The Game of Cricket -- An American’s Explanation

I first encountered Cricket when I traveled to India in 2007. When I arrived in my destination city, Pune, a few hours east of Mumbai, I noticed that in almost every open space there was a ball game. Cricket. I was intrigued, and there my journey started. The 2007 Cricket World Cup was under way in the West Indies and in the departure lounge in Kolkata, I watched the match without comprehension.

Since then, I have spent many hours with my Indian and English friends and colleagues watching the sport and having them explain it to me. I'm certainly not an expert, but I am a fan and believe I understand the game. The following explanation will be as basic as I can keep it. I ask for forgiveness for any unclarity or errors.

We will start with the field. A cricket field or oval, is a close to circular ellipse. Here is a rough drawing (it's mine, no copyright issues).

The outer edge is the boundary, the limits to the field of play. The action starts in the center of the oval, in a rectangle of flattened grass called the pitch. At either end of the pitch are three sticks (called stumps) stuck in the ground that together make the wicket.

The batting team has two players, batsmen, in the oval, one at each end of the pitch by the wicket. The bowling team has 11 players in the oval, with one being the bowler (pitcher, in baseball terms) and another being the wicketkeeper (catcher).

The basic play of the game starts when the bowler throws (bowls) the ball in line with the pitch from one wicket to the batsman at the other end. The batsman uses his bat to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket and to score runs. Whichever team scores the most runs before being out or before the end of their innings wins the game. I'll try to explain.

Runs are scored in several ways.

• The batsman hits the ball and the two batsmen on the field run between the wickets, exchanging positions at the wickets. One run is scored for each time they exchange positions.
• The batsman hits the ball and it goes to the boundary: If the ball hits the ground before it reaches the boundary, that scores four runs. If the ball flies over the boundary, that scores six runs.
• If the bowler bowls a "wide" (think of it as a "ball" in baseball) it scores a run.

Outs, also called wickets, are also made in several ways.

• The batsman misses the ball and it hits the stumps/wicket behind him, he is out.
• The batsman hits the ball in the air and it is caught, he is out.
• If the batsman misses the ball and his legs block the ball from hitting the wicket, he is out. This is called "leg before wicket."
• If while the batsmen are running between the wickets, the bowling team hits the wicket with the ball before the batsman gets back by the wicket, the batsman is out. This is called "being run out."

In the current T20 World Cup, matches consist of two innings. In each inning, one team will bat and the other will bowl until either all the bowling team players are out or a set number of overs is complete. An over is simply six balls bowled to the batsmen by the bowler. Teams are allowed 10 wickets (outs) per innings. Once a player is out, they are out for the entire inning. Teams work their way through their 11-man roster in the course of an inning. In T20 Cricket, the format played in the current World Cup, the two innings are limited to a maximum of 20 overs.

Before a match begins, a coin is tossed and the winner decides to either bowl or bat first. The bat-first team bats, scoring as many runs as they can, until either 10 players are out or they complete 20 overs. Then the bowl-first team comes to bat, scoring as many runs as they can, until either they exceed the score of the first team, have 10 players out, or complete 20 overs. If the bowl-first team scores more runs than the bat-first team, the bowl-first team wins. If the bowl-first team does not score more runs than the bat-first team, the bat-first team wins.

Should the match end in a tie, as the USA-Pakistan match did on June 6, they play what is called a super-over. Each team bats and bowls one over and the high score wins the match. (That is, each team bowls six balls to the other and the high score wins.) If the super-over is tied, they play another super-over until someone breaks it.

I have omitted many details in an effort to provide a basic understanding of the game. I hope gives you a basis for enjoying one of the upcoming matches. USA faces South Africa on Wednesday, June 19 at 7:30 am PDT. Matches can be seen on the Willow streaming service in the USA and Canada willow.tv. Other territory broadcasts are listed on the ICC website.