3p cricket

The so called national sports/games don't do it for me. I really can't see the point of watching or playing either of them. What I especially found annoying was the assumption in school,  both primary and secondary, that I knew what the rules were and therefore never need to be instructed in them. In fact while there were lots of things I didn't like doing at school, at least in the other subjects the teachers did attempt to teach you about them.

We were expected to be magically imbued with football and cricket and therefore we required no instruction on their rules, or practice in how to actually play them. The result was for years I was forced to play two games I hated, didn't know all the rules off and having no skill or practice in wasn't actually any good at. I'll never be an Olympic swimmer but at least in swimming lessons they did actually teach us how to swim and do different things....

This stamp celebrates a centenary of county cricket, and was issued in 1973. At that time I don't think I knew of cricket, as it wasn't something my father was interested in, so we never played it at home....! Instead I was probably starting to play with my first Lego, but probably the giant sized ones that I couldn't swallow...!

I used to live near one of the highest Cricket grounds in England, not that I ever went to watch a game there, but now and then a ball would come over the wall, and someone would ask for it back. I don't know if non players are allowed to throw the ball back into the ground or not, but I did...

Interestingly GB won the only Olympics gold medal for cricket in 1900 when the games were held in France. What I love is that the team that came second was the French team, who did well enough to nearly force a draw... Only two teams were entered, so it was a bit silly really, but the thought of France holding Olympic Silver for Cricket is particularly amusing and would have been even more funny if they had won gold!