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It IS CRICKET
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Can cricket be played with a football? Yes and with books and hands too
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Hand 'cricketers' on song
Thumb rule of hand cricket
The game is played by two individuals. A toss decides who get to `bat' first. If a `batsman' shows four fingers and the bowler shows three, the former gets four runs. But if both show the same number of fingers, then the `batsman' is out. The total number of runs are counted for all the ten wickets to determine the winner.
With the Pakistanis currently touring the country and the Sri Lankans to follow, cricket is obviously the flavour of the season. While Saurav Ganguly's men play the traditional form of the game, children in Thiruvananthapuram are seen playing many versions of cricket: book cricket, hand cricket and so on. One is a mixture of cricket and football stirred and shaken really well to get a cocktail of a game called `leg cricket.'
Modified game
"It is a modified game having cricket rules and football skills," explains Joji Varghese, physical education teacher of St. Thomas Central School (STCS). The ball for leg cricket could either be a handball, volleyball or a football. In most games, all the 11 players get a chance to `bat' within the stipulated overs," says Varghese, a product of the Laxmi Bai National College of Physical Education. Most of the dismissals are caught as the ball balloons up in the air if not kicked with caution. "This year we had inter-class and inter-house matches for fifth to eighth standard students," says Varghese.
It has proved to be very popular at the St Thomas Schools. Arnnima Joshi, a student of the school, says that she plays leg cricket not only in school but also in her colony.
Shivani, a student of Class Seven, says that she learned the game after coming to school and is planning to play leg cricket during the summer vacation. Apart from the modern version of leg cricket, a game by a similar name was played by students of Loyola School in the late Sixties and Seventies. "While waiting for the second trip bus to arrive after the examinations, we used to play leg cricket," recalls U. Gopal, a bank manager with the State Bank of Travancore. Added Gopal: "The writing boards were the `cricket bat' and we used a tennis ball. The legs, below the knee, were the `stumps.' A run is counted when after hitting a shot the batsman rotates the bat around the body once."
`Hand cricket' is another game, which is also very popular among boys in Thiruvananthapuram. Yet another version is played by Gokul Rame, a sixth standard student. It is called `book cricket.' Like all other games, both hand cricket and book cricket are addicting. They also open up new friendships. Gokul's mother Manjula, a teacher at Holy Angels Convent, said that during a function she saw her son playing hand cricket with the boy sitting next to him. Later, when she asked him if he knew the boy earlier, her son said, "No. But I know him now." Thanks to hand cricket, it is a world without strangers.
Book cricket
This can be played between two individuals or between teams. A book forms the integral part of the game. After the toss, if a player opens page number 16, then he gets six runs (the last digit is counted). If the batsman opens any page ending with the digits seven, eight, nine or zero, then the player is out. The batsman gets runs from one to six depending on the page number he has opened.
RENCHY ABRAHAM
Photo: S. Gopakumar
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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