A cricket guide for parents

The Unlikely Cricket Mum presents

Introduction

At first thought, sitting on the sidelines for three hours while your child plays a game you may know only a little about and might find dauntingly difficult to learn, doesn’t sound very appealing.

I totally get it. As an American born and raised mother who is now happily an Australian citizen and wife, raising three kids in the suburbs of Melbourne, I’m probably not the first person you think of when you think ‘cricket fan’.

But really, the only surprising thing about one of my children falling in love with cricket, given they grew up in this cricket-loving nation, is that it was my daughter who did so.

While women have been a part of the evolution of the game of cricket since its humble beginnings (in fact, it was a woman who came up with the over arm style of bowling all cricketers still employ today), the game is still perceived as mostly for men.

I’m not saying women are not involved at all, or that their contributions aren’t valuable, they are. And while female involvement in the sport is undoubtedly growing, the resources for women to learn about the game are still often lacking.

I’m hoping to change that with a touch of humour and a little help from my friends at Bupa Australia and Cricket Australia, sharing the lessons that I’ve learned along my journey into understanding this sport.

I hope that The Unlikely Cricket Mum guide will help more parents enjoy being involved in this fantastic game of strategy and skill.

It’s not designed to teach you everything you need to know, but I hope you’ll take away some things that will spark your interest in the game, and then your young cricketer can take over as teacher.

Conversation starters are good, but if you can share a little bit more information, it’s a great way to keep your kids talking. Why not take advantage of the trip home from cricket games or practice to chat?

I want these resources to open a whole world of opportunities to spend more little moments that matter with your kids, and give you some tools to start, and continue cricket conversations with your family.

Also, fair warning, I use cricket terms right off the bat (no pun intended) in this guide, so if you need to really start at the beginning, you might want to start with the A-Z guide first!

Open up a world of opportunities to spend more little moments that matter with your kids.

Contents

For quick and easy navigation of this guide, refer to the page locations here (click to jump to the page you’re after):

A very short history of the game 4

Cricket formats - the long and short of it 5

The Laws of Cricket 6

Breaking down the game - the gear, the rules 7

How the game works 9

Moments you don’t want to miss 10

How to be actively involved 11

A-Z of cricket terms 13

Word search 15

Fielding positions 16

Get to know the cricket field 17

I’m not going to write an in-depth history of cricket or a thesis on the game, but I do think it is important to get a little bit of the back story if you are going to be discussing it with your little cricket fan (aka your child).

Cricket is recorded as having been played in its earliest forms in England all the way back during the 16th century, though the earlier origins are still debatable. In fact, the name of the game could have come from Old English, Dutch or French words for wooden sticks and staffs like the original cricket bats, no one is absolutely certain.

The oldest surviving set of rules for the game were from the mid-1700s, and most notably set the Law of Cricket that the pitch must be 22 yards (or just over 20m) long. These first Laws were issued in London and are now displayed in the cricket museum at Lord’s.

While the first ‘test’ match of cricket (so named because the length of the game was deemed the ultimate test of cricket skills) was in 1877, it was Australia’s win of the test match in England in 1882 that christened The Ashes series that is still played today.

Women have been documented playing cricket since the early 1800’s, with the first county match played in London. Not exactly the ‘gentlemen’s game’ after all!

The first match between Australia’s and England’s national women’s teams was played way back in 1934. Since then, 22 series have been played in total, with Australia wrapping up the most recent series played in October-November. In 1998, this series took on a new life, crowned the “Women’s Ashes” for the very first time.

These days, the Women’s Ashes, consisting of one test match, three ODIs and three T20s, is played roughly every two years – just like the five test men’s Ashes. And yes, the women’s teams also compete for an awesome trophy containing ashes…the ashes of a cricket bat.

