By Ellie Clifford and Hasib Dewan
We've finally made it to explaining cricket! Here's everything you need to know to impress - And with the Indian Premier League having kicked off this weekend, we explain why you should give it a try.
What is Cricket?
Cricket is a game of 2 teams, with 11 players on each side.
Players are either on the batting side, or the bowling side. And they take it in turns to bat then bowl.
Some players from the bowling team will field, meaning it's their job to catch the other team out.
It's played on a circular pitch, and the action takes place on what is known as a wicket.
You'll also hear people talking about overs and innings:
Innings refers to the number of turns a whole team will get to bat.
An over consists of six balls which are bowled correctly at the batsman. After 6 balls, the umpire declares 'over' and the bowler switches. The number of overs depends on the type of cricket match played.
What's the aim of the game?
To win, a team needs to score more runs than the other side. Runs are scored when the batsman hits the ball, and then runs between the wickets. The further they hit the ball, the more runs they are likely to get.
If you hit the ball along the ground and it hits the end of the cricket pitch boundary, you score 4 - without having to run anywhere!
If the ball goes over the boundary edge (without hitting the ground) you score a 6!
How do you defend your score?
The bowling team throw the ball to the batsman who hits it. Once the batsman has hit the ball, the fielding team (the bowlers) have a couple of options:
If the ball hits the ground and then rolls, the fielding team need to pick it up, and throw it towards the wicket. If they knock the wicket off before the batsman reaches out, they get the batsman OUT!
If the batsman hits the ball into the air and the fielders catch it, the batsman is OUT!
What are the different types of Cricket?
Test Cricket: This is played over 5 days, and each team has two innings (chances to bat). The scores are cumulative and the team with the most runs after each innings is the winner. The team that wins the majority of the innings wins.
One Day: This is a shorter, 1 day format which is played over 50 overs each side.
Twenty 20 - this is a short format of the game where there are only 20 overs each side.
So what about the Indian Premier League (IPL)?
The IPL is a Twenty 20 tournament played over 6 weeks during the early part of the Indian summer. It's characterised by fireworks, cheerleaders, deafening crowds, celebrity endorsements, and cricketing superstars from around the world - not very cricket right?
This year, the seasons runs from the 23rd March until the 12th May. The IPL is estimated to be worth US$6.3bn. This year the total prize money (for the first place team, runner-up, and a number of special prizes), reaching an estimated £7.5m-£9m.
How does it work?
It's a franchise based tournament consisting of 8 teams. Each franchise is privately owned and endorsed by celebrities and big sponsors - think Shah Rukh Khan, think Samsung. This means extravagant spectacles, television coverage across the world and enough cash to attract the best cricketing talent there is. It's also worth noting that each team can only have 4 overseas players per 11, the priority of the tournament is to prioritise local talent (this has shown real benefits for India's national team, but that's for another time).
Each time plays each other twice, home and away. Win a match and you earn 2 points.
After the league matches, the top 4 teams play each other in semi finals and then a final.
Those who finish in the two top get two bites at the cherry - as the loser of semi final 1 will play the winner of semi final 2 before the final.
But what makes the IPL so special? After all, there are plenty of franchise tournaments in the world now?
Alongside the bluster and bravado, as at its core, the IPL is a brilliant cricketing spectacle. It's a tournament that has redefined what's possible in the game. Just before the inaugural IPL tournament in 2008, people thought 6 runs an over was quick going. Now batting sides regularly clear double that.
Batsmen
Batsmen now regularly exercise skill enabling them to score runs all around the ground. Now, it's not about accumulating a score over a period of time, it's about scrambling the minds of bowlers with: electric hitting; clever maneouvering of fields; and smacking the ball as far as you can, far as often as you can. Cricket legends of old, and even recent greats like Freddie Flintoff or Shane Warne, drool and wax lyrical about what is delivered in this tournament.
Bowlers
For bowlers, the focus is about limiting options for batsmen. You want to try and get them to hit the ball in only certain areas so you can plan your field and catchers. This is achieved through great skill - playing with different speeds when bowling, or different lengths (bouncing the ball either near or far from the batsmen), or learning a particular batsmen's strengths and weaknesses.
Ones to watch
The IPL epitomises this titanic battle between bat and ball, and each franchise brings something different to the tournament. To name a few, Chennai Superkings, a team of wizened stars like MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Dwayne Bravo, are 7 times finalists and won the tournament 3 times, base their game on hard match play and grinding out results. Sunrisers Hyderabad have a foundation in quality bowling, it's very difficult to score runs against them. Kolkota Knight Riders are expert chasers, filled with wonderful hitters who can chase down even mammoth totals. One of the joys of this tournament is picking a favourite and understand how they approach winning games.
The favourites
Added spice this year comes from the fact that after the IPL we have the Cricket World Cup 2019 hosted in England.
Never before have England been hot favourites for a World Cup, but this year they come into the tournament with cracking form. This is reflected in the IPL as Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and David Willey will all feature across the tournament. Everyone is most excited though about England hopeful Jofra Archer, playing for the Rajasthan Royals. The 23 year old recently qualified to play for England and is known for the sending the ball at over 90mph - he'll hope to make a positive impact this tournament and break through into the world cup squad.
From an Indian perspective, Prithvi Shaw of Delhi Capitals is definitely one to watch. 19 years old and touted as the next Sachin Tendulkar, he'll bring classic technique and incredible talent.
Get involved!
If this has tempted you to get involved you can find loads of great clubs who will be happy to have you. Simple click here to be taken to the Play Cricket website!.