BrainPuzzles

Cricket Quiz: Rules, Grounds and Famous Firsts

A cricket quiz is only worth coming back to if the answers stay true, so all 15 questions here rest on things the game has settled: the laws, the formats, the grounds and the famous firsts. Nothing depends on last night's score or on who happens to be batting well this season. You will meet the six ball over, the pitch measured at twenty two yards from stump to stump, the five day Test and the fifty over international. The umpire signals are in here too, because arms above the head and arms straight out sideways mean very different things to a crowd. The grounds are Lord's, headquarters of the MCC since 1814, and Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which opened in 1864 and staged its first Test in 1934. The firsts are the 1877 match in Melbourne that began Test cricket and India's win at Lord's in 1983. Every answer carries a one line explanation, so a wrong guess still leaves you knowing something, and the score lands the moment you finish.

All 15 questions

  1. How many balls are bowled in one standard over?

    • Four
    • Five
    • Six
    • Eight
    Show answer

    Six Six deliveries make an over, then the bowling switches to the other end and a different bowler takes it.

  2. How long is a cricket pitch from stump to stump?

    • 18 yards
    • 20 yards
    • 22 yards
    • 24 yards
    Show answer

    22 yards Twenty two yards has been the distance since the written laws of 1744, and it is exactly one chain.

  3. How many days is a Test match scheduled to last?

    • Three
    • Four
    • Five
    • Seven
    Show answer

    Five Five days give both sides two innings each, which is why a draw counts as a genuine result.

  4. How many overs does each side get in a One Day International?

    • Forty
    • Forty-five
    • Fifty
    • Sixty
    Show answer

    Fifty The early World Cups ran to sixty overs a side, and fifty became the standard in the late 1980s.

  5. Which ground is known as the home of cricket?

    • The Oval
    • Lord's
    • Newlands
    • Eden Gardens
    Show answer

    Lord's Lord's has been the headquarters of the MCC since 1814, and the club is still custodian of the laws.

  6. How many bails sit on top of the stumps at each end?

    • One
    • Two
    • Three
    • Four
    Show answer

    Two Two bails rest in grooves across three stumps, and the wicket is only broken once a bail is dislodged.

  7. An umpire raising both arms above the head is signalling what?

    • A four
    • A six
    • A wide
    • A no ball
    Show answer

    A six A four is waved across the chest instead, so arms going straight up always means the ball cleared the rope.

  8. Eden Gardens, a Test ground since 1934, is in which city?

    • Mumbai
    • Chennai
    • Kolkata
    • Delhi
    Show answer

    Kolkata Eden Gardens opened in 1864, which makes it one of the oldest grounds anywhere outside England.

  9. The first Test match, in 1877, was played between Australia and who?

    • England
    • India
    • South Africa
    • West Indies
    Show answer

    England Australia won at Melbourne by 45 runs, and the centenary match a hundred years later finished by the same margin.

  10. In which year did India win the Cricket World Cup for the first time?

    • 1975
    • 1979
    • 1983
    • 1987
    Show answer

    1983 India bowled the West Indies out for 140 at Lord's and defended a total of 183 to win by 43 runs.

  11. Which colour ball is used in day and night Test matches?

    • Red
    • White
    • Pink
    • Orange
    Show answer

    Pink Red fades to grey under floodlights and a white ball would be lost against the players in whites.

  12. Which fielding position stands beside the wicketkeeper to catch edges?

    • Gully
    • Slip
    • Point
    • Mid-off
    Show answer

    Slip Slips stand in a line next to the keeper, and gully fills the gap a little squarer of the last one.

  13. An umpire holding both arms straight out sideways is signalling what?

    • A wide
    • A bye
    • A dead ball
    • A leg bye
    Show answer

    A wide One arm held out sideways is a no ball, so it is the second arm that turns the call into a wide.

  14. Runs taken when the ball misses both bat and body are recorded as what?

    • Byes
    • Leg byes
    • Wides
    • Overthrows
    Show answer

    Byes Byes are extras, so they go on the team total and are never charged against the bowler in the figures.

  15. Off a no ball, which of these dismissals can still happen?

    • Bowled
    • Caught
    • Run out
    • Leg before wicket
    Show answer

    Run out A no ball cancels bowled, caught and lbw, but a batter stranded halfway down the pitch can still be run out.

What your result means

New to the Middle

0 to 4 of 15 correct

Nobody is born knowing why a pitch is twenty two yards. The explanations under each answer are the real quiz, so read them on the way through and run it again. Most people jump several answers on a second go.

Club Standard

5 to 8 of 15 correct

A fair score. You have the formats and the shape of the game, and the runs went missing on the laws and the umpire signals, which is exactly where a casual watcher loses them.

Knows the Laws

9 to 12 of 15 correct

Strong result. You know the rulebook as well as the highlights, and that is the half most viewers skip on the way to the boundary. A couple more careful reads on the fielding names and you clear the top tier.

Test Standard

13 to 15 of 15 correct

Excellent. Laws, grounds, formats and famous firsts all held up under a fifteen second clock. None of it goes out of date next season either, so come back and see whether the score holds.