The family of games with 11 players on either side! Rugby, basketball, soccer, hockey, ice-hockey and not to forget Cricket! This bat and ball game first evolved in Southern England in the 16th century. Two centuries later, the game developed to the extent of becoming the national sport of England. As the British Empire expanded, the game of cricket spread out and started being played overseas. The first international matches were played by mid-19th century and currently the game is played in more than 100 countries. The rules of this sport as referred to as the Laws of Cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) maintains these rules Next, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which has been the custodian of the law since it was founded in 1787.

A cricket game or more precisely a match is played on a field and a pitch is present at the center. Two games of eleven players contest each other in the match. The game is very simple yet quite interesting. The two teams take turns and initially one team bats while the other team bowls and fields. Basically, two players from one team are the ones who have to try to score by hitting the ball for 'runs' with the help of wooden bats.

The other team with ten players fields or tries to stop the players from scoring and the eleventh player acts as a bowler in an over. The bowler has 6 ball throws in an over and he tries his best to target the wickets in the shape of three sticks which the batsman is defending. If the ball hits the wickets then the cricketer is failed or 'out' of the game. Similarly, if the batsman manages to hit the ball and a fielder catches it without letting it hit the ground, then the batsman is considered 'out' also. The player fielding behind the wicket in cricket is called wicket-keeper whose job is to watch out for any wrong move of the batsman and make him fail or 'out'.

In Cricket, the team which bats first tries its best to make as many runs (score) as it can while the other team has to try its best to limit the other team's score. Thus an interesting game proceeds with the teams competing with each other and fighting till the last innings or over. After the first team, the role is reversed and the first team gets to field and bowl, and the second team bats.

The duration of a game of cricket is different for different games. A short match could be just a 20 overs limit while it can be as long as a 5-day test match. For different durations of matches, the rules also differ regarding winning, losing or being drawn. It is in the test match that the mettle of the team is really tested, however the one day matches with 50 or 20 overs test altogether different skills or talents of the players.

In the present times, the game of cricket is a source of creating a bridge between different countries thus helping in building diplomatic relations.