Summary

Game name (and type): 'French Cricket' (bat and ball game)
Alternative types: ball games, team games

Handwritten description of the bat and ball game 'French Cricket', incorrectly spelt 'Fench Cricket', written for Dr Dorothy Howard by G. Meredith, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Meredith describes 'French Cricket' as a game requiring a cricket bat, a ball and a minimum of two players. The author notes that the owner of the bat usually assumes the role of batsman and another child, the position of bowler. Meredith describes the stance adopted by the batsman, which involves two feet together with the bat held in front of the legs. The author writes that a batsman can only move their legs if they hit the ball. The role of the bowler is to hit the legs of the batsman in order to declare the player out. Alternatively, Meredith notes that a batsman can be caught out.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's games written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in pencil on lined paper. Features borders ruled in red pencil; text printed on one side only.

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