GAME OF CRICKET

Game of Cricket

Cricket is a sport known for its amazing beauty, changeable affluence and enticing anticipation. It is well-liked with men and women of all age and almost all period. On every occasion of a cricket match, public crowd the sports ground in thousands or sit adhesive to their television sets for days. The word cricket came from French word criquit.

Basics of Cricket - The Pitch

Though the games have fun and rules are very different, the essential notion of cricket is similar to that of baseball. Teams bat in consecutive innings and attempt to score battle while the divergent team fields and attempts to bring an end to the batting team's innings. After each team has batted an identical number of innings the team with the most runs wins. To play cricket the vital thing needed is a bat and a ball. The middle of the field is a rectangular area of 22 meters called a pitch. The area is typically around 450 feet by 500 feet. The pitch is marked by lines called creases, and at each end it contains a wicket. On the equal sides of pitch there are three wood sticks known as wickets, which are 28 inch long and 9 inch wide. Each stump is 31 inches, the length of with one pointed end and one rounded end.

On the rounded end of each stump is cut a half-inch channel in which the two residual pieces of wood are placed these two small, cylindral objects, called bails are what the bowler is in the aim on knocking off. The wicket must be 71 cm high and 23 cm wide for legal play. There are two creases, bowling and popping. Creases are drawn by the chalk or whitewash line about 11/2 inches wide. The bowling crease is pinched in the straight line with the three stumps measuring four feet on each side of the two end stumps. The popping crease is drawn parallel to and four feet in front on the first line

Rules

Cricket is a squad activity for two teams of eleven players each. In each team there are five special batsman and there job is to hit the bowling assault of opposite players. These batmen only bat and generally they don't bowl. After these 5 batsmen, there is wicket keeper. He is merely a wicket keeper and batsman and he don't bowl. After those 5 batsmen, there are 2 all rounder's. All rounder in cricket is that a player which also bats and also bowl. After all rounder, four specialist bowlers are put in the order. These bowlers with all rounders hit the batting of opposite squad. In a cricket match at a time a bowler can bowl only 6 balls and then another man bowl 6 balls. These 6 balls are known as one over. In this way a 50 over match is played. Each bowler is not given more than ten overs in a match.

Umpires

In cricket three umpires will be present. Two umpires will be in the ground. One umpire stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end and the other stands in the square leg", position 15�20 metres to the side of the "on strike" batsman. Third umpire is not in ground instead he is in special chamber in stadium watching all game on screen. The third umpire has a special chamber in the stadium who watches the match in the screen. If the ground umpire's cannot solve the problem then the decision is taken by the third umpire by watching the replay. In cricket the decision of umpire's is absolute no matter it is wrong or correct.

Ball

A cricket ball is prepared from a core of cork, which is coated with tightly wound string. It is enclosed by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam. The covering is assembled of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a quartered orange. A cricket ball simply has one seam. The equator of the ball is sutured with string to form the seam, with a total of six rows of stitches. The lasting two joins between the leather pieces are left unstitched. The ball is only nine inches in circumference and only weighs between 5.5 � 5.75 ounces.

The shell of the ground where cricket ball is inclined matters a lot for the performance. This ball jumps a lot on a dry/hard pitch because of its hardness .If the pitch is wet/damp, this ball loses it bounce.

Weather plays an important factor on how the ball behaves. If the weather is sunny the ball will not move, and if it's windy the ball swings in air highly. Swing which is accomplished by keeping one side of the ball polished smooth and shiny and maintenance the other side rough, and delivering the ball with the polished side forward, and the seam angled in the direction of desired swing.

Bat

The cricket bat is elongated and flat, made of willow, and is fixed with a cane handle with a rubber grip. It cannot be longer than 97 cm (38 in) or wider than 11.5 cm (4.5 in), though it can be any weight .The shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (108 mm) wide and the total measurement lengthwise of the bat must be not more than 38 inches (970 mm).

Protective Gear

The batsmen wear shielding clothing including pads designed to protect the knees and shins batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers to protect the crotch area. A few batsmen wear extra padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads.

