Cricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. Today, the game's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has 104 member countries.[1] The rules of the game are known as the Laws of Cricket.[2] These are maintained by the ICC and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which holds the copyright. A cricket match is played on a cricket field at the centre of which is a pitch. The match is contested between two teams of eleven players each.[3] One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible without being dismissed ("out") while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the other team’s batsmen and limit the runs being scored. When the batting team has used all its available overs or has no remaining batsmen, the roles become reversed and it is now the fielding team’s turn to bat and try to outscore the opposition. There are several variations in the length of a game of cricket. In professional cricket this ranges from a limit of 20 overs per side (Limited Overs Cricket) to a game played over 5 days (Test cricket). Depending on the form of the match being played, there are different rules that govern how a game is won, lost, drawn or tied. There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed and some are so unusual that only a few instances of them exist in the whole history of the game. The most common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), "run out", "stumped" and "hit wicket". The unusual methods are "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out". Before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side (generally the bowler) must "appeal". This is invariably done by asking (or shouting) the term "Howzat?" which means, simply enough, "How is that?" If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say "Out!". Otherwise he will shake his head and say "Not out". Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stumpings. 1. Bowled – the bowler has hit the wicket with the ball and the wicket has "broken" with at least one bail being dislodged (note that if the ball hits the wicket without dislodging a bail it is not out). [10] 2. Caught – the batsman has hit the ball with his bat or with his hand and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side. [11] 3. Leg before wicket (lbw) – First and foremost, the ball must, in the opinion of the on field umpire, be going on to hit the stumps if the ball had not hit the pad of the batsman first. If the batsman plays an attempted shot to the delivery, then the ball must hit the batsman's pad in line with the stumps and be going on to hit the stumps for the batsman to be given out. If the batsman does not attempt to play a shot, then the ball does not have to hit the pad in line with the stumps but it still must be going on to hit the stumps. If the ball pitches outside the leg stump, then the batsman cannot be given out under any circumstances. [12] 4. Run out – a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while a batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run.[13] 5. Stumped – is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting a run.[14] 6. Hit wicket – a batsman is out hit wicket, if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat, person, clothing or equipment in the act of hitting the ball, or when setting off for a run.[15] 7. Hit the ball twice – is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counter dangerous play and protect the fielders. The batsman may legally play the ball a second time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it.[16] 8. Obstructed the field – another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way of a fielder.[17] 9. Handled the ball – a batsman must not deliberately use his hand to protect his wicket (note that the bowled ball often hits the batsman's hand but this is not intentional by the batsman and so is not out; though he can of course be caught off his hand).[18] 10. Timed out – usually means that the next batsman did not arrive at the wicket within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed.[19] A batsman may leave the field without being dismissed. If injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be replaced by the next batsman. This is recorded as retired hurt or retired ill. The retiring batsman is not out, and may resume the innings later. An unimpaired batsman may retire, and this is treated as being dismissed retired out; no player is credited with the dismissal. Batsmen cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped or hit wicket off a no ball. They cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, or hit the ball twice off a wide. Some of these modes of dismissal can occur without the bowler bowling a delivery. The batsman who is not on strike may be run out by the bowler if he leaves his crease before the bowler bowls, and a batsman can be out obstructing the field or retired out at any time. Timed out is, by its nature, a dismissal without a delivery. With all other modes of dismissal, only one batsman can be dismissed per ball bowled. Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball".[21] Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England. Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward, the son of Edward I (Longshanks), at Newenden, Kent in 1301[22] and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket. A number of other words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598[23], it is called creckett. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch[24] krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook); or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff.[25] In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick.[26] In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick".[27] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.[28] According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase").[29] Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.[30] In 1598[23], a court case referred to a sport called creckett being played by boys at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford around 1550. This is the sport's earliest definite mention. It is believed that it was originally a children's game but references around 1610 [31] indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall was killed when he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.[32] The first English touring team on board ship at Liverpool in 1859 The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989. The ICC has 104 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 34 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members.[35] The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies these matters are addressed by the West Indies Cricket Board which consists of members appointed by four national boards and two multi-national boards. * Comparison between cricket and baseball * International Cricket Council * List of International Cricket Council members * Twenty 20 * Cricket World Cup * ICC World Twenty20 * Indian Premier League * Indoor Cricket