Week 2 - Cricket
Skill focus: Bowling fundamentals and throwing at a target
Session equipment
Cones or markers
Rope
Tennis balls (or similar)
Cricket bats
Wickets
Large balls (basketball, volleyball, etc).
Download the Cricket - Week 2 activity card to support teaching before and during the sport session.
Fast start - Gone fishing
Equipment: 8 markers (to set out playing area), 3-4 large balls, bag of tennis balls (half the class start with one).
How to play:
Set out the playing area known as the river (approximately 15m x 10m).
Divide students into 2 teams.
Have 3-4 large balls (‘fish’) in a line in the middle of the river.
Approximately 1 tennis ball (‘fishing rod’) for every 2 students.
Students underarm the tennis balls toward the large balls aiming to push them over towards the other team.
If the large balls cross the oppositions sideline, the throwing team receive a point and the large ball is placed back in the middle.
Students must throw from behind their sideline.
CHANGE IT!
Change the size of the large balls to increase/decrease the ability to hit them.
Make the playing area smaller to increase accuracy.
Increase the number of tennis balls being used to get more students engaged more often.
Allow overarm throws.
Have mini games with smaller areas and smaller teams.
Select card to download
Skill development games
Explicitly teach the 'pull the string' bowling action:
The player should stand side-on to the target with their bowling arm (holding the ball) held straight down towards their back knee and their other arm stretched up to the sky. They hold an imaginary string stretched between their two hands. When they are ready to bowl, they pull the imaginary string down with their non-bowling arm, bringing their bowling arm up and over. They release the ball towards the batter, following through with their bowling arm across the front of their body.
Activity 1 - Bowling fundamentals
Equipment: 1 tennis ball per pair, 1 set of wickets per pair, rope, 1 marker per pair
How to play:
Pair students.
Make one a bowler and one a wicket keeper.
Bowlers bowl 3 deliveries at the stumps then swap roles with the wicket keeper.
Lay ropes across the pitch and have bowlers try to land the ball between the ropes.
Gradually bring the ropes closer together if students are finding it too easy.
If students find the activity too challenging, shorten the pitch or place 2 stumps together to create a larger target.
Activity adapted from Cricket Australia HPE Program
Activity adapted from Cricket Australia HPE Program
Activity 2 - Golden ducks
Equipment: 1 tennis ball per group, wickets, cones, cricket bat
How to play: The bowlers takes turn to bowl and knock the wickets over (underarm or overarm bowl depending on student ability). The runner runs between the wickets, counting their runs, until the bowlers hit the wickets and call 'HOWZAT!'
2 teams – 1 team are bowlers and the other are runners.
2 pitches of 12m are set up parallel to each other.
Set up a ‘crease’ line which bowlers must bowl behind, and runners must run until.
On the teacher’s call the activity begins.
On the first pitch, bowlers take turns to bowl (underarm or overarm) at the stumps continuously.
On the second pitch, runners run between wickets holding the bat.
When the bowling team hit the stumps, they call out ‘HOWZAT!’ and the runner stops running.
The runner attempts to complete as many runs as they can before the bowling team hits the stumps.
Swap roles when all students have had a go at running between the wickets.
Select one player from the running team as the ‘golden duck’, their runs are worth double.
Activity 3 - Hit the square
Equipment: 1 tennis ball, 1 set of wickets, markers
How to play: Two pairs of players stand on opposite sides of a square. From a standing position, a ball is bowled between the pairs. Players try to knock down a set of stumps.
Players bowl their ball using the ‘pull the string’ bowling action and try to hit the stumps.
Score 1 point for each successful hit.
Activity adapted from Cricket Australia HPE Program
Activity 4 - Protect your castle
Equipment: 2 markers per group, 1 set of wickets per group, 1 cricket bat per group
How to play: The batter stands in front of the wickets and attempts to hit the ball. Batters score different number of runs depending on the distance hit. The bowler rolls or throws the ball, attempting to knock over the wickets and the wicket keeper doesn't let the ball go past them.
Divide students into groups of 3.
One student is the batter, one is the bowler and one is the wicket keeper or fielder.
The bowler begins by rolling the ball along the ground trying to knock down the castle (wickets) of the batter.
The batter attempts to strike or block the ball and defend their castle.
The fielder or wicket keeper stands behind the castle ensuring that the ball doesn’t pass them.
If the batter can hit the ball then they receive 1 run, if they hit it past the bowler’s cone along the ground they receive 4 runs and if they can hit it past the bowler’s cone on the full then they receive 6 runs.
The bowler is awarded 5 bonus runs every time they can knock down the castle.
Rotate roles every 3 deliveries with the wicket keeper becoming the batter, the batter becoming the bowler and the bowler becoming the new wicket keeper.
Modified small-sided games
It's time for competition!
Teams compete against each other in the game outlined below. You can use the 'Cricket draw' as a guide to organise the competition, across the 4 sessions try to ensure each team has a fair number of games.
Allocate 3 points for a win, 2 points for a drawer and 1 point for a loss for each game played. Record results and points in the School sport program results spreadsheet.
Remember, to give students an update of the leader board each week.
Scoring
1 run is scored each time a batter successfully runs around a marker and back to the stumps.
Four-bowler cricket
Equipment: 1 tennis ball, 4 marker cones, 3 bats, 3 sets of stumps per game
How to play: Batters attempt to score points by running around a marker. Bowlers attempt to get batters out by bowling or catching them out.
The batting team bats one at a time.
A bowler bowls the ball to the batter.
When the batter hits the ball, they must run around the marker from where the ball was bowled and return to the batting position.
The ball is returned by a fielder to any of the bowlers, where they can bowl immediately — even if the batter has not returned.
The batter may be out by being bowled or caught only.
Rotate the bowlers and fielders regularly.
Teams change over when all batters have been dismissed.
Reflection
TAG
Ask students to form pairs with a student from their team.
Inform students they are going to give feedback to their partner using 'TAG'.
Tell your partner something they did well in today's session.
Ask your partner the question - Where should you bowl to try and get the batter out?
Give your partner some feedback on a skill or tactic they could focus on during next weeks session.
