Basic Rules of Cricket

Cricket's rule guardians, the Marylebone Cricket Club in London, will tell you there is nothing basic about their 42 rules, which they call "laws," that control matches throughout the world. The comprehensive law book is nevertheless easy to condense into a basic overview of the game to allow a match to take place.

  1. Pitch

    • The pitch is a flat, firm piece of turf, or synthetic material, with two sets of three 28-inch high stumps 22 yards apart. The stumps are nine inches wide and have two wooden "bails" on top. The whole structure is the "wicket," which the bowler tries to break with his deliveries and the batsman tries to defend with her bat.

      The "batting" creases are 4 feet inside the wicket at both ends of the pitch. The batsmen bat in pairs. Inside the crease they are safe. The "bowling" crease runs parallel to the batting creases and the "return" creases are at right angles to the others and 5 feet from middle stump. The creases form a box within which the bowler's front foot must land, or his delivery will be illegal, a "no-ball."

    Equipment

    • The leather cricket ball is nine inches round and between 5-1/2 and 5-3/4 oz. Each ball must last 80 overs (a set of six fair deliveries), or most of one day's play.

      The bat must be no more than 38 inches long, including the handle, and 4-1/4 inches wide. It must be wooden in all grades of the game.

      Basic protection for batsmen should include a groin cup, leg pads, helmet and thick gloves.

      The wicketkeeper wears two gloves as well as pads. Fielders must not wear gloves or use any equipment, like a cap, to catch the ball.

    Bowler

    • The bowler must bowl with the elbow locked at the point of delivery. A throw is a no-ball and a run to the opposition, and the "chucker" will be in serious disciplinary trouble. The bowler must bowl six fair deliveries called "balls." If he steps over the batting crease (at his end of the pitch) it is a no-ball. If the delivery is too off-target, the umpire will signal "wide." Bowling no-balls means the bowler has to trudge back and run in again.

    Batsman

    • All 11 members of the side can have a turn at bat but, as they bat in pairs, one batsman will always be "not out." The batsman must keep the ball from hitting the wicket four feet behind. Even one small bail coming off will be the end of her "innings" as the wicket will be "down."

      The batsman can also be out "caught," "leg-before-wicket" (if he misses a straight delivery and it hits his body when it would have hit the wicket), "run-out" (failing to make safe ground when trying to swap ends and score a run) and "stumped" (missing the ball and overbalancing outside the crease as the wicketkeeper puts the wicket down).

      There are five more ways of getting out but these are the basic ones.

    Scoring

    • The side that scores the most runs wins. Teams score runs when batsmen run between the wickets, if they think they have hit the ball far enough from the fielders to make their ground before the ball comes back. A hit out of the ground, on the bounce, will score four runs and on the full will score six.