Cricket

 International Cricket Council

 The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and adopted its current name in 1987. The ICC has its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The ICC has 108 member nations currently: 12 Full Members that play Test matches, and 96 Associate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket’s major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup, and ICC World Test Championship. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. It promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for international cricket, and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

The ICC does not control bilateral fixtures between member countries (which include all Test matches), and neither does it govern domestic cricket within member countries. It does not make or alter the laws of the game, which have remained under the governance of the Marylebone Cricket Club since 1788.

What is cricket detail?

Cricket is played with a bat and ball and involves two competing sides (teams) of 11 players. As there are 11 players on a team and 2 of them must be the bowler and wicketkeeper, only 9 other positions can be occupied at any one time.

THE BALL :

  The ball once presumably a stone, has remained much the same since the 17th century. Its modern weight of between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (156 and 163 grams) was established in 1774.

Play of the game

Field of play, equipment, and dress

Cricket grounds vary in size from great arenas, such as the main playing area at Lord’s in London (5.5 acres [2.2 hectares]) and the even larger Melbourne Cricket Ground, to village greens and small meadows. Level turf of fine texture is the ideal surface, but where this is unavailable any artificial covered surface—such as coir (fibre) matting or artificial turf on a firm base—may be used. The limits of the playing area are usually marked by a boundary line or fence.

A wicket consists of three stumps, or stakes, each 28 inches (71.1 cm) high and of equal thickness (about 1.25 inches in diameter), stuck into the ground and so spaced that the ball cannot pass between them. Two pieces of wood called bails, each 4.37 inches (11.1 cm) long, lie in grooves on the tops of the stumps. The bails do not extend beyond the stumps and do not project more than half an inch above them. The whole wicket is 9 inches (22.86 cm) in width. There are two of these wickets, which a batsman defends and a bowler attacks, and they are approximately in the centre of the ground, facing one another at each end of the pitch.

Lines of whitewash demarcate the creases at each wicket: the bowling crease is a line drawn through the base of the stumps and extending 4.33 feet (1.32 metres) on either side of the centre stump; the return crease is a line at each end of and at right angles to the bowling crease, extending behind the wicket; and the popping crease is a line parallel with the bowling crease and 4 feet in front of it. The bowling and return creases mark the area within which the bowler’s rear foot must be grounded in delivering the ball; the popping crease, which is 62 feet (18.9 metres) from the opposing bowling crease, demarks the batsman’s ground. When a batsman is running between wickets, the crease represents the area in which he is “safe” (in baseball parlance) and only a cricketer’s bat need be in the crease; thus a batsman will often place just the tip of the bat over the line of the crease and then begin to run for the opposite wicket.

The blade of the paddle-shaped bat is made of willow and must not be broader than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm). The length of the bat, including the handle, must not exceed 38 inches (96.5 cm). The ball, which has a core of cork built up with string, was traditionally encased in polished red leather, although white is now frequently used, especially for night games. The halves of the ball are sewn together with a raised seam (the seam being like the equator on a globe, not like the curved seam of a baseball or tennis ball). Slightly smaller, harder, and heavier than a baseball, it must weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (156 and 163 grams) and measure between 8.8 and 9 inches (22.4 and 22.9 cm) in circumference. In the early days of cricket it was common to use the same ball for an entire match, which allowed for pitches with more swerve and movement as the match wore on. Even today a cricket ball may stay in play for an entire day of a match, and, as the ball gets more used, it is progressively more difficult to hit.

Cricket attire has evolved with men’s fashion. In the 18th century cricketers wore tricorne hats, knee breeches, silk stockings, and shoes with buckles. More colourful dress was common on the field in the 18th century, and only in the late 19th century did the uniform long associated with cricket arrive: white flannel trousers with a white shirt and V-necked sweater, the sweater often trimmed with club colours. Players have worn a myriad of hat styles, including top hats and straw hats, but in the 1880s the coloured cap became the norm. White buckskin shoes also became popular for men in the 1880s, and cricketers then adopted the white shoes (known, however, as boots) that are traditionally worn with flannels. In a break with tradition, late 20th-century players began to wear brightly coloured clothing to differentiate between teams on the grounds. By the 21st century the predominant outfit for cricket was a loose-fitting polo shirt (either short- or long-sleeved) with matching trousers and spiked cleats for traction.

With the advent of fast bowling, cricketers adopted protective dress. The batsman wears white pads (leg guards), an abdominal protector, and batting gloves to protect the fingers; batsmen may also wear helmets and other protection. The wicketkeeper also wears pads and reinforced gauntlets (the other fielders do not wear gloves).

Rules of the game

One player on each team acts as captain. There are two umpires—one standing behind the bowler’s wicket, the other at the position called square leg about 15 yards from the batsman’s popping crease (see the figure)—to control the game according to the laws; two scorers record its progress. The object of the game is for one side to score more runs than the other.

At the start of a match, the captain who wins the toss of a coin decides whether his own or the other side shall take first innings—i.e., proceed successively as batsmen, the first two as a pair together, to the wicket and try to make as many runs as possible against the bowling and fielding of their opponents. There are three methods by which an innings is completed: (1) when 10 batsmen have been dismissed (the remaining batsman, having no partner, is declared “not out”); (2) when the captain of the batting side declares his innings closed before all 10 men are out (a captain may decide to declare if his team has a large lead in runs and he fears that the innings will continue so long that the opposing team will not have time to get in their full innings and the game will therefore be a draw); or (3) in a match of one innings a side, when the allotted number of overs expires. Results are recorded by the margin of runs or, if the side batting last passes the other side’s total before all their batsmen have been dismissed, by the number of their wickets (i.e., batsmen still to be dismissed) outstanding.

