
2 minute read
A Beginner’s Guide to Cricket
from The Stag Issue 6
by TheStag.
SPORT A Beginner’s Guide to Cricket
If you’re anything like me you are relieved to finally be back outside enjoying playing and watching sports. A very popular sport at the college is cricket in which we have exceptional First and Second teams often playing on college field. If you are unfamiliar to the rules of cricket and confused by the strange mannerisms, I have got you covered!
Advertisement
Did you know?
As you may well know, cricket is a sport played by two opposing sides usually formed of 11 players on each team, although recreational cricket can be played with as many or few people as you wish. Club cricket is usually played on a cricket ground, a large stretch of flat grass and has a pitch positioned in the middle of the field. Both teams take it in turns batting and fielding with players batting in pairs at either wicket, the stumps spaced 22 yards apart. Runs are scored by players on the batting side running between the wickets without being “stumped out”. Teams bat until they have either completed their overs or 10 batsmen have been “dismissed” by the fielding side. An “over” consists of six balls delivered by a bowler from the fielding team. The team with the highest number of runs at the end of the game are the winners.
You may have heard cricketers shouting “Howzat” during a game. This is an abbreviated form of “how’s that?”. This is to appeal a dismissal of a batsman, asking if the player is out or not. Without this appeal, the umpires can not mark a batsman out even if she or he should be.
10 ways to be dismissed in cricket:
Caught Bowled Out leg before wicket Run out
Stumped Hit wicket Handling the ball Hitting the ball twice Obstructing the field Timed out
SPORT

Cricket can be adapted to play in any space with any variety of age groups, here’s a few variations you may recognise, and may have played yourself: Lord’s game Pairs cricket Continuous cricket Diamond cricket
[pictured] A diagram of diamond cricket in which a ball is bowled to one player. If hit, all players must run in an anti- clockwise direction without being dismissed.