A very short history of the game

16CEarliest form played in England

1700Law of cricketOldest set ofrules

1800Women cricketgames documented

1877First Test Match

1882The Ashes born after England lose to Australia

1934First women’s test AU v ENG

1998Womens Ashesis born

The loss for England was seen to be such a blow to their cricket ego that they published the following sentence in the papers about the death of English cricket; “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. The rivalry between the two countries in this sport is long standing and intense.

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Cricket is played in a few different formats

It’s a common misconception, and one that I had before my daughter started playing, that all games go on for days. They actually don’t!

TestThis is the type that most people think about when they hear “cricket” without even knowing it… The gameplay extends over five days and the players wear all white on both sides.

ODIOne Day International - A shortened version of the test match, so one inning per team and limited number of overs per inning. Each team bats for 50 overs unless all dismissed prior.

T20This is what you are most often watching your kids play! The game is 20 overs for each inning, and at an international and domestic level the players wear colours, and play with a white ball. Local club teams may still wear whites, and use the traditional red ball. It is often fast paced and big hitting. It is also over the quickest.

Junior(from learning to play right up to the T20 stage two rules game) - The kids start to learn with plastic bats and balls, but quickly grow to play T20 cricket with real hard balls and the need for pads and helmets!

Did you know? Don Bradman nearly had

a perfect test batting average… 99.94

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The Laws of Cricket

The Laws of Cricket are what set the rules and code of the game worldwide. They cover everything from the timing of breaks, to the weight of cricket balls. There are 42 Laws and 5 appendices, but don’t feel like you need to learn them all! There are some laws, you as a cricket parent, will need to be more familiar with, than others. The first new Laws since 2000 were introduced in October 2017 - I’m happy to report that one of the changes is that they’re now written in language applying to all persons, regardless of gender!

ObjectiveAt a simple level, the aim of the game is to score

at least one more run than the other team.

FieldingThe goal of the team fielding is to “dismiss” the

other team’s batters, so they can’t score more runs. Once the batter is out, they are out for the rest of the

game (except for the very first stages of little kids’ cricket where they are learning the game.)

DismissalThe ways of Dismissal (all the ways the batter can get out) are part of the Laws of Cricket. Some are more common than the others, and the ones you will experience most often are:

Caught: A fielder catches the ball hit by the batter before it hits the ground.

Run Out: The ball gets back to the stumps before the batter finishes their run.

Bowled: The ball misses the bat/batter and hits the stumps behind them.

Stumped: The wicket keeper hits the stumps with the ball when the batter is outside their crease. LBW: The ball hits the pads of the batter instead of the bat in line with the stumps… meaning if it had not been stopped by their pads, it would have hit the stumps. You can’t just try to block the ball with your body, you actually have to hit it with the bat!

There used to be 10 ways of dismissal in Cricket and that has been reduced to nine, with the ‘Handled The Ball Law’ deleted, and merged into ‘Obstructing The Field’.

Did you know? The Laws can

change, so you have to stay on

top of them!

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FieldThe cricket field of play is an oval shape, with a rectangular 22-yard (or just over 20m) long pitch in the middle.

For junior cricket, the pitch is usually synthetic and doesn’t need the same maintenance as a professional level pitch does. There are two sets of stumps, one at each end of the pitch.

GearFielders wear no gear except a sun hat.

The exception to that is the wicket keeper, who wears leg pads, keeping gloves and a helmet. Sometimes the fielder in silly position will also wear a helmet as they’re so close to the batter.

Wicket keeping pads and gloves are different from the batting ones, but the helmet the wicket-keeper wears is the same.

Batters wear helmets, pads, and gloves. Your young cricketer will also benefit from cricket shoes with rubber spikes (not metal ones...they can damage the synthetic pitch), but they are not a necessity.

Batters also need a bat. Since the choice of bat is so personal, your cricketer is probably going to want to own their own bat, that they can master the feel of and use at every game.

Both boys and girls can wear a protective box for their private parts. I have heard from those who know, you will never forget to wear one after getting hit there once.

There’s lots of elements that make up the game of cricket. Here I’ve tried to give you a run-down of some of the more common ones that you may need to know to support your little cricketer, along with a few rules to start a conversation.

