Bat-and-ball games

The safe havens of a cricket field (left) and baseball field (right) are depicted in green.

In cricket and baseball, the playing field is large (at the highest levels of each sport, the minimum distance between the two furthest ends of the field is about 400 to 500 feet (120 to 150 m)[12][13][14]), and is divided into an infield and outfield (based on proximity to the objects the fielding team can touch with the ball to put out runners).

Cricket has the delivery and hitting of the ball done in the same area where the batters can run (the cricket pitch), while baseball does the running in a separate area. The distance between the two batsmen's grounds in cricket (the areas that batsmen run between to score runs) is 58 feet (though batsmen may run slightly less distance, since they are allowed to use their bats to touch their grounds), while the distance between bases in baseball is 90 feet.[15]

Most bat-and-ball games have playing area in front of the batter (such as Schlagball), but may (like baseball) restrict batters from hitting the ball behind themselves or too far to the side; see foul territory.

Bat-and-ball sports can be modified to be played in an indoor court. For example, indoor cricket takes place in a 30 metres (98 ft)-long facility.

In baseball-like games, the fielders (also known as "position players") operate in a standard set of baseball positions because it is generally possible to cover most of the field by spacing the fielders out in certain ways. By contrast, the significantly larger cricket field has many possible cricket fielding positions, with the 11 fielders occupying the slips cordon behind the batter, or other areas of the field.

T20 cricket and baseball both last about 3 hours, while other forms of cricket can last either multiple days or less than three hours. Informal bat-and-ball games may take place in shorter periods of time, and in general, the possibility of a team's batters getting out rapidly in succession makes it theoretically possible for certain periods of play in most bat-and-ball games to end quicker than usual, with the opposite also being possible.[16][17] Both baseball and cricket can theoretically go forever, since baseball games only end after a certain number of outs and innings in cricket can be prolonged by illegal deliveries; however, in limited overs cricket, fielding teams are penalized if they do not bowl enough legal deliveries at a certain rate, essentially imposing a time limit of sorts on these types of games.

• The game may be played for a certain number of innings.
  • There can potentially be time restrictions (as in Test cricket), or the possibility of a game being suspended and resumed at a later date if necessary.
  • The trailing team can end up batting more times than the other team and still lose,[18] potentially because it was forced to do so by the other team.
• There may be no restriction on the number of innings, deliveries, or time.

Bat-and-ball games are played until:

• In baseball and Timeless Test cricket, the trailing team must complete all of its scheduled batting turns.
  • 5-day Test cricket also has the potential of a draw, which is where time runs out before the non-leading team(s) complete all of their batting turns.

• In bete-ombro[19] and early forms of baseball, a game can be played until either team scores a certain number of runs.

Ties can be dealt with in several ways:

• The tie may simply be considered a tie.
• An inning, either full-size or abbreviated, may be added to the game, with this potentially repeating until the tie is broken.
  • Cricket has a Super Over of at most 6 additional legal deliveries per team.
  • Baseball has extra innings.

When one of the teams is not leading and only they have completed all of their allotted batting turns, this allows the other team to win automatically by surpassing the number of runs scored by the first team. In cricket, this situation is referred to as a "run chase", with the "target" of the batting team being the number of runs scored by the other team plus one. In baseball, the home team can be considered to be chasing, with the aim of scoring the "walk-off" (winning) runs, when they are not leading after the eighth inning, as a regulation game sees the trailing team bat at least nine times and the teams alternating the batting, with the home team always batting last.

In addition to the number of runs a team won by over their opponents, other factors which are relevant to determining which team wins, such as the number of outs or legal deliveries that were remaining in the batting team's turn (if they won/there was a limit on either resource), can be included with the statement of the result. The result may also mention how many more times the losing team batted than the winning team.

In some circumstances, a complete game may not be possible in its originally envisioned timeframe because of weather or other reasons. In baseball-like games, which generally have many innings, it is possible to call the result of a game after both teams have batted only a few of their scheduled turns, or otherwise to finish/replay the game at a later date. In cricket, however, which is generally played to only one or two batting turns per team, a match may not be callable for the simple reason that only one of the teams has had the chance to score so far. However, cricket matches that are interrupted by rain can still be considered completable so long as there is enough time left in the match to allow the second-batting team to face a sufficiently long batting turn; in these circumstances, a rain rule is applied such that any runs scored by the first-batting team are devalued.[20]

Here are some terms or concepts common to many bat-and-ball games:

• The person who delivers the ball to the batter: the bowler (cricket), pitcher
• The main fielder behind the batter: the catcher, wicketkeeper
• Getting the batter out by throwing the ball at something near the batter, when the batter doesn't hit the ball: strike out, Bowled#Dismissal_of_a_batsman
• The act of getting the batter or runner out when they are not in a safe haven:
  • If the ball is thrown at the runner: plugging, soaking (see Schlagball
  • If a fielder touches the runner with ball in hand: tagout

• • If a fielder gets the ball to the safe haven before the runner does: force out, runout
• getting a batter out by catching the ball when hit in the air by the batter: fly out, caught out
• The points both teams score: runs
• The safe havens: base (baseball), ground (cricket)
• A ball hit out of the field of play through the air: home run, six (cricket)

• Bat: generally resembles the round shape of a baseball bat or the flat shape of the larger cricket bat. Other designs include something similar to a hockey stick.
• Ball: Often about as large as a cricket ball.
  • Can be very hard, or softer, like in tennis ball cricket.
• Protective equipment for the batter and/or fielders, ranging from helmets to gloves.

In the field, there may be:

• Physical markers for the safe havens (such as bases, wickets, and lines like the crease (cricket))
• Physical markers for the "strike zone" near the batter (see the target in Vitilla)
• A physical boundary for the field (see the fence in baseball)

Bat-and-ball games can be played with modified rules in unorthodox places, such as in the street or the backyard. Oftentimes, players are forbidden or penalized for hitting the ball out of the field into an area where it would be hard to reach, and play may be modified so as to ensure all players have an opportunity to participate, such as in Kwik cricket.

• Composite rules Softball-Baseball – a hybrid bat-and-ball sports which combines the elements of Baseball and Softball, played on the large identical baseball diamond with the larger ball, ten rather than nine innings, and allowing pitching the ball either underarm, overarm, or sidearm.
• Composite rules Baseball-Cricket – a hybrid bat-and-ball games combining elements of baseball and cricket, played by two teams of 12 players with the 9-inch diameter baseball on the oval-shaped field about 220 yards long by 176 yards wide, at the center of which is a baseball field about 92 feet apart with the rectangular 66 feet 6 inch by 12 feet pitching area roughly at a distance between the pitcher and 2 batters (consists of the striking batter and non-striking batter), equidistant between first and third base, and a few feet closer to home plate than to second base. The objective is one batter (striking batter) on and at the right batter's box is pitched to, other batter (non-striking batter) stands on the left batter's box, then the striking batter must hit it and batter must runs around the bases in the normal counterclockwise direction, while the non-striking batter runs around bases in a clockwise direction at the same time. The game could last 12 innings of 5 overs.

Striking the ball with a "bat" or any type of stick is not crucial. These games use the foot or hand. Otherwise their rules may be similar or even identical to baseball or cricket. The first two use a large (35 cm) soft ball.

Using the legs:

• Kickball – four bases, sometimes called soccer baseball
  • Matball – kickball with gym mats for bases
• Leg cricket - two batsmen's grounds, foot used to propel the ball rather than a bat

Using the hands:

• Punchball – four bases, sometimes called volleyball-style baseball or slug
• Baseball5 - four bases