Every Saturday during the season, at least one player in your club will do something worth remembering. A century. A five-wicket haul. A hat-trick that nobody saw coming. The question is whether you have a graphic ready for it before the player has changed out of their pads.
This post covers twelve cricket milestone graphic types, what to put on each one, what to leave out, and the mistakes that multi-sport template tools make every single time when they try to handle cricket instead of football.
What Generic Sports Tools Get Wrong About Cricket Milestones
A Canva template designed for a football club will label a five-wicket haul as a "5 star performance" or "5 goals". It will treat a century as a generic high-score badge. It will not know that in cricket, a century and a 50 not out are fundamentally different achievements reached under different pressure conditions.
The most common errors we see from clubs using off-the-shelf tools are:
- Using "goals" language for bowling achievements (a 5-wicket haul is not 5 goals)
- Omitting the match format (a T20 50 and a Saturday league 50 are very different things)
- Putting a generic trophy icon instead of a cricket-specific visual (stumps, bat, ball)
- Using the player's full name for junior milestones without checking ECB Safe Hands rules
- Posting the milestone graphic without tagging the player, losing the secondary reach
A cricket milestone graphic needs to speak cricket. The moment it looks like it was made for a different sport, it undermines the achievement it is supposed to celebrate.
How to Design a Cricket Century Graphic (100 Runs)
A cricket milestone graphic for a century is the rarest and most celebrated batting achievement in club cricket. It deserves more than a number in a circle.
The fields that must appear on every century cricket milestone graphic are: the player's name, the score (100 not out or 100, depending on whether they were dismissed), the opposition, the format and the date. That is the minimum. Everything else is decoration.
The design approach that works best for club cricket is a split layout: club crest on one side, the score on a large display typeface on the other, with the match details underneath in a mono or small-caps font. This mirrors the visual language of professional cricket scorecards without trying to replicate a broadcaster's design.
For a club using Canva, the steps are:
- Open the club's branded template at 1080 by 1080 pixels (Instagram square) or 1080 by 1350 (Instagram portrait)
- Place the score "100" in Anton or Bebas Neue at maximum size
- Add the words "RUNS" in a smaller size beneath the number
- Place the player's name and the opposition in the lower third
- Add the club crest and the match format badge
- Export as PNG at maximum quality
In our review of engagement data across Boundary Social clubs during the 2025 season, a first-XI century graphic posted within two hours of the end of play generated a median reach of 340 in a club with 900 followers [STAT NEEDS VERIFICATION: data source Boundary Social club network, September 2025 season review].
The 50 Not Out Graphic (And When It Matters More Than a Century)
A 50 not out is not as statistically impressive as a century, but the cricket milestone graphic for a 50 not out is often more contextually interesting. A batting hero who finishes at 57 not out after a collapse rescued a chase is a better story than someone who reached 50 and got out.
The 50 not out graphic should always show the full score (57 not out, not "50") and the match situation: chase, defend, or no-result. If the 50 came in a chase, say so. If it was a rescue from 14 for 4, that context belongs in the caption, not the graphic itself.
One situation where a 50 not out consistently outperforms a century in shares is when the club is promoting junior cricket. A Dynamos 25 (the Dynamos Cricket milestone for under-13 players scoring 25 runs) shared in a parents' WhatsApp group will typically outperform an adult 50 in the same club's Instagram feed, because the parents are already in the group and the milestone feels immediately relevant to their child.
The Five-Wicket Haul Graphic (5 Wickets for X Runs)
This is the bowling equivalent of a century. "Five-wicket haul" is the correct cricket phrase, not "5 wickets" and not "5 takings". It is one of the phrases most consistently mangled by non-cricket design tools.
The 5-wicket haul graphic must include the bowler's name, the number of wickets, and the runs conceded. "5 wickets for 23 runs" is the complete form. It is also cricket convention to put wickets before runs, so "5 for 23" is acceptable shorthand in the graphic itself, with the full text in the caption.
The format matters for bowling figures too. A 5-wicket haul in a T20 is a much rarer achievement than the same figures in a 40-over game, because bowlers bowl fewer overs in T20. If the format is T20 or T20 Cup, include it on the graphic.
Visual treatment: stumps being bowled is the strongest icon for a 5-wicket haul. Avoid using a generic "tackle" or "sack" icon that football tools default to.
The Hat-Trick Graphic (Three Balls, Three Wickets)
A hat-trick in cricket is three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. It is rarer in cricket than in football because a bowler in cricket cannot bowl two consecutive deliveries to the same batsman without a separation by another bowler.
The hat-trick graphic should state the bowler's name, the match date, and ideally the dismissal sequence if it is known. "Caught, bowled, bowled" is more interesting than just "3 wickets in 3 balls".
Hat-tricks are also the milestone most likely to be posted by the league's official social media accounts if your club tags them. Include "@[leagueaccount]" in the caption and your county board's account if applicable. This is free reach you do not have to earn through follower count.
Eight More Cricket Milestones Worth Posting
Not every milestone is a century or a 5-wicket haul. These eight achievements also deserve graphics, in the right context:
- 30 or 35 runs in Dynamos Cricket for under-11 players who are building towards the 50 milestone
- 2 wickets for a junior bowler in Dynamos, the entry-level bowling achievement
- A 50 partnership (two batsmen sharing a stand of 50 runs) as a pair graphic rather than an individual one
- A maiden over (a bowler concedes 0 runs from a full six-ball over) for the bowling record book
- A wicket maiden (a maiden over that includes a wicket) is rarer and worth noting
- A club debut (first game for the club, regardless of performance)
- A retirement (a long-serving player's last game, with their career summary)
- A coaching milestone (a junior player reaching Dynamos Stage 3 or All Stars graduation)
Club cricket generates hundreds of these small moments every season. Not all of them need a graphic, but the ones that do should be in your template library before the season starts.
The Five Design Rules for Any Cricket Milestone Graphic
Whether you are using Canva, Adobe Express, a Boundary Social template or a custom design, these rules apply to every cricket milestone graphic:
- One achievement, one graphic. A century graphic should not also mention the result. Save the result for the result graphic. Milestone graphics lose focus when they try to carry two messages.
- Use club colours consistently. Your follower knows your club's colours. A graphic that ignores them is a missed brand opportunity. The club crest should appear on every graphic.
- State the achievement in cricket language, not generic language. "5 wickets for 23 runs" not "5 star performance". "100 not out" not "century badge".
- Include the match date. A graphic posted a week after the match with no date looks like old news. Include the date in the graphic itself, not only in the caption.
- Match the format badge to the competition. Saturday league, T20 Cup, Junior Dynamos and ECB National Cup are all different formats. A generic "cup" badge is not enough when the specific format is available.
Free Template Pack: 12 Cricket Milestone Graphics in Your Club Colours
Boundary Social produces a pack of 12 milestone templates in your club's own colours, uploaded to Canva as a shared team folder. Each template is pre-sized for Instagram (square 1080 by 1080 and portrait 1080 by 1350) and includes:
- Century and 50 not out (batting milestone)
- Five-wicket haul and hat-trick (bowling milestone)
- Partnership milestone (for pair graphics)
- Club debut and retirement (career milestone)
- Dynamos Cricket milestones (25 and 35 runs; 2 wickets and 4 wickets)
- Coaching milestone (All Stars graduation)
- Maiden over and wicket maiden (rare bowling achievements)
Each template includes a version for adult cricket (full name used) and a Safe-Hands-compliant version for under-18 cricket (first name and age only). The Safe-Hands version is flagged in the filename so it is never used for an adult player by mistake.
To request your free template pack, use the contact form or speak to your Boundary Social account manager.
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