Preface Kanhiya Gurjar was born in a farmers family in Mathura on Janmashtami in the birth place of Lord Krishna. He had lost his father in childhood and was brought up by his mother. His mother herself encouraged him to excel in sports when she saw his interest in it. He made sports his aim in life. Later he got a service in SSB through sports quota. The spirit for service to the nation and passion of sports was in his obsession. Thorough encouragement of mother and his hardworking kept glowing up his personality. He earned a fame tremendously in sports without any re- sources and worked as a caption also of the Indian team. He accomplished many tasks in 2002 to increase sports and in 2012 gave origin to tennis cricket. Presently he is working in SGFI. The game of Tennis Cricket was being played across the world with virtually no set of rules and regulations or by bending and adapting those that are set in ICC Code of Laws for Cricket. Although most of the laws in the Code are directly and practically applicable to Tennis Cricket, not all withstand the test of time. We are happy to present this book to all those who wish to know about Tennis Cricket. Kanhiya Gurjar Founder Secretary, ITCF I T C F 2 3 INDEX S. No. Content Page 1 Introduction 6 2 What is Tennis Cricket? 6 3 Teams 7 4 Player‟s Uniform 8 5 Tennis cricket ground 8 6 Tennis cricket pitch 8 7 Score Board 11 8 Playing Equipments 12 8.1 Tennis cricket Ball 12 8.2 Tennis cricket Bat 12 8.3 Wickets 12 8.4 Necessary safety guard 13 9 Umpires 13 9.1 Umpire‟s Duties 13 10 The Scorer 18 11 Captain‟s Responsibilities 19 12 General Playing Rules 20 12.1 The innings 20 12.2 Power-Play and Field Restrictions 21 12.3 The over 22 12.3.1 No ball 23 12.3.2 Free-Hit 24 12.3.3 Out on Free-Hit 24 I T C F 3 4 S. No. Content Page 12.3.4 Runs on Free Hit 24 12.3.5 Wide ball 25 12.3.6 Dead Ball 25 12.4 Runs 26 12.4.1 One Run 26 12.4.2 Boundary (Four Runs) 26 12.4.3 Boundary (Six Runs) 27 12.4.4 Extra runs 27 a No Ball 27 b Wide Ball 27 c Bye 27 d Leg Bye 28 12.5 Dismissal of batsman 28 12.5.1 Bowled 28 12.5.2 Caught 28 a Catches on Boundary Lines 29 b Caught Behind Decision 29 12.5.3 Handled the ball 29 12.5.4 Hit wicket 30 12.5.5 Hit the ball twice 30 12.5.6 Run Out 31 12.5.7 Stumped 32 12.5.8 Batsman Retiring 33 12.5.9 Retired Hurt 33 12.5.10 Mankading 34 I T C F 4 5 S.No. Content Page 12.5.11 Time out 34 12.5.12 Leg Before Wicket (LBW) 34 12.6 Substitutes 34 12.7 Umpires Reversing their Decision 35 12.8 Innings Closed 36 12.9 Match Scoring 36 12.10 Tie Games 36 12.10.1 Super Over Format 37 12.11 Results 38 12.12 Points System for Playoff 39 12.12.1 NNR Formula 40 13 Non Playing rules 40 13.1 Player registration 40 13.2 Team Formation 41 13.3 Team Declarations 41 13.4 Match Timings and Punctuality 42 a. Players 42 b. Umpires 44 13.5. Match Forfeiture Policy 45 13.6 Rain/Washouts/Bad Weather/ Bad Light/ Unavailability of Ground 46 13.7 Conduct and Penalties 47 a. Match Penalties 47 b. Player / Team Conduct 47 14 Signals 49 15 Tennis Cricket Score Sheet 52 I T C F 5 6 1. Introduction Tennis Cricket is a variant of Cricket being played by using a Heavy Tennis Cricket Ball. It is also known as an injury free game as compared to leather Cricket. Its existence is widespread because of its low cost and is played by majority of people in the world. However, there is no definite record of its origin as to when Tennis Cricket was first started. Tennis Cricket is very popular in South-Asian cricket playing coun- tries 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 emi- grants in the United States, Australia and Canada. The first International Tennis Cricket body formed world- wide is the International Tennis Cricket Federation (ITCF). 