BallMost junior cricket will be played with either a red, white or pink ball. No matter the colour, that ball they are playing with at this stage is the same as the one the adult teams are using and that means it is hard. Really hard.

Let’s break down the game

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RulesThe rules of the game are all outlined in the Cricket Laws, and they can be pretty complex.

Rather than list them all here, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask some members of the Australian Cricket Team to describe a few of their favourite or less common rules for us.

StumpsUnless your young cricketer is playing for one of the WBBL/BBL big bash league teams, they will be using plain wooden stumps and bails.

But if you want to make your backyard cricket as exciting as the Big Bash, you can buy the fancy bails that light up when the wicket is hit!

PositionsIn the WBBL/BBL there are two teams of usually 11 players, but in junior cricket less players take to the field to maximize participation. One team is either fielding or bat-ting at a time.

Fielding, Wicket Keeping and BowlingThe aim of the fielding team is to prevent runs and dismiss batters.

Batting (On Strike and Non-striker) The aim of the batting team is to protect the wicket and score runs.

Note: Junior cricket teams will often have extra players on their side to allow for those times when someone can’t make it.

Did you know? Before the 1800’s

bowlers would toss the ball with an underhand

delivery!

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How the game unfoldsThere’s lots of little moments that make up a game of cricket. Look out for these things:

Coin tossThe captains of each team decide with a coin toss who bats or bowls first and determine the batting order - who bats first and the order in which the rest of the team will follow.

The captains must also stay on top of fielding positions. While the number of players on the field never changes, the places they stand can vary with each over.

recognised ways to dismiss a batter.

If they are not dismissed during their over, the batter can “retire” and that means they are not out and able to bat again if their teammates all get dismissed or retired before the inning is complete.

Overs &inningsOver The set number of balls bowled or faced. There are six balls per over.

inning Each team’s turn to bat. Depending on the format of the game, there are set number of overs.

Usually junior cricket teams play a game of 20 overs each, with 6 balls per over, and one inning each. This means a team will bowl 120 balls before switching over to be the batting team.

RunsBoth batters (also known as the batting pair) must run for the team to score. A single run is recorded when each batter runs to the opposite end of the pitch. They can run back and forth as long as they feel it is safe to do so, scoring an additional run each time.

If the ball clears the boundary (the edge of the field), it is either an automatic four runs (if it bounced first) or six runs (if it cleared the boundary with no bounce). If a four or a six is hit, the batters can return to their positions without having to actually do those runs.

Only one of the batting pair can be dismissed at a time. When one batter is dismissed, the next batter on their team comes in to take their place on the pitch.

DismissalsThe goal of cricket is to score at least one more run than the other team by the end of the game.

To make those runs, a batter tries to hit the ball as far as possible (for fours and sixes) or rack up single runs.

The bowler and rest of the fielding team is there to dismiss the batter and prevent them from scoring runs. There’s nine

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Moments not to be missed!

When your cricketer is up to batAn exciting time, and often the most nerve-wracking as well. Your little cricketer might face 20 balls before they retire, or they could go out on the first ball (also known as a duck).

When you really want to pay attention. There are times when you can have a chat with fellow parents, and then there are times that you really don’t want to miss the action. These are the important parts of the game that you and your cricketer can discuss later, so you will want to have your eyes on the field.

1

When your team hits a four or six or sneaks a runThey will appreciate your enthusiastic response to these great plays.

2

When any batter has finished their over or is dismissed This is the time to clap for their efforts, even if it is the other team. This is part of the spirit of the game.

3

When your cricketer is bowlingThey may only bowl a couple of overs, so pay attention.

4

When your team gets a wicketThe kids all run to congratulate the player that got the dismissal, so if your bowler, wicket keeper or fielder gets a batter out, it is time to celebrate.

