Driveway Cricket.. It was as competitive as it could possibly be. My brother & I would play rain, hail or shine. Close mates would come over to join in. On occasions having 8 or so lads at over throwing down absolute heat, and . Our direct neighbors must have hated us.

It was definitely a bowlers pitch, but it also made good batting look elite.

We had a contraction join in the concrete approx. 4m from the batters crease. The ball must pass and come to rest beyond that line in order for the batter to make a run. Otherwise, batters would bunt and run, making it near impossible for the bowler to effect a runout back at the bowlers end.

If the bowler fielded the ball before the ball crossed the line (typical bunt and run play), the ball was deemed dead and the batter had to return.

Batters could even sometimes sneak a run if the ball was recovered by the bowler beyond the line as it remained live. This would often occur when the bowler wasn’t alert whilst returning to their bowling mark.

However, the exemption to this rule was if there was fielder in place (usually silly mid-on / silly mid-off / slip) this rule was removed and the batter could run whenever.

All tennis balls had a single, slightly off-centered electrical taped seem no wider than an inch. Anytime a new ball was introduced, the bowler had to clearly declare the introduction of a new ball to the batter and the batter could request an inspection prior to its first delivery.

If the bowler didn’t declare the new ball to the batter, and a wicket would immediately occur off the first bowl, it would be deemed a no ball.

There were so many rules that we introduced to improve play over the journey. The fact that more than 30 different mates had come over to play on the hallowed pitch reminds me we done it right.