How to Play Cricket

If you think that regular, classic baseball is getting a little stale, spice up your sports life with a little English-bred Cricket. Step 1: Gather people Gather twenty-two players and two umpires on a 350-foot long, oval-shaped field with a 66-foot-long playing area, or pitch, in the middle, and divide the players into two teams. Step 2: Gather equipment Get the cricket ball, a cricket bat, wickets, stumps, and bails. Set the wickets up on either end of the pitch. Wickets comprise three vertical stumps and two horizontal bails. Step 3: Set up the field Set up play by sending the fielding team onto the pitch, to try to catch the ball and prevent runs from being scored. Choose one player on the fielding team to be the bowler. the bowler will take the ball and stand behind the wicket opposite the batter. Elect a wicket keeper to squat behind the wicket behind the batter. Tip The bowler and wicket keeper should wear protective gear to avoid injury. Step 4: Set up the batters Send two players of the batting team to bat -- a striker and a non-striker. The bowler runs and pitches the ball to the striker, who attempts to hit the ball. The non-striker will stand behind and wait to run. If the ball is hit, the two men run to the opposite end of the pitch. Step 5: Know the outs Know the ways of getting "out." The batter is out if a fielder catches the ball before it bounces, if the bowler hits a stump and knocks off a bail, if a fielder knocks a bail from a stump when the...