Cricket can be traced back to the 16th century where it originated in the southwest of Britain.  Having its beginnings in England, cricket naturally grew with the expansion of the British Empire.  It’s not surprising, then, that the sport remains popular in areas of the world once ruled by the British such as India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The object of cricket is for your team to score more runs than your team's opponent.  One team will bat first, and the other team will field first. The batting team tries to score as many runs as possible in the allotted time while the bowling team will try to contain them by fielding the ball. The teams then swap, and the second team batting will try to outscore the runs their opponents scored. If they can’t do that they lose; if they can, they win.

Before understanding how runs are scored, it’s best to learn some cricket terminology.

 

Pitch: a strip of hardened turf 22 yards long in the center of an oval-shaped field which has a circumference of 200 meters

Batsman: this player stands in front of the wicket waiting to strike the ball when it comes near him; there are two batsmen blocking the wickets on either side of the pitch

Crease: the place where a batsman stands when he faces a bowler; the line on the pitch near the wickets over which a batsman must pass to score a run

Run: when both batsmen run from one end of the pitch to the other passing each other in the middle to safely reach the other end

Wicket: the three tubular stakes (“stumps”) planted in the turf upon which two small pieces of wood called “bails” are balanced; there are two wickets on opposite sides of the pitch

Bowler: this player throws (“bowls”) a hardball the size of a fist at the batsman

Catch: when a fielder catches a batsman’s hit before it hits the ground

Over: when a bowler bowls six overarm balls, then returns to his fielding duties and another bowler bowls from the other end of the pitch

In cricket, a run is scored when a batsman hits the ball with his bat, and the two batsmen at each end of the pitch successfully run to the other end.  Depending on how far the ball is hit, the batsmen can run as many times as they like before the ball is thrown back to the pitch.

Four runs are automatically given if the hit ball bounces at least once and then crosses the boundary of the field.  If the batsman hits the ball over the boundary without bouncing, he gets six runs for his team.

There are other, less common ways to score runs, too. When the bowler bowls a wide delivery (a ball that is too far away from the stumps), a run can be scored. If the bowler oversteps the front line on the wicket, a "no ball" is declared and a run is taken. If the ball hits the batsmen’s leg or body a "leg bye" is called and a run is taken.

A batsman can be given out in several ways.  He can be bowled (when the ball hits the wicket), caught (when a fielder catches the ball without it bouncing), stumped (the wicketkeeper strikes the stumps with his gloves with ball in hand while the batsman is outside of the crease), hit wicket (the batsmen hits his own wicket). In addition, the umpire can rule the batsman had a “leg before wicket” (when the ball hits the batsmen’s pads impeding its line into the stumps) and therefore is given out.

Umpires play an important role in cricket. There are two umpires on the field during a game. They determine whether a batsman is out or not, and decide whether a bowl is legal or not. Umpires also keep track of the number of balls a bowler delivers and tells them when an over has finished. Umpires also judge whether a batsman has been "run out" by ruling whether he has reached the crease before the ball hits the wicket.

Cricket is a great team sport which can be enjoyed by people of all ages.