Quick answer: In Google Doodle Cricket, swing when the ball is level with your bat to hit a six. Swing a little early to tap a safe 3. In our 160 timed test swings, level swings made 27 sixes from 30 balls and early swings made 3 runs on 51 of 53. You can’t be caught, only bowled, and the scoreboard stops at 999.
By Ashish Sharma · Updated November 2, 2026 · How we tested: we read the Doodle’s own game code on google.com, then ran a timing bot on it. The bot swung at fixed ball distances and logged the runs on every ball, 160 hits in all. We also checked the controls by hand and pushed one test innings past 999 to see what the scoreboard does.
In Short
- Six: swing when the ball is level with the bat. The window is about 27 ms each side at the start.
- Safe 3: swing a beat early. That window is about 120 ms wide, around four times bigger than the six window.
- Out: only bowled. You get bowled if you swing far too early, far too late, or not at all.
- 999: the scoreboard can’t show more than three digits, but your real score keeps counting.
Google Doodle Cricket is the tiny cricket game Google put on its homepage on June 1, 2017, for the ICC Champions Trophy. Crickets bat against snail bowlers, and you press one button. It is still free to play on Google’s Doodle page. Most tips online just say “time it well”. This guide gives the actual timing windows, the delivery types and the 999 rule, all checked against the game itself.
How do you play Google Doodle Cricket?
Open the Doodle, press play, then click, tap or press Space to swing as each ball arrives. You bat until you are out. There are no overs and no target.
| Action | Desktop | Phone or tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Start or replay | Click the play button the first time. After that, Space also starts and replays | Tap the play button |
| Swing the bat | Press Space, or click anywhere on the game | Tap the screen |
| Keys that do nothing | Enter, W, Up arrow (tested) | – |
| Swing cooldown | About 0.2 seconds of game time after each swing (from the code) | |
When should you swing to hit a six?
Swing when the ball is level with the bat. If you swing even slightly early or late, the shot stays on the ground. In the code, the bat’s power depends on how close the ball is to you when you swing and how fast the ball is moving. The shot only goes up in the air above a set power. Any shot that goes up clears the rope, so every one of them is a six.
In our test, swings within 0.45 game units of the batter scored 27 sixes from 30 balls. Swings from 0.5 to 2 units either side of that scored only 4 sixes from 74. At the opening speed, 0.45 units is about 27 milliseconds either side of the perfect moment. The fast delivery gives you a bit more room, about 40 ms, because a faster ball hits harder.
- Watch the ball, not the snail’s run-up.
- Swing as the ball reaches the front of your bat, not when it bounces.
- If you keep getting 1s and 4s, you are swinging a fraction late. If you keep getting 3s, you are early.
What is the easiest way to get a high score?
Swing a beat early on every ball and take the 3. An early, soft touch rolls away slowly. The crickets run three before a snail can get the ball back. In our test this happened on 51 of 53 balls, and the other two went for 2.
This works because the early 3-run window is much wider than the six window, about 120 ms at the start compared with about 54 ms in total for a six. Even if you miss it, you are usually still safe. Swinging between the 3 zone and the six zone gives 1, 2 or 4. Swinging up to about 1.5 units late gives mostly 1s and 4s. You only get bowled if you swing very early, more than about 250 ms before the ball arrives at the start, or very late.
At 3 per ball you need 333 balls to reach 999, compared with 167 balls of sixes. The steady route is slower but much safer. A good plan is to bank 3s and only go for six on a quick ball once you are well set.
What balls do the snails bowl?
There are six delivery types, and new ones appear over the first 11 balls of each innings. Two of them can never go for six. We read the delivery list from the Doodle’s code and saw types 0 to 4 in our test innings. The names in the table are ours, because the game doesn’t name them.
| Delivery (our name) | Speed (game units/s) | First possible ball | Can it go for six? | Best shot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight | 16.75-19.25 | Ball 1 | Yes | Level swing for six |
| Drifter (moves sideways after the bounce) | 17.25-19.75 | Ball 2 | Yes | Level swing for six |
| Drifter, other way | 17.25-19.75 | Ball 4 | Yes | Level swing for six |
| Fast ball | 23 | Ball 6 | Yes, and it has the widest six window (about ±40 ms) | Level swing for six |
| Slow, loopy ball | 13 | Ball 6 | No. At best it reaches 27 power, under the 30 needed to go up | Early swing for 3 |
| Steep bouncer (bounces twice) | 14 | Ball 11 | No. At best it reaches 28 power | Early swing for 3 |
From ball 11 on, each delivery is picked at random from nine slots. That gives 2 in 9 fast balls, 2 in 9 for each drifter, and 1 in 9 each for the straight ball, the slow ball and the bouncer. So about 2 balls in 9 can’t be hit for six, however good your timing is. Take the 3 on those and don’t throw your wicket away.
