HOWZAT – THE GAME OF TEST CRICKET
THIS week the first ball will be bowled in the 2017/18 Ashes Test series between Australia and England – a rivalry that goes back 140 years. Get bowled over and catch some info about the great game of cricket.
How cricket was created
THE game of cricket has evolved from a club and ball game played in early northern European cultures thousands of years ago to the game played today.
It has been played under various laws and rules but in 1774 a meeting of players and officials was called for the purpose of laying down the Official Laws of Cricket to standardise the rules of play.
These first Laws of Cricket developed in England, have continued to be used to form the basis of every set of laws or amendments applied to the sport to this day.
FIELDING THE FACTS
A basic game guide IF YOU are a newcomer to the game of cricket there are a few things you need to know to understand the basic rules of the game.
"You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out, he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When both sides have been in and out including the not-outs, that's the end of the game. Howzat?"
■ Test cricket is played between two teams of 11 players, over five days, with three sessions of two hours, with a 40-minute break for lunch and 20-minute break for afternoon tea per day.
■ Each team takes turns to bat twice and bowl/field twice. The team that scores the most runs wins the match.
■ When each ball is bowled, the batsman on strike tries to avoid getting out and hit the ball so that they can score runs.
■ The batting team tries to score as many runs as it can in its innings, while the fielding team tries to get 10 of their players out and restrict them to as few runs as possible.
■ The fielding team disperses around the field, to positions designed to stop runs being scored or to get batsmen out.
■ Two on-field umpires make all decisions on the field regarding the rules of the game. If an on-field umpire is unsure of a decision they may signal for a third umpire sitting off the field to view a television replay to reach a decision known as the Decision Review System.