Cricket is a huge sport across the world.
As it's popularity has grown, so have the many different formats and all come with their unique set of rules.
But at the heart of these multiple formats, the fundamental rules will stay the same and DAZN explains those below.
What are the rules of cricket?
Regardless of whichever format is being played, a game of cricket involves two teams made up of 11 players take to the field.
The main objective of a cricket match is to score the most runs when batting and to dimiss the opposing batters when fielding before they reach your score.
As well as having 11 players, each team can also have a 'twelfth man'.
What is a 'twelfth man'?
A 'twelfth man' is a reserve player who can be brought in should another player be injured during play.
The 'twelfth man' is not allowed to bowl, bat, keep wicket or captain the team, they are only allowed to field.
The orignal player who was substitued can return to the game once they have recovered from the injury.
How many umpires are used during a cricket match?
There are two umpires on the field during the match who are responsible for making decisions and notifying scorers of these decisions.
There is also a third umpire who is off the field and reviews decisions using video footage if a close call has been made or a team requests a review about a particular decision.
How to score runs during a cricket match?
The two batters can score runs by running in between the wickets.
They also can score runs by hitting the ball towards the boundary. If the ball is hit along the floor and reaches the boundary, the batting team is awarded four runs.
If the batter hits the ball over the boundary without it bouncing, the batting team is awarded six runs.
There are also three other ways the batting team can score runs which are explained below.
No Ball
A No Ball is called if one of the below scenarios occurs.
- The bowler bowls from the wrong place or their front foot goes past the crease.
- A ball bounces twice or rolls before reaching the batter.
- If the fielders are standing in illegal positions.
If a No Ball is called by the umpries, the batting team is awarded one run.
Wide Ball
A Wide Ball is signalled if the umpire thinks the batter did not have a reasonable chance to score off a delivery.
One run is added to the score if this type of delivery is called.
Bye
A Bye is called if the delivery is not a no ball or wide, and passes the batter on strike and runs are scored without the batter hitting the ball.
Leg Bye
A leg bye occurs when runs are scored when the ball hits the batter, but not the bat, and the delivery is not a no ball or wide.
No runs can be scored if the batter on strike did not attempt to play a shot.
How to get a battter out in a cricket match?
There are a number of ways in which a batter can be dismissed during a cricket match.
Bowled
A batter can be bowled if the ball hits the striking batter's wickets. It does not matter whether the ball has touched the batsman.
Caught
If a fielder or wicket keeper catches the ball once it has been hit by the batter, they are then dismissed from the game.
Leg Before Wicket (LBW)
An LBW can be called if a delivery hits the batter first before hitting their bat.
If this does happen, the umpire must decide whether the ball would have hit wickets if the batter was not there. If the umpire does believe that this is the case, the batter will be dismissed.
Stumped
A batter can be stumped if the wicket keeper hits the batter's stump when they are outside of their crease and not attempting to run.
Run Out
A run out is similar to a stumping, but this time they take place when the two batters are running in between the wickets.
This can happen if a fielder or wicket keeper hits the stumps while a batter is outside of their crease while running in between the wickets.
Those are the fundamental rules of a cricket match, but as previously mentioned, there are a number formats and DAZN explained the rules for test, one-day and Twenty20 matches below.
- Test match: What are the rules? How to win
- One-Day match: What are the rules? How to win
- Twenty20 match: What are the rules? How to win