Cricket, explained in plain language
No jargon you can't follow, no assumed knowledge. In a few minutes you'll understand the whole game — enough to enjoy watching it, and to walk into your first session knowing what's going on.
Cricket may have Flemish roots
One credible theory traces the very word "cricket" to Middle Dutch — met de (krik ket)sen, roughly "with the stick chase" — and points to Flemish weavers who settled in south-east England in the Middle Ages as possible carriers of an early bat-and-ball game. It's a theory, not settled fact, and historians still debate it. But it's a nice thought: that a sport now played by hundreds of millions might trace a thread back to this corner of Europe.
The game in brief
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game between two teams of eleven. One team bats, trying to score runs; the other fields, trying to stop them and get the batters out. After a set amount of play, the teams swap. Whoever scores more runs wins.
At the centre is a 22-yard (20.12 m) strip called the pitch, with three wooden stumps (the wicket) at each end. A bowler runs in and bowls the ball at the stumps. A batter stands in front and tries to hit it away and score.
- Run — the basic unit of scoring. Batters run between the two sets of stumps to score one run each time they both reach the other end.
- Over — six legal balls bowled in a row, after which a different bowler bowls from the other end.
- Innings — one team's full turn to bat.
The ground & the pitch
Cricket is unusual among major sports: the playing field has no single fixed size or shape. What is measured precisely is the strip in the middle — the pitch — and the markings around it. Here are the numbers that matter (imperial first, metric in brackets).
How big is a cricket ground? Because it's an oval, a ground has no single fixed length or breadth — but a typical full-size ground measures roughly 140 metres across (about 150 yards, or one and a half football pitches end to end), with the boundary set 59–82 m from the middle. Smaller grounds are common at club level. The pitch in the centre, by contrast, is identical everywhere: 22 yards (20.12 m) long — the length of one cricket "chain."
Scoring
- Running — batters physically run between the stumps; one length is one run.
- Four — hit the ball to the boundary along the ground for four runs.
- Six — clear the boundary without bouncing for six runs.
- Extras — runs given for bowling mistakes like a wide or a no-ball; the batter doesn't have to hit these.
Getting out (dismissals)
- Bowled — the ball hits the stumps and knocks the bails off.
- Caught — a fielder catches the ball after the batter hits it, before it bounces.
- LBW — the ball would have hit the stumps but the batter's leg got in the way first. (The one that causes the most arguments.)
- Run out — a fielder breaks the stumps with the ball before a running batter completes the run.
- Stumped — the wicket-keeper breaks the stumps while the batter is out of their safe ground.
Rarer ways to be out
Those five cover almost every dismissal you'll see. For completeness, the Laws of Cricket list ten ways to be out in all — the rest are uncommon, but real:
- Hit wicket — the batter knocks their own stumps with bat or body while playing a shot or setting off for a run.
- Timed out — a new batter who isn't ready to face within the time allowed after the previous wicket (3 minutes under the Laws; 2 minutes in international cricket). In plain terms: arrive late for your turn and you can be given out before facing a single ball.
- Hit the ball twice — deliberately striking the ball a second time, except to protect the wicket.
- Obstructing the field — deliberately getting in a fielder's way, or handling the ball without the fielding side's permission.
- Retired out — a batter who leaves the field without the umpire's consent and doesn't return.
When ten of the eleven batters are out, the innings ends — you need two batters in, so the last has no partner.
Umpires & match officials
Every match is run by neutral officials. Knowing who does what — and the signals they use — makes the game far easier to follow from the boundary.
- Two on-field umpires. One stands behind the stumps at the bowler's end; the other square of the striker, at square leg. They swap ends after every over.
- Bowler's-end umpire — makes most decisions: LBW, wides, no-balls, and counts the six balls of the over.
- Square-leg umpire — has the side-on view for stumpings, run-outs at the striker's end, and short or dangerous play.
