Backyard cricket

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Example of beach cricket being played at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Australia. The bowler bowls to batter, while the rest field. Beach cricket.jpg
Example of beach cricket being played at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Australia. The bowler bowls to batter, while the rest field.

Backyard cricket , also known as bat ball, street cricket, beach cricket, corridor cricket, garden cricket, gully cricket (on the Indian subcontinent) and box cricket (in instances of shorter grounds), is an informal variant of cricket. It is typically played in various non-traditional venues such as gardens, backyards, streets, parks, carparks, beaches, and any area not specifically designed for the sport.

Contents

Backyard cricket has connections to the pastimes of Australian, South African and New Zealand and English children who frequently lived on properties with large backyards, providing the facility to play this informal game of sport often with friends, family and neighbors. [1] In South Asia, backyard cricket is very popular. [2]

Overview

Backyard cricket--an informal variant of cricket played the Hyderabad city almost by all age groups. Their sunday morning (7663211198).jpg
Backyard cricket—an informal variant of cricket played the Hyderabad city almost by all age groups.

Though loosely based upon the game of cricket, many aspects are improvised: the playing ground, [3] the rules, the teams, and the equipment. Quite often there are no teams at all; the players take turns at batting and there is often no emphasis on actually scoring runs.

Equipment and field:

Games with relatively few players typically forgo the teams and innings format of professional cricket, opting instead for a batters-vs-everyone format.

Garden/backyard cricket in South Africa and Australia is considered by many to be the pinnacle event of social and sporting excellence in the summer period. Many games are paired with a barbecue which often has a carnival atmosphere. It is historically very popular on Australia Day.

Rules

Gully cricket in a remote Himalayan village of Himachal Pradesh, India; rocks and sticks are often used as wickets Street Cricket in India.jpg
Gully cricket in a remote Himalayan village of Himachal Pradesh, India; rocks and sticks are often used as wickets

As a generally informal contest, the rules are flexible but usually agreed upon by the players prior to playing it. Below are listed some of the most common rules.

Backyard cricket allows for rules to be changed, and the rules being played by will depend on the context and physical environment of the game, and the traditions and experience of the players. However, some rules are relatively common:

If the game is not played individually, the person who owns the bat and ball may choose to bat first.

Beach cricket

In this example the tide is out and so the field of play is greatly increased. Batswoman and fielder..jpg
In this example the tide is out and so the field of play is greatly increased.

Play on an actual beach can be achieved either by using the flat strip of hard-packed sand along the surf line as the pitch, or by only "bowling" gentle full tosses to avoid the problem of the ball not bouncing off loose sand. [14] [15] If there are no true stumps available, then a bin, deckchair, boogie board or cool box may be used. Tennis balls are often used in place of cricket balls as they float in the water and don't get bogged in the sand as easily.

In beach cricket the creases and the boundary are normally drawn in the sand in a line which extends well past the side of the agreed pitch to prevent them becoming obliterated in the first over. The batsmen will frequently redraw the line. Sometimes, play is shifted along the beach to a new pitch as the packed sand of the original pitch is turned up, thus reducing the standard of or even completely disabling bowling. The tide plays a big part in the standard of the pitch in beach cricket. During low tide, the pitch tends to be on the semi-wet sand, and is deemed superior than cricket played in high tide (when the pitch is on dryer, looser sand). In particularly long matches, the play will shift up and down the beach depending on the tide.

History

A plaquita bowler about to bowl, with the nonstriker in his crease. Plaquita is a form of Dominican street cricket likely originating from British and West Indian influences. LaPlaquita3.jpg
A plaquita bowler about to bowl, with the nonstriker in his crease. Plaquita is a form of Dominican street cricket likely originating from British and West Indian influences.

