Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven<br />players on a field at the centre of which is a 20-metre (22-yard) pitch<br />with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three<br />stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the<br />wicket with the bat, while the bowling and fielding side tries to<br />prevent this and dismiss each player (so they are "out"). Means of<br />dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and<br />dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side catching the ball after it<br />is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground. When ten players have<br />been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is<br />adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in<br />international matches. They communicate with two off-field scorers who<br />record the match's statistical information.<br /><br />There are various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few hours<br />with each team batting for a single innings of 20 overs, to Test<br />matches, played over five days with unlimited overs and the teams each<br />batting for two innings of unlimited length. Traditionally cricketers<br />play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or<br />team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective<br />gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid<br />spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam<br />enclosing a cork core which is layered with tightly wound string.<br /><br />Historically, cricket's origins are uncertain and the earliest definite<br />reference is in south-east England in the middle of the 16th century. It<br />spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the<br />first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The<br />game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which<br />has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test<br />matches. The game's rules are held in a code called the Laws