Quickly learn how to follow a cricket game

Cricket has a reputation for having arcane rules and unintelligible jargon, but the basic principles are actually easy to grasp. We'll teach you the fundamentals so that you can be on your feet and cheering at the next cricket game.

• Cricket is a game of bat and ball between two teams of 11 players. Two batsmen take to the field at any one time.
• Each batsman has a "wicket" to guard made up of three upright pieces of wood ("stumps") with two smaller pieces ("bails") laid across the top. The two wickets are positioned at either end of a thin rectangular pitch 20 metres (22 yards) long in the centre of the playing field.
• The bowler delivers the ball overarm from one wicket to the other. The batsman aims to hit it before or after it bounces and then both batsmen run as many times as possible between the two sets of stumps before the ball can be returned to the wicket. Each must reach the safety of the opposite "crease" (a line drawn 1.2 metres/ 4 feet forward of the stumps) for a run to be scored.
• After every six deliveries (an "over"), a new bowler takes aim from the other end.

• The bowler's primary aim is to "bowl" the batsman out by hitting his wicket with the ball, but he may also try to trick the batsman into hitting the ball high so that he can be caught out by a fielder.
• The batsman must choose whether to try to score runs or just guard his wicket until an easier ball comes along. If he manages to hit the ball to the boundary of the playing area (usually no less than 69 metres or 75 yards from the wicket) he scores four runs, or six if the ball clears the boundary without bouncing.
• An innings ends when ten batsmen are out. The opposing team then tries to beat the first team's score. Games consist of one inning each (a one day game), or two innings (played over three, four, or five day games).

And there you have it: the game of cricket! Now you should be equipped enough to make sense of the game when you're watching it. For even more fun, why not get some friends, pick up a bat, and give it a shot? You'll have a blast.