How to Follow Cricket Rules

Cricket is a sport popular in countries throughout the world; however, it is unfamiliar to many American sports fans. While the game shares many similarities to baseball, and even some nomenclature, it can be difficult to follow if you have not read the rules beforehand to make sense of the action on the pitch. Adding to the confusion some experience when watching, cricket comes in two different forms, one-day cricket and test cricket, which can run for up to five days. To fully understand the game being played, examine what each team must do in a match.

Things You'll Need

  • Cricket pitch and equipment
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Instructions

  1. Basics

    • 1

      Select a roster of 11 players. All players will be required to field as well as bat; however, occasionally in one-day cricket not all player will bat before an innings ends.

    • 2

      Select two batsmen if batting first. There must always be two batsmen up at once.

    • 3

      The defense selects a bowler to throw the next over. A bowler throws an entire over consecutively, consisting of six legal bowls.

    • 4

      Deflect or hit the ball with your bat if you are the active batsman, or allow it past unobstructed if you do not feel it will hit the wickets or be fielded, then run between the wickets to score runs.

    • 5

      Record 10 outs to end the batting team's innings in test cricket. Batters can be bowled out by knocking the bails off the wickets with a bowl, caught out by catching a batted ball before it lands, put out by displacing the bails while a batsman is running between wickets, or put out with leg before wicket, by causing the batsman to hit the ball with his body when it would otherwise have hit the wickets.

    • 6

      Record 10 outs or bowl the designated number of overs to end the batting team's innings in one-day cricket. Common one-day lengths are 20 overs and 50 overs, 120 bowls and 300 bowls, respectively.

    • 7

      Switch roles after the batting team finishes its innings.

    • 8

      Repeat for a second set of innings if playing test cricket.

    Scoring Rules

    • 9

      Score one run every time both batsmen run to the other wicket following a hit or a bye, the term for letting the ball past without touching it.

    • 10

      Score 4 points for batting a ball into the boundary on the bounce.

    • 11

      Score 6 points for batting a ball over the boundary on the fly.

    • 12

      Receive one wide run if the bowler pitches outside the playable area, as ruled by an official. In addition to the run, a wide bowl does not count as one-sixth of the over.

    • 13

      Receive five wide runs if the bowler pitches outside the playable area, as ruled by an official, and the ball reaches the boundary. In addition to the runs, a wide bowl does not count as one-sixth of the over.