Cricket poetry

Below are some examples of cricket poems written by children between the ages of 7 - 11. Read these poems and get some ideas for your own cricket poems.

And I was there!
I played Kwik Cricket at a Test Match
The excitement was in the air.
Bell hit the ball in to outer space,
And I was there! / The Bowler
With the three fingered grip
I’m ready to roll
With ball in my hand
I’m going to bowl
I start my long run up
Keeping it steady
I’m near to the wickets
And almost ready
I pitch the ball a slight to the right
It curls to the wickets
At just the right height
The batter looks worried
He knows he can’t hit it
It misses the bat
And smashes the wicket
OUT!
The Bat’s story
I see the light
He grips me tight
I imagine smiles and sneers
But lie before me, happiness and tears
He’s standing beside the stumps
I’m beginning to get goose bumps
Will he hit it?
Or will he hit the wicket?
He lifts me higher
His grip gets tighter
In a second I blink
And I begin to sink
The lads pull up
On the coach the lads anticipate,
Finally it comes, the day, the date.
The coach pulls up,
Past the people with the ticket,
Now we’re ready to play some cricket.
Me, the captain has chosen to bat
Now what do the bowlers say to that?
In they charge with the ball in grip,
Now I’m ready to let it rip!
I hit the ball over the stands,
Now the crowd start to clap their hands!

Cricket poetry

Below is another cricket poem, but this time written by John Agard. Read this aloud and think about where it is set!

Calypso Poem
Cricket lovely cricket
On a beach where I played it
With those little pals of mine
Under the tropical sunshine
The palm trees waving at me
And all the sea for my boundary.
Cricket lovely cricket
On a beach where I played it
Here is where many greats begin
To learn the art of bounce and spin
And every time you hook a four
Hear the seagulls cheering for more.
Cricket lovely cricket
On a beach where I played it
Brown sand was our village green
The trade winds spectating the scene
I bet even Lord’s cricket ground
Don’t have palm trees all around.
John Agard

Cricket statistics

Below is a list of statistics from cricket for you to use when writing number poems about cricket.

TEST MATCH STATISTICS:

Most runs scored by an individual player in a career:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s
Sachin Tendulkar / Ind / 156 / 256 / 27 / 12429 / 54.28 / 248* / 41 / 51
Brian Lara / WI / 131 / 232 / 6 / 11953 / 52.89 / 400* / 34 / 48
Allan Border / Aus / 156 / 265 / 44 / 11174 / 50.56 / 205 / 27 / 63
Steve Waugh / Aus / 168 / 260 / 46 / 10927 / 51.06 / 200 / 32 / 50
Ricky Ponting / Aus / 128 / 214 / 26 / 10697 / 56.9 / 257 / 37 / 43

Highest score by an individual player in one game:

Player Name / Team / Opposition / Venue / Runs
Brian Lara / West Indies / England / St John's / 400*
Matthew Hayden / Australia / Zimbabwe / Perth / 380
Brian Lara / West Indies / England / St John's / 375
Mahela Jayawardene / Sri Lanka / South Africa / Colombo (SSC) / 374
Garry Sobers / West Indies / Pakistan / Kingston / 365

Fastest 50 scored by an individual player:

Player Name / Team / Opposition / Venue / Runs / Balls
Jacques Kallis / South Africa / Zimbabwe / Cape Town / 54 / 24
Shahid Afridi / Pakistan / India / Bangalore / 58 / 26
Mohammad Ashraful / Bangaldesh / India / Mirpur / 67 / 26
Foffie Williams / West Indies / England / Bridgetown / 72 / 28
Bruce Yardley / Australia / West Indies / Bridgetown / 74 / 29

Fastest 100 scored by an individual player:

Player Name / Team / Opposition / Venue / Runs / Balls
Viv Richards / West Indies / England / St John's / 110 / 56
Adam Gilchrist / Australia / England / Perth / 102 / 57
Jack Gregory / Australia / South Africa / Johannesburg / 119 / 67
Shivnarine Chanderpaul / West Indies / Australia / Georgetown / 100 / 69
Roy Fredericks / West Indies / Australia / Perth / 169 / 71

Cricket statistics

Below is a list of statistics from cricket for you to use when writing number poems about cricket.

