Kridaya Cricket Blog

No, this is not about the state of cricket in France. In our tradition of looking at different forms of cricket, we are talking about “French cricket“, a form of informal cricket (played with a soft ball) where the batsman has to defend his legs, there being no stumps to aim at. This is usually played at beaches and other places when you don’t have much equipment, or you are just having a fun time with family and friends. As Wikipedia explains

French cricket is most commonly played by children, or mixed groups of children and adults, although adults sometimes play it as a diversion during outdoor parties or on picnics.

Interestingly, it is not played by the French, and the origin of the name remains to be explained. Suggested possibilities include juxtaposition with the English origin of regular cricket. It seems likely that as the game is a lesser version on regular cricket that the name is intended to mock both the game and the French — just as a “French cut” in real cricket is a poorly executed cut shot which almost gets a batsman out. The name may also have arisen from the similarity of the batting motion to the one used in croquet which while not a French game is sometimes assumed to be French because of its name.

Considering the reason why it is played, there are no rules. You can invent your own form of French cricket. Once, my friends and I invented a form cricket on the spot for a game in one player’s backyard where we had the constraint of not breaking the windows. So the rules were

• No fours or sixers. If your ball reaches the boundary, you are out.
• You are out if you are caught directly or off the first bounce.
• You are out if you fail to block 3 consecutive balls. (hmmm… 3 strike rule: isn’t that a bit like baseball, eh? Funny, we didn’t even know the basics of baseball back then.)

Essentially, you had to play total defense and drop the ball dead. You got one point each time you blocked successfully. Yes, the bowler also had to follow some rules, especially a very strict wide policy. We didn’t even have a wicketkeeper as the batsman had his back towards a wall. So no stumps either!

Isn’t it fun to talk about games you played in your childhood? Here is David Hughes with memories of those games, one of them French cricket:

We spent most of our time outdoors when the weather was fine, most of it playing games. Naturally we played cricket , rugby and soccer whenever possible but that meant rounding up a good number of friends and having some basic equipment. Some of this we had to make ourselves, so that a rugby ball was often a tightly rolled up newspaper tied around with string; and goal posts, and quite often stumps, were our coats placed on the ground.

It was quite possible to play cricket and football in the main street at the front of the houses because very little traffic came along the road; just the odd car and from time to time the baker’s van or the horse and cart of the salt and vinegar man. French cricket was somewhat easier to play as all we needed was a bat and a soft ball. The idea was to hit the legs of the batsman not a wicket, and you could get as close as you liked, but must not move once you had retrieved the ball; even just three could play this game.

[Photo licensed from Foraggio]