How to Organise a Gully Cricket Tournament (Step by Step)

To organise a gully cricket tournament, lock in the teams and a ground first, agree a simple budget, pick a format that fits the days you have, and write a one-page rules sheet before anyone bowls a ball. Then sort out umpires and scorers, publish the fixtures, and run match day to a timetable. Everything else is detail.

Step 1: Decide the size and get the teams

Start with how many teams you can realistically handle. For a first tournament, 6 to 8 teams is the sweet spot: enough for a proper competition, few enough to finish in a weekend or two.

• Ask each team for a captain and one phone number. The captain is your single point of contact.
• Fix the squad size early. For 8-over tennis-ball cricket, 11 players with 2–3 substitutes works well; for box cricket, 6–8 a side.
• Set a deadline for squad lists. Late additions are the number one source of match-day arguments.

If players are new to each other, consider an auction to build balanced teams. Our guide on how to run a cricket player auction covers that night end to end.

Step 2: Book the ground

The ground decides almost everything else: how many overs, how many matches a day, and whether you need a hard or tennis ball.

• Maidan or school ground: book it in writing, confirm the time slots, and ask about toilets, shade and parking.
• Box cricket turf: usually booked per hour, so your fixtures must fit the slots exactly.
• Society compound or gully: check with the committee and neighbours first, and agree a "windows rule" before the first big hit.

A rough guide: on one ground in a day of about eight hours, you can fit six 6-over matches or four to five 8-over matches with sensible breaks.

Step 3: Make a simple budget

Keep the budget on one page and share it with every captain. A typical 8-team, one-weekend tennis-ball tournament might look like this:

Most gully tournaments split these costs equally between teams. If a local shop or a company wants to put up the trophies in return for a banner, see our guide to cricket tournament sponsorship.

Step 4: Choose a format

The format should come from your calendar, not the other way round. With 6 teams, a single round robin is 15 matches; with 8 teams it is 28. If you only have one ground and one day, that is too many, and groups plus knockouts is the answer.

We compare every option, with match counts and days needed, in cricket tournament formats explained. The short version:

• Round robin: fairest, most matches.
• Knockout: quickest, but half the teams play once.
• Groups + knockouts: the best balance for most gully tournaments.

Step 5: Write the rules sheet

One page, shared before the first match, signed off by every captain. Cover at least:

1. Overs per innings and the maximum overs per bowler.
2. Players a side and how substitutes work.
3. Ball type and who supplies new balls.
4. Wides and no-balls: how many runs, and whether a no-ball means a free hit. See wides and no-balls local rules.
5. Local rules: one tip one hand, last man stands, retire at a set score, roof or wall hits.
6. Points: for example 2 for a win, 1 for a tie or no result, 0 for a loss.
7. Tie-breakers: wins, then net run rate, then head-to-head.
8. Late-arrival rule: for example, overs deducted after 15 minutes, walkover after 30.

Tip: Put the rules sheet in the team group chat as an image, not a long message. People actually read a picture.

Step 6: Line up umpires and scorers

Neutral umpires save friendships. The easiest system is that the team not playing in the next match supplies two umpires and a scorer. Share the rota in advance.

The scorer matters more than people think, because the scorebook decides the points table and the net run rate. A phone scorer is far easier than paper for a casual volunteer. If you need a refresher, read how to score a cricket match.

Step 7: Publish the fixtures

Fixtures should list the date, time, ground, both teams and the umpiring team. Aim for at least a 15-minute gap between matches, and avoid giving any team back-to-back games unless the format forces it.

Doing this by hand on a spreadsheet works for six teams; beyond that it gets fiddly fast. In MyGully11 you create the tournament, invite the teams, add logos, and auto-scheduling lays out the fixtures, which then go straight into everyone's calendar. Our cricket fixture generator page shows how that works.

Step 8: Run match day

Match day is where good planning pays off. Arrive an hour early and work through this list:

• Mark the boundary and the crease, and set the stumps.
• Set up the scorer's table with shade, water, spare balls and a phone charger.
• Do the toss on time. If a team is late, apply the rule you wrote in Step 5, without exceptions.
• Send an availability check the night before so captains know who is turning up.
• Keep a first-aid kit and ice packs handy.

With live scoring, everyone who could not come can follow from home in the match centre, and the points table updates itself after the last ball. Signal at the ground is often bad; a scorer that records offline and syncs later avoids lost innings.

Step 9: Trophies and prizes

Gully tournaments run on bragging rights, so make the presentation feel special:

• Winner and runner-up trophies.
• Player of the Tournament, best batter, best bowler and best fielder.
• A Player of the Match medal or certificate after every game.

Decide individual awards from the numbers rather than by shouting, and nobody can complain. Participation certificates are a lovely touch, especially for school and office events; our cricket tournament certificate page explains how to give every player one.

Step 10: Wrap up properly

The tournament is not finished when the final ends. Within a day or two:

• Share the final points table, top scorers and the photo gallery in the group.
• Settle the accounts and show the budget sheet to every captain.
• Thank the ground owner and any sponsor, ideally with a short report.
• Ask captains what to change next time, and write it down while it is fresh.

Do this well and next season's teams will sign up before you even announce it. For a tool that handles fixtures, scoring, the points table and the free fantasy league for your players in one place, see our cricket tournament organizer app.

Frequently asked questions