HOW CRICKET IS PLAYED

Cricket involves two teams of 11 players. Teams take turns in batting for what is called "an innings," and while the team that is batting attempts to score runs, the opposing team fields and attempts to bring an end to the batting team's innings.

The fielding team uses several bowlers operating from alternate ends, who have to project a hard, five-ounce, leather-covered ball with a circular motion of the arm—that is, without bending the elbow—and try to hit the wicket, which is three wooden stumps in the ground, 28 inches high, and a total of nine inches wide. The batsman has to protect the wicket by hitting the ball with his wooden bat (not more than 38 inches long, with a flat face not exceeding 4 ¼ inches), and score runs by running the 22-yard length of the pitch. There are several other ways to dismiss a batsman.

After six balls have been delivered (called an "over"), the bowling end and the bowler are changed, and the fielding pattern is reversed. Two batsmen are on the pitch at any one time, at opposite ends. When a batsman is out, another batsman from the same team comes out to bat until there is only one batsman remaining. Then the other team bats and tries to overtake the target set by its opponents.

International matches are usually played over five six-hour days. After each team has batted twice (once, in special one-day games), the team with the most runs wins. Should the team batting last exceed the total number of runs scored by the opposing team in its two innings, it would be declared the winner at that point. If this didn't happen and the team batting last were not bowled out by its opponents after five days of play, the match would be a "draw."

The top cricket-playing countries include Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, India, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Kenya.

Cricket is also played in Canada, Denmark, Gibraltar, Holland, Ireland, Namibia, Scotland, Singapore, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates.

The next World Cup tournament will be played in South Africa in May 2003.

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