CRICKET
Cricket is one of
the oldest games in the world. It was founded in the 16th century
and was played by children only. Later in the 17thcentury, started to
become popular among adults. It is like baseball, where two teams play against
each other on ground made of grass known as a field. Each team has only eleven
players and they play this game with wooden bats and a ball. The batsman and
bowler play on a 22-yard long flat strip called pitch that is in the center of
the ground. At both ends of this pitch, there are wickets that are made with
wood. The purpose of these wickets is to allow the batsman run between them and
make his scores after he hits the ball coming from the bowler. There are two field umpires and one-third
empire in this game. The third umpire is not present on the ground; he sits indoor
and watches the video. Whenever the field
umpires are less sure of what happened on the field and need a closer view of the
game to make a decision, the third empire watches the video repeatedly and
gives the decision.
In this game when
two teams decide to play cricket, the umpire makes the decision of bowling and
batting to each team by tossing a coin. Once this is done, the teams move to
the ground to take their positions. The batsman stands at one end and the bowler
who is from the fielding team is at the other end of the pitch. There is also
another batsman known as non-striker who stands opposite to the batsman to help
him complete the runs. The role of non-striker is to run when the batsman hits
the ball.If the batsman completes the run from one end to another end without
being out then they have made one score. The other members of the fielding team
are known as fielders. They spread over the ground to catch the ball hit by the batsman.
These fielders try to catch the ball and hit the wicket to make batsman out
when they are running to stop them from making more scores. Hence, this game is
all about making highest scores. The batsman protects his wicket by hitting the
ball as far as possible to make more scores. These scores are made by running
between the wickets. In addition,scores can also be made by touching the boundaries
of the field or hitting the ball very high to makes direct score. If the
batsman hits the ball in such a way that it goes and touches the boundaries of
the field he will get four runs directly. If the batsman hits the ball high and
it goes out of the stadium, he gets six runs. The fielding team tries to stop
them from making scores by making the batsman out. This can be done by bowling
in such a way that the ball directly hits the wickets. They can also make him
out by catching the ball on air without letting it hit the ground or by hitting
the wicket before batsman complete runs. This keeps going on until all balls
are over and then the bowling team does the batting and the batting team
bowls.In the end, the team that gets the highest runs wins the game.
The entire game is
based on overs; at the end of each over the batsman and bowler are swapped;
field is reset and also the umpires exchange positions.However, today cricket
has emerged into various different forms. Each form has its own conditions to
play like there may be control on overs of the game, number of balls in an
inning etc. Below are some types of cricket matches:
1.
Test
Match:this match is an international between different
teams who are members of ICC. There is no restrictions on overs in this and the
bowler can deliver as many overs as he wants.
2.
One day
Match: in this match the teams play at
international level and the game has to be completed in one day. This type of
cricket has limited overs of fifty. This form of cricket is use din the world
cup.
3.
Twenty20:
this was introduced in England; in this the match
has to be completed in three hours and has limited overs
4.
First-class
cricket: this is played internally within the countries
who are members of ICC
Today, Cricket is
now very popular around the world and teams belonging to different countries
like, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Australia, Zimbabwe, England,
Bangladesh, Bermuda and West Indies. According to ICC rankings 2014, top
batsman are K.C. Sangakkara of Sri Lanka (Test), Ab De Villiers of South Africa
(ODI) and Virent Kohli of India (T20). The best bowlers are D.W. Steyn of South
Africa (Test), Saeed Ajmalof Pakistan (ODI) and S Badri (T20). Similarly, top
all-rounders are Shakib Al Hasan Bangladesh (Test and T20) and A.D. Mathew of
Sri Lanka for ODI(ICC Player rankings, 2014). Additionally, today
in the Test championship, South Africa stands at first position according to
ICC cricket team rating with 27 matches and a rating of 124. Australia has the highest
position in ICC ODI championship with 48 matches and a rating of 177. Sri Lanka
is at top position in ICC T20 championship with 23 matches and 131 rating. Some
of the best countries in cricket are Australia, India, South Africa and
Pakistan and historic players of cricket are Brian Lara and Joel Garner of West Indies, Ricky Ponting and
Shane Warne of Australia, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar of India, Wassim Akram
and Imran Khan of Pakistan
Cricket is an
interesting game and is liked by many teenagers and adults. The first ICC
Cricket World Cup tournament took place in 1975 in England and was won by West
Indies. The last World Cup was in 2011 in India and was won
by India. However, many people are happy for current world cup that will be held
in February and March 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.Cricket is a great
entertainment for families. This is one of those games, which is loved by every
member in a family because it is a struggling game between teams. They fight to
win and each member of a family has their favorite teams. The International Cricket
Council, also known as ICC, monitors the teams who play cricket.
References
ICC cricket world Cup. (2014). ICC
cricket world Cup. Retrieved from http://www.icc-cricket.com/cricket-world-cup/about/279/history
ICC Player
rankings. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.icc-cricket.com/player-rankings/overview
Top End Sports.
(n.d.). Who Is The All-Time Greatest Cricket Test Player? Retrieved
from http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/greatest-all-time/cricket.htm
World Cup 2015.
(2014). A brief History. Retrieved from
http://www.espncricinfo.com/wchistory/content/story/264535.html
world cup 2015.
(n.d.). ICC rankings - ICC Test, ODI and Twenty20 rankings. Retrieved
from http://www.espncricinfo.com/rankings/content/page/211271.html
