By Rishita Sarin

Cricket, the second most popular game in the world, is played by both women and men internationally. The ICC, International Cricket Council, consists of ten full member countries, 38 associate members, and 57 affiliate members.

According to the artifacts and documents found, cricket was supposedly discovered by the British in the early 16th century.  With the exception of the United States, cricket is extremely popular in most countries that were  previously under the British rule. People in the United States used to be engaged in cricket, until baseball came along. Baseball started to gain more popularity. Ever since, cricket has not been as popular as it was, and has not made a major comeback in the U.S.

Some of the most famous cricketers of all time are Chris Gayle, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahid Afridi, Malinga, Stafanie Taylor, and Mithali Raj.

With these cricketers making cricket globally famous, here are some of the basic rules of cricket. This game is played between two teams, each consisting of 11 players.

In the beginning of any given game, the captains from both teams hold a coin toss. The winning captain decides if his team will bowl or bat first. Each team gets a chance to bowl, a.k.a. field, and bat. An innings is  “one of the divisions of a match during which one team takes its turn to bat.”

At any given time, there are two batsmen, one bowler, one wicketkeeper, and nine fielders on the field, along with two umpires. The two batsmen are from one team, and the bowler, wicket keeper, and fielders, are from the opponent team. A wicketkeeper resembles a catcher in baseball.  An umpire is just like a referee who ensures that the game is played fairly.

After every over, “set of six balls bowled from one end of a cricket pitch,” a new bowler is designated. In each innings, there may be a specific amount of overs. For example, in the T20 tournament, each innings consists of 20 overs. Each over consists of six balls, Henceforth, each team receives to play 120 balls in total. The amount of overs may vary, but the balls in an over do not change.

The goal of cricket, just like most games, is to try to make a score that the other team can not beat. The batsman on strike, hits the ball delivered by the bowler. If the ball bounces and hits  or crosses the boundary of the playing field, four points, known as runs, are added to the total score. If the ball does not bounce and crosses the boundary of the playing field, six runs are added. Points may also be added by running the length of the pitch (a strip of the cricket field between the wickets).  Both batsmen exchange positions and ground their bats past the crease (the white line on each side of the pitch). Each crossing and change in position by both the batsmen is equal to one run. Batsmen have a choice to decide if they want to take one run, multiple runs, or none at all. The batsmen can also change their mind and run back to their side of the pitch.

Resembling most games, the fielding team has a chance to control the score of the opposite team by dismissal. Some of the most common ways to get a batsmen out are, caught out, caught and bowled and caught behind.

If the ball hit by the batsman does not bounce and is caught by a fielder, it is considered a caught out. Somewhat similar to that, if the ball does not bounce and is caught by the bowler, it is considered a caught and bowled. Furthermore, in the same circumstance, if the wicket keeper catches the ball, it is consider a caught behind.

Some other ways that lead to the dismissal of a batsman are known as run out and stumped. If the batsman himself and his bat are not behind the crease, the wicketkeeper can hit the wicket, a wooden target consisting of  “three vertical stumps supporting two small horizontal bails.”and cause it to fall and the batsman is considered stumped. If the batsmen decide run the length of the pitch, and the wicketkeeper  hits the wicket before the batsman or his bat touches the crease, he is considered run out.

If one batsman is out, another takes his place and the innings continues until ten batsmen are out or if all the balls are played. After the end of one innings, the roles switch and the fielders become batsmen and vise-versa.

To enjoy live feeds and/or watch Cricket live, one can log on to cricinfo.com or simply tune to Willow Cricket or ESPN. The Massachusetts State Cricket League and the Commonwealth Cricket Club are some places in Massachusetts where one can participate in the game, or simply watch it. Some of the players, here in Westborough, said that “We play cricket because it is both exciting and fun! It can get tense and competitive sometimes, making it even more enjoyable!”