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How to be actively involved

Umpire

Talking to your kids about their favourite sport and watching their favourite team play are great ways to connect, but what about creating even more opportunities to bond? There are many easy ways to become involved with your young cricketer’s club and it will not just be your kids who benefit from the extra support you bring!

TeamManager

Put your hand up as manager to help a junior team. These duties can range from organising the practice times, to making sure there are enough umpires and people to score the game.

The team will also need someone on the day of the game to ensure the kids know their batting order, and are padded up ahead of time. You don’t want to make cricket even longer by holding up play, while small kids fum-ble with gear. In fact, they made a Cricket Law for that very thing - Law 40: Timed Out - and a batter can be out if the player takes longer than three minutes to get on the field of play when it’s their turn.

You can also be the water runner, or simply ensure they all have applied their zinc in the hot sun. There are lots of little moments to show you are there for the team, and your own little cricketers.

An international match has four umpires (two on-field and two-off field), but you certainly need two. One umpire stands behind the crease on the non-striker’s end and is the first one to signal any of the calls. The other stands at ‘square leg’, and keeps an eye on stumpings/run outs. There are hand signals to learn so that other umpires and those at the scoring table can record the calls from further away.

Out: One arm raised straight overhead with the index finger pointing up.

Wide: Both arms stretched out to the side, parallel to the ground.

No Ball: One arm stretched out to the side, parallel to the ground.

Leg bye : One hand tapping a raised knee

Four: One arm bent at the elbow sweeping in and out (from chest to straight arm). Six: Both arms raised overhead.

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Score TeaCricketers need to eat during long games, and with a team of 12 (elev-en and an extra) you can always help by offering to provide healthy snacks that are quick and easy to eat.

There’s a break between innings, and the batting team always has players on the sidelines when just two are on the field of play at once.

You’ll need to make things that are quick, easy to eat as well as nutritious. There is really no easy way to eat spa-ghetti during tea time at the cricket!

Ideas for Cricket Tea Time: Crisp (washed and cut - ready to eat) veggies and a variety of dips

Cheesy scrolls, pita chips and hummus savory muffins, or mini sandwiches Cut up fruit - quartered oranges and slices of watermelon are perfect sum-mer cricket snacks!

And of course, the occasional Lamington because it is Australia!

Did you know? Specialty scoring record books and shorthand is used

for this role.

When I say the game of cricket is one of skill, I’m not just referring to those who play it. The level of record keeping, and attention to detail, for those taking on the role of scorer is incredible. If you raise your hand for this position, I am calling you a cricket hero: there is so much to keep track of in a game of cricket beyond just runs and dismissals.

Here’s few basic explainers to get you started:

They keep a complete tally of the runs, but they’re also broken down by what has been achieved by each batter.

A batting average is calculated by the number of runs each batter scores, per inning.

Dismissing a batter is a primary goal for the bowler, but they’re not the only players on the field who can get the batters out, so they need to keep track of that. Dismissals are recorded as a lump sum for the team, but also broken down by who got which batter out.

They will also record when that dismissal happened during the game. For example, bowled and LBW is recorded for the bowler, while fielders get the catches and run outs.

A bowling average is calculated by the runs scored for each wicket taken.

Take it homeBeing involved in your child’s cricket passion, doesn’t have to mean hours spent at your local Cricket club. Heaidng to the backyard or the park to throw a ball around, is a great way to spend time together, and improve their cricket skills at the same time.

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A-Z of cricket terms

Ducks and other Silly terms: a general (and certainly not complete) guide to get you started speaking Cricket. The vocabulary of cricket is a whole new world. You will literally need to learn to speak their language if you want to bond with your young cricketer, so I have prepared an A-Z guide for your reference. There are so many crazy terms that I have yet to master, so please feel free to add on as you learn. I know I will!

All-rounder: A cricket player who excels in both batting and bowling.

Appeal: When the umpire is asked to make a decision on whether the batter is out

Baggy Green: This is the cap worn by the Australian team for test cricket and it is literally a baggy green cap. It is also the ultimate goal to wear one if you are a young cricketer dreaming big!

