Basics
Cricket is played by 2 opposing teams, consisting of 11 players each and as for the amount of time required for you to watch a full game can vary from the whole afternoon(one day match) to five days (test match)
The aim of this game is to score more runs than the opposing team. In short, more runs good, less runs bad. Therefore each team has its own batting time (Innings) and while one team tries hard to score as much as it can through batting, the other tries to stop it through bowling and fielding. The number of innings in a game depends on the type of match, for instance
- Test Cricket = 5 days.
- One-Day Cricket usually takes around 6 hours
- Twenty20 = 20 overs per innings (instead of 50 overs) which usually lasts three hours
The game is played on the field, on the centre of which there is a 20m long pitch. The pitch has two wickets shoved on to the ground on both sides. There are two considerate and handy umpires who take control on delicate decisions on which team to hurt and which one to favour (based on evidence though)...well they hold the belongings of the players as well...Bravo!!
The batting team scores runs by hitting the ‘ball bowled by the bowler’ and then literally run along both sides of the pitch. The batter’s (striker) counterpart (he/she is not batting – non-striker) runs the opposite direction to the striker to complete the batter’s run.....if one of them does not reach the wicket crease before the ball hits the wicket....He/She will be a crying loser
Apparently you can’t score runs if you’re back in the team seats, so the key concern of the batsman is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket (which would dismiss them) and then to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his batting partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To record a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the runners carry their bats as they run).
In the meantime the bowling side has a bowler at the pitch, a wicket-keeper crouching behind the striking batsman’s wicket ready to take hold of the ball and return it (you’ll find the wickie, just look for the gloves) and other 9 players spread around the field. This team is trying to get each member of the batting team out, at which point the batting and bowling teams change places. The moment 10 batsmen have been dismissed, the entire team is out and the innings is over.
The bowler bowls the ball in sets of 6 deliveries (or "balls") and each set of 6 balls is called an over. It’s up to the captain to decide where players should stand in the field, and which player should bowl for each over.