The Rules Indoor cricket is played by both males and females. Therefore the term batsman as a general term is inaccurate. Therefore, I ask the female reader's indulgence and tolerance when I use the male form when describing aspects of the game. "He/she" is clumsy, "batters" just plain wrong, and "batspeople" too silly for words Page 1 of 18 RULE 1. FIELDING A TEAM A. A game is played with two teams, each with a maximum of 8 players. B. Each team must have a nominated captain. The captain must be one of the players. C. The minimum number of players in an 8-a-side game is 6. D. A game must proceed when scheduled, if a minimum of 6 players for each team is present. Refer to Rule 8 for more detail. E. To Play, a player must both bat and bowl, underarm is permitted and will be bowled from the Bowler‟s crease, it must bounce beyond the underarm line, 7M from the popping crease. RULE 2. THE GAME A. The game consists of 1 batting and 1 bowling innings per team. B. Each innings consists of 16 overs, 6-ball overs. C. Each dismissal will result in the batting side losing 3 runs, and other penalties (ie misconduct, uniform penalties etc) will be 5 runs or multiples of 5 runs. D. Every player must bowl 2 overs except in the case of Rule 8 (Player Short/Substitutes/Injured Players). The umpire is to be informed of the bowler's name before the commencement of each over. E. A bowler must not bowl 2 consecutive overs. The fielding side will be penalised 5 runs for each over offended. This means that captains must ensure that with only 2 overs remaining, they DON'T have a bowler who has not yet bowled an over. F. A delivery commences at the moment a bowler (with the ball in their hand) starts their run up, and ends at the moment the next delivery of the over commences. This means that a wicket which occurs before the commencement of the next delivery (as per this definition) counts against the delivery in which it occurs. Sometimes runs have been scored, but while the batsmen are preparing for the next delivery, and before the bowler commences the next delivery, a wicket occurs (for example, while waiting for the bowler to commence the next delivery, the non-striker wanders out of his/her crease and the bails are broken at the non- striker's end. Regardless of how many runs were already scored on that delivery, the score for that delivery becomes minus 3) This rule also has implications for judging how many fielders are in each half of the court - there must be no more than four in either half of the court at the moment the delivery commences, as per this rule. G. Each innings is divided into 4 sections of 4 overs each, refered to by players as "partnerships/skins". H. Teams bat in pairs, with each pair batting for 4 overs. Before the commencement of their 4 overs, each pair of batsmen must inform the umpire of their respective names. I. Batsmen continue batting for the entire 4 overs, whether they are dismissed or not. When a player is dismissed, 3 runs are deducted from their team's score. J. At the completion of each over, batsmen must swap ends. K. No batsman may bat more than once, except in the case of Rule 8 (Player Short). L. A team may not declare an innings closed. M. The team compiling the higher number of runs is the winner of the game. RULE 3. UNIFORMS A. Teams must be dressed in matching coloured shirts/tops. Pants: Males can wear long or short sports pants. Carpet-burns on the knees are not funny. Females can wear long or short sports pants, or sports skirts. Jeans are not permitted. Footwear: Rubber soled sports shoes that will not mark the court surface. No player can play if he/she has no suitable footwear - leather-soled shoes are also not allowed. B. A 5 run penalty will be deducted from a team's score for every unacceptable item of apparel. The team batting first will have any uniform penalties deducted at the start of the offending player's partnership. The team batting second may have uniform penalties deducted at the commencement of the second innings. Umpires are not to allow the uniform penalties of one Page 2 of 18 team to "cancel" the uniform penalties of the other. In other words, if both teams have a player in incorrect uniform, you can't just call it equal and deduct no runs from either team. Total runs scored can figure in determining where a team stands on a league ladder, and if they have to lose runs, they lose runs. C. The maximum team penalty for incorrect uniforms in any match will be 20 runs. D. Team Captains cannot appeal against incorrect uniforms. The umpire is the sole arbiter, the umpires will deduct any penalties automatically. E. The umpireis the sole judge of the correctness of a uniform. However, in the event of a dispute, particularly with regard to colour, centre management will get involved. RULE 4. THE TOSS A. The umpire will toss a coin or similar to determine the order of the innings. B. Teams may however negotiate the order of innings prior to the toss, and inform the umpire. RULE 5. PLAYING EQUIPMENT A. Bats: Bats must be made of wood, and be no larger than 96.5 cm in length and 10.8 cm in width. They must have a suitable bat grip. If an umpire is not satisfied with the suitability of a bat or bat grip, they will not allow it to be used. Note: Bat grips must be of a non-slip material and in good order. B. Batting Gloves: A batting glove must completely cover the hands, up to the wrist. A glove must be worn on both hands by each batter. The umpire will not allow play to continue until 2 gloves are worn. Time will be given for any batsman to put on suitable gloves. C. Wicket-Keeper's Gloves: The wicket keeper may wear none, 1 or 2 suitable gloves. They may be regular wicket- keeping or batting gloves, or a combination of both. Baseball style gloves etc are a concession to not being able to properly catch a ball, and are of course not permitted. The gloves in question may only be worn by the wicket keeper in the approved area [See Rule 9D - Wicket Keeper]. D. Fielder's Protection: Players may wear protective equipment when fielding. Elbow and knee pads, sporting helmets, face-guards, groin protectors and safety glasses are all permissible. Note: The wicket-keeper is the only fielder allowed to wear gloves.However, if a fielder had a compelling medical reason to wear some form of protective glove, the centre management would have to be approached before the game for approval, to avoid dissent amongst the players during the game. E. Balls: Indoorsports supply recognised Indoor Cricket balls for each match. Teams or players cannot supply their own. Any person or team found substituting, "roughing-up", picking at the seam, or attempting to reshape the ball in any way will be penalised 10 runs for ball tampering. Shining the ball on clothing is the only acceptable "tampering" allowed. F. Equipment not in immediate use (eg. gloves, elbow pads and protectors) must be placed outside the court until required - for example, some players put their box behind the non- striker's stumps as they prepare to bowl, and some wicket-keepers discard one glove and throw it into the corner of the court. This is not allowed. Players will be warned to remove unused protective equipment immediately. G. The Stumps are all collapsible stumps. They are free-standing. The base plate is considered to be part of the stumps, so a ball hitting the base plate, which results in the bails falling off, counts as a hit to the stumps. H. Bails are wooden or plastic. Page 3 of 18 RULE 6. THE UMPIRE A. Before each game, an umpire will be appointed by Indoorsports, we are fortunate to have the use of Tanzanian National players as Umpires so they KNOW the game. The umpire's role, is "to adjudicate the rules of the game with absolute impartiality". B. Despite wishes to the contrary, teams will have no say in the appointment of an umpire for their game. C. The umpire may only be changed at the discretion of the duty manager (Highly unlikely). D. The umpire's decision during a game is final. No dispute, written or otherwise, will alter the result. Nor will dispute or dissent alter a decision, no matter how long and loud. E. The umpire will be the sole judge of everything he/she has to adjudicate on, including fair and unfair play. F. The captain of the fielding side or the batsman at the wicket may seek explanation of an umpire's decision. Once the umpire has given his/her explanation, further talking to, at or about the umpire or the decision may be penalised. RULE 7. ARRIVAL / LATE PLAYERS A. All teams are to be present at their allocated game prior to the game, to do the toss. i. Any team not present can forfeit the right to a toss. The other team can then choose to field first (which means the other team only initially needs 2 players present to bat), or can choose to bat first, meaning they would have to wait until the offending team has 6 players present to take the field.