Bails: The small wooden pieces that sit on top of the stumps. These can be fancy LED ones in Big Bash League games.

Ball: A cricket ball can be white, red or hot pink and come in different sizes. They are solid and hard covered in leather with raised stitching running in one direction around the middle. The ball deteriorates with use and the condition of them is critical for how they move through the air in delivery, so there is a new ball used for each match. They are quite pricey too, so see if you can’t get some used balls for your backyard and local nets practice sessions.

Batter: Also known as a batsman, but with the rise of women in the sport, I am calling them batters throughout the guide. The batters go out to the field to run in pairs. One batter faces the bowler and is referred to as the striker. The non-striker is the batter at the bowler’s end. When the ball is hit, the striker will call whether they should run or not. The calls are Yes, No and Wait. “Go” is never used as it can too easily be misheard (“no!”) resulting in a run out.

Boundary: The boundary line for the field of play. This is often reduced for junior cricket as it takes great strength to get the balls over the boundary.

Bowler: The fielding team rotates bowlers every over. They are the ones who deliver the ball to the batter in different styles.

Bowled: When the bowler delivers a ball that goes between bat and batter to hit the stumps behind them. It is an exciting way for a bowler to get a batter out.

Bye: This when a ball passes by the batter and wicket keeper. The batters can run on a bye, but the runs they get go to the total team tally and are not recorded for the individual batter. A ‘bye’ in the competition can also mean that a team doesn’t play that round, usually because there are an odd amount of teams in the division

Catch: A ball that is caught in the field before it hits the ground gets that batter out.

Century: One hundred runs by one batter in one game.

Crease: The lines at each end of the pitch defining the area where a batsman must reach and remain to be considered safe. The bowler also must not step over the front line during their delivery or it will be called a ‘no-ball’ and they must deliver it again (whilst the batting team get a run)

Delivery: The bowling of the ball.

Dismissal: This is what getting the batter out in cricket is called.

Duck: When a batter gets out before scoring any runs.

Extras: Runs that are given to the team tally, but not recorded for an individual batter. These can be byes, leg bye, no-balls and wides.

Pace bowling: A style of bowling where the ball is delivered very fast.

Fielder: The players who are in the field.

Four: A shot that bounces on the field, but then continues to clear the boundary. It counts for an automatic four runs.

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Gap: The term for the space on the field between players. This is where a batter will try to send the ball so that they have a chance for more runs.

Howzat: Slang for “How’s That” which the fans yell at the cricket games.

Innings: The team’s turn at batting or bowling.

LBW: This stands for Leg Before Wicket and is a form of dismissal where the ball hits the batter’s leg pads instead of the bat and would have hit the wicket had the leg not stopped it. Basically this is so the batter can’t protect their wicket with their body after missing a shot.

Maiden: When a bowler bowls an entire over with the other team getting no runs.

No-ball: When a bowler steps over the crease during delivery. This counts as an extra run added to the batter’s team tally.

Over: A series of six balls delivered by one bowler.

Pads: The protective padding batters (and the wicketkeeper) wear.

Pitch: The 22 yard long rectangle where batters run between stumps. The curators (if a turf wicket) or umpires will measure this before each game.

Run-Out: When the batter does not make it to the stumps before the ball breaks the stumps by being thrown or in the hands of the wicket-keeper. The batter must have the tip of their bat over the line of the crease to be considered safe in a run-out situation.

Seam: The stitching on the cricket ball.

Shot: What it is called when the batter hits the ball.

Silly: I had to put this one in here because, well because, this is exactly why some people look at any reporting about cricket as a sport and give up. Silly is a description of a fielder who is in position very close to the batter. And when you think about it, the word does make sense as it is pretty silly to stand so close to the batsman with no padding!

Single: One run.

Six: A six is an automatic six runs recorded when the batter hits the ball over the boundary line without it bouncing on the field.

