Hey guys, I tried to find a good website for you that explains simply the rules of Cricket...but I haven't come up with much yet except the rules for 'backyard cricket' - which may look the same, but has several variations and far less strict rules - par exemple, when playing real cricket and you hit the ball right over the top of the fence, it's good - the batsman scores 6 runs (points). When playing backyard cricket, usually when you hit the ball over the fence, it's bad - you're 'out' (finished - your turn is over) because nobody wants to run into the neighbour's garden to retrieve the ball.
Here's an interesting set of backyard cricket rules:
starting with one that says you have to play left handed (almost all cricketers play right handed) and with a beer in the other hand
http://forum.sportal.com.au/viewthread. ... 25&p=39025
So, in the absence of finding a better website, I guess I could start with some beginner's terminology for cricket....and if anyone wants to pitch in
(the 'pitch' is the part the batsmen run up and down on), you're welcome to join in!
Over: the bowler bowls the ball 6 times, which equals an 'over' (you could maybe think of it like a game in tennis). In one day cricket, the match consists of 50 overs (ie 50 x 6 times the ball is thrown, per team, for the game). In a test match, the game is played till only the 12th man is left (and he's not allowed to bat)
After a certain number of overs, the bowler must change to another one.
Stumps: the little white wooden thing with 3 poles and a bail (horizontal piece on top) which can be knocked off if hit by the ball when bowled (that's part of the idea) which is behind each batsman.
Pitch: the bare rectangular patch in the middle of the field where the batsmen run between the stumps.
Crease - the area behind the white line but in front of the stumps on the pitch which the batsmen must stand inside.
Wicketkeeper: the guy who stands behind the stumps of the batsman (there's only 1 - he's at the batting end).
Fielders - the guys on the current non batting team who fetch the ball from their various positions on the field/oval.
Run rate especially important in 1 day matches. It's the number of runs being scored off each over. Towards the end of a 1 day match it becomes even more crucial for the other team - they calculate it on how many overs left, and how many runs must be achieved per over to reach the target - it doesn't matter if the 2nd team in to bat has more or less players go out, as long as they can meet the total set by the 1st batting team without having their 10 players go 'out' in the process.
At the start of the match the 2 captains come onto the field and a coin is tossed. The captain who wins the toss gets to choose if he wants his team to go in to bat first, or second.
He can choose to go in first and hope their team will make a very high score that will give them a psychological advantage over the other team and have them 'chasing' the score of the 1st team of batsmen hard from the beginning - to put them under pressure so they'll hopefuly make mistakes and the best batsman go out early (the teams are made up of those who bat, and those who bowl, though all must go in to bat - the bowlers naturally are the ones who are sent in last - the 'tail enders' which the team hopes they won't have to use)
Or he can choose to go in 2nd so they will know from the beginning how many runs they need, can have the stats of how many runs per over, and pace themselves accordingly.
The goal for the batting team is always to make as many runs as possible, using their best batsman (at the top of the list) and hopefully not have to use the not so good ones (the bowlers).
By the 2nd half of the game when the teams have swapped positions and the batsmen are now the bowlers, their main objective is to get the best batsmen out first so they have to bring in their bowlers, and to of course stop them making runs as much as they can.
During play there's 2 players from the batting team on the field, and all the guys from the other team who are called fielders apart from the bowler and wicketkeeper, though the positions the fielders stand in have set names (odd ones too like 'mid on' ).
12 players to a team, including a spare or emergency player (whose job it is to bring out the drinks onto the field at break time)
Only 11 players of the batting side are allowed to bat.
Only 11 fielders are allowed on the field at once.
To make it really really basic, I guess one could think of it a tiny bit like baseball - when the batsman hits the ball, the other end of the pitch (where his team mate is standing) is the 'base'. The batsman chooses when he runs though - if the ball hasn't gone far enough, he chooses not to run (unless he's near the end of the game and is very desperate for runs and is a very fast runner!). When he starts running, his team mate at the other end must too, and they cross over in the middle. They have to communicate well so one doesn't stop running at an end and the other keep going, thinking they are going for more 'runs'.
They both have to make it to opposite ends of the pitch safely without any fieldsman throwing the ball from where they've retrieved (fielded) it and knocking the bails off the top of the stumps - if that happens while either batsman is out of their 'crease' area, then they're out (called 'run out').
There are plenty of other ways to go out too -
'Bowled out' is when the batsman hits the ball but it is caught on the full without bouncing by the bowler. Any other catch on the full is 'out' and the batsman must leave the field, and a new batsman comes in.
'Stumped' is when the ball is bowled and hits the stumps - and the batsman is out for that too. Batsman can have hit the ball, or not at all - either way he's out if it hits.
There's 'LBW' ('leg before wicket' - I'll let somebody else try to explain that one as it's too tricky for me...! I never understood it when I was young - something to do with standing in the line of the stumps and it would have hit but they were blocking it or something...the umpire is often crucial in LBW cases to say if it's 'in' still or it's 'out')
If the batsman does't score any runs (points) at all and he goes out, then it's called 'out for a duck' ("= out for 0" and on the tv and big screen at the game, a funny sad yellow duck walks across the screen - it's meant to be a bit humiliating, making the fact of not scoring at all even worse)
A batsman reaching 100 runs in an 'innings' (the time he was 'in') is a hero.
general Scoring: just running between wickets: each length made from the batsman's end is 1 run (point). Though both guys are running, only the one who just hit the ball is scoring.
4 runs - if the ball rolls or bounces over the white line around the edge of the oval. Doesn't matter if the batsmen have been running as well - they only get 4 runs.
Right over the top of the boundary of the oval into the crowd = 6 runs (hit for 6)
When a bowler bowls occasionally too wide for the batsman to have been able to hit it, it's called a 'wide' (signified by the umpire sticking both his arms out from his sides) and the batsman score a 'ball' - 1 free run without having to move, because of it.
There are a lot of breaks during the game, which earns cricket a bit of ridicule
- tea breaks, lunch break, afternoon tea break.....and if it starts to rain, they stop playing and cover the pitch, leading to even more delays and sometimes cancellation of the game (called a 'wash out'). Bad light used to often stop play but now they've got better lights
I recommend watching 1 day games for a start - they're more lively - less slow and boring and at least the one day internationals wear their coloured uniforms instead of plain white and it's easier to see who's who.
There's a bit more to it than that, but that's most of it, I think. It's a game very governed by strict rules and lots of them.
Kate
PS: found a site, but its the official one and quite technical.
http://www.waca.com.au/images/docs/cric ... -rules.pdf
Connexion
Inscription
FAQ
Rechercher
