Cricket is played on an oval with a 22-yard (20.12-meter ) central strip called a ‘pitch’, with a wicket at each end. Two teams, each with 11 players, take it in turns to bat and field. Play starts when a bowler (from the fielding team) bowls the ball overarm at a batting player. The batting team tries to score as many runs as it can by hitting the ball with the bat and running between the wickets. The fielding team tries to get the players from the batting side ‘out’ in various ways, including hitting the wicket or catching the ball on the full after it has been hit. Once the batting team is all out, the teams swap over. The side batting second must beat the score of the team that batted first

There are various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few hours with each team batting for a single innings of 20 overs (i.e. 120 deliveries), to Test matches, played over five days with unlimited overs and the teams each batting for two innings of unlimited length. Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core which is layered with tightly wound string.