Cricket Laws & Rules

The game of cricket dates back to 1700 and has been governed by laws and rules that have changed little. The Marylebone Cricket Club revised the rules in 1788 and has been responsible for implementing the laws of cricket ever since. If you want to play cricket it is worth understanding the basic rules to enjoy the game to its fullest.

  1. Players

    • Each team is made of eleven players who take it in turn to field or bat. The toss of a coin decides which team bats first. Two players on the batting side are allowed on the field of play at one time with eleven from the fielding side.

    The Pitch

    • Cricket pitches are twenty-two yards long and ten feet wide. Each end has a bowling crease at right angles to the length of the pitch and a popping crease four feet in front of it. The bowling player must release the ball before he crosses the popping crease. The field of play is the area of ground anywhere outside of the pitch and up to the boundary rope which defines the edge of the playing ground.

    The Wicket

    • The wicket is made of three stumps and two bails. The stumps are place along the bowling crease with the middle stump exactly half way across the width of the pitch. The two bails straddle the stumps. The wickets face each other at either end of the pitch.

    Innings and Overs

    • Each team bats for an innings and tries to score as many runs as possible before all their players are out with up to two innings played. The fielding team selects two or more bowlers who have six attempts to try and get the batting player out by bowling the cricket ball at the player's wicket. Each six bowls is called an over and, when an over is complete, a different bowler must bowl at the opposite wicket. An innings is complete when all the batting players are out or the fielding team has bowled the maximum number of overs allowed, this number varies and is decided at the start of a match.

    Scoring

    • A player scores a run by hitting the ball and running between the wickets, his team mate must also run to his opposite wicket. A player can also score runs if he hits the ball beyond the boundary rope that marks out the playing field. Four runs are scored if the ball crosses the boundary and has bounced on the ground before it does so. Six runs are scored if the ball crosses the boundary line without touching the ground first. The winning team is the team who scores the most runs over the allotted innings.

    Getting Players Out

    • A player is out if the ball strikes his wicket and knocks the bails to the ground. The bails are two pieces of turned wood that straddle the stumps. A player is run out if the stumps are hit by the ball-and the bails knocked to the ground-and he has not yet made it past the wicket crease. Players can also be caught out if he hits the ball and an opposing player catches it before it has hit the ground however if the opposing player catches the ball and carries it over the boundary rope the batting player is not out. A player can also be declared out if the ball hits his legs and stops the ball from hitting the wicket, known as LBW or leg before wicket.