2. What is Tennis Cricket? Tennis Cricket is a team game being Played be- tween Two teams of 11 players each in field in a rounded rectangular ground of 40 meters (Boundary) and 20 meters (inner-circle) radius from the middle stumps and a pitch measuring 18 meters in length and 3 meters in width. The game is played with a heavy Tennis Cricket Ball weighing 125 grams and a light Tennis Cricket Bat of length not more than 38 inches and width not more than 4 1/4 inch- es using safety guards such as helmet, batting and wicket keeping gloves, thigh pads and abdomin- I T C F 6 7 -al and groin guards. The matches are played in a sin- gle inning for each team. 3. Teams: The Tennis Cricket team consists of 16 players (11 in field and 5 as substitutes). The match is played be- tween two teams of 11 players each, unless otherwise agreed. Each side shall play under a captain who be- fore the toss shall nominate his team of 11 players who may not therefore be changed without the con- sent of opposing captain. Note: i. If a captain is not available at any time, a deputy must act for him among the already nominated players. ii. No match in which more than 11 players a side take part can be regarded as an official match and no side field with more than 11 players in any case. iii. Minimum Players Required in a team should not be less than 8. MPR allowed for a team should be 2 players less than the opponent team. i. e. if a team is playing with full 11 players in field, the opponent should have at least 9 players to play an official match. If a team is playing with 10 players in field the opponent team must field minimum of 8 players. I T C F 7 8 4. Player‟s Uniform: In Tennis Cricket a player should be in Jersey an low- er. Jersey should have a particular identification number in chest as well as in back side compulsorily identifi- cation number should be in two digit. Colour of the Jersey should be in accordance with the colour allotted to the district/ state/country. Comfortable sports shoes should be used while play- ing without spikes. Note: No player or umpire should be wearing slippers, sandals, or open footwear. 5. Tennis cricket ground: Tennis Cricket is played in rounded rectangular ground of 35-40 meters (Boundary) and 18-20 me- ters (inner-circle) radius from the middle stumps on each sides of the pitch for all age groups. Outer boundary should be marked in such a way with white colour or rope so that it should be clearly visible from distance. Inner circle should be marked with white colour dotted line. 6. Tennis cricket pitch: The Tennis cricket pitch is that area of the field where the batsman bats (plays) and the bowler bowls. The pitch is a rectangular area in the middle I T C F 8 9 Tennis cricket ground I T C F 9 10 Tennis cricket Pitch I T C F 10 11 of the ground, 18 meters in the length 3 meters in width. The pitch is deemed to be the area of ground between the bowling Crease 1 meter in width on ei- ther side of the line joining the centre of the wickets. Before the toss, the executive of the ground shall be responsible for the selection and preparation of the pitch: there after the umpires shall control its use and maintenance. The pitch shall not be changed during the match unless it becomes unfit for play, and then only with the consent of both captain. We can play the tennis cricket match on hard pitch, green grass pitch or mat. The over will be thrown alternatively from both ends of the pitch. Pitch Curator is responsible for making the pitch according to the standards laid by ITCF and keeping it ready and maintaining it before and during the championship. Grounds men are responsible for maintaining the ground during the championship. 7. Score board: A score board is a display board in the ground, which shows the live status of the match being played. It should be placed in the ground in such a way that it should be visible to all. It should contain the names of playing team, names of bowlers, runs scored by the individual players, wicket taken by bowlers, Total score as well as wickets fallen. Electronic/ Manual score boards should be used during the matches. I T C F 11 12 8. Playing Equipments: 8.1 Tennis cricket Ball: The ball used in Tennis cricket is just like lawn Tennis Ball. The tennis cricket ball is a made of hard rubber and circumference of 8 inches and weight of 125gm.