cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, the stumps are the three vertical posts that support the bails and form the

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

. '' Stumping'' or ''being stumped'' is a method of dismissing a batsman. The umpire ''calling stumps'' means the play is over for the day.

Part of the wicket

The stumps are three vertical posts which support two

bails Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries, ...

. The stumps and bails are usually made of wood, most commonly

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, and together form a

at each end of the pitch. The overall width of each wicket is 9 inches (22.9 cm). Each stump is 28 inches (71.1 cm) tall with maximum and minimum diameters of 1 inches (3.81 cm) and 1 inches (3.49 cm). They have a spike at one end for inserting into the ground, and the other end has a U-shaped 'through groove' to provide a resting place for the bails. In junior cricket the items have lesser dimensions. Each stump is referred to by a specific name: * Off stump is the stump on the

off side The off side is a particular half of the field in cricket. From the point of view of a right-handed batsman facing the bowler, it is the right-hand side of the field, or the half of the field in front of the right-handed batsman when he or sh ...

of the wicket (the same side as the batsman's bat). * Middle stump is the centre stump, the middle of the three stumps. * Leg stump is the stump on the

on side The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket. It is the side of the field that corresponds to the batsman's non-dominant hand, from their perspective. From the point of view of a righ ...

of the wicket (the same side as the batsman's legs). These names are relative to the batsman, so a right-handed batsman's leg stump becomes the off stump when a left-handed player is batting.

Modern innovations

In modern professional play, the stumps are often branded with a sponsor's logo. Although they are too far away from spectators to be seen, such logos are visible on television coverage.

Stump cam

For professional matches, often one or more of the stumps is hollow and contains a small television camera. This is aligned vertically, but can view through a small window on the side of the stump via a mirror. The so-called ''stump-cam'' gives a unique view of play for action replays, particularly when a batsman is bowled.

Zing Bails (light-up stumps)

Matthew Wade attempts to run out Kusal Mendis

A recent innovation are stumps and bails embedded with red

LEDs A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

, which flash when they are completely dislodged. Invented by an Australian engineer and trademarked as "Zing Bails", they were designed to aid umpires with both run-out and stumping decisions as well as provide distinctive images to television coverage during day-night matches. LED stumps were first used at the

2014 ICC World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Th ...

, and have since become commonplace in major white-ball matches like ODIs or franchise T20 leagues. They have also been used in day/night Test matches.

Manner of dismissing a batsman

Stumps and bails are two very important thing for dismissal in the game of cricket.

Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

often dislodges stumps or bails to dismiss a batsman when he tries to go down the pitch which is often known as “ Stumping”. A bowler dismisses a batsman by hitting the stumps directly while bowling, dislodging the bails, which is often referred to as being “

Bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

”. If a fielder throws the ball at the stumps, dislodging the bails, while the batsman attempts to take a run and the ball hits the stumps before the batsman comes back in the crease, then that dismissal is referred to being “

Run out Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket. A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket befo ...

”. Majority of the dismissal method in the game of cricket is related to stumps.

End of the day's play

Stumps is also used as a term to mean the end of a day's play, e.g. "The umpires called stumps" means that the

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

have declared play over for the day. At the end of a session, i.e. before lunch or tea, the umpires will remove the

; at the end of the day's play, the umpires will also remove the stumps.

References

{{Cricket equipment Cricket equipment Cricket laws and regulations Cricket terminology