We keep score in sport with the aim to outscore the opposition. Football has goals, rugby has points and cricket has runs and wickets.
In games these are the scoring systems we use, but in training we can adjust the points to help us better reach our goals.
It’s something I’ve noticed coaches do naturally when they want to direct focus in a game situation. Rugby coaches I work with five extra points from scoring a try on the wing, for example.
Regardless of your underpinning opinions about how to coach, such points have a role to play. In my world of ecological dynamics, we call it “constraining to afford” which is a fancy way of saying you’re using points to direct players attention to help them come up with a solution they can use in the real game.
In cricket, modified points are a powerful constraint because you can use them in a middle practice that looks like a game: You set a challenge and allow players to explore solutions to the problem.
Types of points
In my experience there are a few systems that work in cricket:
Penalties. A “stick” system to discourage certain play, like -5 runs for a wicket. You can also give the opposition runs instead.
Bonus runs. “Carrots” to encourage play. For example double runs for a straight hit.
Bowling runs. Bowlers (and fielders) carrot runs for their team. For example, bowling a maiden gets 5 runs for your team.
Points competitions. Batsmen and bowlers have different points and the first to reach the set score wins (like 21s).
Nominated points. Bowlers or batsmen can nominate certain balls to get extra points if the succeed or lose points if they fail.
Points as constraints
There are lots of examples of games modified by points constraints. And, in fact, using points is so easy you can create your own with little effort.
To get you going, here's one called FIT cricket with an intention to develop running between the wickets.
Here are some other examples I have used.
creating a chain of scoring shots (or dots as a bowler)
hitting length as a bowler
direct hit run outs
wides and no balls
ball hit in certain area (often straight hit)
ball hit in "banned" area
ball hit on ground
diving stop
wickets
boundary first or last ball over over
close catch
play and miss
edged
retaining wickets for a set time
Pick ones that best fit your intention for the session and get playing.