Cricket

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

For information regarding the insect, see: Cricket (insect).

Cricket match

Cricket is a sport. It is played between two teams of eleven players each who score runs (points) by running between two sets of three small, wooden posts called wickets. Each of the wickets is at one end of a rectangle of flattened grass called the pitch. Around the pitch is a much larger oval of grass called the cricket ground.

1 The main rules of cricket
2 Where cricket is played
3 Averages
4 Other websites

[change] The main rules of cricket

Part of a series of articles on Sports

Football American football Football (soccer) Rugby league Canadian football National Football League
Basketball Golf · Hockey Volleyball · Tennis Table tennis · Fencing
Sprint · Cricket Athletics (track and field) Badminton · Marathon

There are two teams. The team bowling has 11 players on the field. The team batting always has two people on the field.

The Captain of the bowling team chooses a bowler from his team; the other 10 players are called fielders. The bowler is trying to aim the ball at a wicket, which is made up of three sticks (called stumps) stuck into the earth, with two small sticks (called bails) balanced on them. One of the fielders, called the wicket keeper, stands behind the wicket to catch the ball if the bowler misses the wicket. The other fielders chase the ball after the batter has hit it.

The bowler throws (bowls) the ball overarm six times, which is called an over; then another player becomes the bowler for the next over, and bowls from the other end, and so on. The same bowler cannot bowl two overs one after the other.

The batter is trying to defend the wicket with his bat. When he hits the ball with his bat, he runs toward the other wicket that the bowler or the other batsman is standing at. To score a run, the two batsmen must both run from their wicket to the other wicket, as many times as they can. If the ball leaves the field after being hit without bouncing, six runs are scored. If the ball rolls or bounces out, whether or not the batter hit it, it counts as four runs.

There are various ways that a batsman can get out. The most common ways are:

The batsman misses the ball and it hits the wicket (called Bowled).
The ball hits the batsman's body and it would have hit the wicket otherwise (called Leg Before Wicket, but it need not be his leg that stops the ball).
A fielder catches the ball after the batsman hits it, and before it bounces or leaves the field (called Caught).
A fielder can throw the ball at the wicket, or to the wicket keeper or bowler. They can try to hit the wicket while the batsmen are running. If unable to finish the run, the batsman nearer to the wicket that is hit is out (called Run Out).

[change] Where cricket is played

Cricket is popular in many countries, mostly in Commonwealth countries.

The countries where cricket is most popular compete in international matches (games between countries) that last up to 5 days, which are called Test Matches; those countries are India, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and England, as well as a group of Caribbean countries that play together as a team called the West Indies.

Cricket is also played in Kenya, Canada, Bermuda, Ireland, Scotland, and various European and Asian countries; the national teams of those countries can play one-day international matches, but are not allowed to play Test Matches.

[change] Averages

In cricket there are two special kinds of average, used to measure how good a player is:

A batsman's batting average is the number of runs he has scored in a period (such as a year or his whole career), divided by the number of times he was got out in the same period. A good batsman has a high batting average.
A bowler's bowling average is the number of runs that have been scored while he was bowling, in a period, divided by the number of batsmen he has got out in the same period. A good bowler has a low bowling average.

For a famous example of a batting average, see Don Bradman.