Cricket

Introduction :


Cricket is one kind of outdoor game. It is played between two teams. It
is played with a ball, a bat and wickets. The ball, the bat and the
wickets are properly sized for this game. They are called cricket-ball,
cricket-bat and cricket-wickets.

Cricket is the national game of England. Its origin is traced back to
13th century. Cricket is very popular in England and its popularity has
spread to other parts of the world. Now it is a game of international
status and now match-games of cricket are being played in international
tournaments.


Description :


Cricket is played between two teams. One is the bowling side and the
other is the batting side. There are eleven players in each team.The players of the bowling side play in different positions such as:
Bowler, Wicket keeper, first slip, second slip, point, gully, long-off,
long-on, long off boundary, long-on boundary, third man boundary.

The players of the batting side come to play as: two openers, first
down, second down, third down, fourth down, fifth down, sixth down,
seventh down, eighth down, ninth down.

Beside, there are tow umpires, one stands just the back of the wicket of
the bowling side and the other stands some yards away, left or right of
the wicket of the batting side.

Cricket is played in a round field. A cricket-wicket is made of three
stumps and two bails. They are a approved size. Two wickets are
correctly fixed in the middle of the cricket-field. There is a pitch
between these two wickets.

The bowler bowls the ball aiming at the wicket and the batsman tries to
drive this ball with his bat. When the ball is batted off, the batsman
runs from this wicket to that wicket and from that wicket to this wicket
as many times as it is possible for him before the ball is obtained by
the players of the bowling side. If a player of the bowling side catches
the batted-off ball before it falls on the ground he earns the credit
of a catch and the batsman is ousted. If the stumps of bails are bowled
off the batsman is ousted. Similarly run-out, hit wicket etc. are there
to oust a player. In those cases another player of the batting side
comes to his position. Thus, the game goes on.

In the second turn of the game the bowling team, becomes the batting
team and the batting team becomes the bowling team. During the game, the
runs of each team are counted. The team winning the greater number of
runs is proclaimed winner. Fro any reason if a match is not complete in
fixed matches are also held. In these cases both the teams make the
equal run. But in one-day match there is some deviation. Tie-drawn
situation does not arise. If a batsman makes one hundred runs in an
innings, he earns a century. If the batted ball crosses the boundary
line it is declared four and if the ball crosses the boundary line in
air it is called a six.

In the game of cricket the batsman wears hand-gloves, arm-guard,
leg-guards, thigh-guards, full shoes and helmet as safe against injury.


Conclusion :


Now, the game of cricket has earned world-wide popularity. It has been
popular in India too. Indian cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev
and Tendulker have earned name and fame in world cricket. Still then,
more and more Indian should come forward to learn this game.