101 Ways To Play Cricket
OK, I'll admit I haven't reached 101, but with a little help from my friends I soon hope to. Here are 3 to start with:
1. Galli Cricket - Contributed by every school kid, inspired by Roshan
Usually played in a small residential lane with a dead-end (or galli). There are dozens of interesting rules, most of which pertain to getting out. Such as Pitch-catch out, hit the window, hitting the ball over some Aunty's compound who wouldn't return the ball, not scoring any runs for a long while (you were declared "retired"!!!). And those 1-D, 2-D calls that just "declared" 1 run or 2 - you didn't have to run for them!
2. Book Cricket - Contributed by Callous Crab - Read the original here (Callous Crab, I've re-written it because the rules were a little different the way I played it)
This is usually played by the desparate-to-be-outside-but-stuck-in-class kid. And another kid of the same type.
You need a nice fat book - not a problem to obtain while in class - and decide who want to "bat" and who wants to "bowl". The bowler opens a page at random, and depending on the page number, this is what the batsman does:
Page number ending in:
1,2,4 or 6 - Scores that many runs
8 - No ball/wide
0 - OUT!
3. All by yourself
Essential to have a bare wall and a parent who is sound asleep/doesn't mind noise/absent.
Just toss the ball on to the wall and hit it!
1. Galli Cricket - Contributed by every school kid, inspired by Roshan
Usually played in a small residential lane with a dead-end (or galli). There are dozens of interesting rules, most of which pertain to getting out. Such as Pitch-catch out, hit the window, hitting the ball over some Aunty's compound who wouldn't return the ball, not scoring any runs for a long while (you were declared "retired"!!!). And those 1-D, 2-D calls that just "declared" 1 run or 2 - you didn't have to run for them!
2. Book Cricket - Contributed by Callous Crab - Read the original here (Callous Crab, I've re-written it because the rules were a little different the way I played it)
This is usually played by the desparate-to-be-outside-but-stuck-in-class kid. And another kid of the same type.
You need a nice fat book - not a problem to obtain while in class - and decide who want to "bat" and who wants to "bowl". The bowler opens a page at random, and depending on the page number, this is what the batsman does:
Page number ending in:
1,2,4 or 6 - Scores that many runs
8 - No ball/wide
0 - OUT!
3. All by yourself
Essential to have a bare wall and a parent who is sound asleep/doesn't mind noise/absent.
Just toss the ball on to the wall and hit it!
posted by Cloudy @ 1:00 PM
19 Comments:
1sttttttt Comment!!!!! :-))))
I remember we were once playing in our park, and one of us hit the ball very hard, and it hit the grand-daughter of a cranky aunty on the opposite street, bang on the head! The aunty(called sardarni aunty be one and all) created such a ruckus that it wasn't funny. She never returned our ball, and we couldn't play for two days because our financial situation was a bit tight in those days, due to losing or breaking balls at an average rate of 2 per day!
there is another way to play cricket using a badminton racket and a shuttlecock... popularly called as "french cricket" where you hit the shuttle and rotate the racket around you that signifies runs... and thats fun :D
What :O!!! NO PICTURES!!???!
@Obi: "Tight financial situation" LOL... Nice way of saying "broke"!
@Iyer Ed: Will consider that a contribution... yes, sounds like fun!
@Tin: Anyone you know wants pictures to understand cricket???? If they do, banish them from the country!
Ah! So the bunk bed was for insomniacs??
But nice collection!
:-) Second Comment!
I'm sure you'll soon reach 101 with readers contributions, Cloudy!
And tintin, you are really something - bunk bed for insomniacs?! :D
Hehehe... bunk bed for insomniacs sounds like a typical question for a sales job - remember that old one about selling a refrigerator to an eskimo?
Thanks Sunshine, for the belief that we will reach 101! And yes, you are right, TinTin is really something :-)
One more variation on cricket is the French cricket version. The idea is, you stand with the bat right on your toes, flat side facing the bowler, almost sticking to your legs. If I remember correctly, the stumps are your legs, and you rotate at the same spot as you play. Don't remember anything more than that, I am afraid, maybe someone else will...
your legs dont move and the ball is not allowed to hit your legs.
And how about the "Current" out rule (fielder throws ball to bowler or anyone near the stumps - the stumps are typically a stone or a brick, on which the bowler keeps his foot on and holds on to the ball)
Ring cricket..i loved underarm cricket :)
3rd :)))))
Chat kothi #1.
aaaah cricket...
between playing beautiful cover drives that got me tagged as the 'rahul dravid' of mohalla cricket team and playing alone in the house with a table tennis ball trying very hard not to wake up my mother and playing book cricket in 'free' classes in the school... i somehow grew up along
thanks a lot for bringing back those really wonderful memories of mine, was missing them a lot...
thanks once again, i've posted something new regarding cricket, me and you.
do check it out...
Adi, glad that I brought back childhood memories... that's what this blog is for! Do write about the innovations you made as you played cricket - either out of necessity (no bat available, so just use hand) or just for fun! I have to reach 101 ways, you see - and I can do that only with a little help from friends :-)
i don't know much about innovations, all we did was to play cricket in every possible or impossible place and with anything that we might lay our hands upon.
it was mandatory for the ball to be round though. leather balls (expensive & hard hitting), tennis balls (cosco-inexpensive, soft & favourites), plastic balls (anda-very noisy & unpredictable), rubber balls (kirmich-for kids only)and if nothing else worked, me n my brother would crumple up a few newspapers, squeeze them very tightly with the help of rubber bands and voila an indigenious work of art was ready. it tend to come in shape after a few beatings. point to be noted, meant for only verandah-play but the least expensive & noiseless option of all. what's more, it could be made water-proof by wrapping a sheet of polyethene over the squeezed newspapers. that increased the longevity from few matches to a complete tournament.
as for the bat, i've played with the usual proper cricket bats. both inexpensive and very expensive kashmir-willow bats. but the real fun was when it had rained outside or nobody was available to play with.
any heavy long-notebook (a register) or table tennis racquet or badminton racquet or a flat n wide enough stick or bare hands if nothing else was available donned up the hat to be a bat.
but the best one was mother's cloth-beating wooden 'thapi'. it had the perfect shape, size n necessary solidity to make all of us realize the dreams of becoming 'the another tendulkar'.
there were perfectly logical rules too, like 'one-tip' out. which means if the fielder catches! the ball even after a single bounce the batsmen will be deemed out. believe me when you dont have the space to bamboozle or bounce the batsmen, this was the most important rule ever devised. just keep it straight, a little short-of-length, and u became the highest wicket taker ever in domestic cricket tourneys ;)
apart from that, there were numerous rules and guidelines taking form as per the situation deemed. for example, you can't play on leg side or you can't play on the off; that neighbour's house is out-of-bounds for any kind of aerial shot; the elder brother is suppossed to go asking for the ball at that particular aunty's place because the door will be opened by her beautiful daughter;)
and so on...
& u forgot the promise...
No Adi, I haven't!
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