Backyard cricket

First slip or leg slip? are you a righty or a lefty? Backyard cricket and BBQs it’s a summer thing. Chances are most kids have played the game in one form or another during their lives. The great thing was you really didn’t need much in the way of gear. A bat, ball and box for wickets, minimum of 2 people and the game could expand or contract depending on the temperature and the age of the players.

Here’s a few well known rules to get any game started.

Rule 1. The pitch shall be any strip around two-thirds the length of the family yard. We lived in a cul de sac, Mountain View Terrace, Otaki. Our cricket pitch was on the road. Mum and dad still lived there but the cricket pitch has been retired.

Rule 2. The stumps are a standard rubbish bin,

Rule 3. The bat, any swingable length of wood. I carved mine out of a piece of macrocarpa.

Rule 4. The official ball is a tennis ball.

Rule 5. The dog is on no ones side but his/her own.

Rule 6. The batsman may be caught first bounce where the catch is taken one-handed. rule also applies to rebounds off roofs, garden sheds.

Rule 7. Should the ball be hit on the full over the neighbour’s fence the six and out rule applies.

Rule 8. no lbw EVER.

Rule 9. Who wins? How can you win a game that never ends.

First Slip , oil on Linen 125 cm x 95cm cm

Available as a Fine Art Limited Edition Print