How to Play French Cricket

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

French Cricket is a fast, informal bat-and-ball game played outdoors with no need for stumps, creases, or a pitch. One player bats while everyone else fields and takes turns bowling underarm, trying to hit the batter's legs below the knee or catch a hit ball on the full. It fits any reasonably flat garden or park, takes minutes to explain, and keeps a wide age range genuinely engaged at the same time.

Its appeal is that it is genuinely competitive without being complicated. There is no waiting around between overs, fielders are always involved, and a confident batter can hold out for a long time, which makes their eventual dismissal satisfying for everyone. It travels in a bag, needs no marking out, and scales easily from three players to a full garden party.

A little history

The origins of French Cricket are unclear, and no reliable documented record establishes precisely when, where, or by whom it was invented. The 'French' in the name is not known to reflect any genuine French connection; the label may simply be the kind of affectionate misnomer that attached itself to informal versions of established games in Britain during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What is widely documented is that the game has been a staple of British gardens and parks for generations and is strongly associated with informal summer play in the UK.

Setting up

1. Choose one player to bat first. A volunteer, coin toss, or agreement among players works equally well.
2. The batter stands in a clear, open space and holds the bat vertically in front of their legs, covering as much of the area below the knee as possible.
3. All remaining players spread out around the batter in a loose circle at a distance that feels fair for the group, typically three to five metres for younger children and further for adults.
4. Agree before play begins on any house rules: whether a no-ball rule applies for high deliveries, whether the batter scores runs, and what happens when the ball is caught off the bat handle.

How to play

1. The fielder who starts with the ball bowls underarm, aiming to hit the batter's legs anywhere below the knee. The ball must be delivered underarm; overarm bowling is not permitted.
2. The batter uses the bat to defend their legs and to hit the ball away into the field. There is no requirement to run.
3. Once the batter has played a shot and the bat has made contact with the ball (or the batter has swung and missed), the batter's feet are fixed. They may not shuffle, pivot, or reposition to face a new angle of attack.
4. Because the batter cannot move their feet, clever fielders retrieve the ball and bowl from whatever position they reach it, including from behind the batter, forcing the batter to twist and defend awkwardly.
5. The batter is out in three ways: (1) the ball strikes their legs below the knee; (2) a fielder catches the ball on the full after the batter has hit it; or (3) the batter's bat touches the ground during their shot (agreed as a rule before play in some versions; see Variations).
6. There is no limit on the number of deliveries a batter faces. They bat until they are dismissed.
7. When the batter is dismissed, the fielder responsible becomes the new batter. If the batter is out leg before (hit on the legs), the player who bowled that delivery bats next. If the batter is caught out, the fielder who held the catch bats next.
8. Play continues until all players have batted, or for an agreed number of rounds. The player who bats for the longest before being dismissed, or who scores the most runs if you are using a scoring variant, is the winner.

Winning and scoring

In the standard social version of French Cricket there is no points scoring: the winner is simply the player who holds the bat longest before being dismissed. In a competitive or scored version, each batter counts the number of times the ball reaches the boundary (or a set line) off their bat, with the player accumulating the highest total declared the winner after all players have taken a turn batting. Either format works; agree which you are using before the first ball is bowled.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns foot movement. The rule is strict: once the bat has moved toward the ball (whether contact is made or not), the feet must stay put. If a batter takes even a small step before the next ball is bowled, fielders should call the infringement immediately and the delivery bowled from any angle is valid. If the batter's feet moved before the stroke rather than after, that is a pre-shot adjustment and is generally allowed by convention, though many groups rule it out entirely for experienced players.

A second common argument is whether a delivery at shoulder height or above counts as fair. Most groups play that a ball delivered at waist height or above is called a no-ball and the batter may ignore it without penalty. If that ball is hit anyway and caught, the batter is not out. Similarly, if a no-ball strikes the legs, the batter is not out. The fielder who bowled a no-ball does not bowl again immediately: the ball is returned to whoever fielded it, and they bowl instead. Agree these boundaries clearly at the start to avoid arguments mid-game.

How to win more often

• Hold the bat flat across your legs rather than vertically: a wider, lower coverage is harder to beat with a straight delivery.
• Watch the fielder retrieving the ball rather than looking in the direction you last hit, so you are not caught off guard by a ball bowled from behind.
• When bowling, work with another fielder to retrieve and immediately throw to someone positioned directly behind the batter, cutting off any easy rotation of the bat.
• As a batter, hit the ball firmly to one side of the circle to create maximum distance between fielders and the ball, buying time to reset your grip and stance before the next delivery.
• Experienced fielders should avoid the temptation of a high, looping delivery: a flat, low, fast underarm aimed accurately at the shins is far more likely to beat the bat than a bouncing ball the batter can watch all the way in.

Variations

Scoring Runs

Rather than simply surviving, the batter scores one run for every time the ball reaches a pre-agreed boundary line. A fielder who stops the ball short of the boundary earns nothing; a ball that crosses the line before being retrieved adds one to the batter's tally. The batter with the highest total after a fixed number of innings or a set time wins. This version suits larger groups where keeping everyone focused on a single long innings is difficult.

Bat-on-Ground Out

In this popular variant the batter is also dismissed if the flat face of the bat touches the ground at any point during a shot. This discourages the defensive tactic of simply dropping the bat low to block; the batter must keep the bat elevated and active. Particularly useful with older or more competitive players where blocking becomes too dominant a strategy.

No Boundaries Version (Small Gardens)

When space is very limited, remove boundary scoring entirely and decide the winner purely by longevity: the player who bats through the most deliveries before dismissal wins the round. Track dismissals rather than runs. This works well in tight spaces and with younger children because it keeps the game moving without requiring any counting.

Team French Cricket

Split players into two equal teams. Each team bats in turn, with all members batting once before the innings closes. The team's score is the combined total of all boundary runs hit by its batters. Fielding team members rotate the bowling freely. The team with the higher aggregate score wins. This format suits eight or more players and gives the game a more structured, competitive shape suited to garden parties or school events.

French Cricket: frequently asked questions