Note:  I am not trying to give an exhaustive account of the game in this section, I try merely to give a flavour of what the game is all about.  See lower down for some videos of cricket.

Basic Play

Well, let us begin by noting the following basics about the game of cricket:

1.  Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players.

2.  The objective of the game is for one team to score more "runs" than the other team.

3.  The game may be played over one or two "innings" per team, depending on the form of game being played.

The following diagram illustrates the cricket playing field, with some of the key participants shown:

The game is played on a park that is usually about circular, and all the action happens within the "boundary" rope.  In the middle of the park is the "square", and within the square is the "wicket".  The wicket is where the "batsmen" stand, and it is also where "bowler" bowls the ball.  At any one time there are two batsmen at the wicket.  The following diagram gives a closer look at the wicket, where the batsmen stand.  The "umpires" are there to officiate the game, and the "wicket keeper" collects the ball if the batsmen leave a bowled ball alone.

At each end of the wicket are the "stumps".  If the bowler succeeds in hitting the stumps with the ball, then the batsman is "out".  The "batting crease" is where the batsmen stand.  In addition to the batsmen, bowler, umpires and wicket keeper, the other players take up fielding positions.  A typical fielding set up for a fast bowler is shown in the figure below.

Play in cricket proceeds as follows.  The bowler runs in and bowls the ball at the batsman who is "on strike".  The batsman either plays the ball or leaves it alone.  If he plays the ball and thinks he can do it, both batsmen can run to the opposite ends of the wicket, and a "run" is scored".  They can score two, three or sometimes four runs by repeatedly running to the opposite ends of the wicket.

If the ball crosses the boundary along the ground, or having bounced in the field of play, then four runs are scored.  if the ball crosses the boundary without bouncing first, then six runs are scored.

Once six balls have been bowled, an "over" is said to have been completed.  Another bowler then takes over the bowling, but from the other end.  Thus, play alternates between the two ends of the wicket.

Examples

Before considering some more details, take a look at the following video clips for some examples of play.  All of these clips are taken from England's cricket series against Australia in the summer of 2005.  England won the game!  Apologies to my Australian readers!  To view the clips, either click on the images, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save the clip to disk.

In this first clip, some examples of basic run scoring are shown.  Notice how both batsmen run from one end of the wicket to the other, and how the fielders try to get the ball back as quickly as possible.  Note also that bowlers can be either quick or slow.

Getting Out

The time that each batsman spends at the wicket, and the number of runs he scores, is referred to as his "innings" (not to be confused with the team innings).  No batsman's innings lasts forever, and there are a variety of ways that he can be out.  The most common ways to get out are:

1.  Bowled.  The ball hits the stumps after being bowled.

2.  Caught.  The batsman hits the ball in the air and is caught out.

3.  LBW.  One for advanced students - basically if the ball hits the batsman's pad in line with the stumps, such that the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps (!)

4.  Run out.  The batsmen fails to make the batting crease before the ball breaks the stumps after the batsman plays a shot and runs.

There are ten ways to get out in total, but the above are the most common.

Examples

Unfortunately I only have video clips of being out caught and bowled, though these are two of the most common ways to get out. 

Batsmen often have a lot of luck, too, in not getting out, and there can be some controversy about whether a batsman is out or not.  TV replays are used in these instances to sort things out.

Here are some examples of luck in the game of cricket	A controversial wicket, sorted out through the TV replay

Playing the Game

The sections above give a brief overview of the essentials of the game of cricket.  In this section I will give an overview of how a complete game proceeds.  For simplicity, I will describe the "one-day" version of the game, in which each team has a fixed number of overs to score the greatest number of runs.

The day's proceedings will be as follows:

1.  The two team captains will toss a coin to see who has the choice of batting or bowling first.  Whoever wins the toss has the choice.  If conditions are good then the one who wins the toss will usually bat first.

2.  The teams prepare for the game.  Just before the start time, the first two batsmen and the fielding team will come onto the field, along with the umpires.

3.  The first over is bowled.

4.  The game changes ends, and the second over is bowled, by a different bowler.

5.  The game proceeds in this manner until either the allotted number of overs have been bowled, or all of the batsmen on the batting team are out.  Usually the allotted number of overs is 50, and the time required to bowl these overs is about 3 to 3.5 hours.

6.  There is an interval in the game after the first team has completed its overs.

7.  The team who batted first now takes its turn in the field.  The first two batsmen of the other team come out, along with the fielding side and the umpires.

8.  The game now proceeds as in steps 2 and 3 above.  However, the game continues until either the batting side exceeds the number of runs scored by the team batting first (in which case the team batting now wins the game), or until all of the batsmen are out (in which case the team loses).

Test Matches

Test matches are the longer version of the game, and can continue up to a maximum of five days.  many people find it amazing that a game can last for so long, and I must admit that you do require a particular dedication to the game of cricket to watch every single minute of such a game!

The play in test matches is similar to that outlined above, with the following exceptions:

1.  Each team has two innings.

2.  There is no restriction on the number of overs that the batting side can face.

Some of the most exciting moments come in test matches.  All of the video clips on this page are taken from a test match.  The final two clips show just how exciting the end of a test match can be!

This clip shows England on the verge of winning against Australia	The excitement of winning the game!

Finally ...

Finally, cricket is a game that combines, skill, strength, bravery and delicacy.  The final clip here is a tribute to one of the greatest spin bowlers of all time, Shane Warne.  Watch the skill here as he completely fools the England captain, Michael Vaughan, to have him out caught.  Warne is a genius.