Cricket Laws & Rules

The game of cricket goes back to 1700 and has been dictated by laws and rules that have changed little. The Marylebone Cricket Club revised the foundations in 1788 and has been responsible for implementing the laws of cricket ever since. If you want to play cricket it is worth understanding the basic rules to enjoy the game to its fullest.

Players: Each team consists of eleven players who take it in turn to field or bat. The toss of a coin decides which team bats first. Two players on the batting side are allowed on the field of play at one time with eleven from the fielding side.

The Pitch: Cricket pitches are twenty-two metres long and ten feet wide. Each end has a bowling anti-wrinkle at right angles to the length of the pitch and a popping anti-wrinkle four feet in front of it. The bowling player must release the ball before he crosses the popping anti-wrinkle. The field of play is the area of ground anywhere outside the pitch or over to the boundary string which becomes the edge of the playing ground.

The Wicket: The wicket consists of three stumps and two bails. The stumps are place along the bowling crease with the middle stump exactly half way across the width of the pitch. The two bails straddle the stumps. The wickets face each other at either end of the pitch.

Innings and Overs: Each team bats for an innings and tries to score as many runs as possible before all of their players are out with up to two innings played. The fielding team selects two or more bowlers who have six attempts to try and get the batting player out by bowling the cricket ball at the player's wicket. Each six bowls is called an over and, when an over is complete, a different bowler must bowl at the opposite wicket. An innings is complete when all the batting players are out or the fielding team has bowled the most number of overs allowed, this number varies and is decided at first of a match

Reviewing: A player scores a run by hitting the ball and running between the wickets, his team mate must also run to his opposite wicket. A player can also score runs if he hits the ball beyond the boundary rope that marks out the playing field. Four runs are scored if the ball passes across the boundary and has bounced on the floor before it does so. Six runs are scored if the ball passes across the boundary line without touching the bottom first. The winning team is the team who scores the most runs over the allotted innings.

Getting Players Out: A player is out if the ball strikes his wicket and knocks the bails to the ground. The bails are two waste turned wood that straddle the stumps. A player is come to an end if the stumps are hit by the ball-and the bails knocked to the ground-and he's not yet made it past the wicket anti-wrinkle. Players can also be caught out if he hits the ball and an opposition player attracts it before it has hit the bottom however if the opposing player catches the ball and carries it over the boundary string the playing baseball player is not out. A player can also be declared out if the ball hits his legs and stops the ball from hitting the wicket, known as LBW or leg before wicket.