15 Laws of cricket that you need to know

15 Laws of cricket that you need to know: Cricket is not just about bat, ball, and entertainment. There are certain laws which govern this game. A special law was formed in 1789 by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). These rules are not complicated; they are the simple rules which a cricketer must know in order to play the game fairly. The Law Book has 42 different laws which are categorised with respect to game play, players, umpires and other officials. Many cricket fans know the basics rules of cricket, but don’t possess the in depth about the rules. Here are the 15 Laws of cricket that you need to know: 1. Leg Before Wicket (LBW): The law 36 of the rule book states that the batsman may be declared out LBW, if, The bowler bowls a legal delivery. The ball pitches in line between wicket and wicket or on the offside of the striker’s wicket. The ball has not touched his bat. The batsman has made a genuine attempt to play the ball (the condition is only valid if the ball pitches on the imaginary area between the wickets). The ball would have gone and hit the stumps. Also Read – 5 Unknown Laws of Cricket This law tells us how a batsman is declared out LBW if he has attempted to play a shot and the ball touches him anywhere below the hips before he touches the ball. The delivery should be legal and the ball must and should be on the off side between wicket to wicket and the point of impact should be below the level of bails. There are no proper records which state that who was the 1st batsman to be dismissed by LBW. In modern day cricket, LBW has become more popular among spinners as they twist and turn the ball and hit the batsmen on their pads. 2. No Ball: The law 24 of the rule book states that the delivery bowled by the bowler is declared a ‘no ball’ by the umpire, if The bowler’s front foot lands beyond the popping crease. The bowler’s front foot is crossing the imaginary line joining the 2 middle stumps. The bowler’s back foot touches the return crease. The bowler throws the ball. The bowler changes his method of delivery without informing the umpire. The bowler bowls underarm. The ball bounces twice before reaching the batsman or comes to rest in front of the batsman’s wickets. The bowler hits his own stumps. The bowler bowls a delivery above the hips of the batsman. The bowler bowls a fast short pitched ball after 1st warning. This law clearly explains how a ball is considered as a no-ball. In modern day cricket, no ball is like a gift to the batting team as the they get a run extra and also a free hit in limited overs matches. On July 5th 2015, the ICC announced that in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals a free hit will be awarded to the batsman for all the conditions given above, previously free hit was awarded only for a front-foot No Ball. 3. Wide Ball: The law 25 of the rule book states that a delivery bowled by the bowler is declared as a Wide Ball by the umpire, if The ball is not sufficient enough for the batsman to hit it (but a batsman purposefully cannot move away from the ball and force the umpire to declare it as a wide) The law explains how a delivery can be a wide ball. The penalty runs given to the batting side would be 1 run, apart from that if the wicketkeeper misses the ball the batsman is allowed to run between the wickets resulting in more runs for the batting side. The penalty runs received from the wide would be included in the extras. 4. Running out the non-striker: The law 42.15 of the rule book states that the bowler is permitted, before entering his delivery stride, to attempt to run out the non-striker. Whether the attempt is successful or no, the ball shall not count as one of the over. If the bowler fails in an attempt to run out the non-striker, the umpire shall declare the delivery as dead ball as soon as possible. This is one of the most unusual forms of dismissasl. There is another name for this dismissal called mankading. This dismissal got such weird name because of an Indian cricketer called Vinoo Mankad who first enforced such dismissal while bowling. The batsman he ran out was Bill Brown in 1947. 5. Fair catch: The law 32.3 of the rule book states that the dismissal is a fair catch, if Throughout the act of making the catch, any fielder in contact with the ball is within the field of play. The ball is hugged to the body of the catcher or accidentally lodges in his clothing or, in the case of wicket-keeper only, in his pads. However, it is not a fair catch if the ball lodges in a protective helmet worn by a fielder. The ball does not touch the ground even though the hand holding it does so in effecting the catch. A fielder catches the ball after it has touched an umpire, another fielder or the other batsman. A fielder catches the ball in the air after it has crossed the boundary provided that, he has no part of his person touching or grounded beyond the boundary at any time while he is in contact with the ball. 6. Runner: The law 2.7 of the law book states that the player acting as a runner for a batsman shall be a member of the batting side and shall, if