Pencil Cricket Set

Introduction

This is a recreation of a game I used to play at school here in the UK.  When I played it, we used 2 pencils. 

The game is usually played between two players, but can be played alone. It is played with these two six-sided dice and a paper scorecard. 

Rules of the game

One die, the batting die, is labelled:

• 1  - player scores 1 run
• 2 - player scores 2 runs
• 3 - player scores 3 runs
• 4 - player scores 4 runs
• H - for “owzthat” - the tradition cry for an umpire decision 
• 6 - player scores 6 runs 

The second die, the umpire die, is labelled:

• B - Bowled out, the ball has hit the stumps
• C - Caught
• N B - No Ball 
• R O - Run Out
• L W B - Leg Before Wicket
• W - Wicket taken by the wicket keeper

Before starting you need to decide what type of match you want.  

Test match - four innings are played in a test match, and each team bats twice and bowls twice.

Limit over - each player bats once for a limited set of overs - 50, 40, 20 etc…  

Once you've done that then you need to draw up the appropriate cricket scorecard and the teams are written in. Remember there are 11 players on each team.  

A toss of a coin decides which team chooses to bat first.

The batting side starts the game by rolling the batting die. Any runs signalled are recorded on the scorecard. When a “owzthat” appeal is signalled, the umpire die is rolled for a decision. The batsman has a 1/6 chance of being not out, if  a “No Ball” is signalled. As in real cricket a No Ball entitles the batsman to an extra run. 

A batsman is out if “Bowled”, “Run out'", ”Caught", “Leg Before Wicket”, or “Wicket” are signalled, and the next batsman comes to the crease. Depending on the cricket format the batting side is dismissed when all the batsmen are out or and if the over limit is reached. 

The other side then bats in an attempt to score more runs and hence win.

Printing

The key to printing this is to try to get the weight as even as possible so even though it seems like a waste go for a higher infill, say between 75% - 100%.  This has worked out best in my tests.

Variant

As I said this is based on the version I played at school, there is another variant out there where the batter could be declared “Not Out” by the Umpire. In that version, you would loose one of the methods of being removed and substitute it with the Not Out call.   I have considered modelling this but couldn't decide which one to replace.