Cricket is a sport that was created in England during the eighteenth century. At that time it was primarily played by the English aristocrats.

With the expansion of the British Empire, the game was taken to the British colonies - Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies. In fact these countries together with England are still the major cricket playing nations in the world today.

How is cricket played?

1. The playing area

Cricket is played on an oval area of grass which is known as the cricket field. At the centre of the field is a rectangular area known as the pitch. At either end of the pitch an area is marked out by three wooden sticks or stumps. The distance between each stump cannot be greater than the diameter of the cricket ball. Between each stump, two further pieces of wood are place on top - these are known as the "bails". The Bails together with the stumps form the wicket.

Adjacent to either side of the wicket, horizontal lines are marked on the pitch with chalk to create what is known as the "popping crease" which completes the pitch.

A rope is placed around the entire perimeter of the cricket field which plays a role in scoring the game which will be explained in a moment.

2. The Teams

The game is played between two teams made up of eleven players. These players themselves are made up of specialist batsman and bowlers - although, some players such as the English cricketer Andrew Flintoff is what is known as an "all rounder" as he specializes in both batting and bowling.

All players in a team are required to field and each player takes up a position in the field as dictated by the captain. The captain will tend to alter his field according to who is bowling from his team and who is batting on the opposing team.

The positions that players field in on the pitch tend to have quirky names such as "silly point" and "long on". As you watch the game one starts to become familiar with these different fielding positions.

3. How to play the game

At the beginning of each game, the two opposing captains meet at the wicket together with the 'umpire' who referees the match. One captain tosses a coin to decide which team will bat first.

The idea is for the batting team to score as many runs as possible and then bowl out the opposing teams for less runs than they scored.

The batting team enters the field with two batsmen, who take up a position at each of the two wickets. The fielding captain assigns one of his bowlers to bowl the cricket ball from one wicket towards the batsman at the other wicket. Each bowler bowls six balls in succession, known as an "over."

A batsman can be given out after each ball bowled if he or she:

A) Hit the ball to an opposing fielder without the ball touching the ground.

B) If they do not attempt to play a shot in front of the wicket and the ball hits their gloves before being caught by a fieldsman.

C) If the bowler bowls a ball at the wicket and it hits the batsman on the leg in front of the wicket without the batsman playing a shot - this is known as "leg before wicket" or "lbw."

The batsman can score by hitting the ball into a space that is not occupied by a fielder and than running to the opposite wicket. The other batsman runs in the opposite direction and one run is then scored. The other batsman will now receive the next ball from the bowler.

If a batsman hits a ball and it runs all the way to the boundary of the field and crosses the rope, then four runs are scored.

If the batsman hits the ball over the boundary rope without the ball touching the rope, then six runs are scored automatically.

When the fielding team dismisses the whole of the batting team, then it is their turn to bat. They will be trying to score more runs then the batting team to win the game.

A cricket match can either be a 'one day' game - meaning that each team bats and fields only once to win the game. A game can also last five days; this is known as a 'test match' in which each team bats and field twice throughout the game.

The team that scores the most runs after the second round of batting is declared the winner.

Cricket is viewed as a complicated game to play and understand, however, it is also an exciting game so if you have not yet caught the cricket bug then what are you waiting for? Go and watch a game!!!!