Guides

Cricket basics

• How to Read a Cricket Scorecard: Every column, symbol and abbreviation on a cricket scorecard explained: batting and bowling figures, extras, fall of wickets, dismissal notation and how the result line is worded.
• Cricket Formats Explained: Test, ODI, T20 and the Rest: The differences between Test, ODI and T20 cricket, plus T10 and The Hundred: match length, overs, bowling limits, fielding restrictions, new-ball rules and how each format is classified.
• The Ten Ways a Batter Can Be Out in Cricket: All ten methods of dismissal under the Laws of Cricket, from bowled and caught to timed out and retired out, with the details that decide close calls such as LBW, stumpings and run-outs at the non-striker's end.
• Cricket Fielding Positions Explained: A map of the cricket field in words: where slip, gully, point, cover, midwicket, square leg, fine leg, third man and the deep positions are, what 'silly', 'short', 'deep' and 'fine' mean, and how captains use them.
• Bowling Explained: Swing, Seam, Pace Variations and Spin: What makes a ball swing, seam or spin: conventional and reverse swing, seam movement, cutters, yorkers and slower balls, and the off-spinner's, leg-spinner's and left-armer's stock deliveries and variations.
• Cricket Glossary: Terms Explained A to Z: Plain definitions of the cricket terms you will hear in commentary and see on scorecards, from all-rounder and beamer to yorker and zooter.

Rules & calculations

• The DLS Method Explained: How Rain-Affected Targets Are Set: How the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method works: the idea of resources, why wickets matter as much as overs, how a revised target is calculated, what the par score means, and the minimum overs needed for a result.
• Net Run Rate Explained, With a Worked Example: How net run rate is calculated in cricket tournaments, why being bowled out counts as facing the full quota of overs, how DLS matches and no-results are handled, and a step-by-step worked example.
• DRS Explained: How the Decision Review System Works: How player and umpire reviews work in cricket: how many reviews each side gets, the 15-second rule, what ball-tracking, UltraEdge and Hot Spot show, what 'umpire's call' means and why a review is not lost on it.
• Powerplays and Fielding Restrictions in ODI and T20 Cricket: The fielding restrictions that shape limited-overs cricket: the three ODI powerplay phases, the six-over T20 powerplay, the 30-yard circle, the leg-side law, what happens in rain-shortened innings and the slow over-rate fielding penalty.
• Super Overs and Tie-Breakers: How Tied Cricket Matches Are Decided: How a Super Over works, what happens if it is tied too, when a tie stands as a result, how the boundary-count rule was abolished, and how group standings are separated when points are level.
• The Follow-On and Declarations in Test Cricket: How the follow-on works in Test and first-class cricket, the 200-run threshold and how it changes in shorter matches, why captains sometimes decline to enforce it, and how declarations are used to set up a result.
• How Pitch and Conditions Change a Cricket Match: What a green, dry, cracked or flat pitch does to the ball, why the same surface changes over five days, how cloud, humidity, dew, heat and altitude alter play, and how all of it feeds into the decision at the toss.

Competitions & rankings

• How the ICC Rankings Work: Player Ratings and Team Tables: How the ICC calculates player ratings on its 0 to 1000 scale, why the quality of the opposition and the match result matter, how older matches fade out, and how the team rankings are built from results over a rolling window.
• World Test Championship Points System Explained: How the ICC World Test Championship works: the two-year cycle, 12 points for a win, 6 for a tie and 4 for a draw, why the table is ranked by percentage of points, over-rate deductions and how the two finalists are decided.
• How the IPL Works: League Stage, Playoffs, Auction and Impact Player: A plain-English guide to the Indian Premier League: how the ten franchises play 14 league games each, how the points table and playoffs work, how squads are built through retention and the auction, and what the Impact Player and overseas rules mean.

Stats

• Batting Average, Strike Rate and Economy Explained: How cricket's core statistics are calculated, with worked examples: batting average and not-outs, batting strike rate, bowling average, economy rate and bowling strike rate, and what each one does and does not tell you across Tests, ODIs and T20s.