BY-

Jatin Bansal
V-A 11

History of Cricket
The origins of cricket lie somewhere in the Dark Ages - probably
after the Roman Empire, almost certainly before the Normans
invaded England, and almost certainly somewhere in Northern
Europe. All research concedes that the game derived from a very
old, widespread and uncomplicated pastime by which one player
served up an object, be it a small piece of wood or a ball, and
another hit it with a suitably fashioned club. How and when this
club-ball game developed into one where the hitter defended a
target against the thrower is simply not known. Nor is there any
evidence as to when points were awarded dependent upon how
far the hitter was able to despatch the missile; nor when helpers
joined the two-player contest, thus beginning the evolution into
a team game; nor when the defining concept of placing wickets
at either end of the pitch was adopted.

Information
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players
each on a field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard
long pitch. Each team takes its turn to bat, attempting to score runs,
while the other team fields. Each turn is known as an innings.
The bowler delivers the ball to the batsman who attempts to hit the ball
with his bat away from the fielders so he can run to the other end of the
pitch and score a run. Each batsman continues batting until he is out.
The batting team continues batting until ten batsmen are out, or a
specified number of overs of six balls have been bowled, at which point
the teams switch roles and the fielding team comes in to bat. In
professional cricket the length of a game ranges from 20 overs per side
to Test cricket played over five days. The Laws of Cricket are
maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and
the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) with additional Standard Playing
Conditions for Test matches and One Day Internationals.

Rules of Cricket
A "No Ball" can be declared for many reasons: If the bowler

bowls the ball from the wrong place, the ball is declared
dangerous (often happens when bowled at the batsmen's body
on the full), bounces more than twice or rolls before reaching the
batsman or if fielders are standing in illegal positions.
A "Wide Ball" will be declared if the umpire thinks the batsman
did not have a reasonable opportunity to score off the delivery.
However if the delivery is bowled over the batsmen's head it will
not be declared a wide but a no ball.
A "Bye" is where a ball that isn't a no ball or wide passes the
striking batsman and runs are scored without the batsman
hitting the ball.
A "Leg Bye" is where runs are scored by hitting the batsman, but
not the bat and the ball is not a no ball or wide. However no runs
can be scored if the striking batsman didn't attempt to play a
shot or if he was avoiding the ball.