Cricket has a 22-yard pitch, but the decisions around it usually turn on the white crease markings at each end. Those lines tell umpires where the pitch ends, where a bowler's feet must land, and whether a batter is safely in their ground.
The pitch is the central rectangular area between the two sets of stumps. Under the Laws of Cricket, it is 22 yards, or 20.12 metres, long and 10 feet, or 3.05 metres, wide.
The bowling creases bound the pitch at each end. The sides are imaginary lines running parallel to the line between the middle stumps, 5 feet from that centre line on each side.
The crease is not always the middle of the painted line. For the bowling crease and popping crease, the law uses the back edge of the marking. For the return creases, it uses the inside edge of the marking.
That detail matters because a very close no-ball or run-out decision can depend on the exact edge being judged, not simply whether a foot, bat, or body appears to touch some white paint.
For a fair delivery in respect of the feet, the bowler's back foot must land within, and not touching, the return crease for the stated mode of delivery. The front foot must land with some part behind the popping crease and on the correct side of the line between the middle stumps.
If the bowler's end umpire is not satisfied that the foot-placement requirements have been met, the umpire calls and signals no-ball. In televised cricket, front-foot no-balls may also be supported by replay processes under the competition's playing conditions.
The popping crease is the key reference for whether a batter is in their ground. A batter is generally out of their ground unless some part of their bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease at that end.
Being beyond the crease in the air is not enough. If nothing is grounded behind the popping crease when the wicket is legally put down, the batter can be vulnerable to a run out or stumping, depending on the situation. The important exception is a running or diving batter who has already grounded bat or body beyond the crease and then loses contact as part of that same movement.
Adult cricket normally uses the standard 22-yard pitch. If a non-turf pitch is used, the artificial surface has minimum measurements rather than the full normal pitch size: at least 58 feet long and 6 feet wide.
Junior cricket is different. The governing body for the country concerned determines the pitch length for junior matches, so youth cricket should be checked against the local competition rules rather than the adult Laws alone.