What Is Cricket Home Run And How is It Scored?
Cricket is an enjoyable game that takes its rightful place as the second most popular sport in the world after soccer and it’s easy to see why. With its flexibility, easy-to-understand rules, and zero-age restrictions (to mention but a few), it’s no wonder that more people are opening up to it.
Unsurprisingly, many sports enthusiasts confuse it with baseball since both sports are hitting and running kind of games. One way to tell them apart is that cricket is widely played in India, Australia, Europe, Canada, and South Africa while baseball is America’s exclusive sport.
Basically, cricket involves one player throwing a ball while the other tries to hit it, with the hopes of achieving a cricket home run.
Is Getting a Cricket Home Run Impossible? Not at all
Like all other sports, however, the game of cricket has its unique rules as well as terms that make it a must-play.
Some of these terms are:
- Dismissal- which is like an out in baseball. It’s the end of a batsman’s batting duration.
- Wicket- which is the three stumps at the very end of a pitch. It’s protected by a batsman who bats in front of it.
- Run- a run is a unit of scoring in the game of cricket.
- Innings- innings are how a cricket game is divided. They are the period it takes for a specific team to bat.
- Over- an over refers to six pitches or bowls that a bowler (the person throwing the ball) delivers.
There are two teams with eleven players each in cricket. Every match is officiated by two umpires who decide the outcome of every game.
One of the similarities between baseball and cricket is one team bats while the other takes the field in both games.
Each team strives to score more runs than the opposition.
To start the game, both teams’ captains flip a coin to determine the side that bats first. The side that emerges victorious can elect to take the field first or bat first.
At the professional level, there are three main types of cricket matches:
- Twenty20- also known as T20, this is the shortest of the three matches. It involves one match of 20 overs per team or innings (for 2 innings) and can last for at least 3 hours.
- Test match- the test match is the longest cricket match. In it, each team bats twice and bowls twice. It’s played over 5 consecutive days. Ideally, a single innings can last for approximately a day. It will feature 90 overs.
- One-day match- also known as one-day cricket, this variety is played for a day and includes one match of 50 overs per inning (for 2 innings).
With the basics out of the way, it’s now time to shift our attention to the exciting part of the game: Scoring a run.
Some of the main methods to score in the beautiful game of cricket are:
Delivering a Boundary Hit-
a boundary hit is similar to a cricket home run. In cricket, when a batsman hits the ball over the boundary, they’ve scored a home run and their team receives six runs.
An interesting point to note is when a batsman hits a home run, they don’t run between all the bases as is the case with batters in baseball.
A home run in cricket is known as a “boundary four,” which basically means that the runs are automatically scored without the batsman having to run.
Unlike in the game of baseball, a batsman in cricket can score without hitting the ball. A player can run at whichever time so long as the ball is in play at that moment, and the run assists the team’s totals for the game.
Also referred to as sundries, extras are points received from penalties that are done by the fielding team. Sundries are runs scored by other means apart from hitting the ball with the bat.
There are five main types of extras:
- Penalty run- it’s awarded for different kinds of breaches of the rules, mostly related to player conduct or unfair play.
- No-ball- when a fielder or bowler commits an illegal act such as unfair or dangerous short-pitched bowling or when their back foot lands or touches outside the return crease, an umpire calls a no-ball.
- Leg bye- if the ball strikes a batman’s body, then as long as they attempted to avoid being hit or tried to strike the ball with their bat and they are not out leg before wicket, they may run. No matter what part of their body was hit, the runs earned are called leg-byes.
- Bye- if a batsman doesn’t strike a ball or if the ball doesn’t come into contact with any part of their body, they can run if they please. Should the ball reach the boundary, regardless of whether the batsman ran or not, an umpire awards their team four byes.
- Wide- When a ball is delivered too far from the batsman to hit it, as long as no part of their equipment or body touches the ball, that’s called a wide. The batting team receives a run when a wide is bowled.
A single is when a batsman makes a perfect shot that enables them to run to the opposite wicket.
They score a single if they take one run, either when running for a leg bye or bye or after a successful shot.
Singles are special since they require a batsman to run between the wickets. Since they are risky, batsmen need to be in constant communication with each other to pull them off. If one batsman decides to run, for example, the other chooses to stay in place, they could attract a run-out.
Whether you’re new to cricket or are a seasoned player at it, please note that getting a cricket home run is super easy. Just believe in yourself, be a team player, and, of course, learn all there is to know about the game. Good luck!
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