| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
STOOL-BALL |
219 |
||
|
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.
Miss F. Hagden, in her short History of Alfriston, Sussex, says, '" In the Jubilee year the game of stool-ball was revived and played in the Tye field. The rules resemble those of cricket, but the wickets are square boards on posts; the bowler stands in the centre of the pitch, the bats used are round boards with a handle. The game in Alfriston seems now to |
|||