Cricket is played all over the world, but is most popular in the former British colonies.
It's played on a grassy field without set dimensions.
In the center of the field there's a "Pitch". It's approximately 20 metres long and 2 meters wide and made of astroturf or gravel. At both ends of the strip a "Wicket" is placed consisting of a base with three "Stumps" with two "bails" on top.
A match is played by two teams over two innings. The toss decides which team starts batting or fielding. This is reversed in the second inning.
Objective for the batting team
To sore as many runs possible.
Two batsman are always on the pitch to defend the wickets. The batsman towards wich the ball is bowled tries to hit the ball and change sides with his fellow batsman. Each time they succeed they get rewarded a run. If the ball is hit over the boundary extra runs are rewarded ( if the ball rolls over - 4 runs- if it crosses the boundary without a bounce - 6 runs-). The batsman don't have to run. If a batsman is "out", he has to leave the pitch and is replaced by a new one.
Objevtive for the Fielders
The fielding team consists of a "Bowler" a "Wicketkeeper" and nine field players.
The Bowler
The Bowler tries to hit the "Wicket" with the ball. He can Bowl the ball with a bounce but needs to have his arm straight when he releases the ball. The bowler bowls "Overs". An "Over" is a series of 6 balls delivered on one wicket. After this a teammate takes over and delivered 6 balls ( one over) on the other wicket.
The only player on the fielding team wearing a mitten (glove) is the wicket keeper.
The team with the most runs after a set amount of overs is the winner.
An inning ends when all overs are played or when all batsman have had their turn or are out,
"All Out".
The batsman is out when he
- allows a delivery to knock a bail off his wicket ( „ bowled out” )
- hits a ball caught in the air by a fieldsman („ caught out” )
- hits his own wicket and knocks off a bail
- is not over the popping crease when a fieldsman throws a ball and knocks the bail of the wicket toward which the batsman is approaching, or when a fieldsman holds the ball and knocks the bail off by hitting it („run out”)