Cricket World Cup: Cricket rules - a simple guide

Australia's Shane Watson hits the ball while batting against India during their Cricket World Cup semifinal. Photo / AP

Cricket fever has the nation in its grip with the Black Caps confirmed for the World Cup final in Melbourne on Sunday, March 29.

A guide to cricket for late-blooming fans:

• Each team has 11 players.

• Runs are scored by running between two sets of three wooden sticks called wickets.

• Balanced on top of the wickets are two small blocks called bails. This framework is called the stumps.

• One aim for the bowler is to hit the wickets.

• The batsman uses his bat to strike the ball away from the wicket.

• The team batting has only two players on the field. The team bowling has 11.

• The batting team can send their players to bat once each. When the bowler overarms the ball at the batsman, and the ball knocks the bails off the stumps, he's given out. Another way to get out is if the batsman hits the ball and it is caught by a bowling team's player before bouncing. So another aim for the bowler is to tempt the batsman to hit the ball beyond where players are waiting to catch it.

• There are 10 ways to get out. Run out is one. Every time the batsman manages to hit the ball far enough away from him, he and the other batsman run between the wickets.

• The batsman gets one run for every time he and his fellow batsman successfully cross to each other's end.

• While the batsmen are running, a fielder will pick up the ball and throw it directly at the stumps or throw the ball to the wicketkeeper who will hit the stumps with the ball before the player is safely back.

• If a batsman hits the wickets with his bat, legs or body when batting, he is called out.

• Batsmen aren't allowed to use their legs to block the ball from hitting the wicket. If the bowled ball hits the batsman on the legs anywhere below the knee, before hitting the bat, the umpire will decide whether the ball would have hit the stumps if the leg hadn't been in the way. If he thinks it would, the player is out. This is called leg-before-wicket or LBW.

• A bowler has six times to bowl the ball in each of his turns. This is called an over. So, an over consists of six deliveries. Extra balls can be added to an over if the umpire decides the bowler delivered the ball too wide of the batsman for him to have a fair chance of hitting it. This is called a wide and that ball must be bowled again. If the bowler oversteps the mark where he must release the ball (the popping crease), that is called a no ball and also must be bowled again. Deliveries too high for the batsman can all be called no balls. For each extra, another run is added to the batting team's score.

• Each match consists of 100 overs. One team will bat for up to 50 overs and then the other team will bat for up to 50.

• The batsman gets four runs when the ball is hit to the boundary with one bounce or more. This is called a four.

• The batsman gets six runs if he hits the ball over the boundary. This is called a six.

• Once the first batting team has finished trying to get runs, teams swap positions and the new batting side chases the score.

• To win, the chasing team has to score one more run than the first batting team. If they fail to make it because their batsmen get out, or fail to reach the chase score in 50 overs, then the first batting team wins.

Got it? Go the Black Caps!