Cricket is one kind of
outdoor game. It is played between two teams. It is played with a ball, a bat
and wickets. The ball, the bat and the wickets are properly sized for this
game. They are called cricket-ball, cricket-bat and cricket-wickets.
Cricket is the national game
of England. Its origin is traced back to 13th century. Cricket is very popular
in England and its popularity has spread to other parts of the world. Now it is
a game of international status and now match-games of cricket are being played
in international tournaments.
Cricket is played between
two teams. One is the bowling side and the other is the batting side. There are
eleven players in each team.
The players of the bowling
side play in different positions such as: Bowler, Wicket keeper, first slip,
second slip, point, gully, long-off, long-on, long off boundary, long-on
boundary, third man boundary.
The players of the batting
side come to play as: two openers, first down, second down, third down, fourth
down, fifth down, sixth down, seventh down, eighth down, ninth down.
Beside, there are tow
umpires, one stands just the back of the wicket of the bowling side and the
other stands some yards away, left or right of the wicket of the batting side.
Cricket is played in a round
field. A cricket-wicket is made of three stumps and two bails. They are a
approved size. Two wickets are correctly fixed in the middle of the
cricket-field. There is a pitch between these two wickets.
The bowler bowls the ball
aiming at the wicket and the batsman tries to drive this ball with his bat.
When the ball is batted off, the batsman runs from this wicket to that wicket
and from that wicket to this wicket as many times as it is possible for him
before the ball is obtained by the players of the bowling side. If a player of
the bowling side catches the batted-off ball before it falls on the ground he
earns the credit of a catch and the batsman is ousted. If the stumps of bails
are bowled off the batsman is ousted. Similarly run-out, hit wicket etc. are
there to oust a player. In those cases another player of the batting side comes
to his position. Thus, the game goes on.
In the second turn of the
game the bowling team, becomes the batting team and the batting team becomes
the bowling team. During the game, the runs of each team are counted. The team
winning the greater number of runs is proclaimed winner. Fro any reason if a
match is not complete in fixed matches are also held. In these cases both the
teams make the equal run. But in one-day match there is some deviation.
Tie-drawn situation does not arise. If a batsman makes one hundred runs in an
innings, he earns a century. If the batted ball crosses the boundary line it is
declared four and if the ball crosses the boundary line in air it is called a
six.
In the game of cricket the
batsman wears hand-gloves, arm-guard, leg-guards, thigh-guards, full shoes and
helmet as safe against injury.
Now, the game of cricket has
earned world-wide popularity. It has been popular in India too. Indian
cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Tendulker have earned name and
fame in world cricket. Still then, more and more Indian should come forward to
learn this game.