Clothing

Long pants, shirt probably a sleeveless or long-sleeved woollen pullover in cold weather. For sports event played with a red ball, the clothing must be white or cream. With a white ball, players generally wear uniforms in solid team colours. With addition to a hat or cap to keep the sun off. There are no regulations concerning spot marks or numbers on clothing.

Bowling

The fastest bowlers can carry the ball at a rate of over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) and they at times rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman. Some bowlers swing the bowl which is merely caught by the wicket keeper. The other type of the bowling scale is the "spinner" who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies completely on guile to betray the batsman. The bowling action of the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend more but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegitimately then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball .The modern laws allow a bowler to set straight his arm 15 degrees or less.

Fielding

All the eleven players take the fielding in the ground. Wicket-keeping is generally an expert occupation and his major job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He carries a special gloves, a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower leg.

BThe wicket keeper is the only person who can knock out the batsmen by stumping. The captain is the most imperative member of the fielding side as he agrees on all the tactics including who should bowl and he is responsible for "setting the field", though habitually in consultation with the bowler. During the match if a player gets injured a substitute can be placed in the position of the injured man. At once the person is cured with the injury the substitute leaves the ground. The substitute neither can bowl nor cannot act as a captain.

Batting

The squad batting always has two batsmen on the field. One takes position at the striker's end to secure the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner positioned at the bowling end and is known as the non-striker. Batsmen move toward to bat in a batting order, decisive by the team captain. The former two batsmen � the "openers" � usually face the aggressive bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The peak batting positions are usually given to the most skillful batsmen in the team, and the non-batsmen typically bat last. The pre-publicize batting order is not mandatory and when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next. If the ball strokes the side of the bat it is called an "edge". There is an ample range of shots played in cricket. The batsman's catalog includes strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction intended e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", "pull".

Runs

Scoring points in cricket is called runs. To score a run a striker must hit the ball in order to get a score by running from one end of the pitch to the other. To record a run, both runners must stroke the ground following the crease with either their bats or their bodies. Each finished run increments the score. Surplus run can be attained from a single hit. If the ball goes above the boundary, then four runs are scored, or six if the ball has not bounced. The batsmen do not have to to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary. If the striker hits the ball adequately, the batsmen may double back to score two or more runs. This is identified as running between wickets. If an odd number of runs are attained by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can achieve individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.

Extras

Bonus runs can be gained by the batting team as extras due to errors made by the fielding side.The four ways of extras are No ball, Wide, Byes, Leg byes.

No Ball : A penalty of one extra that is approved by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inapt arm action; (b) exceed the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In accumulation the bowler has to re-bowl the ball.

Wide

A penalty of one extra that is agreed by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled. The latter two are runs that can be scored if the batsmen fail to notice making contact with bat and ball.

Dismissals

A batsman is permitted to bat as long as he does not get out (dismissed). If the batsman is discharged another player from the batting team restores him until ten batsmen are out and the innings is over. There are ten ways of being dismissed.

Caught Bowled, Leg Before Wicket (LBW),Run Out,Stumped,Hit Wicket,Handled the Ball,Hit the Ball Twice,Obstructing the Field,Timed Out (3 minutes to replace dismissed batsman). A person cannot be out 'bowled', 'caught', 'leg before wicket', 'stumped', or 'hit wicket' off a no ball. He cannot be out 'bowled', 'caught', 'leg before wicket', or 'hit the ball twice' off a wide.

A batsman may depart the field without being dismissed when injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be substituted by the next batsman. This is witnessed as retired hurt or retired ill.

Results

If the squad that bats last is all out having gained fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by n runs". If the side that bats last achieve enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall.

In a two-innings-a-side contest, one team's collective first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The squad with the greater score is then said to have won by an innings and n runs, and does not need to bat again, n is the variation between the two team's aggregate scores.

If the squad batting last is all out, and both sides have attained the same number of runs, then the match is a tie. In the established form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the match is declared a draw.

During the match if weather forecast is bad and if it affects the game then it is calculated using the Duckworth-Lewis method. Cricket has its fame ever it started. The spectators enjoy every ball of the match. The intact atmosphere is filled with enthusiasm throughout the match. The game moves with speed and there is action all through. There is progress, spirit, action and fun all over the apprehended.