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Former featured article candidateBackyard cricket is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination failed. For older candidates, please check the archive.
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DateProcessResult
March 1, 2004 Featured article candidateNot promoted

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Is "beach cricket" really the most common term? I've always heard it referred to as "backyard cricket", although that may just be an Australianism. ShaneKing 05:07, 18 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Both are common. I mostly hear beach cricket, although I live 100 kilometres from the nearest beach. Beach cricket is, I think, the more general term. It would be good to make a redirect here from backyard cricket. Tannin 06:07, 18 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I've never heard "beach cricket", before I saw this article. To me, and all my Australian friends (from many places around the nation), it is "backyard cricket". Squizz. 23:49, 22 Aug 2006 (UTC)

I'd have to agree, backyard would be the more apposite term -- I like pants 07:22, 21 November 2006 (UTC) reply

Oh! And I thought Beach Cricket was the kind of cricket they played in the movie The Beach wearing beach clothing - what a disappointment. I've played so much of backyard cricket I could tell a few more rules.

  • Three leg out - If the ball touches your leg thrice - you are out. To discourage intentionally using the leg to block the wickets. Misused by cunning bowlers to hit the leg.
  • There is another one where you can not run more than 5 runs in case the ball is momentarily lost. Happens a lot if you are not playing in a field.
  • Then there is the one where there is a 2 run boundary in addition to a 4 run one. This is used when there is some sort of structure in the ground which is closer than the 4 run boundary is.
  • Cricket without stumps - it is strange it actually works, but the batsman's waist is the marker. If the ball passes the batsman within two bricks/stones (about as wide as actual stumps) and below the batsman's waist he is out.

Yes, we use the 2-run boundary all the time in my school, as the building is quite close to where we used to play. I've also played cricket without stumps. Admittedly it was played with a paper ball in a classroom, but that's beside the point. We couldn't run more than 4 runs before you HAD to drop your bat and help look for the ball. Also, we have a rule where if you lose the ball, you either find it, or you're out. This applies to the "six and out" rule as well. If you can get the ball back within a short amount of time, you're not out. However, we stopped that after a few complaints from the neighbours about us climbing their fences. Never heard of the three leg out though..

At my School if the ball bounced off a wall, or in our case a cricket net, The fielder had to catch it one hand. We also modified the one hand one bounce rule that you had to catch it in one grab if you juggled it it was given not out

- Qpeedore

And about the ball. In India Cosco (sports goods manufacturer) markets a ball. It is a tennis ball but with the slight difference that it is marketed as a cricket ball with the name Cosco Cricket. It is highly likely that Cosco sells more Tennis balls in India than Cricket balls. Economy and safety guides cricket here. A real cricket ball will injure more and is costlier. -- Ankur 10:19, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

And then you have the fine old tradition of wrapping half of a normal tennis ball in electrical tape to make it swing. ;) thefamouseccles 02:22, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Tape-ball is quite common in Pakistan. Not so in India. Saish 06:08, 5 March 2006 (UTC) reply

What about the rule you can't bat then bowl, or is that just where I come from?

  • We play that one as well as having designated fixed objects as fielders bacco007 10:08, 14 January 2006 (UTC) reply
    • Me and my mate used to play all fixed objects were fielders -- Paul 08:03, 23 February 2006 (UTC) reply

I remember playing the can't bat then bowl rule, often the out batter went straight to wicket keeper if there was no auto wikki's because it was close to the stumps. We also had to announce that we were bowling next when the current bowler was bowling. -- 202.154.128.137 05:40, 21 January 2006 (UTC) reply

Rules/games

I tend to think of "peg" and "hit and roll" as games based on cricket, whereas backyard/beach cricket is cricket with some modified rules. It seems that some sort of distinction should be made between these "rules" and the others which are less signficant changes. Does anyone agree? JPD ( talk) 12:57, 10 February 2006 (UTC) reply

Photo

I just want to say that's a very cool photo Saishg added. Nice composition and it shows the casual nature of the game very well. - dmmaus 22:27, 19 February 2006 (UTC) reply

Full toss

OK, this should maybe seem obvious to y'all who've played beach cricket, but to this yank, it's not. If you have a field that's "ideal for spectacular diving catches" you can't bowl the ball so it pitches, right? It's just an underhanded delivery, or what? It looks like the dude in the picture is bowling for real, and I don't know what the surfaces of your beaches are like, if you play at low tide or the dirt is packed tighter or what... but out here in Cali, if you tried bowling a devastating leg break at a beach out here, it would thud unceremoniously a few feet in front of the batsman. So that should be clarified somewhere on the page. Wiki Wikardo

There's two ways you can play on a beach. (1) Do as you say and only "bowl" underarm full tosses. (2) Play on the smooth, hard-packed sand close to the surfline. A tennis ball bounces quite well off this sand. - dmmaus 00:38, 23 April 2006 (UTC)omg reply

Scope

I presume that this article is really about background cricket in Australia - but it doesn't say so. It all seems very familiar to me except for a couple of rules about fielders having to hit a bit to get a turn. Are the rules in NZ, SA, England, India, etc different? Stevage 14:36, 31 July 2006 (UTC) reply

My memory is that there was a reasonable amount of Indian input in this article. The picture is definitely not Australian. JPD ( talk) 15:16, 31 July 2006 (UTC) reply

I think there may be an element of advertising to the last section are there any rules as regard to this opn Wikipedia?

Article name

Backyard, beach or garden cricket? Beach is probably too Australian-centric. I have never heard of Garden cricket. Article name changed to Backyard cricket which is universal. —  Moondyne 06:53, 27 November 2006 (UTC) reply

This is a really great article

Congrats everyone, it nails the topic ROxBo 13:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC) reply

I concur. 131.111.195.8 ( talk) 00:29, 19 January 2008 (UTC) reply

Someone doesn't like it, given the slew of snooty banners. A muckabout backyard game "does not cite any references or sources." Well, duh... What a tool.

Quite agree! This is a really excellent page about an informal sport which is a kind of living wiki of its own - it doesn't have a governing body or a written rule-book, that's the point. Wanting to 'wikify' the page to some sort of faux-academic standard and asking for references just demonstrates a complete lack of common-sense. Zephirine ( talk) 17:50, 27 February 2010 (UTC) reply

Hey, most of the rules listed aren't followed in India. In India we play with variations such as "no back" (I.e. no runs behind square), 1D and 2D (refers to areas where the batsman scores 1, 2 runs resp. without having to change ends), one tip one hand (basically you can dismiss the batsman by catching the ball with one hand even after a bounce), and other bizarre rules . :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.124.247.56 ( talk) 05:30, 11 June 2010 (UTC) reply

Historic film clip

Might this [1] film clip be used in the article? SovalValtos ( talk) 23:53, 18 August 2020 (UTC) reply

Page title should be 'Gully Cricket'

As this is a widely popular sport in the Indian subcontinent and other Non-american countries, using 'Backyard' (north american term) can be avoided. To adhere with WP:USEENGLISH, perhaps change it to Street Cricket or Beach Cricket. - 59.99.208.216 ( talk) 11:14, 15 August 2021 (UTC) reply

Grammar

Edited the Coin Toss rule to read a little better and with slightly less redundancy in English. Otherwise, a great article. Nihilianth ( talk) 01:12, 17 November 2021 (UTC)Nihilianth reply