Spin: A type of bowling delivery where the ball moves off the straight line with action from the wrist.

Striker (non-striker): The striker is the batter facing the bowler ready to receive the ball. The non-striker is the batter at the bowler’s end who will not hit the ball, but will run on the shot.

Stumped: A form of dismissal when the wicketkeeper knocks the bails off the stump when the batter is out of the crease.Stumps - The set of three vertical poles at each end of the pitch.

Swing: A bowling delivery where the ball moves with a swing through the air because of one side being polished and the other side of the ball is rough. This is one reason why you will see a bowler shining the ball on their shirt or pants before bowling.

Test: The type of cricket game that takes place over a series of five days with at least 90 overs and six hours of playing each day.

Umpire: An offical who watches a game closely to enforce the rules of cricket.

Wicket: Things can get confusing here. Wicket can be another term for the actual pitch on which the game is played. It can refer to the set of stumps and bails at each end of the pitch or it can be the term for the dismissal of the batter by the bowler.

Wicket-keeper: Also known as just the ‘keeper, this is a fielding position directly behind the stumps of the striking batter. Their main job is to catch the balls that the batter misses, or try to stump the batter if they are out of their crease

Wide: A delivery where the ball is too far for the batter to reach and will count as a run for the batting team’s total tally.It must be re-balled

Yorker: A type of delivery that lands just under or behind the bat – and very close to the batters toes!

Add more terms:

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Word search

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AppealBailsBallBatterBoundaryBowledBowler Bye Catch Century Crease CutDeliveryDismissalDrive DuckExtraFastFielderFourFull Googly Hook InningsLBWLegside Maiden Noball Offside Over Pads Pitch Pull Seam Shot Silly Single Six Slip Spin Striker Stumps Swing Testmatch Umpire Wicket Wicketkeeper Wide Yorker 15

Fielding positions

Know how

I really think the most confusing part of cricket for a spectator is when you listen to commentary and need to decipher the language... For example, imagine trying to comprehend what a silly mid off is when you don’t speak “cricket.”

It comes down to the simple fact that the field of play is divided into imaginary sections which are described with these unusual modifiers. Let’s take a moment to breakdown the fielding positions in the easiest way possible. And for someone like me, a visual representation is required!

First the field is split into two imaginary halves down the middle of the pitch through the two sets of stumps. Off side and On or Leg side.

Then the field of play is split again into segments describing how close to the batter the fielder is positions:

Silly: Really close to the batter. Short: Close to the batter Deep: Further away from the batter.

Then there are actual positions titled Slips, Mid-Wicket and Cover.

So when your cricketer says that she saw a gap where there was no silly mid-off, you will learn to translate that there was no one standing close to her offside in the mid-wicket position.

BowlerFrom spin to pace, there are many different types of delivery styles that all require strength and precision.

BatterMore likely referred to as batsmen, but it’s 2017 and girls play cricket too. Any batter must have strong arms and fast feet.

Keeper Wicketkeepers must have strong legs, quick reflexes and great hand-eye coordination.

InfieldInfielders need to stay focused and be ready for the ball. They should also have the ability to catch fast balls.

Outfield Outfielders have an accurate and strong throw. Stamina to run distance helps as well since they tend to cover more ground out at the boundary.

Umpire This is where you can play a big part in your young cricketer’s team. Get out there, have fun and make those moments count. Don’t forget your hat!

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Get to know the cricket field

Off-side On (Leg side)

1. Bowler2a. Striker (right hand batter*)2b. Non-Striker3. Wicketkeeper4. Silly - really close to batter5. Short - close to batter6. Square - 90 degree angle to batter 7. Backward - behind batter’s wicket8. Fine - backward between square and straight 9. Wide - forward and futher from straight10. Deep - further from batter11. Forward - in front of batter’s wicket12. Straight - close to imaginary middle line of pitch

Slips Cover Mid (off)Mid wicket

Outfield Infield

UmpireBoundary

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2b