Backyard cricket
An informal cricket variant played in any available space.
Backyard cricket is an informal variant of cricket played in non-traditional venues such as gardens, backyards, streets, parks, and beaches. It has connections to the pastimes of children in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and England, and is also very popular in South Asia. The game is known by various names including bat ball, street cricket, gully cricket, and box cricket.
Quick Facts
- Pitch length range
- 11 to 33 yards (10 to 30 meters)
- Common ball type
- Tennis ball
- Alternative ball type
- Tape ball (tennis ball covered in tape)
Facts from the source article.
Overview
Backyard cricket is loosely based on cricket but heavily improvised in terms of playing ground, rules, teams, and equipment. Often there are no formal teams; players take turns batting, and scoring runs may not be emphasized. The bat can be any object that can hit the ball and be held in the hands, but a bat is necessary. A ball is also essential. Tennis balls are frequently used because they are less likely to cause injury or damage than a cricket ball, are cheaper and more readily available, and are easier to hit due to slower air-speed and lightness. Tennis balls also bounce more than normal cricket balls, especially at low speeds. Sometimes a tennis ball is heavily taped on one side to create a 'swing ball' or 'tape ball', using gaffer tape, electrical tape, plumbing tape, or other tape. In Pakistan, a completely taped tennis ball is popular for street cricket, as the tape makes the ball heavier and less bouncy but still relatively harmless compared to a real cricket ball. The pitch can be any reasonably flat stretch of ground. The wicket may be any convenient object such as a chair, cardboard box, sticks, rubbish bin, tree, or a drawing on the wall, often not close to official size. The non-striker's end wicket is generally a single stump if available, or a hat or shoe, mainly to mark the bowler's crease. Games with few players typically forgo teams and innings, using a batters-versus-everyone format. In South Africa and Australia, garden or backyard cricket is considered by many to be a pinnacle of social and sporting excellence in summer, often paired with a barbecue and historically popular on Australia Day.
Rules
Rules in backyard cricket are flexible and usually agreed upon by players before playing, depending on context, physical environment, and player traditions. Common rules include 'no ducks', meaning a batter cannot be given out without scoring at least one run. A stricter alternative is the 'first ball' or 'trial ball' rule, where a batter cannot be out on the first ball faced, often applied to those with little skill or sometimes on the first ball of the second innings. Regarding equipment, if stumps are unavailable, any material object may be used, such as garbage bins, with some players using stickers or paint lines to restrict the stump area. The pitch should be between 11 and 33 yards (10 to 30 meters), often limited by backyard size. Ways of getting out include 'one hand, one bounce', where a batter can be out caught if the ball has bounced once and the fielder catches it with one hand, even if the hand hits the ground. A variation is 'one hand, one bounce, one beer', requiring the fielder to also hold a beverage, traditionally a beer, though spilling a significant portion may nullify the catch. The 'current' rule allows fielders to hold the ball in a hand and step on the wicket to effect a runout, rather than hitting the wicket with the ball. LBW is often not used, as many games lack umpires or are self-umpired, or involve juniors.
Beach cricket
Beach cricket is played on an actual beach, using the flat strip of hard-packed sand along the surf line as the pitch, or by bowling only gentle full tosses to avoid the ball not bouncing off loose sand. If no stumps are available, a bin, deckchair, boogie board, or cool box may be used. Tennis balls are often used because they float in water and do not get bogged in sand as easily. Creases and boundaries are normally drawn in the sand in a line extending well past the pitch to prevent obliteration, and batters frequently redraw the line. Play may shift along the beach to a new pitch as the original pitch becomes turned up. The tide significantly affects pitch quality: low tide provides semi-wet sand considered superior, while high tide gives dryer, looser sand. In long matches, play shifts up and down the beach depending on the tide.
History
A major element of contemporary street cricket is the use of a tennis ball. In Pakistan, tennis balls began to be covered in tape in the late 20th century, creating the 'tape ball', and tape ball cricket is played to the greatest extent in Pakistan, where it likely originated. Several street variants of cricket exist in Latin America, such as bete-ombro and plaquita. In Suriname, a game called 'bat-en-bal' is likely derived from cricket, with one end of the pitch having a set of stumps. In March 2024, the first season of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) took place, featuring elements of Indian street cricket such as the use of a tennis ball, aiming to prioritize advancement of poorer cricket players and support tennis ball cricket.
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