Matches are decided either by the number of runs scored in one innings each (usually for one-day matches) or on the aggregate of runs made by each side in two innings. Test matches last five days (30 playing hours), other first-class matches from three to four days, and the bulk of club, school, and village matches one day.

The nonbatting side takes up positions in the field. One man is the bowler (similar to the pitcher in baseball), another is the wicketkeeper (similar to the catcher), and the remaining nine are positioned as the captain or the bowler directs (see the figure). The first batsman (the striker) guards his wicket by standing with at least one foot behind the popping crease. His partner (the nonstriker) waits behind the popping crease at the bowler’s end. The bowler tries to hit the batsman’s wicket or to dismiss him in other ways.

Matches are decided either by the number of runs scored in one innings each (usually for one-day matches) or on the aggregate of runs made by each side in two innings. Test matches last five days (30 playing hours), other first-class matches from three to four days, and the bulk of club, school, and village matches one day.

The nonbatting side takes up positions in the field. One man is the bowler (similar to the pitcher in baseball), another is the wicketkeeper (similar to the catcher), and the remaining nine are positioned as the captain or the bowler directs (see the figure). The first batsman (the striker) guards his wicket by standing with at least one foot behind the popping crease. His partner (the nonstriker) waits behind the popping crease at the bowler’s end. The bowler tries to hit the batsman’s wicket or to dismiss him in other ways.

Runs

The batsman tries to keep the bowler from hitting the wicket, while also trying to hit the ball sufficiently hard to score a run, i.e., enable him to run to the other end of the pitch before any fieldsman can pick up the ball and throw it to either wicket to knock off the bails. If the wicket is broken, either by a thrown ball or by the wicketkeeper or bowler with ball in hand, before either batsman is in his ground, the batsman is dismissed. The striker does not have to run after he has hit the ball, nor does it count in any way if he misses the ball or if his body is struck by it. But if he gets a good hit and thinks he can score a run, he races for the opposite wicket and his partner runs toward him. When each has made good his ground by touching his bat beyond the popping crease at the opposite end, one run is recorded to the striker; if there is time, each will run back for a second or more runs, crossing again. If an even number of runs is scored, the striker will receive the next ball; if an odd number, then the nonstriker will be at the wicket opposite the bowler and will face the next ball. Any runs thus made count to the batsman, otherwise they are extras. When a ball from a hit or any of the extras mentioned below goes as far as the boundary, the runners stop and four runs are scored. If the batsman hits the ball full pitch over the boundary (on the fly), he scores six runs.

Extras

Only runs scored from the bat count to the batsman, but to the side’s score may be added the following extras: (1) byes (when a ball from the bowler passes the wicket without being touched by the bat and the batsmen are able to make good a run); (2) leg byes (when in similar circumstances the ball has touched any part of the batsman’s body except his hand); (3) wides (when a ball passes out of reach of the striker); (4) no balls (improperly bowled balls; for a fair delivery the ball must be bowled, not thrown, the arm neither bent nor jerked, and in the delivery stride some part of the bowler’s front foot must be behind or covering the popping crease), off which a batsman cannot be out (except as noted under Methods of dismissal below) and which, apprised in time by the umpire’s cry of “no ball,” he may try to hit.

Overs

When a bowler has bowled six balls (occasionally, eight balls), not counting wides and no balls, he has completed an over. The batsmen remain where they are and a new over is begun by a different bowler at the opposite wicket, with a corresponding adjustment of the positions of the players in the field. If a bowler delivers a complete over without a run being scored from the bat (even though the opponents may have scored extras by means of byes or leg byes), he has achieved a maiden over. In one-day cricket, no bowler is allowed to bowl more than 10 overs in a 50-over match.

Methods of dismissal

It is important to remember that in cricket, unlike in baseball, a batsman need not hit the ball bowled at him to maintain his at bat. Further, should the batsman hit the ball and, in his judgment, be unable to reach the other wicket before a fieldsman can handle the ball, he may stay put at his wicket and no penalty occurs. The batsman’s primary task is to defend the wicket, not to get hits or score runs. That being said, there are 10 ways in which a batsman or striker can be dismissed (put out); they are listed from most common to least:

1. The batsman is “caught out” if a ball hit by the batsman is caught before it touches the ground.
2. He is “bowled out” if the bowler breaks the wicket, i.e., dislodges a bail with the ball, which includes when the batsman hits the ball into his own wicket.
3. The batsman is out “leg before wicket” (lbw) if he intercepts with any part of his person (except his hand) that is in line between wicket and wicket a ball that has not first touched his bat or his hand and that has or would have pitched (hit the ground) in a straight line between the wickets or on the off side provided the ball would have hit the wicket. The batsman may also be out lbw if he intercepts the ball outside the off-side stump having made no genuine attempt to play the ball with his bat.
4. Either batsman is out by a “run out” if, while the ball is in play, his wicket is broken while he is out of his ground (that is, he does not have at least his bat in the crease). If the batsmen have passed each other, the one running for the wicket that is broken is out; if they have not crossed, the one running from that wicket is out.
5. He is “stumped” if, in playing a stroke, he is outside the popping crease (out of his ground) and the wicket is broken by the wicketkeeper with ball in hand.
6. The batsman is out “hit wicket” if he breaks his own wicket with his bat or any part of his person while playing the ball or setting off for a run.
7. Either batsman is out for handling the ball if, with the hand not holding the bat, he willfully touches the ball while it is in play, unless with the consent of the opposing side.
8. A batsman is out if he hits the ball, except in defense of his wicket, after it has been struck or stopped by any part of his person.
9. Either batsman is out if he willfully obstructs the opposite side by word or action.
10. An incoming batsman is “timed out” if he willfully takes more than two minutes to come in.