TEST MATCH STATISTICS:

Most fifties scored per person in a career:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Allan Border / Aus / 156 / 265 / 44 / 11174 / 50.56 / 205 / 27 / 63 / 11
Rahul Dravid / Ind / 131 / 227 / 26 / 10509 / 52.28 / 270 / 26 / 53 / 8
Sachin Tendulkar / Ind / 156 / 256 / 27 / 12429 / 54.28 / 248* / 41 / 51 / 14
Steve Waugh / Aus / 168 / 260 / 46 / 10927 / 51.06 / 200 / 32 / 50 / 22
Jacques Kallis / SA / 128 / 215 / 33 / 9984 / 54.86 / 189* / 30 / 50 / 10

Most hundreds scored per person in a career:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Sachin Tendulkar / Ind / 156 / 256 / 27 / 12429 / 54.28 / 248* / 41 / 51 / 14
Ricky Ponting / Aus / 128 / 214 / 26 / 10697 / 56.9 / 257 / 37 / 43 / 10
Brian Lara / WI / 131 / 232 / 6 / 11953 / 52.89 / 400* / 34 / 48 / 17
Sunil Gavaskar / Ind / 125 / 214 / 16 / 10122 / 51.12 / 236* / 34 / 45 / 12
Steve Waugh / Aus / 168 / 260 / 46 / 10927 / 51.06 / 200 / 32 / 50 / 22

Most runs in an innings by one team:

Team / Score / Overs / RR / Inns / Opposition / Ground / Match Date
Sri Lanka / 952/6d / 271.0 / 3.51 / 2 / v India / Colombo (RPS) / 2 Aug 1997
England / 903/7d / 335.2 / 2.69 / 1 / v Australia / The Oval / 20 Aug 1938
England / 849 / 258.2 / 3.28 / 1 / v West Indies / Kingston / 3 Apr 1930
West Indies / 790/3d / 208.1 / 3.79 / 2 / v Pakistan / Kingston / 26 Feb 1958
Australia / 758/8d / 245.4 / 3.08 / 2 / v West Indies / Kingston / 11 Jun 1955

Lowest runs in an innings by one team:

Team / Score / Overs / RR / Inns / Opposition / Ground / Match Date
New Zealand / 26 / 27.0 / 0.96 / 3 / v England / Auckland / 25 Mar 1955
South Africa / 30 / 18.4x5 / 1.91 / 4 / v England / Port Elizabeth / 13 Feb 1896
South Africa / 30 / 12.3 / 2.40 / 2 / v England / Birmingham / 14 Jun 1924
South Africa / 35 / 22.4x5 / 1.84 / 4 / v England / Cape Town / 1 Apr 1899
South Africa / 36 / 23.2 / 1.54 / 1 / v Australia / Melbourne / 12 Feb 1932

Cricket statistics

Below is a list of statistics from cricket for you to use when writing number poems about cricket.

T20 INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS:

Most runs scored by an individual player in a career:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Misbah-ul-Haq / Pak / 14 / 13 / 6 / 398 / 56.86 / 87* / 0 / 3 / 0
Brendon McCullum / NZ / 18 / 18 / 2 / 396 / 24.75 / 59 / 0 / 1 / 0
Shoaib Malik / Pak / 16 / 15 / 3 / 383 / 31.92 / 57 / 0 / 2 / 0
Graeme Smith / SA / 12 / 12 / 2 / 364 / 36.4 / 89* / 0 / 3 / 0
Kevin Pietersen / Eng / 14 / 14 / 1 / 363 / 27.92 / 79 / 0 / 1 / 1

Highest average runs scored per game in a career:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Rohit Sharma / Ind / 6 / 4 / 3 / 96 / 96 / 50* / 0 / 1 / 0
Misbah-ul-Haq / Pak / 14 / 13 / 6 / 398 / 56.86 / 87* / 0 / 3 / 0
Andrew Symonds / Aus / 13 / 10 / 4 / 337 / 56.17 / 85* / 0 / 2 / 1
Brendan Taylor / Zim / 3 / 3 / 1 / 112 / 56 / 60* / 0 / 1 / 0
Marcus Trescothick / Eng / 3 / 3 / 0 / 166 / 55.33 / 72 / 0 / 2 / 0

Fastest 50 scored by an individual player:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Gautam Gambhir / Ind / 9 / 8 / 0 / 299 / 37.38 / 75 / 0 / 4 / 1
Matthew Hayden / Aus / 9 / 9 / 3 / 308 / 51.33 / 73* / 0 / 4 / 0
Sanath Jayasuriya / SL / 10 / 10 / 1 / 308 / 34.22 / 88 / 0 / 3 / 2
Graeme Smith / SA / 12 / 12 / 2 / 364 / 36.4 / 89* / 0 / 3 / 0
Misbah-ul-Haq / Pak / 14 / 13 / 6 / 398 / 56.86 / 87* / 0 / 3 / 0

