Cricket: The Game of Choice
At the center
of the grounds is a rectangular area called the "pitch." The pitch is
22 yards long and 10 feet wide.
It is best if the pitch is completely smooth so the ball
bounces directly to the batter.
The ideal pitch is of closely cropped grass, like a golf green
this allows some give when the
ball is pitched. There is area in the middle of the pitch
that is dirt.
At the
end of each pitch are placed two wooden wickets 9''wide/28''above ground,
each having 3 stumps and 2 bails.
2 wooden bails hold the wicket together. Once the bails
are broken it is easy to break
the wickets. 4 feet in front of each wicket their is a line
drawn, this line is called the
''popping crease.'' If a player has any part of his body or bat
behind this line he is considered
to be safe, or have scored a run. The out of bounds line is
decided before the game.
Cricket
is scored in runs. 2 batsmen are on the field at the same time during play,
one at each wicket. If the ball
and one of the batsmen is out of his ground, he is usually
liable to being put out. If the
opportunity arises while in play for the two batsmen to
change ends and each makes good
his ground at the opposite end, a run is scored. If the
batsmen are able to make more than
one run, this allowed, as long as each makes his
ground before turning for the next
run. Running can continue until they decide to stop
running or one is "run out," or
play is stopped for some other reason. It can be readily
seen when the batsmen make an odd
number of runs they end up at the opposite end from
where they started, and when they
make an even number of runs they end up at the same
end as before.
A player
is out when a wicket at his end is broken while he is out of his
grounds.The wicket can be broken
by a thrown or deflected ball of a fielder.
Trent Kraus & Cody Lambotte