Cricket requires a few pieces of specialized equipment to play with safety. At the bare minimum, 6 stumps, 4 bails, 2 cricket bats and 1 ball are required. These days, all teams have uniforms, but in the olden days, all uniforms were white. However, white uniforms are sometimes used in test matches these days.
- Stumps and bails are wooden pieces that are assembled to create the wicket, one of the most important objects in cricket. Setting up wickets is described in greater detail at the end of this section.
- The cricket bat is a large bat made of willow wood that is flat on one side and bulged on the other, for strength. The ball should be hit with the flat part of the bat for the best distance on a hit. If the ball is hit with the bulged side of the bat, then the runs will not be counted.
- The cricket ball is similar to a baseball in size and composition, but is sewn in a straight line rather than a tennis ball pattern, creating 2 equal hemispheres separated by stitching. Cricket balls are traditionally red with white stitching; in modern times, white balls are sometimes used for better visibility during “limited over” games (which generally go into the night), where coloured uniforms are worn rather than the traditional white.
- Cricket uniforms consist of long pants, a shirt (which may be long- or short-sleeved), and shoes. Most cricket players wear cleats (spike-tread shoes) for better grip on the field, but it isn’t required. In games with a traditional red ball, outfits must always be white or off-white. Team colours may be used for games with white balls.
- The wicket-keeper (a ball catcher) is allowed to wear safety equipment similar to that of a baseball catcher’s: webbed mitts, shin guards, and a helmet. No other player is allowed to wear protective equipment in the field unless they are close to the batsmen in which case they get to wear a helmet and shin guards.
Basic Rules of Cricket Game
- Cricket rules are not that complicated to understand. Cricket involves basic equipment – the ball, the bat, and accessories. These are the ABCs of cricket and will help you understand the rest of the rules.
- Cricket is a team game played between two teams of 11 players each. The 11 players constitute batsmen, bowlers and a wicket keeper.
- The match is usually played on a large circular or oval shaped ground. There is also a smaller inner oval with a 22 yard pitch at the centre. At each end of the pitch is a set of three wickets with two wooden bails atop them.
- The match is broken down into separate sections called balls, which is one delivery of the ball bowled by a bowler to a batsman. Six of these balls form an over.
- An innings is made of a specific number of overs or a certain amount of time. A one day international match consists of 50 overs per innings, a twenty twenty international match consists of 20 overs per innings whereas a test match is limited to a certain number of days which is 5 with 90 overs to be played on each day.
- During the innings, the batting team will have two batsmen on the pitch while the 11 players of the opposing team, who are the bowling team, will have their players at various parts of the field as fielders. One of them will be bowling the ball and another one will be a wicket-keeper and will be stationed behind the wicket.
- The match will also have two on-field umpires that make the decisions of the game. There is also a third umpire that monitors the game through a screen and helps with uncertain or close decisions.
