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cricket gloves for a number of publications. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full. ">Cricket, the favourite summertime sport of England, remains a mystery in many other countries of the world. Here, we take a look at the basics to give you a flavour of the game. Cricket is a sport that has a massive worldwide following, largely among countries that were once part of the British Empire. At international level, the major cricketing nations include England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies. There are a number of different formats of the game, which is part of what leads many to become confused over the way that it is played. Let's take a look at the one-day version of the game. The game is a competition between two teams, who each have the opportunity to bat during a match for a certain time period. That time period is defined by the number of balls (deliveries) that they face. Each time will face a maximum number of balls, typically 300. In cricketing terminology, a member of the fielding team (the bowler) bowls six balls in succession (known as an 'over'). So the 300 balls is often expressed as 50 overs (50 lots of 6). During the 50 overs, the batsmen attempt to score runs, while the fielding team attempt to restrict the number of runs scored. They can achieve this by blocking the ball after the batsman strikes it, thus restricting the time available for the batsmen to run. Runs can also be restricted by getting the batsman 'out'. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, but chiefly by knocking over the bowler's stumps ('bowled'), catching the ball after the batsman strikes it with his bat ('caught') or striking the batsman on his leg when the ball would otherwise have hit the stumps ('leg before wicket'). Once the batting team lose 10 wickets (that is, they have 10 batsmen out) or reach the end of their allotted 50 overs, whichever comes the sooner, their innings is at an end. The opposition team then have their opportunity to bat, aiming to reach the total number of runs set both before the 50 overs is up and before they lose 10 wickets. This is, by necessity, an abridged version of the rules of the game. The game itself has a large number of intricacies and alterations that mean that it can seem more complicated. Despite this, the beginner's guide should allow you to watch a game of cricket and have some understanding as to what is going on. You can learn the different rules, variations and terms as you go along, but this should provide a starting point. Good luck with enjoying the game of cricket! Keith Barrett has written about cricket and cricket gloves for a number of publications. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full.
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