Backyard Cricket Thread

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I like indoor cricket balls for backyard - bit harder than tennis balls and they swing like crazy. Get some decent bounce if the surface is reasonably hard too.

Might not be great if you actually enjoy batting however :oops:
 
great thread

our backyard had a massive flowerbed in the middle of it which added a different element to the game. if the ball went there in the full it was out, but if it went over it was fine. had gardens all around us, if it went into a garden on the full, it was out. the exception to this was the straight hit garden, you could use neccesary force to hit 6's there, but if it went over the fence about 10 metres behind the garden, it was out. automatic wickie was applied. if there was an edge, the batsman throws the ball to the bowler and if he catches it, its out. LBW was a rule introduced later, if the ball hits the leg in line with the stumps, then then have to throw the ball at the stumps. if it hits, batter is out lbw, if he missed, the appeal is turned down

now that i think about it, how good are kids at making up obscure rules!
 

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Mr_Smooth said:
great thread

our backyard had a massive flowerbed in the middle of it which added a different element to the game. if the ball went there in the full it was out, but if it went over it was fine. had gardens all around us, if it went into a garden on the full, it was out. the exception to this was the straight hit garden, you could use neccesary force to hit 6's there, but if it went over the fence about 10 metres behind the garden, it was out. automatic wickie was applied. if there was an edge, the batsman throws the ball to the bowler and if he catches it, its out. LBW was a rule introduced later, if the ball hits the leg in line with the stumps, then then have to throw the ball at the stumps. if it hits, batter is out lbw, if he missed, the appeal is turned down

now that i think about it, how good are kids at making up obscure rules!
Click to expand...

With that many rules I can only imagine the arguments that would entail ...and all would finish with a plaintive "Mum, (insert siblings name) is cheating again" :)
 
My brother and I spent hours playing backyard cricket. We had a decent strip a flat piece of land about 20m long x 10m wide, good grass cover which we would cut short to get the ball to zip off, but a few spots where the ball could keep low, bounce high or move sideways. We used a plastic hollow ball, found this kept the balance between batsmen and bowler as opposed to a tennis ball.

One side of our pitch had a garden bed/decking/shed the other side was a small creek and wire fence. Both square boundaries were only 8-10m wide but plenty of tress in the way to stop 4's and 6's. We didn't have a shared fence with our neighbor next to us so we used their back yard as long on and long off. We didn't play 6 and out as every fence was easy to jump over and get the ball, but the batsmen had to go fetch the 6 hit.

Didn't play LBW, would just cause to much angst, but it was "in the spirit" of the game not to guard your stumps. Any ball that grubbed/rolled along the ground wasn't out. Had two fence posts behind the stumps equal distance apart that created the boundaries for auto wicky, my brother is left hand and i'm right handed so this made it fair to each. No one hand one bounce either, and if you hit the clothes line on the full it was 5 runs, it was positioned in gully for me, short fine leg for my bother.

We would play two innings each, as my brother is 5 years younger than me, he would get 5 bats per innings and i would get 2 bats (one right handed, one left handed). If we played one dayers he would get 50 balls and i would get 30. Ahh, the good old days!
 
Kardinia Boy said:
With that many rules I can only imagine the arguments that would entail ...and all would finish with a plaintive "Mum, (insert siblings name) is cheating again" :)
Click to expand...
ha!

wasn't too bad. there were wood slats at the boundry of the gardens, so it was pretty obvious if a ball went in there. the LB rule was the hardest to enforce and often caused tears
 
Anyone else use peg leg for contentious caught behind or LBW wickets? Flip the bat over and use the handle as a bat. Still requires skill for the bowler to get him out, but the batsman can still play out the ball.
 

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No matter how many deliveries you have bowled.......there is always two left when asked "how many left?"

 
saj_21 said:
No matter how many deliveries you have bowled.......there is always two left when asked "how many left?"
Click to expand...
Of course.

Walls definitely count as a bounce - we'd play two bounce headbutt as long as we were using something harder than a tennis ball - need to require balls for a headbutt.

Cousin and I used to play at an old holiday house we used to stay in down the Bellarine in early January, about a 7-8 yard pitch. Whenever we'd head home and go back to proper cricket, the first session was all half-trackers. Particularly annoying for me, as a leggie.
 
Had a particularly good game of BYC on Australia Day.

You need a swinging ball and auto-wicky is a freaking gun. Catches it no matter how short or high it's going through!
 
My cousins have an awesome setup. Because it's a short yard, they have a sheet on the back fence with velcro wicky, 1st slip & leg slip that tennis balls will actually stick too. If it doesn't stick, the catch is dropped and you're safe.
There's also a basketball ring at cover-ish where if you hit the backboard it's a 50, get the ball in the hoop it's 100, but it's a risky shot because if it misses it's going over the fence & you're out.
 
I play backyard cricket with the brothers and often it was just one on one and I would put objects out in the field to be used as the fielders (e.g. chairs, toys) and if the ball hits those objects on the full, you are out caught.
 
bombersfan4000 said:
did anyone have a roller pinched from the local tennis courts to keep the wicket nice & flat:cool:
Click to expand...

My old man used to borrow a wacker packer from work every now and then to flatten out the front 3rd of our pitch.

My brother bowled a lot faster than me so I didn't always appreciate the added bounce. (We played with proper balls, none of this tennis ball stuff)

One of these:

wacker_vph70.jpg
 
estibador said:
My old man used to borrow a wacker packer from work every now and then to flatten out the front 3rd of our pitch.

My brother bowled a lot faster than me so I didn't always appreciate the added bounce. (We played with proper balls, none of this tennis ball stuff)

One of these:

wacker_vph70.jpg
Click to expand...
I know what the wacker packers are, but stuff that, to much effort! Those things are like puching a lawnmower on a trampoline. Thats after & the mates have managed to drag it out of the shed. Fueled it up & stuffed around with the spark plug, then managed to get it started!
 
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