12 most common and basic cricketing rules to understand

Common cricket rules to know and apply while playing cricket in any format.


Posted: August 27, 2017. | By: mustafa

 CricketRules.png, Cricket, Sports, Cricket, Matches, Formats, Rules,

Cricket is a wonderful game! Playing cricket on streets is a most popular sport in India or either watching live cricket and enjoying final matches on TV is also a good entertainment.

Here are some rules to help you understand some basics of this wonderful game whether you are playing in a backyard or watching all popular cricket series like ashes, IPL League or ICC Cricket World Cup.

There are 2 teams with 11 players each total 22 players in the match. On the batting field there are 2 players from the batting side and another team is fielding. There is a twelfth man ready to substitute the fielder on the ground.

For applying cricketing rules during the play there are two umpires in the place. Third Umpire is off the field for uphelding final descisons and video translations.


Popular Cricket Formats

  • Test Cricket
  • 50 over matches - one day cricket
  • Twenty20 Cricket


Cricket Rules

  1. No Ball – There are several reasons for a ball to be no ball. if the bowler bowls from the wrong place or he straightens his elbow during the delivery. if the bowling is considered dangerous or if the ball bounces more than twice or rolls along the ground before reaching the batsman. if the fielders are standing in illegal places.
  2. Wide Ball – If a batsman did not have enough oppurtunity to score of  the ball it is considered wide ball. A wide ball adds one run to the batting team, in addition with any runs scored off by the batsman. A batsman is not out except if they are stumped, run out, handle the ball, hit their wicket or obstruct the field.
  3. Bye - 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.
  4. Leg Bye – If a ball is not wide ball or No ball and hits the bastman not the bat and runs are scored. However no runs are scored if batsman was not attempting to play the shot or either was avoiding it.
  5. Leg Before Wicket (LBW) - If the ball hits the batsman without first hitting the bat, and could have hit the wicket if the batsman was not there and the ball does not pitch on the leg side of the wicket the batsman can be easily given out. But if the ball strikes the batsman outside the line of the off-stump, and the batsman was attempting to play a stroke then he is not out.
  8. Hit Wicket – After the bowler has entered his delivery stride and ball is in play, and a batsman puts his wicket down by his bat or his body he is out. The striking batsman is also out if he hits his wicket down while setting off for his first run.
  9. Handled The Ball – If a batsman wilfully handles the ball with a hand that is not touching the bat without the consent of the opposition, he is out.  
  10. Timed Out – An incoming batsman must be ready to face off the ball or be at the non strikers end with his partner within three minutes of the outgoing batsman being dismissed. or incoming batsman can be given out.
  11. Hit The Ball Twice - If a batsman hits the ball twice other than for the purpose of protecting his wicket or with consent from the opposition team he is out.
  12. Obstructing The Field – A batsman is out if he willingly obstructs the opposition by word or action
  13. Lost ball. If a ball in play is lost or cannot be recovered, the fielding side can call "lost ball". The batting side keeps any penalty runs, such as no-balls and wides and scores the higher of six runs and the number of runs actually run.
  14. Dead Ball – A ball comes into play when the bowler begins his run up, and becomes dead when all the action from that ball is over. Once the ball is dead, no runs can be scored and no batsmen can be dismissed. A ball is dead when a batsman is dismissed, when a boundary is hit, or when the ball has finally settled with the bowler or either wicketkeeper.

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