A Beginner’s Guide to Cricket
If you’re new to cricket, here is what you need to know
In the world of sports, we are all well aware of football. But what about the number two sport in the world? Cricket is the second-most popular sport after football. If you don’t know much about cricket, fear not; I’m here to guide you into the world of cricket.
Cricket originated 400 years ago in England in the 16th century. It became a well-established sport in England in the 18th century. Cricket developed internationally in the 19th and 20th centuries. Formal Test matches were played in 1877, and today, the sport has developed much.
Introduction to Cricket
Cricket is a game of bat-and-ball between two sides with eleven players each. In a way, the game is very similar to baseball, but it's not entirely true. The game is played on an open, circular field with a 22-yard pitch in the center. There are wickets of three stumps on each side.
One side bowls, while the other side bats. Two players (striker and nonstriker) from the batting side stand in front of the stumps, while a bowler from the fielding side bowls. The goal of the batting side is to score runs, and the goal of the bowling side is to take wickets. Who wins in a match? It's simple: the side with the most runs wins.
The batting team tries to score runs by hitting the ball with the bat. The runs can be scored by running between the 22-yard pitch, and hitting boundaries gives four and six runs. These are legal runs. Other ways to score runs are by wides, no-balls, leg byes, etc., these are extras.
The bowling side tries to prevent the opponent from scoring runs by taking wickets. A maximum of ten wickets can be taken to all-out the opponent. Batsmen can be dismissed by leg before wicket (LBW), bowled, caught, run out, and stumped. Once the team is all out, the bowling side comes to bat.
There are three umpires in cricket: two on-field umpires and a third umpire for the Decision Review System (DRS). In Twenty20, each team has two reviews; in ODI and Tests, there are three reviews per side.
Bowlers bowl six balls in an over. Only the legal deliveries are counted in an over. Usually, there are two broad categories of bowlers: pace and spin. How many overs a bowler can bowl and the number of overs each side can bowl depends on the format of the game.
Forms of Cricket
Unlike other sports, cricket is played in three formats. Yes, in three formats. These formats are as follows: Twenty20 cricket, One Day International (ODI), and Test cricket. These three formats of cricket mainly differ in terms of overs and duration.
T20 is the most popular and shortest format. In this format, only 20 overs (120 balls) are bowled on each side. The powerplay is played in the first six overs, with a maximum of two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Four overs per bowler is the limit. This format is completed within a day.
The ODI format is played with 50 overs (300 balls) per side. There are three powerplays per side: 1–10 overs, 11–40 overs, and 41–50 overs. The first powerplay is the same as T20, but for the first 10 overs, there are only two fielders outside the circle. In the second powerplay, only 3 or 4 players are outside the 30-yard circle. A maximum of ten overs per bowler is allowed.
Test Cricket is the longest sport in terms of duration. This format is played for five days, with two innings per side to bat and bowl. There is no limit to the maximum number of overs a team is allowed to bowl in a day, but it is usually around 90 overs. The game is played in three sessions. The result of the match is considered a draw without any team winning.
The International Cricket Council (ICC)
ICC is the global governing body for International cricket. It is a cricket board just like FIFA is for football. The board overlooks men’s, women’s, and youth participation and competition. The board is responsible for governing and administering the game to grow the sport around the world.
At present, the ICC has 108 member countries; 12 are full members and 96 are associate members. But unlike football, less than 22 countries across all the formats take part in World Cup tournaments.
For men, the ICC conducts International tournaments like the Cricket World Cup (50 overs) every four years, the Twenty20 World Cup (20 overs) every two years, and the World Test Championship every two years.
For women, the ICC conducts tournaments like the Women’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs) every four years and the Women’s T20 World Cup (20 overs) every two years. Today, women’s cricket is developing at a fast pace.
For youths, the ICC conducts the Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs) and the Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup (20 overs).
Besides what you learned, there is much more to cricket. But what you read is enough for you to begin with. Cricket is a beautiful sport in all its forms. I have been watching the sport since I was a kid, and my love for cricket has only increased. I am a fan of the sport, not any individual player.
Thank you for reading!