Does Doodle Cricket get harder as you score?
Yes, the whole game speeds up until you reach 110 runs. In the code, an innings starts at 0.9x speed and gets 0.01x faster for every run you score, up to a cap of 2.0x. Balls arrive faster, but the snails and the batters’ running speed up just as much. That means a mistimed shot gives you the same runs as before, but every timing window gets smaller in real time. By 110 runs, the six window is about ±12 ms and the 3-run window is about 55 ms.
Every 50 runs you get a fireworks celebration, and every 100 a bigger one. Each six adds a short celebration pause before the next ball. Our early-3 tests ran at speeds from 0.9x to about 1.3x. The code applies the same speed-up to everything, so the 3 should still work above that. But it gets harder to time.
What happens when you score more than 999?
The scoreboard stops at 999, but your real score keeps going. The display is three digits and is capped at 999 in the code. To test it, we set a test innings to 996 and hit a six. The board showed 999, the game’s own counter read 1,002, and after we were bowled the browser saved 1002 as the best score. The saved value is in the browser’s local storage, under the key doodle-cricket17-score. The share message after you’re out also uses the real total. That matches Reddit and Quora players who posted 1,150, 1,247 and 2,250 after the board froze.
Can you get caught out?
No. Every wicket in Doodle Cricket is bowled. In the code, when a snail reaches the ball, it fields it, ends that ball and gives you the runs you’ve already run. It never takes a catch, even from a high shot. You are only out when a ball goes past your bat and reaches the stumps. That happens if you swing too early, too late or not at all. So “aim between the fielders” tips don’t matter much here. Your timing decides everything.
Where can you play cricket games like this free on Gipcus?
For more one-button batting, these three play in your browser on Gipcus. We loaded each one on the live site before linking it:
- Cricket 2022 is the closest to the Doodle. You tap in the hitting zone, and the ball hitting your wicket ends the game.
- Street Cricket gives you a target, a set of balls and a power bar for bigger hits.
- Cricket Hero is a timing game where you must not hit the bombs and eggs.
For timing tips that carry over, see how to hit sixes in free browser cricket games, or browse our list of the best free cricket games online. If you like Google’s built-in games, we have also tested how to win Google Snake, every Google Snake mode and Minesweeper strategy. More quick picks are in our 5-minute browser games list.
FAQ
What is the highest score in Google Doodle Cricket?
There is no cap on runs, only on the display. The scoreboard stops at 999, but the game keeps counting. Our test innings reached 1,002 and the game saved 1002 as the best score. Players on Reddit have posted totals of 1,150 and 2,250.
Can you get caught out in Doodle Cricket?
No. In the Doodle’s code, a snail that reaches the ball only fields it and ends the ball. You are out only when a ball you miss reaches the stumps, so every wicket is bowled.
Does Doodle Cricket get faster?
Yes. The game runs at 0.9x speed at the start and speeds up by 0.01x for every run you score, up to 2.0x at 110 runs. From there on the speed stays the same.
Can you play Google Doodle Cricket on a phone?
Yes. Open the Doodle link in your phone browser, tap the play button to start, then tap the screen to swing.
What key do you press to bat in Doodle Cricket?
Space, or click the mouse anywhere on the game. In our test, Enter, W and the Up arrow did nothing.
Where can I play the original Google Cricket Doodle?
On Google’s own Doodle page for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy at doodles.google, or the direct game file on google.com. Both are free, with no download or sign-up.
Sources: the 2017 Cricket Doodle on doodles.google and its game file at google.com. We read the delivery list, power formula, 999 display cap, speed-up and fielding rules from that code, and checked them in 160 bot-timed test hits on November 2, 2026. Player high scores are from the r/Cricket launch thread and its July 2017 follow-up. Millisecond windows are worked out from the game’s speeds, not measured with a stopwatch.
About the author: Ashish Sharma runs Gipcus and tests every cricket, arcade and puzzle guide hands-on, from Google Snake and Minesweeper to the browser cricket games on Gipcus.
