You might not be surprised that Soccer is the World’s most popular sport… but can you believe that Cricket, according to Wikipedia, is the second most played and watched sport in the world. Cricket is like baseball; a pitcher throws a ball to the batter who hits it and runs to score points. But cricket is also very different from baseball and can be very complicated if you don’t know what the rules are. So let’s take some Cricket 101 and get into the game!
The Field
Showdown
The game takes place on a big oval field of grass about 300 yards long. In the middle of the field there is a 22-yard long strip of gravel called the pitch. This is where the bowler throws the ball at the batsmen who tries to hit the ball and score runs. The bowler is trying to hit three long sticks (called the stumps) to get the batsman out. The batsman is trying to hit the ball far into the field so he can score points.
Scoring Points
The Pitch
There are actually two batsmen that take the pitch at the same time. They both stand in a small zone called the crease at either end of the pitch. If the batsman hits the ball, they can score points by both running to each other’s crease. Every time they trade creases, they score one point for their team. If the batsman hit the ball into the field and it bounce out of the field’s boundary line, he scores an automatic 4 points. If the batsman hits the ball out of the field’s boundary without hitting the ground, he scores 6 points.
Playing the field
Fun in the Field
The bowler starts by running with the ball and pitching it as hard as he can. He is trying to hit the stumps to dismiss the batter. He gets 6 balls (or chances to throw at the stumps), and if he succeeds, the batsman has to leave the field and is replaced by one of his teammates. If the bowler is unsuccessful after 6 balls, someone else must bowl at the other batsman. The bowler doesn’t have to hit the stumps to dismiss the batsmen; there are several other ways:
- If the batsmen hits the ball and a defender in the field catches the ball before it hits the ground.
- If the batsman is outside of his crease, and a defender hits the stumps with the ball
- If the batsman hits the stump with his bat trying to hit the ball
Twenty20 World Cup
Twenty20
The Twenty20 World Cup is taking place right now with 12 countries playing the preliminary round robin tournament. The round robin will be followed by single game knockouts just like the way World Cup soccer is played. If you would like to check out the action, visit CRICKET20
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