CRICKET 101

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CRICKET 101
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• Basics
• Cricket is a team sport for two teams of eleven
  players each. A formal game of cricket can last
  anything from an afternoon to several days.
• Although the game play and rules are very
  different the basic concept of cricket is
  similar to that of baseball. Teams bat in
  successive innings and attempt to score runs
  while the opposing team fields and attempts to
  bring an end to the batting teams innings. After
  each team has batted an equal number of innings
  the team with the most runs wins.

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Equipment

• Cricket Ball
• Hard cork and string ball covered with leather.
  
• Cricket Bat
• Blade made of willow flat on one side humped on
  the other for strength.
• Wickets
• There are two wickets - wooden structures made up
  of a set of three stumps topped by a pair of
  bails.
• Stumps
• Three wooden posts 25 millimetres (1 inch) in
  diameter and 813 millimetres (32 inches) high.
  They have have spikes extending from their bottom
  end and are hammered into the ground in an evenly
  spaced row with the outside edges of the
  outermost stumps 228 millimetres (9 inches)
  apart. This means they are just close enough
  together that a cricket ball cannot pass between
  them.
• Bails
• Two wooden crosspieces which sit in grooves atop
  the adjacent pairs of stumps.
• Protective Gear
• Pads gloves helmet etc for batsmen to wear to
  prevent injury when struck by the ball.
• Shoes
• Leather usually with spiked soles for grip on
  the grass.
• Clothing
• Long pants shirt (long or short sleeved
  depending on the weather) possibly a sleeveless
  or long-sleeved woollen pullover in cold weather.
  For games played with a red ball the clothing
  must be white or cream. With a white ball
  players usually wear uniforms in solid team
  colours. Add a hat or cap to keep the sun off.
  There are no regulations regarding identifying
  marks or numbers on clothing.

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Rules of Cricket

• The game is played in accordance with 42 laws of
  cricket which have been developed by the
  Marylebone Cricket Club (London) in discussion
  with the main cricketing nations.
• Other rules supplement the main laws and change
  them to deal with different circumstances. In
  particular there are a number of modifications
  to the playing structure and fielding position
  rules that apply to one innings games that are
  restricted to a set number of fair deliveries.

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Players and Officials

• Players
• A team consists of eleven players. Depending on
  his primary skills a player may be classified as
  a specialist batsman or bowler. A balanced team
  usually has five or six specialist batsmen and
  four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly
  always include a specialist wicket-keeper because
  of the importance of this fielding position.
• Umpires
• Two on-field umpires preside over a match. One
  umpire will stand behind the wicket at the end
  from which the ball is bowled and adjudicate on
  most decisions. The other will stand near the
  fielding position called square leg which offers
  a side view of the batsman and assist on
  decisions for which he has a better view. In some
  professional matches they may refer a decision
  to an off-field third umpire who has the
  assistance of television replays. In
  international matches an off-field match referee
  ensures that play is within the laws of cricket
  and the spirit of the game.

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The Field
The cricket field consists of a large circular or
oval-shaped grassy ground. There are no fixed
dimensions for the field but its diameter usually
varies between 450 feet (137 m) to 500 feet
(150 m). On most grounds a rope demarcates the
perimeter of the field and is known as the
boundary.
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The Pitch
Most of the action takes place in the centre of
this ground on a rectangular clay strip usually
with short grass called the pitch. The pitch
measures 10  66 feet. At each end of the pitch
three upright wooden stakes called the stumps
are hammered into the ground. Two wooden
crosspieces known as the bails sit in grooves
atop the stumps linking each to its neighbor.
Each set of three stumps and two bails is
collectively known as a wicket.
The dimensions are in centimetres (divide by 2.54
for inches).
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Placements of players

• The team batting always has two batsmen on the
  field. One batsman known as the striker faces
  and plays the balls bowled by the bowler. His
  partner stands at the bowling end and is known as
  the non-striker.
• The fielding team has all eleven of its players
  on the ground and at any particular time one of
  these will be the bowler. The player designated
  as bowler must change after every over. The
  wicket-keeper who generally acts in that role
  for the whole match stands or crouches behind
  the wicket at the batting end. The captain of the
  fielding team spreads his remaining nine players
  the fielders around the ground to cover most
  of the area. Their placement may vary
  dramatically depending on strategy. Each position
  on the field has a unique label.

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Match Structure
1. The toss - On the day of the match the
captains inspect the pitch to determine the type
of bowlers whose bowling would be suited for the
offered pitch surface and select their eleven
players. The two opposing captains then toss a
coin. The captain winning the toss may choose
either to bat or bowl first. 2. Overs - Each
innings is divided into overs each consisting of
six consecutive legal deliveries bowled by the
same bowler. After completing an over the bowler
must take up a fielding position and let
another player take over the bowling. After
every over the batting and bowling ends are
swapped and the field positions are adjusted.
The umpires swap so the umpire at the bowlers
end moves to square leg and the umpire at
square leg moves to the new bowlers end. 3. End
of an innings - An innings is completed if Ten
out of eleven batsmen are out (dismissed). A
team chasing a given target number of runs to win
manages to do so. The predetermined number of
overs are bowled (in a one-day match only
usually 50 overs). A captain declares his
teams innings closed (this does not apply to
one-day limited over matches). 4. Playing time
- Typically two innings matches are played over
three to five days with at least six hours of
cricket being played each day. One innings
matches are usually played over one day for six
hours or more. There are formal intervals on each
day for lunch and tea and shorter breaks for
drinks where necessary. There is also a short
interval between innings.

