Backyard Cricket: Short Innings & House Rules

• A cricket bat, ideally a cheap plastic or junior wooden one for the garden
• A soft ball, usually a tennis ball, since a hard cricket ball is dangerous and breaks windows
• Stumps or anything that stands in for a wicket: a real plastic set, a bin, a chair, or a cardboard box
• Two teams with an agreed batting order, overs limit and wicket limit
• An agreed boundary, like a fence, a wall, or marked spots, so everyone knows what counts as four or six

Need the gear? See our backyard cricket picks before game day.

1. 01 Set up the wicket and creaseMark a wicket and crease at each end of a short pitch. In a tight yard, use one wicket and a clearly marked running point, with the same agreed running rule for both teams.
2. 02 Pick a fair boundaryA boundary after the ball touches the ground scores four; a clean hit over it scores six. Agree any garden exceptions, such as an over-the-fence out, before play. Set the same overs and wicket limits for both innings.
3. 03 Bowl it inAgree a gentle underarm or overarm delivery suited to the space and players. An over contains six valid balls; wides and no-balls do not count toward the six. Record each completed over.
4. 04 Bat and runScore runs by completing the agreed run between the marks or hitting a boundary. Tippity-run, which requires a run after bat contact, is optional and must be agreed before the match.
5. 05 Take wickets to get outsStandard dismissals include bowled, caught before the ball bounces, and run out. Record each wicket separately from runs. On a wicket, the next batter from the same team comes in under the agreed batting order.
6. 06 Play both inningsAn innings ends at the agreed overs or wicket limit. Swap batting and fielding teams for the second innings. The second team wins as soon as it passes the first total; otherwise compare runs when its innings ends. Equal totals are a tie.

• Each completed run between the agreed marks scores one; boundaries score four or six unless a house exception was agreed.
• Record each over's total runs, including extras, and add it once to the innings total. Extras are part of that total, not an extra amount to add again.
• Track wickets separately from runs. Six valid deliveries complete an over; wides and no-balls do not count toward the six.
• Each team bats for one innings, using the same agreed overs and wicket limits.
• The higher innings run total wins. The second team wins upon passing the first innings total; equal completed totals are a tie.

Keeping score on paper? Print the free backyard cricket score sheet. No signup needed.

• One-hand-one-bounce: a fielder can take a valid catch with one hand after the ball has bounced once, which makes off-the-wall and rooftop deflections fair game and keeps every fielder alert.
• Auto-out over the fence: hit it over the fence or into the neighbor's yard and you are out, usually because you also have to go knock and ask for the ball back. It rewards placement over slugging.
• Tippity-run: any contact between bat and ball forces the batter to run, even a tiny edge, which is how you keep two or three players busy in a small yard.
• Six and out: in a tight garden, hitting an actual six gets you out, the opposite of real cricket, to stop one big hitter from smashing every ball into the bushes.