Cricket Kickball

This game is played the same (mostly) as the English game of Cricket. But instead of using a bat and a hard ball, use a kick ball.

Set Up: Create the field. The field can be as big as you like it to be (you might try playing it indoors with a wiffle ball?), but create the boundary in a general oval shape. Then create the pitch (this is the lane that is 22 yards long in which the batsman (cricket term for person at bat)/kicksman (Cricket kickball term for person at kick) runs back and forth in) at both ends of the pitch make the wickets (you can use croquet wickets or whatever you see fit; I use orange cones).

Play: Divide into two teams of equal numbers. Real cricket teams consist of 11 players, but you can improvise however you see fit. One team is at bat/kick first and the other team fields. The fielding team must choose one member to be the bowler (cricket term for the pitcher), while the rest of the team positions themselves all over the field, in front and behind of the kicker, as long as they are not in the pitch or out of bounds. After the team has been positioned, the bowler may commence bowling the kickball. Once the ball has been bowled, then the kicksman may commence kicking the ball. This is where it will differ considerably from conventional kickball. The kicksman may kick the ball in any direction they choose including behind them (there are no foul balls). Once they have kicked it, they then run to the opposite end of the pitch and back. They may do this as many times as they think possible before the fielding team can hit the wicket with the ball. Each time the kicksman crosses the pitch, their team gets a run. The kicksman continues to kick until they are out.

The kicksman can be out in three different ways: 1. They kick the ball in the air and it is caught by a fielder. 2. The bowler bowls the ball past the kicker and it hits the wicket. 3. The kicksman kicks the ball (that is not caught in midair) and the fielders hit the wicket (by relaying to each other) before the kicksman can get there. The same kicksman continues to kick until they are out (this is why some cricket matches can last for 5 days!), however once they are out, that is their only opportunity for kicking, it then becomes the next person on their team’s turn to kick. Once the fielding team has gotten all of the kicking teams’ kicksman out, then you switch. The fielding team becomes the kicking team, and the kicking team goes out to field.

The team with the most runs after everyone has had a chance to kick wins.

There are a considerable amount of additional cricket intricacies that I have left out, but if you’re curious check out http://www.lords.org/cricket/laws.asp