Health & Medical sports & Exercise

Basics of Cricket

    Innings

    • Like baseball, cricket has innings, but the word "innings" with an "s" is both singular and plural. There is no such thing as an "inning" in cricket. A game lasts for either one or two innings, which is determined before the start of the game. All 11 players play when fielding. The batting team sends out two players at a time, called "batsmen."

    Batting

    • In cricket, two players go up to bat at one time, but only one is the striker.The other waits on the other side of the rectangular area known as the pitch. The striker lines up behind a wicket, which looks like an oversized croquet wicket. It is topped with two bales, and knocking those bales off or "breaking the wicket" is the goal of the fielding team. Unlike baseball, where the batter stands at a point and the field extends outward, cricket is played in 360 degrees with the batsmen in the center of the field. The opposing team's bowler (pitcher) sends the ball to the striker who can hit the ball in any direction. The curved face of the cricket bat makes this possible, and different strokes of the bat can send the ball in different directions.

      When the striker hits the ball, the two batsmen change places. They must reach the other "crease" before the fielding team is able to break their wicket in order to be safe. Each time the batsman successfully trade places, they score a run. If they end up on the opposite end of the pitch from where they started--an odd number of runs scored--their roles are reversed and the opposite batsman becomes the striker.

    Fielding

    • The fielding team is trying to secure 10 outs in order to retire the side and take their turn at bat. They are dispersed throughout the 360-degree field based on their strategy or knowledge of a particular striker. In order to get an out, a fielder must break the striker's wicket while one of the batsmen is out of the crease. This is usually accomplished by a fielder throwing the ball to another player near the wicket who will break it with the hand holding the ball.

      Another way to secure an out is to catch a ball "in the full" which is not unlike a baseball outfielder catching a pop fly. There are many, many other ways to secure outs and score runs, but these basics should get the uninitiated enough knowledge to know how to ask questions during the game.

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