A cricket set was delivered to Twiga last weekend and the boys fell on it like a swarm of locusts, despite the fact that they had never seen the game before.
The basic rules were explained ... and ignored to a large extent and a new set of rules were made up as the "game" progressed.
- Firstly, there are as many bowlers as there are balls (in this case, three). The bowler who gets the batsman out becomes the batsman.
- There are only two ways to get out, bowling or catching. If the batsman is caught out, the catcher becomes the batsman.
- Although there me be three bowlers, rarely are all three balls bowled at the same time, although this sometimes happens.
- The game ends when all three balls are lost down the pit latrine (which is out of bounds to all children) or a heavy downpour stops play.
That just about covers it. More rules will be added as necessary and when new balls have been acquired.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not) one of the best batsmen is Simon, our deaf child. His hand-eye coordination is very good and he can hit a ball as good as any of the older boys.
When the boys gave up and retreated to a game of Connect Four, the girls had a go and they weren't bad either.
So it was not exactly what you would expect to see at Lords, or even on the village green, but the kids had a lot of fun, which is all that matters.
