batsmen are not out (this does not apply in one-day limited over matches)

Results: If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For instance a team that passes its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won 'by four wickets".v