Cricket Rules – simplified

Now spring has started in Australia and with it the cricket season. It began with the ‘Ashes‘ and a victory of Australia. I wrote about cricket a long time ago. But how does cricket work? Since in Australia one stumbles over cricket almost every day (especially in summer), the most important cricket rules are explained here:

In cricket, you have to be patient first and foremost, since a game usually lasts up to 5 days.

The ten countries that are allowed to play the official version of cricket (called Test Cricket) have all been once seized (not to say invaded) by the British: Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The tenth eligible country is not a country of its own, but a group of countries, the British West Indies.

Eleven little batsmen stood on the oval …

Now, if the unknowing wants to try to understand cricket, then he should look at the game from a child’s perspective. With the help of counting out rhymes it is not so boring any more. The aim of one team is to throw ten people from the other team out of the game.

Take a piece of green and mark an oval. That’s the playing field. In the middle, prepare a 20-meter long and three meter wide strip, the pitch. At the two ends of the pitch you erect three vertical posts (stumps), on the end of which you put two small crossbeams (bails). The whole is called a wicket (reminiscent of children’s building blocks) and should possibly not break from the point of view of the batting team. The field team is of the opposite opinion and has set the collapse of the wicket as a goal.

Each team has eleven players, but in total there are only 13 out of 22 players on the pitch. One team is the bowling and fielding side and one the batting team. The respective bowling and fielding team plays in full strength, in contrast to their opponents, who are represented with only two men on the pitch. One player of the batting team stands in front of the wicket – ready to defend it.

The bowler stands at one end of the pitch and tries to break the wicket from a distance. As a weapon serves him a small ball. The batsman must fend off the ball with the bat. If he uses the hand, he leaves. A dismissed batsman (out!) is replaced by a new one until only one is left.

… there were only ten …

The new substitute batsman has to hit the ball as far away as possible. The nine fielders, who distribute themselves in the oval, dive after the ball. If one of them catches the ball before it hits the ground, then – another batsman is gone.

Meanwhile, the two batsmen on the field are running towards the opposite end of the pitch. If they get behind the white lines (crease), they made a run and the team gets a point. They can run back and forth as often as they want, but usually they do not do it more often than three times. It’s exhausting enough.

Without any effort, the batting team can collect six points if the ball is hit across the field without touching the ground. If he bounces and rolls off the field, there get only four points. The winner at the very end is also the team with the most points (runs).

… there were only eight …

Running back and forth and jumping behind the line is not as easy as it sounds. Because behind each wicket is a player (wicket keeper) of the field team positioned, who is just waiting for someone to throw him the ball so that he can destroy the small wooden structure. If at least one of the crossbars rolls down before the batsman manages to get behind the line, he unfortunately has to leave the field.

Now the batting team has only seven players left. Each bowler has six throws, a so-called over, to let his destructive skills run free. Always from the same end of the pitch to the same batsman. After an over the bowler changes, which throws then also from the other side of the pitch to the other batsman. Nobody should be worn out.

A batsman has exactly three minutes to prepare for a new throw, otherwise he will be sent off the field due to a timeout and – there were only six left.

Tea break

Cricket has an official tea break. Time to mention some other rules. How do you actually bowl (you don’t throw a ball in cricket)? The rules state that the throwing arm, once he has reached shoulder height, may not be straightened. Which means that he is already straightened at this altitude. Who can’t master this acrobatics, should not start with the cricket, because all other methods of bowling are invalid.

In addition, the ball must not hit the player of the hitting team above the waist, unless he has previously touched the ground. Practically, this rule makes it difficult for the batsman to hit the ball. Who can control exactly one shot when the ball bounces off the ground a millimetre in front of your own feet and hits you?

If a batsman destroys his own wicket, for instance because he becomes incredibly angry because he has again failed to hit the ball or loses his patience after four days of play, he is out and – voilà – there were only five left.

Although this is unlikely, because cricket is a very civilized game. Also obstructing the bowling and fielding side means dismissal – there were only four.

The same fate awaits a player when he touches the ball twice. A bad shot is a bad shot, and it can not be improved. Only three batsmen left.

Unless the last one proved that he really only wanted to defend his wicket with the second hit. Then he may stay in. But suppose his reasoning was flawed: then only two players need to be eliminated. The end is near, but it gets complicated!

… there were only two more …

It is hot, terribly hot, the sweat is not dripping from the forehead, it is flowing. Four days of playing are behind the boys. The brain suffers from the sun, the sense of balance as well. That’s how you could imagine it. The ball flies, the batsman tries to beat, staggers, steps in front of the line, but failed to hit! The wicket keeper catches the ball and thus destroys the wicket before the batsman is back behind the line. Oh dear – there were only two left.

The next bowl. Temperatures just do not drop and concentration decreases. The batsman misses the ball again, but his leg is in the way and fends off the ball. Bingo – this batsman is also eliminated.

Namely, if the batsman misses the ball but the ball would have hit the wicket, if it had not been stopped by the batsman’s body, then the batman is out. LBW, ‘Leg before wicket’, is the name of this variant because it is usually the leg of the batsman blocking the way. Now there is only one left and that is the end of the innings (that’s what one of the divisions of a cricket match is called, during which one team takes its turn to bat).

Now, the two teams swap their tasks and complete their innings as bowling/fielding or batting team. A match can consist of two or four innings.