Centre-wicket scenarios

Setup

1. Use a match pitch or a strip mown in the middle, with a junior-length pitch if your association's format asks for one.
2. One batting pair, a bowler, a keeper and up to nine fielders. Everyone else waits padded up or ready to rotate in.
3. Write scenarios on cards, e.g. 'Need 14 off 12 balls, 3 wickets left' or 'Defend 9 off the last over'. The fielding captain sees the card too.
4. Batters and keepers up to the stumps wear helmets with faceguards if you use a hard ball.

How it runs

1. Read out the scenario. The fielding captain sets the field with the bowler; the batters agree a plan in the middle before the first ball.
2. Play the scenario ball by ball with normal Laws: run outs, LBW, wides and no-balls all count. Keep the score aloud after every ball.
3. Stop when the target is reached, the balls run out or the wickets fall. Take two minutes: batting pair, then captain and bowler, explain one decision that worked and one they would change.
4. Rotate roles so every player bats, bowls a spell within your association's workload guidelines and captains at least once.
5. Follow your competition's playing conditions for fielding restrictions, e.g. how many fielders may stand outside the inner ring.

Coaching points

• Batters: know the required rate and which bowler or end to target before the over starts.
• Talk between balls. A quick glove touch and one sentence keeps the pair on the same plan.
• Captains: set the field for the bowler's stock ball and protect the boundary that matters most in this scenario.
• Fielders: walk in with the bowler and expect every ball to come to you.
• Respect the game situation, not the scoreboard pressure: a single to rotate the strike is often worth more than a risky big shot.

Common mistakes

• Batters chasing boundaries every ball and getting out when singles would do.
• Captain changing the field after every run and confusing the bowler.
• Losing track of balls left; nominate a scorer who calls it each ball.
• Running without a clear call and being run out short of the crease.