Cricket is a game played by 2 teams and each team has 11 players. It is played on a pitch with stumps on each end. Stumps are like three sticks of equal length. They are also called wickets. On the top of the wickets there are 2 pieces of wood called bales. The wickets are fixed into the pitch.

Around the pitch is an oval field, laid with grass. A team consists of batsmen, bowlers, a wicket-keeper and all-rounders. The game is played with a cork ball, either red or white in colour and a bat. The game is played in this way:

At one end of the pitch there stands a bowler.

At the other end is a batsman holding a bat. At the bowler’s end is the runner, the other batsman. The bowler runs from a distance and throws the ball. It is called bowling. But he has to be careful and step on or within a line drawn on the pitch known as crease. Otherwise the ball will not be counted and it will become a no-ball. And the batsman gets a free hit of 1 run. In cricket, the score is measured is measured by runs (example: 241 runs). Like that the batsman has to hit the ball and he and the runner should start running. They have to be quick or they will be run out.

The fielders should grab the ball and throw it to the wicket keeper behind the batsman and he should hit the stumps. If the two batsmen make it to the crease before the keeper hits the stumps their team gets 1 run and if they run back without becoming out they get 2 runs. And, when the bowler bowls the batsman should also stay in the crease or the keeper catches the ball and hits the stumps and the batsman is stumped.

The batting team loses one wicket. Each team has 10 wickets. If the batting team loses all wickets or if the bowlers finish bowling their team has to bat. If the batting team has scored 246 runs the opponent’s target is 247. The number of times the bowler bowls the ball are called balls. Note that 6 balls is 1 over. In a cricket match, the bowlers have to bowl a number of overs like 20 and 50. But in a test match, the limit is 10 wickets, unlimited number of overs.

If the batting team loses all wickets before all overs are finished then it is called all-out and the bowlers have to bat. The batsman will be out in these ways: Stumped, bowled, caught and run out. Bowled is when the bowler bowls the ball and it hits the wickets. Caught is when the batsman hits the ball and the fielders catch it without a bounce.

When the batsman misses the ball, the keeper should catch it. Then the batsman does not get a run and it is a dot ball. But if the keeper misses the ball one of the fielders should catch it before it rolls to the boundary and the batsman gets 4 byes (runs). In the same way, if batsman hits the ball to the boundary with 1 or many bounces he gets 4 runs. But if he hits the ball to the boundary without a bounce or into the audience, he gets six runs. And of course, around the field is the audience, very excited.

In cricket matches, the crowds are 20,000 to 30,000 people. Sometimes cricket matches sweep the audience of their feet. Well, that is cricket-an amazing game.

This is a cricket pitch.