Cricket is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players. It is a bat-and-ball game played on a roughly elliptical grass field, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a set of wooden stumps, called a wicket. A player from the fielding team (the bowler) propels a hard, fist-sized leather ball from one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces before reaching a player from the opposing team (the batsman), who defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden cricket bat. Another batsman (the "non-striker") stands in an inactive role near the bowler's wicket.

Generally, the batsman attempts to strike the ball with the bat, and run to the other end, exchanging places with his partner, scoring a run. However, he can attempt to run without hitting the ball, and vice versa. While the batting team scores as many runs as it can, the bowling team returns the ball back to either wicket. If the ball strikes a wicket before the batsman nearer to that wicket has reached safety, then the batsman is out, or "dismissed". The batsman can also be out by failing to stop the bowled ball from hitting the wicket, or if a fielder catches the ball before it touches the ground. Once the batsmen are not attempting to score any more runs, the ball is "dead" and is bowled again.