Cricket

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the sport. For the insect, see Cricket (insect). For other uses, see Cricket
(disambiguation).
"Cricketer" redirects here. For other uses, see Cricketer (disambiguation).

Cricket

A bowler bowling to a batsman. The paler strip is thecricket pitch. The

two sets of three wooden stumps on the pitch are the wickets. The two
white lines are thecreases.
Highestgoverning body

International Cricket Council

First played

18th century (modern version

see history)

Characteristics
Contact

no

Team members

11 players per side (substitutespermitted

in some circumstances)

Mixed gender

yes, separate competitions

Type

team sport, bat-and-ball

Equipment

cricket ball, cricket

bat, wicket(stumps, bails), various
protective equipment

Venue

cricket field

Presence

Country or region

Australasia, United Kingdom,Indian

subcontinent, Southern
Africa, Caribbean

Olympic

no (1900 Summer Olympics only)

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at
the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket, a set of three
wooden stumps sited at each end. One team, designated thebatting team, attempts to score as
many runs as possible, whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an innings. After
either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a set number of overs have been completed, the
innings ends and the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one that scores the
most runs, including any extras gained, during their period batting.
At the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders enter the field of play. The play begins
when a designated member of the fielding team, known as the bowler, delivers the ball from one
end of the pitch to the other, towards a set ofwooden stumps, in front of which stands one of the
batsmen, known as the striker. The striker's role is to prevent the ball from hitting the stumps
through use of his bat, and simultaneously strike it sufficiently well to score runs. The other
batsman, known as the non-striker, waits at the opposite end of the pitch by the bowler. The
bowler's intention is to both prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman, at which
point the dismissed batsman has to leave the field and another teammate replaces him at
the crease.
The most common forms of dismissal are bowled, when the bowler hits the stumps directly with
the ball, leg before wicket, when the batsman prevents the ball from hitting the stumps with his
body instead of his bat, and caught, when the batsman hits the ball into the air and it is
intercepted by a fielder before touching the ground. Runs are scored through two main methods:
either hitting the ball sufficiently powerfully that it crosses the boundary, or through the two
batsmen swapping ends by each simultaneously running the length of the pitch in opposite
directions whilst the fielders are retrieving the ball. If a fielder is able to retrieve the ball sufficiently
quickly and put down the wicket with either batsman out of his ground, a run-outoccurs.
Adjudication is performed on-field by two umpires.
The laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Marylebone
Cricket Club (MCC). There are various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few hours
with each team having a single innings of 20 overs, to Test cricket, played over five days with
unlimited overs and the teams playing two innings apiece. Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white
kit but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some
players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball which is a hard, solid object
made of compressed leather enclosing a cork core.
Although cricket's origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in south-east England in the 16th
century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first
international matches in the mid-19th century. ICC, the game's governing body, has over 100
members, ten of which are full members who play Test cricket. Women's cricket, which is
organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. Cricket is the world's
second most popular spectator sport, after association football, and is followed primarily in
Australasia, Great Britain and Ireland, the Indian subcontinent, southern Africa and the West
Indies.