possible, have already batted in the innings. The runner shall wear external protective equipment equivalent to that worn by the batsman for whom he runs and shall carry a bat. This law clearly explains how a player from a batting team can take the field as a runner. The main intention for this law to come into existence is that the batsman who is injured and can’t run between the wickets can call a player from the batting team to run for him. The main conditions for the runner to enter the field is that he can only be used if the batsman is injured or ill during the course of play, his use must meet the approval of the umpires, the runners must be in the playing 11 and not the twelfth man. 7. Dead Ball: The law 23 of the rule book states that a delivery is a dead ball, when It is finally settled in the hands in the hands of the wicket-keeper or the bowler. A boundary is scored. When a batsman is dismissed. The ball will be dead soon after the dismissal has caused. The ball lodges into batsman’s or umpire’s clothing or equipment. It lodges in a protective helmet worn by the fielder. Lost ball is called. The above law explained the different scenarios where the umpire can call a delivery as a Dead Ball. There are many other scenarios which may lead a normal delivery to called a dead ball. Some of them are umpire intervening in case of unfair play, a serious injury to the player or umpire occurs, umpire leaves his normal position for consultation, one or both bails fall from the striker, the bowler drops the ball accidently before delivery, etc. 8. Bye and Leg Bye: The law 26 of the rule book states that an umpire can call out a bye, if the ball, delivered by the bowler, not being a No ball or wide, passes the striker without touching his bat or person, any runs completed by the batsman from that delivery, or a boundary allowance shall be credited as Byes to the batting side. The law 26 even states that an umpire can call out a leg bye if a legitimate ball comes off any part of the striker’s body except his bat or hand holding the bat, then the runs collected are known as leg byes provided that the umpire is satisfied that the striker was either trying to play the ball with his bat or was trying to avoid being hit. There are many circumstances where a leg bye runs cannot be scored. If the umpire doesn’t think that the striker was either trying to hit the ball or was taking evasive action he will allow the batsman to attempt to run one not out of generosity, but to give the fielding side a chance to affect a run out, after that he will call and signal a dead ball and tell the batsman to return to their original ends by making sure that no runs are credited. Byes and Leg Byes are added to the total runs of the team but not awarded to the individual batsman. Its neither recorded in the bowler’s records. The runs scored in this category are taken to another category called Extras. 9. Stumped: The law 39 of the rule book states that the batsman is out stumped when the bowler bowls a legitimate delivery (not a No Ball only), however if the ball is wide, then the keeper is allowed to stump the striker. For example, the striker has moved out his crease to play the ball but has missed and has not attempted to run and his wicket is fairly put down by the wicket-keeper without the intervention of other fielders. When all these conditions are met, the batsman is said to be out stumped. The only player who can stump the striker is the wicketkeeper. There are certain other conditions for the batsman to be stumped. For example, if the wicketkeeper fails to hold the ball and if it rebounds onto the stumps from any part of the wicketkeeper’s body or equipment other than a protective helmet, then the striker is regarded as stumped out. 10. Damaging the pitch: The law 42 of the rule book states that it is incumbent on all players to avoid unnecessary damage to pitch. A player will be deemed to be causing avoidable damage if either umpire considers that his presence on the pitch is without reasonable cause. It is unfair to cause deliberate damage the pitch. There is a small part of the pitch called ‘the protected area’ where none of the players on the field are not allowed to enter unnecessarily. It is defined as that area contained within a rectangle bounded at each end by imaginary lines parallel to the popping creases and 5ft/1.52m front of each, and in the sides by imaginary lines, one each side of the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps, each parallel to it and 1ft/30.48cm from it. A bowler will be deemed to be causing deliberate damage to the pitch if the umpire considers that his presence on the protected area is without reasonable calls. The bowler will contravene this law if he runs onto the protected are either after delivering the ball or if he fails to release the ball, at first he will receive a caution, the second he will get a final warning and if he does it again he will be suspended from bowling for the rest of the match and may face disciplinary action after the match. In the case of the batsman, it is the whole pitch that they must not damage not just the