Beach cricket

Unlike more formal and competitive versions of cricket, beach cricket is seldom publicised, but it has more active partipants than any other form of the game. Like most organised team sports, cricket has many informal ad hoc variants, which are played by people of both sexes and all ages in back yards, on the street, in parks and (of course) on the beach. The term "beach cricket" often applies, regardless of the actual location of the game.

Almost everything about beach cricket is improvised: the playing ground, the rules, the teams (quite often there are no teams, each player takes turns in batting and there is usually, but not always, no emphasis on runs), and the equipment. A bat of some kind (not necessarily a cricket bat) is the first necessary item. The bat can be anything, as long as it can hit the ball and can be suitably held in the hands. A ball (usually a tennis ball) is the other essential item. The pitch can be any stretch of ground that is reasonably flat, the wickets any convenient object - a cardboard box, a rubbish bin, or (especially on the beach) an insulated drink cooler. Often, the wicket is by no means close to the official size, but it is used anyway.

Beach cricket rules change constantly. Often they are made up on the spot. As always with informal games, it is the unspoken rules that are most important: these are usually that all participants should have a reasonable chance to play a part regardless of age, gender, or skill level, and that no-one should be injured. Typical examples of the less important but explicit rules for a particular game might include:

• "First ball rule" - you cannot be given out on the first ball you face.
• "Six and out rule" - hitting the ball over the fence (or into the water, into the big hedge, or some other area where the ball may be difficult to retrieve) counts as six runs and out. If a game is being played where runs are not scored, this rule still applies.
• "One hand, one bounce" - you can catch the batsman out even after the ball bounces if you take it with one hand. The ball can only bounce once however, hence the name "one-hand, once bounce."
• "No LB" - the more complex and subtle rules of formal cricket (like the leg before wicket rule) are often ignored. This rule is often expanded to include no-balls and most wides (unless of course, the ball is unmistakably wide). This rule came about because of the lack of umpires in this form of the game. Indeed, the bowling and popping creases are hardly ever indicated. There is simply a general consensus to deliver the ball when at a certain area.
• "Tippy-go", "Tippity", "Tip-and-run" or similar - if the batsman hits the ball he or she must run regardless of the distance or quality of the shot played.
• "Electric wicket-keeper", or "electronic wicket-keeper", "automatic wicket-keeper", or "auto-wiky" - a rule which states that if a batsman "snicks", or edges, the ball so it goes to where a wicket-keeper might have been able to catch him out, then the batsman is out, regardless of the fact that he was not physically caught out. Electric/automatic wicket-keeper is often a feature of backyard games played in house driveways and against garage doors, where it is physically impossible for any player to take the fielding position of wicket-keeper. Of course, if there is a person playing at 'keeper, the electric/automatic wicket-keeper rule does not apply; an electric/automatic slip fieldsman might be called into play instead.

Within a given game, rules are often interpreted in varying ways, or added to as the game progresses. A younger child that benefits from the "first ball rule" but goes out to the second ball also might discover that there is now, by unspoken consensus, a "second ball rule" as well, and if necessary a "third ball rule".

In some parts of the world, beach cricket (and other similar games) is one of the very few truly child-like activities that modern adults may participate in without attracting social stigma, and one of the dwindling number of adult activities that are accessible to children. The sociology of play, especially adult play, is a curiously neglected field, but a starting point is Roger Caillois' Man, Play and Games (University of Illinois Press, 2001, ISBN 025207033X.)