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LA28 · Cricket is back

Road
to LA
Who's in?

You're the captainOne real ball

Loading a real shot…

A fielder can stop the ball on the ground, or catch it before it bounces. A catch means the batter is out.

Six seats for the men. Six for the women. Most of the men's seats are decided by the world rankings on 31 December 2026. Watch the race here, and learn the game as you go.

Cricket at LA28 is T20: each team bats once for up to 20 overs, about three hours a match. Most runs wins.
–days
–hrs
–min
–sec
Until the men's rankings lock on 31 December 2026 (counted to midnight UTC).
First ball at LA28: 12 July 2028, 9:00 Pacific (women). The men start on 22 July.
The bails fly off the lit-up stumps behind a batter under the lights
Lights on.
Bails off.Cricket comes to LA in July 2028
● Road to LA

Six seats.
Who grabs one?

Team USA players celebrate together in a huddle on the field
The home team.
LA is their stage.

The USA men are in as hosts.

● Learn

Cricket in
90 seconds

Start with these three. The rest is below when you want it.

6

Balls in an over

A bowler sends down six balls, called an over. Then a new bowler takes over from the other end.

10

Wickets and you're done

Hit the stumps or catch the ball and the batter is out. Ten wickets and the innings is over.

4 · 6

The big hits

Reach the rope along the ground: four runs. Clear it without a bounce: six.

Fans in the stand hold up red cards with a big 6 printed on them
Hold up your 6When the ball clears the rope without a bounce, it's six runs, and the crowd lets everyone know.

The field

Boundary rope Inner circle Stumps Pitch 22 yd · 20 m Batter

How a match goes

  1. The tossThe captains flip a coin. The winner chooses to bat or bowl first.
  2. Bat in pairsTwo batters are out in the middle, one at each end of the pitch. Hit the ball, run to the other end: one run.
  3. 20 overs or 10 outThe batting side's innings ends when its overs are used up or ten batters are out, whichever comes first.
  4. Swap and chaseThe other team bats next and needs one run more than the first team made.
  5. Most runs winsThat's the whole idea.

One word, three meanings

Wicket = the stumpsThree posts in the ground with two small bails on top. One set at each end.
Wicket = the pitchThe 22-yard strip between the stumps. "A good wicket to bat on."
Wicket = an outEvery time a batter is out, the bowling side takes a wicket.

How a batter gets out

BowledMost famous
The ball hits the stumps and knocks a bail off.
CaughtMost common
A fielder catches the ball before it touches the ground.
LBWLeg before wicket
The ball hits the batter's leg when it would have gone on to hit the stumps.
Run outWhile running
The fielders break the stumps before the batter gets back behind the line.
StumpedBy the keeper
The batter steps out to hit, misses, and the keeper breaks the stumps.

And a few rare ones: hitting your own stumps, hitting the ball twice, getting in a fielder's way on purpose, and taking too long to come out to bat.

Know baseball? You're halfway there

Bowler
The pitcher, but the ball usually bounces first.
Wicket
An out. You get ten, not three an inning.
Innings
One each in T20, not nine.
Strike rate
Runs per 100 balls. How fast a batter scores.

Three ways to play

T2020 overs each · about 3 hoursThe short, fast one. Big hits from the first ball.
This is LA28
One-day50 overs each · a full dayThe same idea, but longer innings and more time to build.
TestTwo innings each · up to 5 daysThe original. No over limit, and a draw is possible.

How the Olympic tournament works

6teams per event
15players a squad
4matches each
28matches in all
  1. Two groups of three. Everyone plays the other two in their group.
  2. Cross-over round. Each team plays the two teams from the other group that finished in a different place.
  3. One table. First and second play for gold. Third and fourth play for bronze.
Women12–20 July 2028Gold medal match 20 July, 18:30 PT
Men22–29 July 2028Gold medal match 29 July, 9:00 PT

Out or not out?

Play it yourself

You don't need a ground or a full team. A bat, a soft ball and something to aim at will do. Two players is enough to start.

  • Park
  • Beach
  • Back yard
  • Street
  • Indoor hall
● Numbers

Stat of
the week

A batter follows through on a big swing as the wicketkeeper watches
Where the runs come fromEvery number here starts with a swing like this one.
Fastest finishers among the gold picks
11.0England, runs an over in the last five overs
Overs 16 to 20 are when batters swing hardest. Ten runs an over means almost two runs off every ball.
Sample: 32 matches, 115 oversLikely range: 10.0 to 12.0
Runs an over, overs 16 to 20

Australia are clearly slower than England and India. The gaps between the others are small enough to be chance.

Sample: 4 to 48 matches eachConfidence: medium

Men's T20 internationals, 1 January 2025 to 19 September 2026, from our own ball-by-ball records. Super overs left out. Likely range is where the true figure sits 95 times in 100.

● Play · Captain your nation

Set the field.
Beat the batter.

Place nine fielders, then watch a real batter's real shots fly into your field. Take your nation through a group, a crossover and a medal match.

Set the field
● Fan zone

Call it now.
Who takes gold?

Men's contenders as it stands. Pick your team and back it all the way to LA.

1900

One match. Then 128 years of waiting.

Olympic cricket has been played once: Great Britain against France in Paris, 1900. LA28 is the comeback.