Bat, ball and wicket
Cricket is a game of subtle skill and long traditions, and this word search gathers its essentials. You'll track down the basics — the BAT, the BOWLER, the WICKET with its STUMPS and BAILS, and the PITCH in the middle where it all happens.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the match changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode innings once the diagonals and backwards words appear.
Overs, googlies and the slips
Cricket has a wonderful vocabulary, and it's all here. Bowl a tricky GOOGLY or a fast YORKER, send down a SPINNER or a MAIDEN OVER, and field at SLIP or COVER. Score a CENTURY, hit a BOUNDARY, listen for the FIELDER's APPEAL of HOWZAT, and watch the umpire signal WIDES. The best players are an ALLROUNDER who can do it all.
A global game in many forms
Cricket grew up in England centuries ago and is now one of the world's most-watched sports, especially loved in India, Australia, Pakistan, the Caribbean and beyond. Two teams of eleven take turns batting and bowling: one side tries to score runs, the other to take wickets and bowl them out.
The same game is played at wildly different lengths. A TEST match is the original, grand version — played over up to five days. At the other end, a Twenty20 game is all fireworks and finishes in an evening. Either way, runs come in ones and twos, or in a BOUNDARY worth four (or a towering six clean over the rope).
Great for a PE topic
It pairs perfectly with a cricket or rounders lesson, and it's a fun way to decode the sport's quirky words — Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use our Make Your Own tool to build a grid from your own cricket terms.