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Batting and Scoring Runs
Batsmen strike the ball from the batting crease
with the flat surface of a wooden bat. If the
batsman hits the ball with his bat it is called
a shot (or stroke). If the ball brushes the side
of the bat it is called an edge or snick. Shots
are named according to the style of swing and the
direction aimed. As part of the teams strategy
he may bat defensively blocking the ball
downwards or aggressively hitting the ball hard
to empty spaces in order to score runs. There is
no requirement to run if the ball is
struck. Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order
decided by the team captain. Run scoring To
score a run a striker must hit the ball and run
to the opposite end of the pitch while his
non-striking partner runs to his end. If the
striker hits the ball well enough the batsmen
may double back to score two or more runs. This
is known as running between wickets. However no
rule requires the batsman to run upon striking
the ball. If a fielder knocks the bails off the
stumps with the ball while no batsman is grounded
behind the nearest popping crease the nearest
batsman is run out. If the ball goes over the
boundary then four runs are scored or six if
the ball has not bounced.
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Batsmans Shots

• The different types of shots a batsman can play
  are described by names
• Block - A defensive shot played with the bat
  vertical and angled down at the front intended
  to stop the ball and drop it down quickly on to
  the pitch in front of the batsman.
• Drive - An offensive shot played with the bat
  sweeping down through the vertical. The ball
  travels swiftly along the ground in front of the
  striker. A drive can be an on drive straight
  drive off drive or cover drive depending in
  which direction it goes.
• Cut - A shot played with the bat close to
  horizontal which hits the ball somewhere in the
  arc between cover and gully.
• Edge or Glance - A shot played off the bat at a
  glancing angle through the slips area.
• Leg Glance - A shot played at a glancing angle
  behind the legs so that it goes in the direction
  of fine leg.
• Pull - A horizontal bat shot which pulls the ball
  around the batsman into the square leg area.
• Sweep - Like a pull shot except played with the
  backmost knee on the ground so as to hit balls
  which bounce low.
• Hook - Like a pull shot but played to a bouncer
  and intended to hit the ball high in the air over
  square leg - hopefully for six runs.
• French Cut - An attempt at a cut shot which hits
  the bottom edge of the bat and goes into the area
  behind square leg.

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Extras (sundries)
Extras consist of byes leg byes no balls wides
and penalty runs. The former two are runs that
can be scored if the batsman misses making
contact with bat and ball and the latter two are
types of fouls committed by the bowler. For
serious infractions such as tampering with the
ball deliberate time-wasting and damaging the
pitch the umpires may award penalty extras to
the opposition in each case five runs. Five
penalty runs are also awarded if a fielder uses
anything other than his body to field the ball
or if the ball hits a protective helmet left on
the field by the fielding team. A team need not
be batting in order to receive penalty extras.
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Right-handed Batsman Shots
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Bowling and Dismissals
BOWLING A bowler delivers the ball toward the
batsmen using what is known as a bowling action
the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend
further but may not straighten out during the
action. If the elbow straightens it is an
illegal throw and the delivery is called a
no-ball. Some part of the bowlers front foot in
the delivery stride (that is the stride when the
ball is released) must be behind the popping
crease to avoid a no-ball (although the bowlers
front foot does not have to be grounded). The
ball must also be delivered so it is within the
batsmans reach otherwise it is termed a wide. A
wide cannot be called if the batsman hits the
ball. A wide or no-ball results in an extra run
being added to the batting teams score and an
extra ball being bowled in the over. The
bowlers primary goal is to take wickets that
is to get a batsman out or dismissed. Their next
task is to limit the numbers of runs scored per
over they bowl. This is known as the Economy
rate.
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Bowling and Dismissals
Bowling Styles
There are two basic approaches to bowling fast
and spin. A fast bowler bowls the ball as fast
as practicable attempting to defeat the batsman
with its pace. Leg-cutter ball moves from leg
side off side of batter Off-cutter - ball moves
from off side to leg side of batter A spin
bowler has a more ambling run-up and uses wrist
or finger motion to impart a spin to the ball.
The ball then spins to one side when it bounces
on the pitch thus also hopefully causing it to
be hard to hit. Leg-spin ball moves from leg
side off side of batter Off-spin - ball moves
from off side to leg side of batter Top-spin
leg-spin delivery with hand positioned to produce
top-spin Googly leg-spin delivery with hand
cocked to produce off-spin Flipper leg-spin
delivery with backspin most difficult delivery
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Bowling and Dismissals
DISMISSALS
A batsman is allowed to bat as long as he does
not get out (dismissed). If the batsman is
dismissed another player from the batting team
replaces him until ten batsmen are out and the
innings is over. There are ten ways of being
dismissed Caught Bowled Leg Before Wicket
(LBW) Run Out Stumped Hit Wicket Handled the
Ball Hit the Ball Twice Obstructing the
Field Timed Out (3 minutes to replace dismissed
batsman) An individual cannot be out bowled
caught leg before wicket stumped or hit
wicket off a no ball. He cannot be out
bowled caught leg before wicket or hit
the ball twice off a wide.
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Fielding and Wicket-keeping
Fielders assist the bowlers to prevent batsmen
from scoring too many runs. They do this in two
ways by taking catches to dismiss a batsman and
by intercepting hit balls and returning them to
the pitch to attempt run-outs to restrict the
scoring of runs. The wicket-keeper is a
specialist fielder who stands behind the
batsmans wicket throughout the game. His primary
job is to gather deliveries that the batsman
fails to hit to prevent them running into the
outfield which would enable batsmen to score
byes. To this end he wears special gloves (he is
the only fielder allowed to do so) and pads to
cover his lower legs. Due to his position
directly behind the striker the wicket-keeper
has a good chance of getting a batsman out.
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Fielding Positions

