🏏Rules Cricket

Cricket is a team bat-and-ball sport between two sides of eleven players on an oval field with a central rectangular strip called the pitch. The teams take turns batting to score points (runs) while the other side bowls and fields to limit the score and dismiss the batters. The sport is played in several formats of very different lengths.

The batting team aims to score as many runs as possible, while the fielding team tries to limit those runs and dismiss the opposing batters. The team that scores the most runs wins.

• •Two teams of 11 players compete; each side takes turns batting and fielding (an innings).
• •The bowler delivers the ball toward the batter, who defends the wicket (stumps).
• •An over is six legal deliveries; the bowler then changes, as does the end of the pitch.
• •Two batters are in play at once and run between the wickets to score runs.
• •A ball reaching the boundary along the ground is worth 4 runs, or 6 if it clears it without bouncing.
• •A dismissed batter is replaced; the innings ends per the format or when 10 batters are out.

Runs are scored when both batters swap positions by running between the wickets; each completed exchange is worth 1 run. A ball struck to the boundary scores 4 runs (along the ground) or 6 runs (in the air without bouncing). Extra runs (extras) are awarded to the batting side for certain bowling faults such as a wide or a no-ball. A team's score is shown as runs scored and wickets lost (e.g. 250/4).

The format sets the length: a Test can last up to 5 days with two innings per side; an ODI is 50 overs per side; a T20 is 20 overs. Many club or amateur formats also exist (limited overs or timed). Always confirm the format before playing, as the number of overs and side rules depend on it.

The team with the higher total of runs wins the match. If the totals finish exactly level with the innings completed, the result is a tie; some competitions use a Super Over to decide it. In Tests, a match not finished in the allotted time is a draw, whatever the scores.