Whenever we hear the word cricket, we automatically tend to think about the English game of cricket that is played with bats and balls. In which we have a batter, bowler, wicket-keeper, catcher and other players. However, here is a fun fact we have another game of cricket available that you can enjoy simply with darts. We will discuss it in details but first here’s another fun fact the game of Cricket depending on the location has evolved. There is traditional cricket, English cricket, scram, tactics, and many others. All of these games have different rules and we will discuss all of them in this article. So, to start off let’s take a look at what the English Cricket looks like
English Cricket Darts
So, the game of English Cricket is closely connected with the traditional game of cricket. There are 10 wickets, a bowler and batter. The bowler like the traditional game has to hit the wickets to gain an out while the batter continues to score until he gets out. This game has two rounds and all the numbers on board are in play. In the traditional game of cricket, you throw a coin to decide the bowler and batter positions. In the game of darts, however, you throw a dart to decide the positions. A player’s score can only be recorded after he manages to score 40 points for example if a player scores 50 points, he will gain 10 runs. The score below forty does not count. The bowler can gain wicket only by targeting bullseye. The center of the bullseye gets you two wickets and the outer ring gets you one wicket. Once the bowler knocks down all the wickets the positions are changed and the batter writes down his total score. The new batter than tries to gain more runs than his opponent and the one with the highest score wins the match. This game also goes by the name of arrows and stick in the western part of England.
Traditional Cricket
This game of cricket is also regarded as the original form of cricket. In this game, a 15-20 and bullseyes are in play. The numbers can also be changed to 10-20 or any other set of numbers you would like to use. You have to hit a number three times for it to be considered open or closed. A player that manages to land three hits on a number can claim it and it will remain open until the opponent hits the same number three times and manages to close it. You have to target every number in the 15-20 segment and the bullseye three times. Here is how scoring is done the double counts as two hits while the triple counts as three hits. The outer ring of the bull counts as one hit while the inner ring counts as two hits. If you land a hit on the double ring it counts as double points while the triple ring counts as triple points. The outer part of the bullseye is worth 25 points while the target is worth 50 points. The first player who manages to target all the number and scores higher or equal to his opponent wins the game. If you manage to target all numbers and your score is lower than your opponent then the game will continue until your opponent closes all number or you manage to increase your score more than your opponent.
Scram Cricket Darts
This is a slightly different version of Cricket. Scram is played with two or more players. In this game, all numbers are in play except the bullseye but you can also make use of the standard 15-20 and bullseye number segment as well. In this game, a slightly different method of closing is used instead of hitting the numbers three times you can close the number by hitting them one time. In this game, we have one “Blocker” and one “Scorer”. The blocker tries to close out as many numbers as they can quickly while the scorer tries to gain points by targeting numbers that are already open. At the end of a round the score is recorded and the positions are switched. The player with the highest score wins the game.
Tactics
This is the U.K version of the game of cricket. The gameplay is pretty similar to traditional cricket; however, slight variations still exist. In this game, the doubles and triples have separate scoring value. In addition to the triple bullseyes, you also need tripledoubles and triple trebles to win the game. You can play this game in two different modes ‘slope’ or ‘strict’. In slope mode, the doubles and trebles of all numbers count while in strict mode only the doubles and trebles of 15-20 count. The most significant thing that makes it different from the traditional game is that the double and trebles are introduced as separate scoring factors and you are given a choice to decide how they will affect your score. For example, if a player manages to claim number 20 and then lands a triple 20, they are given a choice either to add 60 points to their score or they can add it to the completion of their requirement to win the game. There are other versions of this game played in USA and Canada the rules are the same in both versions the only difference is the target numbers which could be 13-20 or 12-20 depending on the location.
North-west England
In this North-West England version, each team sends out one player to throw the darts. The one closest to the bull becomes the ‘batter’ and the other bowler. Like other games, the bowlers have to score points, however, a slight difference that comes here is that the bowlers have to throw a double, a treble and bullseye to gain wickets. The double gets you one wicket, the bullseye gets you two wickets and the treble gets you three wickets. The rest is pretty much the same once the 10 wickets are knocked out you have to change positions. The winner is the team that manages to score a lot of runs.
Twenty20 Darts Cricket
Nottingham introduced a new form of the game of cricket. It is made according to the Twenty20 format. The batting side gets 7 sets of 3 darts so, that they can score. However, in this game, you don’t get full points for the 7 sets only first two sets which are regarded as ‘power play’ gives you full points whereas the rest of the sets after rounding up the total score are worth half the total value. The bowling side gets 6 sets to knock the batter out in this game the outer ring counts for two wickets and the bullseye counts for four wickets. The most awesome rule of this game is that if you lose for wickets you have to throw a dart with your weak hand in case of six wickets you have to throw two darts and so on. This creates a lot of tension which makes this game a lot of fun.