- Third (TV) umpire — reviews close calls on replay: run-outs, stumpings, catches, boundaries, and player reviews (DRS).
- Match referee — oversees conduct and the spirit of the game, but takes no part in on-field decisions.
- Scorers — two officials record every run, wicket and extra, acknowledging each umpire signal.
The signals you'll see
- Out — a raised index finger above the head.
- Four — an arm waved back and forth across the chest.
- Six — both arms raised straight overhead.
- Wide — both arms held straight out to the sides.
- No-ball — one arm held straight out to the side.
- Bye — an open palm raised above the head.
- Leg bye — a hand touching a raised knee.
- Dead ball — wrists crossed and uncrossed below the waist.
Fielding positions — the expert's map
A captain has nine fielders to place anywhere (the other two players are the bowler and the wicket-keeper). Every position is named by two things: which side of the pitch it's on, and how far from the batter. Learn this map and you'll follow the game like an insider.
The field splits into two halves. The off side is the side the batter faces (in front of them as they stand); the leg side, or on side, is behind their legs. "Square" means level with the batter; positions are then "in front of" or "behind" square. The diagram below is set for a right-handed batter — for a left-hander, the off and leg sides simply swap.
A representative field for a right-handed batter · off side right, leg side left
Behind the wicket
- Wicket-keeper — gloved, directly behind the stumps; involved in every ball.
- Slips (1st, 2nd, 3rd…) — beside the keeper on the off side, waiting for edges.
- Gully — wider and squarer than the slips.
- Leg slip / leg gully — the mirror of slips and gully on the leg side.
- Third man — deep behind on the off side, saving edges to the boundary.
- Fine leg / long leg — deep behind on the leg side.
The off side, in front of the batter
- Point — square on the off side.
- Cover & extra cover — between point and mid-off.
- Mid-off — straight-ish, near the bowler on the off side.
- Silly point / short cover — very close catchers in front of the bat.
- Deep cover, deep point, long-off — the same lines, out on the boundary.
The leg (on) side, in front of the batter
- Square leg — square on the leg side.
- Mid-wicket — between square leg and mid-on.
- Mid-on — straight-ish, near the bowler on the leg side.
- Short leg / silly mid-on — very close "bat-pad" catchers.
- Deep square leg, deep mid-wicket, long-on — the same lines, out on the boundary.
Straight down the ground
- Long-on & long-off — straight, near the boundary either side of the bowler's end.
Close catchers — slips, gully, short leg, silly point — are attacking fielders, set when a wicket looks likely. Deep fielders — third man, long-on, deep mid-wicket — are defensive, guarding the boundary to save runs. A good captain reshapes the field almost every over to match the bowler, the batter, and the state of the game. That constant chess match is a big part of cricket's depth.
Formats — same game, three lengths
One of cricket's quirks is that the same sport is played over wildly different lengths — from a three-hour sprint to a five-day epic. The rules are essentially the same; what changes is the number of overs, the number of innings, and the tactics. Here are the three you'll hear about most.
| TestThe traditional form | One-DayODI / 50-over | T20Twenty20 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | Up to 5 days | One day (~7–8 hours) | About 3 hours |
| Overs per side | ≈ 90 overs per day | 50 overs | 20 overs |
| Innings per side | Two | One | One |
| Ball & kit | Red ball, whites | White ball, coloured kit | White ball, coloured kit |
| The feel | Strategy and endurance | A balanced contest | Fast and explosive |
| Good to know | The format's traditional pinnacle | The classic one-dayer; World Cup format | The Olympic format — Los Angeles 2028 |
Shorter formats exist too (T10, and competitions like The Hundred), but Test, One-Day and T20 are the three pillars of the game. For a newcomer, T20 is the friendliest way in — fast, loud, and over in an evening.
Everything on this page is the short version. The official Laws of Cricket — and the Spirit of Cricket preamble that goes with them — are kept by the MCC at Lord's. Read the full Laws at lords.org.