Tennis ball cricket (Softball Cricket) is a variant of cricket played using a tennis ball. It is popular in the Indian subcontinent and is also played in Middle-East, United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. A tennis ball is easier to play with compared to a conventional hard cricket ball and is also less likely to cause injury. There is no definite record as to when this originated in the Indian subcontinent.
Tennis ball cricket originated in the Indian subcontinent though there is no definite record as to when it started. The first Tennis Ball Cricket body was formed in 1982 known as Tennis Ball Cricket Association of India (TBCAI). [1] Many prominent international cricketers have played some form of tennis ball cricket early in their careers. [2] [3]
The rules of this game can vary significantly from standard cricket, and often the rules of regular cricket do not apply as they normally would. The number of overs in a game and players in a team is usually less than in a conventional cricket match. Considering that the ball is not as hard as a professional cricket ball, the use of protective gear like gloves, pads and helmets is optional. The playground can be anywhere from a house backyard to a beach to a relatively-uncrowded street, the courtyard of a school, the driveway of a residential building, agricultural fields or any open public spaces with shorter user defined boundaries and make shift stumps. [4] In the Middle East, it is played in the open desert and baseball or soccer grounds are used in the US, Canada and Europe. [5]
The ball used is a typical tennis ball, a ball that is intended for the sport of tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow-green in most cases but can be virtually any color in recreational play. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous felt, which modifies their aerodynamic properties, and each has a white curvilinear oval covering it. [6] [7] The ball may be wrapped with a tape to induce swing in some cases. [4]
As tennis ball cricket matches are shorter and suited to recreational play, conventional tournaments have been hosted in South Asian countries and Middle East. [8] 10PL has been organized at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium since 2020 with the participation of international cricketers like Robin Uthappa and Dwayne Bravo. [9] [10] [11] In 2023, National Tennis Ball Cricket League was established with eight teams in India. [12] In December 2023, The Indian Street Premier League – T10 was announced with Ravi Shastri, former Indian cricket team captain and head coach, as chief mentor. The core committee also consists of Mumbai Cricket Association president Amol Kale and BCCI treasurer Ashish Shelar. [13] In June 2024, The Entertainers Cricket League T10 was announced as India's first social media superstars cricket league. [14] [15] The franchises' captains include Youtubers like Abhishek Malhan, Elvish Yadav, Munawar Faruqui, Sonu Sharma, Anurag Dwivedi, and Harsh Beniwal. [16] [17] Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was also appointed as League commissioner. [18] This unique cricket league will bring together the top content creators from across India, to showcase their skills and passion for the game.
Backyard cricket, also known as bat ball, street cricket, beach cricket, corridor cricket, garden cricket, gully cricket and box cricket, 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.
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Cricket is a multi-faceted sport with different formats, depending on the standard of play, the desired level of formality, and the time available. One of the main differences is between matches limited by time in which the teams have two innings apiece, and those limited by number of overs in which they have a single innings each. The former, known as first-class cricket if played at the senior level, has a scheduled duration of three to five days ; the latter, known as limited overs cricket because each team bowls a limit of typically 50 overs, has a planned duration of one day only. A separate form of limited overs is Twenty20, originally designed so that the whole game could be played in a single evening, in which each team has an innings limited to twenty overs.
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A tape ball is a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape that is often used in informal games of cricket such as street cricket, also called tape ball cricket.a First pioneered in Karachi, Pakistan, the tape ball acts as an improvised cricket ball with the tape stretched tightly over the fuzzy felt-like covering of a tennis ball to ensure a smooth surface that produces greater pace after bouncing. Although most street games feature entirely covered varieties, tape balls may also be prepared such that only one side is taped to replicate reverse swing or they may have multiple layers of tape running down the middle to mimic the leather seam found on standard cricket balls. Applying tape makes the ball heavier than a tennis ball, but not as hard or heavy as a cricket ball. As such, this modification seeks to reduce the risks to players, passers-by and property.
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