Think back to the game’s origins as a one-to-one game of club and ball. Its first refinement arose when, instead of simply hurling a missile at a man with a club for him to bat away, you were actually aiming at a target behind him. This, the central activity in that little patch of turf in the centre of the field known as the pitch, is the heart of the game. At each end of the pitch is a wicket, consisting of three upright sticks (the stumps) with a couple of shorter bits of wood (the bails) balanced along the top. The bowler’s overriding aim is to hit the wicket and dislodge the bails, dismissing the batsman from the field. If this happens, he has been “bowled out”.

Each team consists of 11 players. The teams take it in turns to bat, two at a time, one at each end, each team's session of batting being known as an innings. The batsman, positioned in the small area in front of the wicket known as the crease, aims to knock the ball as far out into the field as he can. It must be retrieved by the bowler’s team-mates who, being ranged about the field, are known as fielders. One of these fielders stands immediately behind the wicket towards which the bowler is aiming. Known as the wicket-keeper, he is the only fielder permitted to wear catching gloves. If the batsman misses the ball altogether, it may be caught  by the wicket-keeper. If the wicket-keeper gathers the ball while no part of the batsman’s body or his bat is in contact with the crease, he can knock the wicket down himself, in which case the batsman has been “stumped” and is out.

A bowler bowls six balls, after which the duty must pass to one of his team-mates. Each set of six balls is called an over. With each new bowler, the action changes ends, with the two batsmen remaining where they are.

In the time it takes a fielder to pick up the ball and throw it back to the crease, the two batsmen run back and forth as many times as they can between the two wickets. These runs form the basis of the batting team’s scoring, which can be further augmented by different batting strokes. A ball that makes its way to the very edge of the field (the boundary) before being retrieved scores an automatic four, while a ball that is hit so strongly that it sails over the boundary and into the crowd before falling is a six. In the case of fours and sixes, the runs are chalked up without them having been physically run.

If a fielder manages to knock off the bails while the batsmen are in mid-run, the batsman nearest to the wicket at that point is deemed to have been “run out”. The batsmen are under no obligation to make runs if the striker judges, on the strength of the ball he has hit, that there is insufficient time. An odd number of runs (generally one or three) will result in the batsmen changing roles, having finished up at the opposite end to where they started.

When all the batsmen of the first team have been dismissed down to the last one, they will have run up a score, which it is now up to the incoming team to beat in their innings. A match may well consist of two innings each, taking a number of days to complete.

If one of the fielders catches the ball cleanly from the batsman’s stroke, the batsman goes out, having been “caught”. A batsman can go out if he misses the ball with his bat, but some part of his body deflects a ball that would otherwise have struck the wicket. This is a matter for the umpire’s adjudication and, if given, is known as an LBW (leg before wicket).

Two umpires stand on the field of play, giving decisions as necessary on such matters as LBW, stumpings or runouts. If an action has been too quick to adjudicate with the naked eye, they may nowadays call on the services of a third umpire, who sits off the field in front of a television monitor. He has the power to replay the action, usually in slow motion, and announce a decision. If no decision can be arrived at on a disputed point, either by human or technological means, the presumption is in favour of the batsman, who is thereby adjudged not out.

Faulty bowling, either by the bowler failing to release the ball while his front foot is still in contact with the crease, or by his bowling wide of the crease, results in a “no-ball” or “wide ball” being called. In these instances, the batsmen may take runs, but because they haven’t been earned by the striker, they are not chalked up to his credit, being classified instead as “extras”.

Find out more about the Laws of Cricket here