Cricket is seen in the United States as a poor man’s baseball, with numerous complaints made against it, from incomprehensible fielding positions to the possibility of a five day game that could end in a draw. However, the basic principles are simple, and there are many similarities with baseball. This article aims to outline the essentials of cricket.

The first and major difference to baseball is the field. Rather than the batter standing at the edge of the pitch with the whole field to hit into, cricket batters stay in the middle of the pitch on a stretch of ground called the crease. This measures just over 20 meters from end to end, and is a simple rectangle.

At each end of the rectangle, there is a wicket and it is this that the bowler is aiming towards on each pitch. The wicket is a vertical structure made up of three upright posts with two small sticks balanced between them (called the bails), forming an elongated letter M. The bails are the method by which a batter is deemed to be out, as they will fall at the slightest touch of bat or ball to the uprights.

Unlike in baseball, a batter can be out in many different ways. They can be caught out by one of the fielders as long as the ball has not touched the floor, but this also includes being caught out by the wicketkeeper, a heavily padded catcher equivalent who stands close behind the wicket. They can also be run out by a fielder knocking the bails off the wicket before the batter gets back to his end of the crease. There the similarities end. The batter is also out if the bowler manages to avoid them with the ball and knock the bails off the wicket. The batter is also not allowed to block the ball with anything but his bat, and if he gets his leg pads in the way of a legal ball (as decided by the umpire), he can be called out leg before wicket. This is to prevent players drawing out a game by not playing a shot.

Runs are scored by the two batters running to the opposite end of the crease. Batters are not required to run on a hit, but some games will be limited by the number of overs (6 legal deliveries from the bowler) to encourage more hitting. There is no limit on how many runs may be scored, but if the ball crosses the boundary of the pitch, a set number of runs is scored. If the ball touches the ground, the batters score 4, whilst if it’s still airborne 6 runs are scored.

Both sides have 11 players, and each innings lasts as long as it takes the fielding team to get 10 batters out (i.e. so no further partnerships can be formed). The team with the highest score after 2 innings wins. If there is not enough time for both teams to have 2 full innings, the match is called a draw.