Cricket

When we completed our walk and arrived back in Alstonefield, the yard sale was all cleared away, the Institute urns were emptied out and the village had returned to its usual state of peaceful quiet.

But, they were playing cricket!

Quintessentially English, cricket is one of those games with silly names for positions and quirky rules which can make it very confusing for the uninitiated. So, in an attempt to make things a little more clear, I am posting this helpful guide from the London Weekend Television  programme 'Mind Your Language' c1977:


Foreigners' guide to cricket
"You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.

When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.


There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game."


There! Crystal!

PS: A note for those who do not remember Mind Your Language:

The programme was a sitcom set in a school and focusing on adult students learning English as a Foreign Language. It aired from 1977 - 1979 and was directed by Stuart Allen.