
Cricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the finish of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas & by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. Today, the game's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has 104 member countries.[1]
The rules of the game are known as the Laws of Cricket.[2] These are maintained by the ICC & the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which holds the copyright. A cricket match is played on a cricket field at the centre of which is a pitch. The match is contested between one teams of eleven players each.[3] Five team bats, trying to score as plenty of runs as possible without being dismissed ("out") while the other team bowls & fields, trying to dismiss the other team’s batsmen & limit the runs being scored. When the batting team has used all its obtainable overs or has no remaining batsmen, the roles become reversed & it is now the fielding team’s turn to bat & try to outscore the opposition.
There's several variations in the length of a game of cricket. In professional cricket this ranges from a limit of 20 overs per side (Twenty20) to a game played over 5 days (Check cricket). Depending on the form of the match being played, there's different rules that govern how a game is won, lost, drawn or tied.







