Pop-up Cricket is a special set of cricket rules that lets you play a fun, competitive game of cricket with as few as nine players. It's perfect for when the other team forfeits at the last minute, when you want a quick social game, or when half the team end up at the pub instead of the ground.
At its heart, Pop-up Cricket works but dividing the players into three roughly equal teams. One team bats and umpires while the other two teams field and bowl together.
Depending on how many players you have, the roles for the batting team change↓. There are also some extra match conditions↓ you may wish to use to suit your circumstances.
Core rules
- Divide the players into three teams (see the Team sizes and roles table↓ for specifics). Pay attention to balancing the bowlers and batters fairly between the teams. Give each team a name; here we will call them Team A, Team B and Team C.
- Conduct a three-way toss:
- Conduct a standard toss between Team A and Team B. Note the winner.
- Next, conduct a toss between the winner of the first toss and Team C. The winning team chooses when to bat (first, second or third).
- Conduct a toss between the teams who lost the two tosses. The winner chooses when to bat from the remaining two options.
- The remaining team takes the unclaimed batting innings.
- There are three innings; in each innings, one team bats while the other two teams field together.
- Batting team rules:
- Two members of the batting team bat first, with the remaining team members taking care of the umpiring and scoring. It's a good idea for the umpires to stay padded up to to speed up transitions.
- If a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by one of the other players until all players have had a turn batting.
- When all players have batted and a wicket falls, the team member who was dismissed first bats again. It continues in this way until there have been 11 batters or the overs run out.
- Fielding teams:
- The two fielding teams field as a single unit.
- Bowlers can bowl up to 4 overs each in the innings (i.e. they can bowl another 4 overs in a subsequent innings).
- The batting innings is over after 20 overs, or when the batting team loses 10 wickets.
- At the conclusion of the first innings the next team has their batting innings.
- At the conclusion of the second innings the last team has their batting innings.
- As always, the team with the highest runs total wins.
- In all other respects, use the standard Twenty20 rules for the game.
Team size and roles
The following table sets out the sizes of the teams and the roles of the players depending on the total number of players you have.
| # players | Team size | Batting team roles |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Three teams of 3 players each |
Two players bat, the other player umpires and scores from both ends. When a batsman is dismissed, they swap with the umpire. |
| 10 | Two teams of 3 players and one team of 4 players |
Two players bat. Team of 3: The other player umpires and scores from both ends. When a batter is dismissed, they swap with the umpire. Team of 4: Two players umpire an end each, one scoring. When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest. |
| 11 | Two teams of 4 players and one team of 3 players |
|
| 12 | Three teams of 4 players |
Two players bat, the other two umpire an end each, one scoring. When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest. |
| 13 | Two teams of 4 players and one team of 5 players |
Two players bat. Team of 4: Two players umpire an end each, one scoring. When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest. Team of 5: Two players umpire an end each and the remaining player fields with the other team and scores (this is to balance the number of fielders for all innings). When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest, and they field and score. The player who was fielding umpires. |
| 14 | Two teams of 5 players and one team of 4 players |
|
| 15 | Three teams of five players |
Two players bat, two players umpire an end each and the remaining player sits off the field of play and scores. When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest, and take up the scoring role. The player who was scoring becomes an umpire. |
| 16 | Two teams of five players and one team of 6 players |
Two players bat. Team of 5: Two players umpire an end each and the remaining player sits off the field of play and scores. When a batter is dismissed they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest, and take up the scoring role. The player who was scoring becomes an umpire. Team of 6: Two players umpire an end each, one of the remaining players fields for the other teams (this is to balance the number fielders for all innings) and the last player sits off the field of play and scores. When a batter is dismissed, they are replaced by the umpire who has been umpiring the longest and become the scorer. The previous scorer fields; and the player fielding becomes an umpire. |
| 17 | Two teams of six players and one team of 5 players | |
| 18+ | With 18 or more players you can have a traditional 9 vs. 9 match with two teams. | |
Match conditions
Based on the number of players and your circumstances, you might also want to impose one or more of these optional match conditions:
- No running behind square: You can hit boundaries and be caught behind square leg/point but you can't run on shots or byes into that area.
- Forced retirement: Batters can be forced to retire once their score passes 30 or 50. They can return to the crease later for a new innings if the team has sufficient wickets as per the rules above (i.e. after a stint as an umpire or scorer).
- Full team bowling: You can require all players to bowl (which means you'll probably have to rotate the wicketkeeper as well). Reduce the maximum number of allowed overs to 3 instead of 4, or require the whole team to bowl through one over each then repeat.
- Shorter innings: Playing three twenty-over innings means your game will likely last around 3 hours. You could reduce the innings to 16 or 12 overs to reduce the overall playing time.
Hope you enjoy your game. I'd love to hear what you think of the format — flick me an email.
Downloads
↓ Download black and white version PDF, 264kb.
This scorecard includes the basic rules — so why not print a few copies and add it to the team gear-bag today?