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 and turned into a "tape ball". Tape ball cricket is played to the greatest extent in Pakistan, where it likely originated. [18]

Several street variants of cricket exist in Latin America, such as bete-ombro and plaquita. In nearby Suriname, there is a game called "bat-en-bal" which is likely derived from cricket; [19] in bat-en-bal, one end of the pitch has a set of stumps. [20]

In March 2024, the first season of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) took place, which featured several elements of Indian street cricket such as the use of a tennis ball. The ISPL's goal is to prioritize the advancement of poorer cricket players and support the growth of tennis ball cricket. [21]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. children's game of catching the ball or object such as Frisbee

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    References

    1. McGrath, Steve. Bringing back a piece of the Aussie backyard (online). Australasian Parks and Leisure, Vol. 15, No. 1, Autumn 2012: 27–28. ISSN   1446-5604. [cited 14 Aug 14]. (subscription required)
    2. "The intensity of Gully Cricket Competition". Red Bull. 16 October 2016. The Indian subcontinent is crazy for cricket. It is by far the most popular sport here and everyone wants to play it. But given the high population density and lack of cricket grounds, one has to make do with whatever space they get. An improvised variant of the sport developed into what we now know as Gully (Street) Cricket.
    3. "The Complete Guide to Gully Cricket for Everyone". Icy Tales. 29 August 2023. Unlike actual international cricket where the stadium is a well-defined entity with proper boundaries, things are a bit different here in the Gully. There is no specified playing area in Gully cricket. You need to improvise, adapt and overcome. Anything in the proximity can act as a boundary. Different objects from house doors to your neighbour's old scooter can be assigned a different number of runs based on the difficulty of hitting those objects. Unlike cricket stadiums where they have a limitless sky to their benefit, here in gully taking the aerial route may not be a viable option due to the presence of terraces and balconies. The ball's return is next to impossible if it goes to these kinds of places.
    4. 1 2 3 Glover, Richard. "The Rules of Backyard Cricket". Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
    5. Waugh, Steve. "Backyard cricket: The Official Rules (by Steve Waugh)" . Retrieved 5 August 2015.
    6. https://blog.playo.co/10-gully-cricket-rules-that-most-of-us-played-with-during-our-childhood/amp/". 1) Pitch-catch is considered out if you catch the ball in one hand. When the fielding team member catches the ball after one bounce, but in one hand, the player who hit the ball is out!"
    7. "Taking it to the streets". Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 August 2024. Run-out decisions can be tricky, especially with just a brick or a stone substituting for stumps. Many games allow for 'current' run-outs, where a fielder receives the throw with one foot on the brick or stone that is the wicket. The umpire has to discern if the fielder is touching the wicket and the runner is short of the crease when the ball is caught.
    8. "The official rulebook of Galli cricket". Sportskeeda.
    9. "Gully Cricket rules: The intensity of the competition". Red Bull. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2024. A batter is out if he touches the ball with his body three times in total or two times in a row.
    10. "Betes - Bete Ombro - Taco - Disciplina - Educação Física". www.educacaofisica.seed.pr.gov.br. Retrieved 4 August 2024. Se o rebatedor do lado oposto do lançador encostar na bolinha com o pé (ou outra parte do corpo) conta "uma na lancha". Se os rebatedores marcarem "3 na lancha" eles perdem os tacos."[If the batter opposite to the bowler blocks the ball with the body 3 times, then they are out.]
    11. "The 11 undisputed rules of Backyard Cricket -". 23 January 2019. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
    12. https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cricket/world-cup-2019-street-gully-cricket-rules-team-india-pakistan-england/article27248698.ece/"25. The joker plays for both sides."
    13. "Can the Big Bash League's backyard cricket bat flip truly be fair? | Australasian Science Magazine".
    14. "Rules of Beach Cricket". www.topendsports.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    15. "Aussie Beach Cricket Rules for Summer Holiday Fun". Discovery Parks. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    16. "DR1.com - Dominican Republic News & Travel Information Service". dr1.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
    17. "Federation Focus: Baseball is in Dominican Republic's DNA". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
    18. Paracha, Nadeem F. (24 July 2014). "Street cricket in Pakistan: A personal history". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
    19. "International Cricket Council". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
    20. Suriname. "Suriname – Paramaribo". www.suriname.nu (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 September 2020.
    21. "Indian Street Premier League: Breaking Socioeconomic Barriers With Tennis Ball Cricket". Forbes India. Retrieved 4 August 2024.

    Cricket on board HMS Gibraltar circa 1900

    Further reading