Rules are the things that are set to regulate anything or any occasion to avoid any mess. The impact of rules in cricket games is meaningful equally. The rules are the only things that bound the game or the activities of anyone or anything related to the game.
Umpires are the representatives who regulate and maintain the cricket rules giving their decisions. The cricketers on the field obey the decisions of the umpires to follow the rules and guidelines made by the superior authority.
Cricket rules:
The rules are governed and set by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ICC has bounded each and everything related to the sport of cricket. Here we will see a few basic cricket rules.
- Cricket is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players each. The eleven cricketers constitute batters, bowlers, and a wicketkeeper.
- The match is played on a large and oval-shaped ground. There is a 22-yard pitch in the mid of the field. At each side end of the pitch is a set of 3 wickets with 2 wooden bails on top of them.
- The match is divided into separate sections called balls, which is one delivery of the ball by a bowler to a batter. 6 balls conclude an over.
- An innings is made of a certain amount of time or a specific number of overs. A one-day international match consists of fifty overs per innings, a Twenty-twenty international match consists of twenty overs per innings and a test match is limited to a certain number of days which is five with ninety overs to be played on each day.
- During the innings, the team who is batting will have two batters on the pitch while the eleven players of the opposing side, who are the bowling team, will have their men on the field as fielders. One of them will be bowling and another one will be keeping the ball from behind the wicket.
- The match will have 2 on-field umpires who will make the decisions of the match. There is also a third umpire who observes the match through a screen. He helps with uncertain or critical decisions.
Umpires in Cricket:
The umpires are the guardians of rules on the field during a match. According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire is a person who makes decisions about events on the cricket field. Besides making decisions about appeals for wickets, legality of delivery, and general conduct of the match lawfully, the umpire also keeps a record of the deliveries and declares the ending of an over.
Generally, a cricket match has 2 umpires on the field. One of them stands at the end where the bowler delivers the ball. Another one stands left side of the batter. However, in the modern game, there may be more than 2 umpires. In the Test Matches, we notice 4 umpires. 2 umpires stay on the field, a third umpire has access to the video replays and a fourth man takes care of the match balls and helps the umpires from the outside of the field.
The ICC has respectively three panels of umpires to carry forward the cricket rules. The first one is the Elite Panel of Umpires, the second is the larger International Panel of Umpires and the Development Panel is the tired panel of the ICC Umpires. Most of the Test matches are run by neutral members of the Elite Panel. The local members of the International Panel providing are usually seen in the third or fourth umpire’s position. Members of the International Panel will merely come as neutral on-field umpires in Tests. Members of all three panels officiate in One Day International and Twenty20 International games.
Finale verdict:
Cricket rules are one of the basic requirements of the sport. This is the ultimate section of law in cricket. The rules are made in such a way that none can disobey or disrespect anything, moreover, the game of cricket. Players must behave according to the rules and otherwise, they might get punished. So, the rules are kind of a discipline that always ties all the players and even non-playing staff of any team in the same knot.
‘The umpire’ is a character that always plays a role according to the rules or interprets the rules into reality. The instant decisions the umpires take are regulated by the neutralized laws of the ICC. So, where there is a demand for cricket, there is a requirement for the umpires to run a match following the proper cricket rules.
