How Long Is a Cricket Wicket?

As with all sports, cricket is beholden to a set of precise rules and regulations. The size and specs for a cricket wicket are no exception.

  1. What is a wicket?

    • In the game of cricket, the wicket is a set of three wooden stumps topped by "bails," which can be dislodged by a ball tossed by the "bowler" past the "wicket keeper."

    How big is the wicket?

    • The official rules state the stumps must be 28 inches or 71.1 centimeters in height, and between 1 3/8 and 1 1/2 inches in diameter (3.49 to 3.81 centimeters). The bails that sit atop the stumps measure 4 5/16 inches (10.95 centimeters) each. Essentially, the cricket wicket is comparable to the size of a skateboard turned upright.

    What is a "sticky wicket"?

    • The object of the game is to hit the stumps of the wicket so the bails fall off or fly off (depending on how hard the bowler is tossing). A sticky wicket would have bails that were difficult to dislodge. Hence, a "sticky wicket" would apply to any situation that was frustratingly more difficult than one would expect.

    Dispensing with bails

    • To avoid "sticky wickets" these days, the umpire may decide to dispense with bails atop the stumps of the wicket, until field conditions improve enough to allow for fair and normal play.

    Drug Scandal

    • Baseball is not the only sport with players prone to performance-enhancing drugs. Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan was the first bowler to have his toss measured at 160 km/h (about 100 mph), but he and Mohammed Asif were found to have taken a banned steroid.