How to Watch Cricket Live

On a cricket field, cricket is a bat and ball game played between two teams and eleven players each with a target at each end called the wicket at the center of which is a rectangular 22 yard long generally 20 meters pitch where a set of three wooden stumps upon which two bails sit. The innings is called each phase of play during which one team bats, as many runs as possible for attempting to score, whilst their opponents team bowl and field and attempting to minimize scored the number of runs. The teams usually swap roles for the next innings when each innings ends. Depending on the type of match, the teams each bat for one or two innings. Including any extras gained, the winning team is the one that scores the most runs. 

With the winner deciding which team will bat first before a match begins, the two team captains meet on the pitch for the toss. All eleven players from the bowling/fielding side and two players from the batting side, and then enter the field, and play proceeds by a member of the fielding team known as the bowler, delivering the ball from one end of the pitch towards the wicket at the other end, which is guarded by one of the batsmen, known as the striker. If possible, while not being dismissed, the striker's role is to strike the ball well enough to score runs. The other batsman waits at the opposite end of the pitch near the bowler known as the non-striker. The objective of bowling team's s are to prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman. A dismissed batsman must leave the field to be replaced by a teammate, who is declared to be "out".

When the bowler hits the stumps directly with the ball and dislodges the bail(s), the most common forms of dismissal are bowled, and when the batsman prevents the ball from hitting the stumps with his body instead of his bat it called leg before wicket (lbw); and when the batsman hits the ball into the air and it is intercepted by a fielder before touching the ground, it called “Caught”.

Either by hitting the ball hard enough for it to cross the boundary, or by the two batsmen swapping ends, runs are scored by two main methods whilst the fielders are retrieving the ball by each simultaneously running on the length of the pitch in opposite directions.

Aided by a Third umpire and Match referee in international matches, adjudication is performed on the field by two umpires in the field. Including runs, dismissals, overs and etc., they communicate with two off-field scorers who record all the match's statistical information.

There are various formats in cricket matches ranging from Twenty20, with each team having a single innings of 20 overs, played over a few hours (120 deliveries). With unlimited overs, test matches played over five days and the teams playing two innings apiece.

Highest governing body: International Cricket Council

First played: 16th century; south-east England

Team members: 11 players per side (substitutes permitted in some circumstances)

Mixed gender: Yes, separate competitions

Type: Team sport, bat-and-ball

Equipment: Cricket ball, cricket bat, wicket (stumps, bails), various protective equipment

Venue: Cricket field

Country or region: Worldwide but most prominent in Australasia, British Isles, Indian sub-continent, southern Africa, West Indies

Olympic: No (1900 Summer Olympics only)