Madam, - Frank McNally's Irishman's Diary of March 29th dealt with our historical associations with cricket.
Growing up in the early 1940s in Durrow, Co Laois, also still called Queen's County by many in that period, we played cricket on the village green. Our form of the game used a hurley as a bat and either a hurling ball or tennis ball. Stumps were made from from sticks. I don't think we always bothered with the fiddly bits on top of the stumps. The bowling position was marked by a stone.
The players took turns at bowling or batting. There were no winners; the objective was for the batsman to remain as long as possible at the wicket, before being stumped by the bowler or fielders. The batsman made runs, but no scores were kept, since we had no boys in white coats.
We were unaware of the background of cricket, but some years later a local elderly countryman told me of the great times they had in the past, each landlord having a cricket team made up from his tenants and staff.
Like holy wells, the game had lingered on. - Is mise,
LIAM O'FLANAGAN, Strand Road, Dublin 4.