NAACPtookmybabyaway
11-08-2008, 12:15 AM
As in all sports, the aim of cricket is to score more points (in this case runs) than the opposing team. In cricket, this is done sequentially such that one team has a chance to score their total of runs, then at the end of their innings the other team has a chance to try and better that total.
Each cricket team consists of 11 players. The players are chosen, tactically depending on the anticipated weather conditions and quality of the pitch such that from the 11 you get either four or five specialised bowlers of different types (about which more later), one wicket keeper and the rest specialist batsmen.
The team that bats first is decided by the toss of a coin, this is considered important because it allows an astute captain to assess whether the pitch favours the batsmen or bowlers and they can decide whether to bat or bowl first if they win the toss (statistically 64% of all international matches are won by the side that wins the toss).
Once all that is sorted out, the teams come out to play. The batting team has an order of 11 players, who will bat in pairs. The bowling team will take up field positions dictated by the captain except the bowler and the wicket keeper. The wicket keeper takes up a position directly behind the stumps of the active batsman (the one the bowler is bowling at), the bowler will then bowl a series of six deliveries at the batsman, at which point the umpire will declare his series "over" and another bowler will begin his series from the other end of the pitch. The captain can switch bowlers at any point except during an uncompleted "over". The aim of a bowler is to take "wickets". A wicket, or dismissal, is a delivery which causes the end of a batsman's innings. The most common ways in which this happens are "bowled", where the ball hits the stumps the batsman is defending and knocks one or both of the little bits of wood (bails) off the top; "caught" , where the batsman hits the ball up in the air and a fielder catches it without it touching the ground first; "run out" where the batsmen start to run and a fielder throws the ball and hits the stumps while he is outside or doesn't have his bat on the ground outside of the line a yard infront of the stumps (called the "crease"); another is "LBW" or leg before wicket. It's kind of complex but basically if the ball was going on to hit the stumps and it hits the batsman on the leg pads without touching the bat on the way, that is LBW. There are others but they are very rare and not worth mentioning.
The batting team, meanwhile, are tasked with scoring runs. They have 11 players too, and they bat in pairs. 1 & 2 on the batting order come out first, when one hits a delivery in such a way that they have enough time to run between the two sets of stumps, they do so. If they make it, the player that hit the ball is credited with one run and the other player will face the next ball because they changed ends. The combined total of all the runs scored by the players constitutes the team total. Depending on field positions, the batsmen can move the ball into areas that give them enough time to complete 1,2,3 and sometimes 4 runs before the fielding team recover the ball. If a batsman hits the ball and it reaches the boundary rope, 4 runs are automatically added to his total. If he hits the ball and it clears the boundary rope without touching it or the ground before it, he is credited with 6 runs. If a batsman gets out by one of the methods described above, he is replaced by the next player down the order, and a "wicket" is credited to the fielding team's score until the fielding team has got 10 wickets, at which point there is only one player left on the batting team and because the batsmen change ends after every run you can't have one player batting by himself so the innings is over and the batting team then changes to the fielding team and the fielding team takes their turn batting and tries to beat the first teams score.
Simple, really...
Each cricket team consists of 11 players. The players are chosen, tactically depending on the anticipated weather conditions and quality of the pitch such that from the 11 you get either four or five specialised bowlers of different types (about which more later), one wicket keeper and the rest specialist batsmen.
The team that bats first is decided by the toss of a coin, this is considered important because it allows an astute captain to assess whether the pitch favours the batsmen or bowlers and they can decide whether to bat or bowl first if they win the toss (statistically 64% of all international matches are won by the side that wins the toss).
Once all that is sorted out, the teams come out to play. The batting team has an order of 11 players, who will bat in pairs. The bowling team will take up field positions dictated by the captain except the bowler and the wicket keeper. The wicket keeper takes up a position directly behind the stumps of the active batsman (the one the bowler is bowling at), the bowler will then bowl a series of six deliveries at the batsman, at which point the umpire will declare his series "over" and another bowler will begin his series from the other end of the pitch. The captain can switch bowlers at any point except during an uncompleted "over". The aim of a bowler is to take "wickets". A wicket, or dismissal, is a delivery which causes the end of a batsman's innings. The most common ways in which this happens are "bowled", where the ball hits the stumps the batsman is defending and knocks one or both of the little bits of wood (bails) off the top; "caught" , where the batsman hits the ball up in the air and a fielder catches it without it touching the ground first; "run out" where the batsmen start to run and a fielder throws the ball and hits the stumps while he is outside or doesn't have his bat on the ground outside of the line a yard infront of the stumps (called the "crease"); another is "LBW" or leg before wicket. It's kind of complex but basically if the ball was going on to hit the stumps and it hits the batsman on the leg pads without touching the bat on the way, that is LBW. There are others but they are very rare and not worth mentioning.
The batting team, meanwhile, are tasked with scoring runs. They have 11 players too, and they bat in pairs. 1 & 2 on the batting order come out first, when one hits a delivery in such a way that they have enough time to run between the two sets of stumps, they do so. If they make it, the player that hit the ball is credited with one run and the other player will face the next ball because they changed ends. The combined total of all the runs scored by the players constitutes the team total. Depending on field positions, the batsmen can move the ball into areas that give them enough time to complete 1,2,3 and sometimes 4 runs before the fielding team recover the ball. If a batsman hits the ball and it reaches the boundary rope, 4 runs are automatically added to his total. If he hits the ball and it clears the boundary rope without touching it or the ground before it, he is credited with 6 runs. If a batsman gets out by one of the methods described above, he is replaced by the next player down the order, and a "wicket" is credited to the fielding team's score until the fielding team has got 10 wickets, at which point there is only one player left on the batting team and because the batsmen change ends after every run you can't have one player batting by himself so the innings is over and the batting team then changes to the fielding team and the fielding team takes their turn batting and tries to beat the first teams score.
Simple, really...