Cricketक्रिकेट

Players and teams

Cricket is for two sides. With two players, each player is a whole team and does all the batting and bowling for it. With three or four players, the players sitting opposite each other are partners: player 1 and player 3 are one side, player 2 and player 4 the other.

In a team game the bowling side's players take turns to bowl an over each, and the batters in the order belong to the batting side's players in turn: the first batter to the first player, the second to the second, and so on.

The match

Before the match you choose how long it is: 1, 2 or 5 overs for each side, and 3 or 10 wickets for each side. An over is six balls.

A coin is tossed. The captain of the side that wins it (the first player of that side) chooses to bat or to bowl first.

Each side bats once. The first side's innings ends when all its overs have been bowled or when it has lost all its wickets. Then the other side bats, needing one run more than the first side's total.

A ball, in secret

Each ball the bowler chooses one of six deliveries and the batter on strike chooses one of seven shots. Neither side can see the other's choice until both have chosen; your partner can see yours, the other side cannot. Then both are revealed and the ball is played out.

The deliveries are the yorker, the bouncer, the good length ball, the slower ball, off spin and leg spin. The shots are defend, quick single, drive, cut, pull, sweep and loft.

Every delivery has shots that struggle against it and a shot that punishes it, and every shot has its dangerous ball:

• Yorker: fast and full at the toes. Cuts, pulls and sweeps often miss it, but about one in eight slips out as a full toss, which is easy to hit.
• Bouncer: short and fast at the body. It beats drives and sweeps; a good pull sends it to the fence. Sometimes it is called wide.
• Good length: seam bowling outside off. It draws edges from drives and cuts, but it is easy to push for a single.
• Slower ball: a change of pace. Lofted shots go up and get caught, but it is easy to nudge for runs.
• Off spin: flighted and turning in. It traps cuts, pulls and lofts; the sweep is its weakness.
• Leg spin: wide of off, spinning away. It beats the sweep and draws drives, but it can be cut, and now and then it is called wide.

A good matchup makes runs and boundaries more likely, a bad one makes a wicket more likely, but no ball is ever certain.

Runs, extras and changing ends

The batter can score 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 runs from a ball, or nothing (a dot ball). A four or a six is a boundary.

A wide gives the batting side one run and does not count as one of the six balls of the over: it is bowled again.

After an odd number of runs the batters have changed ends, so the other batter faces the next ball. At the end of every over they change ends again.

Getting out

A batter can be bowled, out LBW (leg before wicket), caught, stumped or run out. How it happens depends on the ball and the shot: a missed sweep against pace is often LBW, a lofted shot against a slower ball is often caught, and a quick single risks a run out.

When a batter is out, the next batter in the order comes in and takes strike. A run out is not credited to the bowler.

Winning the match

The side batting second wins as soon as it reaches the target, by the number of wickets it still had in hand, for example won by 2 wickets with 5 balls to spare.

If the second side's overs or wickets run out first, the side that batted first wins by the number of runs between the totals, for example won by 7 runs. If both totals are the same, the match is tied.

Overs per side

1 over for a match of a few minutes, 2 overs (the standard table) or 5 overs for a proper contest.

Wickets per side

3 wickets (the standard table) makes every wicket count. 10 wickets is a full batting order, closer to a real match.

The computer

Easy picks at random. Normal reads the match: the score, the balls and wickets left, and the target. Hard reads the match too and remembers what you have chosen so far, leaning against your habits while keeping its own choices hard to predict.