How to Play Cricket

How to play cricket can be confusing if you’re a newcomer, or simply if there isn’t a tradition in your country. But, once you understand the basics, its easy to build up your knowledge.

The same principles and terms apply to every form of the game, so once you’ve developed a good foundation, the sky’s the limit. This is true for young or old, male or female. And, if there’s a young cricketer in your family, you’ll have a great time supporting them too.

The Principles of Cricket

The principles are simple. Two teams of up to 11 players each compete against each other and the team that scores the most runs is the winner.

To the uninitiated, cricketing terms can be like a foreign language. The difference between terms like short leg and long on, or yorker and googly might not be obvious at first, but there are lots of online or printed resources to help.

Since many of these assume a certain level of cricket knowledge, I suggest starting with Wikipedia which gives the basics plus links to more detail.

Here’s a good start to your journey. The picture shows the heart of the action on a cricket field. The two sets of wickets are 22 yards apart, with the cut area of the pitch between them.

It takes skilled preparation to produce a pitch like this that gives a true and consistent bounce of the ball.

The visible players are the two batsmen, the bowler, wicket keeper and slip fielder. The umpire at the bowler’s end is one of two umpires who control the match.

With some understanding of the rules and terms, you’ve made a solid start on learning how to play cricket. Now, there are different paths depending on your aspirations as a player or supporter, or both.

Cricket Coaching

There's simply no substitute for an experienced cricket coach for improving playing skills. A good coach plans each practice to include some fun drills for developing batting, bowling and fielding skills and the session will end with a cricket game that suits the age group. Want to get involved? Ask the coach how you can help him to carry out his plan.

Most cricketing nations have a structured coaching system that didn’t exist even 20 years ago. So, today’s aspiring players have a big advantage, if they’re prepared to listen, learn and practice. Your first step is to find a local cricket club with good practice facilities, a qualified coach or coaches, and a certified child protection policy.

There are some great online coaching resources on how to play cricket. They’re a good backup to a club coach, but not a substitute as they can’t give feedback on a player’s performance.

A skilled coach provides interactive tips and tricks that you won’t find online or in print. However, his/her main message will be “practice that move 500 times and you’ll get it right every time”. So, dedication is the key.

Cricket Coaching Games

Although cricket is a team game, only one bowler, two batsmen and one wicket keeper can be part of the action at any one time. Experienced fielders treat every ball in an innings as a big event, where they can gain an advantage over the batsmen.

However, it takes years to learn this and junior players can get frustrated if they don’t bat or bowl. So, variations have been developed to give all the team a go at batting and bowling.

For example, Kwik Cricket (age 5-11) and Inter Cricket (age 12-14) are fast and furious games that have been created for beginners. They use special “low impact” equipment to avoid any injury, and to develop confidence.

For the bridge into full scale 11 a side cricket, 8-a-side pairs cricket (age 12-14) is an excellent variation for more experienced players, using a hard ball and full match kit.

Want to know more about how to play cricket? This web site gives some top tips that you won't find in most coaching books.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’re on the way to being hooked on cricket for life. For me, nothing beats simply being on the field of play or experiencing an exciting match at one of the world’s great cricket arenas. See you there!

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