• WICKET KEEPER
• FIRST SLIP
• SECOND SLIP
• THIRD SLIP
• GULLY
• POINT
• COVER
• EXTRA COVER
• MID-OFF
• MID-ON
• MID-WICKET
• SQUARE LEG
• LEG SLIP
• THIRD MAN
• LONG OFF
• LONG ON
• FINE LEG
• BAT-PAD
• DEEP BACKWARD SQUARE

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2 4 3 1 13
5 6 7 8 9
X X X X
12 11 10
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The Two Forms of Cricket
First Class Cricket
Test matches are played over five days with six
hours play each day. Each days play is divided
into three sessions of two hours each with a 40
minute break between the first two session for
lunch and a 20 minute tea break between the last
two sessions. A short drinks break is taken once
an hour or more often in very hot weather.
Play usually goes from 1100 local time to
1800 although this may be varied if sunset
occurs early. The scheduled close of play time is
called stumps. If by the end of the final days
play all the innings are not completed the game
is a draw no matter who appeared to be
winning. Test matches are played in Series
between two of the official Test nations. A
Test Series consists of a set number of matches
from one to six all of which are played to
completion even if one team gains an
unassailable lead in the Series.
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The Two Forms of Cricket
One-Day Cricket
Each team gets only one innings and that innings
is restricted to a maximum number of overs. Usual
choices for the number of overs are 50 55 or
60. Each innings is complete at the end of the
stipulated number of overs no matter how many
batsmen are out. If ten batsmen are out before
the full number of overs are bowled the innings
is also over. If the first teams innings ends in
this manner the second team still has its full
number of overs to score the required runs.
Whichever team scores the most runs wins. A tied
score stands. There is no draw result. If the
match is washed out so that the innings are not
played the game is declared a no-result.
One-day competitions are played either as Series
between pairs of international teams round-robin
competitions between groups of international
teams or round-robins between domestic teams. A
World Cup one-day competition is played between
all the Test nations each four years.
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Statistics and Good Performances
The abbreviations are b. bowled by c. caught
by st. stumped by O overs M maidens R runs W
wickets FOW fall of wicket
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Statistics and Good Performances
Typical bowling speeds are Fast bowler 80-90
mph Medium pace bowler 60-80 mph Spin bowler
45-55 mph
During the 2003 World Cup Shoaib Akhtar of
Pakistan sent down the fastest delivery ever
recorded in cricket a 100.2 mph thunderbolt the
second time he has broken the 100 mph barrier
standing alone as the 100 mph man of cricket.
Brett Lee of Australia follows him closely at
99.8 mph.
The fastest baseball pitch was by Mark Wohlers in
Spring Training 1995 103mph. 20 pitchers have
recorded speeds of 100mph or more.
Good performances A batsman scoring 50 or 100
runs. A partnership adding 50 or 100 runs. A
bowler taking five wickets in a single innings.
A bowler taking ten wickets in a two innings
match. (This is an excellent performance and a
relatively rare feat.) A bowler taking a hat
trick i.e. three wickets in three successive
balls (perhaps in different overs). This is even
more rare.
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Other Weird Phrases You May Hear
Bowl a Maiden Over bowl an over and concede no
runs Out for a duck batter is dismissed having
scored no runs. A golden duck is when he is
dismissed on his first delivery Nightwatchman
batter who comes in to bat out of order at the
end of the day Rabbit a very poor batsman
(normally a bowler or wicket-keeper). A ferret is
an extremely poor batsman (so called because he
goes after the rabbits)
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The Rules of Cricket You have two sides one out
in the field and one in. Each man thats in the
side thats in goes out and when hes out he
comes in and the next man goes in until hes out.
When they are all out the side thats out
comes in and the side thats been in goes out and
tries to get those coming in out. Sometimes
you get men still in and not out. When a man
goes out to go in the men who are out try to get
him out and when he is out he goes in and the
next man in goes out and goes in. There are two
men called umpires who stay out all the time and
they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men
have out and both sides have been out twice
after all the men have been in including those
who are not out that is the end of the game!