CRICKET (probably from OF. criquet, stick used as a marker in the game of bowls). The national game of England is played wherever Englishmen have colonized, and in many of Great Britain's possessions, notably in the West are regulated at meetings of this club. This has always been the custom since the club was founded, about the year 1744. Philadelphia, which is the home of cricket in America, has more clubs than any other place in the United States or Canada, and the four larger clubs, Ger mantown, Belmont, Merion, and Philadelphia, compete annually for the Halifax Cup. Two other cups are also competed for by some fifteen minor clubs and second elevens from the prinei pal.clubs. Cricket in Philadelphia is controlled by the Associated Cricket Clubs of Philadelphia, in an organization composed of three delegates from each of the four large chubs. This organi zation publishes a periodical. the .1 meriran Crick eter, founded in 1877. The "Metropolitan Dis trict Cricket League regulates the matches with in twenty miles of the City Hall in New York, and there is also a New York Cricket Association, which has assumed more importance of late years. The other organizations in the United States are the California Cricket Association, the Northwestern Cricket Association, with head quarters in Chicago. and the Massachusetts Cricket Association. International matches arc played annually between the United States and Canada. and on three oceasions teams from Philadelphia have visited England. while in 1900 a team was sent from Haverford College to play a series of matches against English colleges and schools. Almost annually, in recent years, either an English, Australian, or Irish eleven has visited Philadelphia, New York, and Toronto. The Intercollegiate Cricket League is composed of teams representing the University of Penn sylvania, Harvard, and llaverford.
The game is played between two teams of eleven men each, on a level grass-field. but the exigencies of climate in Australia and the Pacific Slope of California sometimes necessitate a cement-based, matted stretch. In the centre of the field a wicket is pitched; i.e. three stumps of wood about inches in diameter and 27 inches high arc placed in a line so that with the space between them they cover eight inches; on the top of these are two light wooden bails. Twenty-two yards in a direct line from and opposite these, three similar bail-topped stumps are erected. A line from each wicket or set of stumps is drawn in white chalk, extending right and left from them about three feet. This is the bowling-crease, beyond which the bowler must not pass when delivering the ball. In front of the stumps, four feet from them, and parallel with them, another white line is drawn, called the popping-crease, within which is the batsman's domain. The bat used must not be longer than 38 inches or wider than inches. The ball is 3 inches in diameter and weighs 'about ounces. An umpire is appointed by each team, and. before starting a match, they settle what
shall be considered boundaries and other condi tions of play. Then the eaptains toss for the right to select which team shall go to the bat first. The team which so elects sends two men in, one to each wicket; the other team sends a bowler to one end and disperses the other ten men about the field in such positions as the cap tain's knowledge of the kind of bowler, and the kind of batter, indicates to him as likely to be most efficacious. The umpire then calls 'play,' and the bowler bowls, not throws, the ball from the end opposite the batter. If it is a ball which the batsman can reach, he either blocks it or hits it to some part of the field; if he thinks he can run to the opposite wicket and the other batsman change places with him before the ball is returned and either wicket thrown down with it, he runs; and a 'run' is scored each time the batsmen cross each other. The bowler bowls four, five, or six balls (four in a three days' match) from one end; and then the ball is handed over to a second bowler, who bowls an equal number of balls from the opposite end. The batsman may be put out in any of the fol lowing ways: if he fails to defend his wicket and the howled ball knocks off the bails (`howled') ; a fielder catches a hatted ball before it touches the ground (`caught') ; should thebats man fail to have his bat or any part of his person within the popping-crease before his wicket is thrown down with the ball Clam out') ; if he steps out of his ground to play a ball, misses it, and the wieket-keeper throws his wicket down with it before be can step back (`stumped') ; if when a straight ball has been bowled to him, which in the judgment of the umpire would have hit his wicket had he not prevented it by inter posing any part of his body except his hand ('leg before wicket') : if in playing at the ball he knocks down his own wicket (`hit wicket') : or if he willfully obstructs the fielders. When a bats man is put out another takes his place, and the game proceeds until the tenth man is out. Then, there being no more batsmen to come, the eleventh man's innings comes to an end, he being 'not out.' The total number of runs made off the bats, with a few penalties added which it is not necessary to detail here, make up that side's score. Then the other side goes in to bal. Each eleven has normally two innings taken alternately, the total score of each side determining the result of the match.
The bibliography of cricket is extensive. Lilly white, Cricketers' Asia nil, and Wisden, Cricket Almanack, are the standard authorities on the rules for the current years. For general Ids tory and annals, consult: Steel and Lyttelton. Cricket (London, 1889) Lyttelton, Cricket (London, 1890) : Murdoeh, Cricket (London, TS03) ; Lyttelton. Outdoor Games: Cricket and Golf (London, 1901) ; Prince Ranjitsinhji, The Jubilee Book of Cricket (Edinburgh, 1897) ; Read, Annals of Cricket (London, 1807).