protected area. If the batsman causes deliberate damage to the pitch, the batsman will be given a 1st and final warning. The warning given to him will apply throughout the innings and each incoming batsman will be warned. If any fielder causes deliberate damage to the field he will face a similar portion and be reported to his captain, if there is a repeat offense by any fielder during that innings, five runs are awarded to the batting side. 11. Hit the ball twice: The law 34 of the law book states that the batsman is out if, While the ball is in play, it strikes any part of body or is struck by his bat and, before the ball has been touched by a fielder, he wilfully strikes it again with his bat or person, other than a hand not holding the bat, except for the sole purpose of guarding his wicket. The striker prevents the fielder from catching the ball that he hit at first. The batsman is not out if he strikes the ball twice in order to return the ball to any fielder (if and only if the fielder demands for it) and if he wilfully touches the ball after it has been touched by any of the fielders. The batsman is allowed to hit the ball a 2nd time in order to guard his wicket, he can use his bat or any part of the body and cannot, however, use his hand to stop the ball. 12. Obstructing the field: The law 37 of the rule book states that the batsman is out obstructing the field if he wilfully obstructs or distracts the fielding side by word or action. Furthermore, it shall be regarded as obstruction if while the ball is in play either batsman wilfully, and without the consent of a fielder, strikes the ball with his bat or any part of the body, other than a hand not holding the bat, after the ball has been touched by a fielder. This shall apply whether or not there is any disadvantage to the fielding side. He is said to be out obstructing the ball if he obstructs any fielder from catching the ball. But he is not said to be out if he obstructs the ball to prevent himself from being hit. The bowler does not get the credit for the wicket of the batsman obstructing the field. The first batsman to get out obstructing the field in ODI’s is Rameez Raja on 20th November against England. The recent batsman to get out obstructing the field is Ben Stokes of England against the mighty Aussies on 5th September 2015. 13. Batsman out of his ground: The rule 29 of the rule book states that the batsman shall be considered out of his ground unless his bat or some part of his body is grounded behind the popping crease at the end. If a running batsman, having grounded some part of his foot behind the popping crease, continues running further towards the wicket at that end and beyond, then any subsequent total loss of contact with the ground of both his person and his bat during his continuing forward momentum shall not be interpreted as being out of his ground. The rule even states which is a batsman’s ground if, Only one batsman is within a ground, Both the batsmen are in the same ground and one of them subsequently leaves it. There is no batsman in either ground, then each ground belongs to whichever batsman is nearer to it, or if the batsmen are level, whichever batsman was nearer to it immediately prior to their drawing level. If a ground belongs to one batsman then, unless there is a striker who has a runner, the other ground belongs to the other batsman, irrespective of his position. 14. The wicket is down: The rule 28 of the rule book states that wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground, By the ball. By the striker’s bat if he is holding it or by any part of his bat that he is holding. By the striker’s person or by any part of his clothing or equipment is detached from his person. By a fielder with his hand or arm, providing that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used. If one bail is off, it shall be sufficient for the purpose of putting the wicket down to remove the remaining bail or to strike or pull any of the three stumps out of the ground, in any of the ways stated above. 15. Boundary catching: The law 32.4 of the rule book states that the ball may be caught subject to provisions of Law 32 (Boundaries), or fielded after it has crossed the boundary, provided that, The first contact with the ball is by a fielder either with some part of his person grounded within the boundary or whose final contact with the ground before touching the ball was within the boundary. Neither the ball nor any fielder in contact with the ball, touches or is grounded beyond, the boundary at any time during the act of making the catch or of fielding the ball. Also Read – 14 Most weird rules in Cricket: You better believe them The act of making the catch, or of fielding the ball, shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with some part of fielder’s body and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control both over the ball and over his own movement and has no part of his body touching or grounded beyond the boundary.

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15 Laws of cricket that you need to know

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