Tennis ball cricket

Tennis Cricket, played in Uttar Pradesh,India. Note bright yellow tennis ball being used.

Tennis ball cricket, also known as Tape ball cricket, is a variant of cricket, played using a tennis ball or a tape ball. It is very popular in South-Asian cricket playing countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka. It is also played by South-Asian expatriates living in Middle-Eastern countries such as the UAE, Oman, Bahrain Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and by emigrants in the United States, Australia and Canada.

History

Tennis ball cricket was pioneered in the densely populated Pakistani and Indian cities such as Karachi, Calcutta, Lahore and Mumbai, where cricket grounds and protective gear are not common. It became popular in the early 1990s, and is responsible for grooming the talents of the cricketers such as Wasim Akram, Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar at an early age.

Rules and Playing Style

In this game a more difficult version of tennis ball, in some cases, a tape ball, is used. The number of overs in the game varies from six to twenty-five. Considering that the ball is not as hard as the professional cricket ball, the use of protective gear like gloves, pads and helmets is optional. In most cases in this form sometimes, the ground may be a street or a compound. In such scenarios there may be a rule of pitching catch or inside house out etc. The tennis balls used in this game in India is NODENS, Cosco or Pacer. In other countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, they use Wilson or Slazenger. This is the only form of cricket where the rules of real cricket don't apply as they normally would.

Tournaments and Competitions

As the tennis ball cricket games are shorter versions when compared to the first-class matches or ODIs, they are especially suited to recreational weekend play. In South Asian cities and villages, it is usually played out on the streets and roads or on agricultural fields. In the Middle Eastern countries, it is usually played in the open desert, while in the USA and Canada, baseball diamond grounds are utilized.

Every year a two-day tournament known as Super Sixes is held at Hong Kong. It consists of six overs each innings.

See also

External links

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