The object of cricket is simple to state: score more runs than the opposition. Two teams of eleven take turns batting and bowling across one or two innings each, depending on the format. The batting side sends two players to the crease at a time, and they accumulate runs until ten of the eleven batters are dismissed, the allotted overs expire, or the captain declares. The fielding side, led by its captain, bowls the ball and sets the field to take wickets and choke the flow of runs.
A contest is a duel between bat and ball repeated over after over. The bowler delivers six legal balls from one end, then a different bowler sends down the next over from the other end, and so the attack rotates while the batters try to score off every delivery. Runs come from running between the wickets or from boundaries; wickets fall by bowled, caught, leg before, run out, stumped, and rarer methods. The side that scores more runs, within the rules of its format, wins.
Scoring at a glance
Core rules
The pitch, stumps and creases
The pitch is a twenty-two-yard strip of prepared clay with a wicket at each end. A wicket is three vertical stumps topped by two small bails. Painted lines called creases mark the batter's and bowler's ground: the popping crease defines where a batter is safe and where a bowler must land his front foot. The bowler runs in and delivers from one wicket toward a batter defending the other. Everything in the game is organized around these two wickets and the strip between them.
Scoring runs
Runs are the currency of cricket. Batters score by hitting the ball and running to the opposite crease before the fielders can break the wicket; each completed length of the pitch is one run, and they may run several. A ball that reaches the boundary along the ground is worth four; one cleared on the full is worth six. Batters need not run and will often defend or leave deliveries, waiting for a scoring chance. The two batters swap ends on odd numbers of runs, deciding who is on strike.
The over and bowling
An over consists of six legal deliveries bowled from one end by a single bowler, after which play switches to the other end and a different bowler takes over. No bowler may bowl two overs in succession. In limited-overs cricket each bowler is capped, ten overs in a fifty-over ODI, four in a T20. Bowlers vary pace, swing, seam, and spin to beat the bat, and are judged on wickets taken and on economy, the average runs conceded per over.
Modes of dismissal
There are ten ways to be out, but a handful dominate. Bowled: the ball hits the stumps. Caught: a fielder catches the ball before it bounces. Leg before wicket, or LBW: the ball would have hit the stumps but strikes the batter's pad first. Run out: the wicket is broken while batters are between creases. Stumped: the keeper removes the bails with the batter out of his ground. Rarer dismissals include hit wicket, obstructing the field, and timed out.
Innings, declarations and the follow-on
An innings ends when ten wickets fall, the overs run out, or the batting captain declares to bring the other side in. Test cricket gives each team two innings; limited-overs cricket gives one. If the side batting first in a Test leads by 200 or more, it may enforce the follow-on, making the opponents bat again immediately. Declarations let a captain balance the risk of setting a target against the time left to bowl the opposition out for a win.
Extras
Extras are runs conceded by the fielding side rather than scored off the bat, and they count to the batting total. A wide is signalled when the ball passes out of the batter's reach; a no-ball is called for an illegal delivery, most often overstepping the front crease. Both add a run and, in limited-overs cricket, an extra ball. Byes are runs taken when the ball beats everyone without touching the bat; leg byes come off the batter's body. Disciplined attacks keep extras low.
Fielding restrictions and powerplays
Limited-overs cricket restricts where fielders may stand to encourage attacking play. In an ODI powerplay, only two fielders are allowed outside the thirty-yard circle for the first ten overs, then four, then five at the death. A T20 powerplay lasts six overs. No more than five fielders may stand on the leg side at any time, and close catchers ring the bat when a side attacks. Captains constantly juggle these limits against the match situation.
Fouls & penalties
No-ball
A no-ball is an illegal delivery. The most common cause is the bowler overstepping the popping crease with his front foot, but a no-ball is also called for a delivery above waist height on the full, for throwing rather than bowling, or for too many fielders behind square on the leg side. The penalty is one run plus, in limited-overs cricket, a free hit off the next ball, from which the striker can only be run out.
Wide
A wide is called when the ball passes so far from the striker that he cannot reasonably play a normal stroke at it, whether down the leg side or well outside off. It costs the fielding side one run and, in limited-overs formats, an extra delivery must be bowled. Umpires apply tighter wide interpretations in white-ball cricket to protect the batter's scoring opportunity, especially during the powerplay and at the death.
Ball tampering
Altering the condition of the ball by unfair means, scratching the surface, applying substances, or lifting the seam to gain extra swing, is prohibited under the Laws. Umpires may change the ball, award five penalty runs, and report the offenders. The 2018 Cape Town scandal, in which Australian players used sandpaper on the ball, brought lengthy bans and remains cricket's most infamous case of tampering.
Slow over-rate
Teams are required to bowl their overs at a set minimum rate. Falling behind wastes time and is penalized: captains face fines, and in limited-overs cricket a fielding side that has not started its final over on time must keep an extra fielder inside the circle for the remaining overs. Repeated offences can cost World Test Championship points, making over-rate discipline a genuine tactical concern.
Obstruction and short runs
A batter is out for obstructing the field if he deliberately blocks or distracts a fielder attempting a play, a rare but real dismissal. A short run is signalled when a batter fails to ground the bat or body behind the crease while turning for another run; that run is disallowed. Deliberately running short or changing hands to obstruct a throw draws penalties and, at the umpires' discretion, five penalty runs.
Match format
The three formats differ mainly in length. A Test is played over five days, two innings a side, roughly ninety overs a day, and is the game's ultimate examination; it can be won outright or, if time runs out, drawn. A One Day International gives each side a single innings of fifty overs. A T20 gives each side twenty overs and lasts about three hours. First-class and List A matches at domestic level mirror the Test and ODI structures respectively.
The winner is the side that scores more runs. Batting second, a team wins the instant it passes the opponent's total; batting first, it wins by bowling the other side out or containing them below the target. When rain interrupts a limited-overs match, revised targets are set by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, which accounts for overs and wickets lost. A tied limited-overs match may be settled by a Super Over, a one-over eliminator introduced across white-ball cricket.
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