It comes as no surprise that Austin, the Music Capital of the world and the high-tech center called Silicon Hills, should have its own cricket league.  After all, cricket is the second most watched sport in world.

The Central Texas Cricket League is celebrating its twentieth season and is currently   comprised of 12 teams.  Most of the players come from the Indian subcontinent.  

Cricket is played on an oval-shaped field, in the middle of which is a 66 ft x 10 ft rectangle called the cricket pitch.  Located at each end of the cricket pitch are  wickets.  A wicket consists of three wooden stakes, called stumps, driven into the ground about three inches apart,  atop which is laid two wooden slats, called bails. 

Two teams of 11 players compete, alternating between batting and fielding.  The most notable players on the field are the bowler, wicket keeper and batsmen.  The wicket keeper is like a baseball catcher.  

Balls are bowled (thrown) by the bowler from behind the wicket towards a batsman positioned in front of the opposite wicket.  Two batsmen are positioned at each of the wickets.  The batsman tries to hit the ball with their bat.  

After hitting the bowl (ball), each batsman runs to the opposite wicket, touching the ground by the wicket with their bat.  This is considered a run.  Hitting the ball to the boundary along the ground is 4 runs.  Hitting the ball over the boundary in the air equals 6 runs.

The batsman continues to bat until he is out.  The most common ways to get a batman out: 

• Bowler throws the ball and knock the bails off the stumps. 
  
• Batsman hits the ball in the air and it is caught by a fielder. 
  
• Fielder throws the fielded ball into the wicket before the batsman reaches the opposing wicket. 
  
• Bowler hits the batsman’s leg, something called Leg Before Wicket. 
  
• Batsman swings and misses the ball, and then the wicket keeper catches the ball and pushes the ball into the wicket. 
  
• Batsman accidentally hits the wicket. 
  

Once a batsman is out, he is replaced by the next batsman in the batting team’s lineup.  The fielding team must get ten batsmen out before they can change over and start batting.  One inning is completed when each team has batted.  

The bowler is changed every six bowls and the pitching direction changed.  A set of six pitched balls is consider an over. 

The number of overs and innings varies.  Most matches are termed T20. Each team has 20 overs and play is limited to 1 inning.  These matches last about 3 hours. 

In One Day Cricket, each team is given 40 or 50 overs for one inning.  These matches usually last about a day. 

In Test Cricket, there are no limits for overs and the game ends when all batsmen are out, and is usually played for two innings.  This game can last anywhere up to 5 days and is the oldest and longest form of cricket. 

Once all the batters are out, or they reach the maximum number of overs, it is the other team’s turn to bat. 

The winner is the team with the greatest number of runs, once both sides have batted.  

About the Author

Andy Nietupski founded TTL Sport Media in 2015 after a corporate career of business start-ups and turn-arounds.  TTL Sports Media helps sports organizations optimize their business results using the latest digital sales and marketing techniques.  TTL Sports Media publishes thousands of pieces of content annually and curates a catalog of more than 100,000 items.  On behalf of its client interests, TTL Sports Media annually publishes nearly 200 articles and makes 1000’s of social media posts.  

Copyright 2022 Andy Nietupski and TTL Sports Media