In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings:
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that is played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats, while one player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these swaps. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The fielding team aims to prevent runs by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Dismissal can occur in various ways, including being bowled (when the ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails), and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to the newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours.
A cricket pitch is the rectangular central strip of a cricket field between the two wickets, where most of the action takes place. It is 22 yd (20.12 m) long (1 chain) and 10 ft (3.05 m) wide. The surface is flat and is normally covered with extremely short grass, but can be completely dry or dusty soil with barely any grass or, in some circumstances (that are rarely seen in high level cricket), made from an artificial material. Over the course of a cricket match, the pitch is not repaired or altered other than in special circumstances - meaning that it will change condition. Any grass on the pitch at the start of the game, for example, may disappear due to wear.
As almost all deliveries bowled will bounce off the pitch towards the batter, the state and type of a cricket pitch can significantly affect the outcome of a match. For example, a dusty and very dry pitch often favours spin bowling because the ball grips more on such surfaces, giving the team with stronger spin bowlers a potential advantage. The state of the pitch is so important that home teams can be fined or docked points if it is deemed unfit for normal play or dangerous for batters, with balls behaving unpredictably. Players may also face disciplinary action if found deliberately damaging or altering the pitch in violation of the Laws of Cricket. Because of these factors, coaches, players, and commentators often discuss how the pitch is "behaving" during a match—especially in first-class cricket or Test cricket, where conditions can change over several days. These changes also influence the coin toss decision, as captains weigh whether batting first or bowling first is more advantageous. For example, a captain might choose to bat first on a flat pitch but opt to bowl on a greener, more moist surface that offers early movement.
In the sport of cricket, a bail is one of the two smaller sticks placed on top of the three stumps to form a wicket. The bails are used to determine when the wicket is broken or put down, which in turn is one of the critical factors in determining whether a batter is out bowled, stumped, run out or hit wicket.
The wicket is considered to be broken if one or both of the bails fall from the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground, by:
In cricket, the stumps are the three vertical posts that support the bails and form the wicket. Stumping or being stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman.
The umpire calling stumps means the play is over for the day.
In cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batter. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batter is known as an all-rounder. Bowling the ball is distinguished from throwing the ball by a strictly specified biomechanical definition, which restricts the angle of extension of the elbow. A single act of bowling the ball towards the batter is called a ball or a delivery. Bowlers bowl deliveries in sets of six, called an over. Once a bowler has bowled an over, a teammate will bowl an over from the other end of the pitch. The Laws of Cricket govern how a ball must be bowled. If a ball is bowled illegally, an umpire will rule it a no-ball. If a ball is bowled too wide of the striker for the batter to be able to play at it with a proper cricket shot, the bowler's end umpire will rule it a wide.
There are different types of bowlers, from fast bowlers, whose primary weapon is pace, through swing and seam bowlers who try to make the ball deviate in its course through the air or when it bounces, to slow bowlers, who will attempt to deceive the batter with a variety of flight and spin. A spin bowler usually delivers the ball quite slowly and puts spin on the ball, causing it to turn at an angle while bouncing off the pitch.
In cricket, a dismissal occurs when a batsman's innings is brought to an end by the opposing team. Other terms used are the batsman being out, the batting side losing a wicket, and the fielding side (and often the bowler) taking a wicket. The ball becomes dead (meaning that no further runs can be scored off that delivery), and the dismissed batsman must leave the field of play for the rest of their team's innings, to be replaced by a team-mate. A team's innings ends if ten of the eleven team members are dismissed. Players bat in pairs so, when only one batsman remains who can be not out, it is not possible for the team to bat any longer. This is known as dismissing or bowling out the batting team, who are said to be all out.
The most common methods of dismissing a batsman are (in descending order of frequency): caught, bowled, leg before wicket, run out, and stumped. Of these, the leg before wicket and stumped methods of dismissal can be seen as related to, or being special cases of, the bowled and run out methods of dismissal respectively.
In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, it is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batter.
Second, it is a method of dismissing a batter, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (The term "bowled out" is sometimes used instead.)
Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket. A batsman is out caught if the batsman hits the ball, from a legitimate delivery, with the bat, and the ball is caught by the bowler or a fielder before it hits the ground.
If the catch is taken by the wicket-keeper, then informally it is known as caught behind or caught at the wicket. A catch by the bowler is known as caught and bowled. This has nothing to do with the dismissal bowled but is rather a shorthand for saying the catcher and bowler are the same player. (The scorecard annotation is usually c. and b. or c&b followed by the bowler's name.)
In cricket, a crease is a white line painted or chalked on the field of play, that defines the area within which the batters and bowlers operate. The term crease may also be used to refer to the rectangular area enclosed by the lines. Law 7 of the Laws of Cricket governs the size and position of the crease markings, and defines the actual line as the back edge of the width of the marked line on the soil, i.e., the edge nearest to the wicket at that end.
Four creases (one popping crease, one bowling crease, and two return creases) are drawn at each end of the pitch, around the two sets of stumps. The bowling creases lie 22 yards (66 feet or 20.12 m) apart, and mark the ends of the pitch. For the fielding side, the crease defines whether there is a no-ball because the wicket-keeper has moved in front of the wicket before he is permitted to do so. In addition, historically part of the bowler's back foot in the delivery stride was required to fall behind the bowling crease to avoid a delivery being a no-ball. This rule was replaced by a requirement that the bowler's front foot in the delivery stride must land with some part of it behind the popping crease (see below).