The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 2 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes, and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
General
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 2 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes, and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
In spite of Aubrey’s opinion as to the limited range of this game, it
appears to have been pretty generally played. Thus, Roberts’ _Cambrian
Antiquities_ says, “Stool-ball, resembling cricket, except that no bats
are used and that a stool was substituted for the wicket, was in my
memory also a favourite game on holydays, but it is now seldom or ever
played. It generally began on Easter Eve” (p. 123). It was also an old
Sussex game. Mr. Parish’s account is that it was “similar in many
respects to cricket, played by females. It has lately been revived in
East Sussex by the establishment of stool-ball clubs in many villages.
The elevens go long distances to play their matches; they practise
regularly and frequently, display such perfection of fielding and
wicket-keeping as would put most amateur cricketers to shame. The rules
are printed and implicitly obeyed.”—Parish’s _Dictionary of Sussex
Dialect_.
Miss Edith Mendham says of the Sussex game, it is supposed to derive its
name from being played by milkmaids when they returned from milking.
Their stools were (I think) used as wickets, and the rules were as
follows:—
1. The wickets to be boards one foot square, mounted on a stake, which,
when fixed in the ground, must be four feet nine inches from the ground.
2. The wickets to be sixteen yards apart, the bowling crease to be eight
yards from the wicket.
3. The bowler to stand with one foot behind the crease, and in bowling
must neither jerk nor throw the ball.
4. The ball to be of that kind known as “Best Tennis,” No. 3.
5. The bats to be of wood, and made the same size and shape as
battledores.
6. The striker to be out if the ball when bowled hits the wicket, or if
the ball be caught in the _hands_ of any of the opposing side, or if in
running, preparing to run, or pretending to run, the ball be thrown or
touch the wicket before the striker reaches it, and the ball in all
cases must strike the face of the wicket, and in running the striker
must at each run strike the wicket with her bat.
7. There should be eleven players on each side.
8. Overs to consist of eight balls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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