Fastest 100 scored by an individual player:

Player Name / Team / Mat / Inns / No / Runs / Ave / HS / 100s / 50s / 0s
Chris Gayle / WI / 7 / 7 / 0 / 261 / 37.29 / 117 / 1 / 2 / 1

Cricket statistics

Below is a list of statistics from cricket for you to use when writing number poems about cricket.

T20 INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS:

Highest team total in a match:

Team / Score / Overs / RR / Inns / Opposition / Ground / Match Date
Sri Lanka / 260/6 / 20.0 / 13.00 / 1 / v Kenya / Johannesburg / 14 Sep 2007
Australia / 221/5 / 20.0 / 11.05 / 1 / v England / Sydney / 9 Jan 2007
India / 218/4 / 20.0 / 10.90 / 1 / v England / Durban / 19 Sep 2007
Australia / 214/5 / 20.0 / 10.70 / 1 / v New Zealand / Auckland / 17 Feb 2005
Australia / 209/3 / 20.0 / 10.45 / 1 / v South Africa / Brisbane / 9 Jan 2006

Lowest team total in a match:

Team / Score / Overs / RR / Inns / Opposition / Ground / Match Date
Kenya / 67 / 17.2 / 3.86 / 1 / v Ireland / Belfast / 4 Aug 2008
Bermuda / 70 / 20.0 / 3.50 / 1 / v Canada / Belfast / 5 Aug 2008
Kenya / 73 / 16.5 / 4.33 / 1 / v New Zealand / Durban / 12 Sep 2007
India / 74 / 17.3 / 4.22 / 1 / v Australia / Melbourne / 1 Feb 2008
Canada / 75 / 19.2 / 3.87 / 2 / v Zimbabwe / King City (NW) / 13 Oct 2008

Most runs from 4s and 6s in a match:

Team / Score / 4s / 6s / Runs / Inns / Result / Opposition / Ground / Match Date
Sri Lanka / 260/6 / 30 / 11 / 186 / 1 / won / v Kenya / Johannesburg / 14 Sep 2007
Australia / 221/5 / 14 / 14 / 140 / 1 / won / v England / Sydney / 9 Jan 2007
Australia / 214/5 / 15 / 12 / 132 / 1 / won / v New Zealand / Auckland / 17 Feb 2005
South Africa / 208/2 / 24 / 6 / 132 / 2 / won / v West Indies / Johannesburg / 11 Sep 2007
England / 193/8 / 18 / 10 / 132 / 1 / won / v New Zealand / Christchurch / 7 Feb 2008

Most runs off one over in match:

Runs / Batsmen / Bowler / Match / Venue / Date
36 / Yuraj Singh (666666) / SCJ Broad / England v India / Durban / 19/09/2007
30 / RT Ponting (626646) / DR Tuffey / Australia v New Zealand / Auckland / 17/02/2005
29 / J Mubarak (666461) / LN Onyango / Sri Lanka v Kenya / Johannesburg / 14/09/2007
25 / ST Jayasuriya (6nb44410)
DPMD Jayawardene (w3) / SO Tikolo / Sri Lanka v Kenya / Johannesburg / 14/09/2007
25 / JDP Oram (661)
CD McMillan (642) / Yuvraj Singh / India v New Zealand / Johannesburg / 16/09/200

Important cricket numbers

Below is a list of some of the important and more well know numbers used in the game of cricket. These will help to write the cricket number poems as well as using the information from ‘Cricket statistics’.

1
2 / Umpires used on the pitch for a game of cricket
3 / Wickets in three balls to get a hat-trick
4 / Runs when the ball rolls over the boundary
5 / Days to play a game of test match cricket
6 / Balls in one over
6 / Runs when the ball is hit over the boundary without bouncing
10 / Wickets to take to get a team all out
11 / Players in a cricket team
20 / Over per innings in a game of T20 cricket
50 / Overs per innings in a game one day cricket
50 / Runs by a batsmen to score a half century
100 / Runs by a batsman to score a century
119m / Longest six hit in the T20 World cup 2007
196 / Highest one day international individual score
400 / Highest test match individual cricket school