Backyard CricketRules Card

What you need

• 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

Set it up

Choose a short pitch and clear boundary suited to the yard. Mark both running ends and agree any single-wicket running rule before play. Use identical distances and boundary values for both innings; a fence is not automatically a six if you agreed an over-the-fence out.

Scoring

• 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.

How to play

1. Set up the wicket and crease. Mark 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. Pick a fair boundary. A 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. Bowl it in. Agree 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. Bat and run. Score 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. Take wickets to get outs. Standard 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. Play both innings. An 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.