What is cricket? Explaining the rules ahead of the T20 World Cup in NYC

Sports

By Chad Rachman

A wisecracking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle named Raphael once remarked that, “You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket,” before getting his shell whooped. 

The sight of Casey Jones sending Raphael airborne with a whack from a cricket bat, on movie screens in 1990, was all I knew about the game.

That all changed after a visit across the pond where I learned the basics of this centuries old game, the second most popular spectator sport in the world, from two English lads, Leo and Rex, who were eager to share their expertise and were hungry for NBA stats.

The 2024 Cricket World Cup is currently being played in NYC and other cities around the world.

If you’re interested in watching the game, learning the basics can be as the greatest detective in the world Sherlock Holmes would put it, “Elementary.”

How is Cricket played?

A match, played on a cricket ground, starts with a coin toss. The toss-winning team chooses to either bat or bowl first. Each team consists of 11 players who then take their places either up at bat or out in the oval-shaped field.

Two batters stand at either end of a dirt track in the center of the oval called the pitch.

Their job is to score runs defend the wicket (three wooden sticks), from the bowler (pitcher). The bowler takes a running start, and with a windmill-like arm rotation (you can’t bend your elbow) hurls a hard white, leather-covered ball that’s slightly smaller but harder than a baseball, toward the wicket hoping to strike them off a single bounce past the batter.

How do you get an out?

If the bowler was successful that batter is “bowled out” and retired.

Bowled is one of ten ways a player can get out. The other two more common ways should sound familiar. They are either caught out, like a fly ball or run out, when a ball in play is returned to the stumps before the batters can successfully change places.

Bowling is a shared responsibility. A bowler is replaced after delivering six throws which is called an over. In T-20 cricket play is limited to a total of 20 overs per team which equates to the average number of pitches a MLB starter would throw.

Each bowler can only throw a maximum of four overs so a team needs at least five bowlers for each game.

How do you score a run?

Batters defend the wicket with a wedge shaped bat and try to hit the ball into play and score by running to the other wicket. One run is scored for each successful exchange of batters.

If the batter swung for the fences and the ball reached the boundary an automatic four runs are awarded. If the ball flies over the boundary and out of play six runs are awarded. These two situations don’t require the batters to run.

How do you win in Cricket?

The team at bat puts up as many runs as they can before the limit of 20 overs is reached or 10 batters are called out by the umpire, whichever comes first. Then the opposing team takes their turn and tries to beat the score marked in the first inning.

What’s the difference between regular Cricket and T20?

The shortest form of cricket is known as Twenty20, where each team gets 20 overs to bat. T20 is more comparable in duration to an MLB game.

In comparison to Test Cricket, which can see matches lasting north of seven hours and spans over multiple days.

If you don’t have that kind of attention span, T20 may be more appealing.

While there’s a bit of a learning curve, the world’s most popular game could certainly be worth learning more about.