The Laws of cricket are governed and framed by the Marylebone Cricket Club. At present there are 42 laws which encompass several aspects of the game like the preparation and maintenance of the pitch, mode of dismissal of the batsman and mode of victory for a team. The Preface describes the history of the Laws and the Marylebone Cricket Club. The Preamble is associated with “the Spirit of the Game” and was a new addition to de-motivate ungentlemanly conduct of players.
The first Law is regarding the players while second Law regarding the substitutes. The umpires are dealt with in Law 3 while the scorers are mentioned in Law 4. Law 5 is about the Ball and Law 6 about the Bat. Law 7 describes the pitch while Law 8 is about the wickets. Law 9 is about bowling, popping and return creases. The locations and dimensions of these are described. The preparation and maintenance of the playing area are mentioned in Law 10. It covers rules regarding how a pitch can be rolled, mown or prepared.
Law no’s 12 to 17 are related to the structure of the game. Law 12 throws light on the Innings while Law 13 on the follow-on. Law 14 is about declaration and forfeiture while Law 15 is about Intervals. The start of play and cessation of play is mentioned in Law 16 while practice on the field is mentioned in Law 17.
Law no 18 to 26 deals with the mode in which runs can be scored and how one team is beaten by the other. The main mechanics about the dismissal of a batsman are mentioned in Laws 27 to 29. The different ways of dismissal of a batsman are described in Laws 30 to 39. Law 40 and 41 is about fielders and Law 42 deals with fair and unfair play.
All these laws have four appendices concerning topics like specifications and diagrams of stumps, bails, pitch, creases, gloves and definitions.