A short game
Ready when: Front-foot drive and defence (i1) and Stock ball and spin (i3) started.
What you are learning
Playing a real game: pairs cricket, where each pair bats for twelve balls and getting out costs runs instead of ending the turn. Everyone bats, bowls, fields, keeps score and takes a turn as umpire.
Words on this card Stumps, Bowler, Batter, Over, Boundary, Bowled, Umpire, No-ball, Tee
- Stumps
- The three upright sticks at each end, with two small bails on top. A bucket can stand in for them.
- Bowler
- The player who bowls the ball at the batter.
- Batter
- The player with the bat.
- Over
- Six balls bowled by one bowler.
- Boundary
- The edge of the field. Reaching it scores 4, or 6 without a bounce.
- Bowled
- Out because the ball hit the stumps.
- Umpire
- The person who decides whether a batter is out and signals it with a raised finger.
- No-ball
- A ball that breaks a rule, such as the front foot landing past the crease or a bent arm. The batting team gets a run.
- Tee
- A stand that holds the ball still for the batter to hit.
Set up
Stumps 18 m apart, a plastic bat, a soft ball, a scoresheet.
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand as umpire behind the bowler's stumps.
- Show the out signal: one index finger raised.
- Show the scoresheet: each pair's runs written ball by ball.
Your part while they practise
Umpire; move into position for run-outs; signal out with a raised index finger; then let the children umpire in pairs.
Step by step
- One pair bats for twelve balls.
- Everyone else fields; bowlers take turns, one over of 6 balls each.
- A catch, bowled or run-out costs the pair a run; the batter stays in.
- Next pair.
How much: one game 25 min a session once a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Pairs cricket
Each pair bats for twelve balls, and the pair with the most runs wins.
Who plays: 8 to 12 players in pairs; you umpire at first, then the children umpire in pairs.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- One pair bats; everyone else fields
- Bowlers take turns, one over each
- The batters call "yes", "no" or "wait" and run; they swap ends after each run
- When a batter is out, the pair loses a run and the batter stays in
- After twelve balls, the next pair bats. Scorers write every ball
- Fair play
- A grown-up bats with the weaker hand on top, or bowls underarm.
- Points
- 1 run for each run completed; 4 for a ball that rolls over the boundary. Each out takes away 1 run.
- Fouls
-
- A run without the bat grounded over the line does not count
- A bowler's bent arm is a no-ball: 1 run to the batting pair
- Arguing with the umpire costs the pair 1 run
- Winning
- The pair with the most runs.
- 6 runs for 1 star
- 10 runs for 2 stars
- 15 runs for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A tee, shorter boundaries.
Faster bowling.
What you will see, and what to say
- a dispute over out or not out
Ask the umpire, respect the call
The umpire's decision ends it. - boredom while fielding
Stay ready every ball
Walk in a few steps as the bowler runs up.
Self-check
12 of 12 balls written on the scoresheet, with no argument with the umpire.
Stop and get a coach when
A child is hurt or upset after a game.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains all skills in a game, scoring, fair play.
Intermediate is done when the child bats, bowls and fields in a small game and keeps a score.
awiseathlete.com/sports/cricket/cricket-i6