Pitch: 22 yards (20.12 m) long and 10 ft wide between the two sets of stumps.

Wickets: Three stumps 28 inches tall, spanning 9 inches in total, topped by two bails.

Creases: The popping (batting) crease is 4 ft in front of the stumps; return creases run 4 ft 4 in either side of middle stump.

Bat: No more than 38 in long, 4.25 in wide, with a blade depth up to 2.64 in and edges up to 1.56 in.

Ball: A men''s ball weighs 155.9–163 g with a circumference of 22.4–22.9 cm. Red is used for Tests, white for limited-overs, pink for day-night Tests.

Players: Each side fields 11 players, one of whom is the captain.

Umpires: Two umpires stand on the field; a third (TV) umpire reviews close calls, and a match referee oversees conduct.

Wicket-keeper: The only fielder permitted to wear external leg-guards and gloves.

Substitutes: A substitute may field but cannot bat, bowl or keep — except a like-for-like concussion substitute, who can.

The toss: The winning captain chooses whether to bat or bowl first.

An over: Six legal deliveries; a bowler may not bowl two overs in succession.

Tests: Two innings per side over a maximum of five days. A new ball may be taken after 80 overs.

Limited overs: An ODI is 50 overs per side; a T20 is 20 overs per side — one innings each.

Follow-on: In a five-day Test, the side batting first may ask the opponent to bat again if it leads by 200 or more.

Runs: Scored by the batters running between the wickets; a boundary is 4 (along the ground) or 6 (on the full).

Wide: A delivery the striker cannot reach — adds 1 run and is re-bowled.

No-ball: An illegal delivery (e.g. overstepping). Adds 1 run, is re-bowled, and brings a free hit in limited-overs cricket.

Byes & leg byes: Runs taken off a delivery the bat never hit; leg byes count only if the striker tried to play a shot or to avoid the ball.

Penalty runs: Five runs are awarded for offences such as the ball hitting a fielding helmet on the ground, or ball-tampering.

Bowled: The delivery breaks the striker''s wicket.

Caught: A fielder catches the ball off the bat (or glove holding the bat) before it bounces.

LBW: The ball would have hit the stumps but struck the batter first — provided it did not pitch outside leg stump and (unless no shot was offered) struck in line.

Run out: The wicket is broken while a batter is out of the crease attempting a run.

Stumped: The keeper breaks the wicket while the batter is out of the crease and not attempting a run.

Hit wicket: The batter dislodges their own bails while playing or setting off.

Hit the ball twice: Deliberately striking the ball twice (other than to guard the wicket).

Obstructing the field: Wilfully obstructing or distracting the fielding side — this now also covers the old "handled the ball".

Timed out: An incoming batter is not ready to face within the allotted time.

Retired out: A batter leaves the field without the umpires'' or opposition''s consent. (Caught and bowled are by far the most common dismissals.)

Leg side: No more than two fielders may stand behind square on the leg side, or it is a no-ball.

ODI powerplays: Overs 1–10: only 2 fielders outside the 30-yard circle; overs 11–40: up to 4; overs 41–50: up to 5.

T20 powerplay: In the first 6 overs only 2 fielders may be outside the circle.

Bouncers: Two short-pitched deliveries above shoulder height are allowed per over in Tests and ODIs; one per over in T20Is.

Fair & unfair play: Governed by Law 41 — covering ball-tampering, dangerous bowling, time-wasting and distraction.

DRS: The Decision Review System lets teams challenge decisions using ball-tracking and edge-detection; marginal LBWs can return "Umpire''s Call".

The non-striker run out: Running out the backing-up non-striker (long called the "Mankad") is, since 2022, a legitimate run out under Law 38 — not unfair play.

Results: A Test with time remaining unused is a draw; level scores with the last side all out is a tie.