Cricket

Cricket

A Fun Sport People around the world play an exciting sport called cricket. In cricket, a batter hits a ball with a large flat bat. The ball is about the same size as a baseball.

The Basics Two teams play a game of cricket. Each team has eleven players. They play on an oval field with an area in the middle called a pitch.

The teams take turns batting and bowling, or throwing, a ball. Two batters on the batting team stand on each end of the pitch. The team that isn't batting plays in the field.

One player on each team is the bowler. The bowler throws a ball to a batter on the other team.

The bowler tries to hit three small posts in the ground near the batter. These posts are called stumps. At the top of the stumps are two small pieces of wood called bails. Together, the stumps and bails are called a wicket. If the bowler's ball knocks the bails off the wicket stumps, the batter is out.