大象传媒

Last week Cynthia Collinson wondered whether her family was unique in playing pub cricket. Far from being rare, it seems that many Home Truths listeners had played the game...and everyone has a different set of rules!

A rather indignant Paul wrote:

"The only thing which surprises me about this story is that there are people who have never played pub cricket. I played it 50 years ago, on bus journeys with my parents who, never had a car. I assume it has existed since cricket began has or perhaps before that under some other name. You don't need motorised transport to play it."

Yvonne explains why her family had to stop playing pub cricket:

"We lived exactly opposite a pub called The Three Lions. Every journey ended in heated argument as to whether we had 'passed' the pub or not - the batsman always claimed we had!!"

But never fear...Hannah has some advice for avoiding disappointment:

"There is one particular route to avoid when playing pub cricket - Stevenage to South London via minor roads such as the A602 and around the Harlow area...My dad and I managed to clock up just 1 run to 12 wickets!!! Beware those legless pubs!!"

Cynthia asked listeners whether they know how many legs The Jolly Sailors might have...and Jill offered the benefit of her experience when dealing with this numerical problem:

"One of the rules we have is that The Cricketers counts 44 (2 teams of 11 players) but The Surrey Cricketers or The Yorkshire Cricketers only counts 22 (1 team of 11 players)."

And finally, a variation on the theme...but this listener asked Home Truths to keep their identity secret...they might lose their job!

"I sing in an English cathedral choir...In my job one has to sit through two or three sermons a week. These can be inspiring and uplifting events, but maintaining concentration through some deliveries can be quite taxing. In our choir we avoid the danger of losing concentration on the preacher's words by playing cricket!

The rules are as follows. The choir is organised into two teams. On Sunday, the team that wins the toss decides which sermon they would like to bat at, and which they would like to bowl at. The batting team takes one run every time the preacher says "I", four every time they say "me", and six every time they say "myself". A wicket falls every time the word "God" is mentioned. Every minute of the sermon counts as an over. The losing team buys a pint for each member of the winning team that evening.

To date, the highest score recorded is 79 for 3, off 21 overs!"