GB2131302A

GB2131302A - Apparatus for playing a game

Info

Publication number: GB2131302A
Application number: GB08329783A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mohammad Ayub
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-12-03
Filing date: 1983-11-08
Publication date: 1984-06-20
Also published as: GB8329783D0

Abstract

Apparatus for playing a game comprises a bat (2), a plurality of balls, and a board (12), the bat having a ball-receiving hole (10), the board having a plurality of ball-receiving holes (14), and the apparatus being such that a bowler can bowl the balls in succession to a batsman and points are awarded to the bowler in dependence upon where the balls go, i.e. in the hole in the bat, or in the holes in the board. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for playing a game of cricket This invention relates to apparatus for playing a game of cricket.

The basic outdoor game of cricket is well known.

Games exist which are based on the outdoor game of cricket.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide apparatus for playing one such game, the apparatus for playing the game of cricket being new and also being capable of being played indoors or outdoors.

Accordingly, this invention provides apparatus for playing a game of cricket, which apparatus comprises a bat, a plurality of balls, and a board, the bat having a ball-receiving hole, the board having a plurality of ball-receiving holes, and the apparatus being such that a bowler can bowl the balls in succession to a batsman and points are awarded to the bowler in dependence upon where the balls go.

As indicated above, the apparatus of the invention can be used indoors or outdoors. The game can be played in a variety of ways, for example as may be determined by rules provided with the apparatus.

Whereas in the known outdoor game of cricket, the batsman is the one to obtain the score, it will be noticed that with the apparatus of the present invention, the bowler is the one to obtain a score in dependence upon where the balls go that he or she bowls. For example, if a ball goes in the ballreceiving hole in the bat, then the bowler may be awarded more points than if the ball goes in one of the ball-receiving holes in the board. If the ball does not go in either the ball-receiving hole in the bat or one of the ball-receiving holes in the board, then the bowler may be awarded no points. If desired, the batsman.may in this case then be awarded one or more points. The batsman may also be awarded points in dependence upon how far and/or in which direction he or she can hit the ball.

The players may thus keep a score and they may take it in turns to bat and bowl. The players can be a minimum of two players, one being the batsman and the other being the bowler. More players can participate in playing the game if they wish and teams may be arranged. If teams are arranged, then they may play similar to the rules of outdoor cricket.

Thus, for example, the batsman can be caught out or given out if a ball hits his or her leg. It will obviously be appreciated that the game may be played with a variety of rules.

Preferably, the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which opens out into a ball-receiving cavity, the ball-receiving cavity being larger than the mouth so that it is not easy for a ball to bounce out of the ball-receiving cavity once it is in the ball-receiving cavity.

Preferably, the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which is inclined towards the front face of the bat.

The bat may have an elongate handle terminating in a striker disc.

Preferably, the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which is positioned on the periphery of the striker disc, and a ball-receiving cavity which is an elongate cavity which extends from the mouth along the reverse face of the striker disc.

The striker disc may have its front face covered with an impact-reducing material for reducing the impact of the ball on the striker disc. This is so that the balls may not rebound about too much when the game is being played indoors and so cause possible damage and/or nuisance. The impact-reducing material may be a soft material. The soft material may be natural rubber or a synthetic rubber. The soft material may also be a foamed plastics material, for example polyurethane.

The handle of the bat may be provided with gripping means.

In one embodiment of the invention, the gripping means may be raised protuberances. The raised protuberances may be in the shape of flying birds. In another embodiment of the invention, the gripping means may be a gripping sleeve. The gripping sleeve may be made of natural or a synthetic rubber.

The balls will usually be made of a light plastics material. The light plastics material may be cel lophane (R.T.M.) or a similar material so that the balls can be the same as tabie tennis balls.

The board will usually have support means for enabling itto be stood on a surface during the playing of a game.

The support means may be one or more legs. It is preferred that the legs are foldable for ease of storage of the apparatus. Advantageously, the board is itself foldable so that it may easily be stored.

Preferably, the board has its front face covered with an impact-reducing material for reducing the impact of the balls on the board. The impactreducing material on the board may be the same as that on the striker disc so that the impact-reducing material may be the aforementioned soft material.

The impact-reducing material on the board stops the balls rebounding too vigorously away from the board if they strike the board and do not go in the ball-receiving holes.

In one embodiment of the invention, the front face of the board is substantially flat. In another embodi mentofthe invention, the front face of the board is provided with raised squares, for example square plates, which are positioned over the ball-receiving holes and which are designed to help the bowler see the ball-receiving holes.

Usually, the board will be provided with a net on its rear face, the net being for containing the balls that have passed through the ball-receiving holes in the board. The net may be held in position by hooks.

Alternatively, the net may be held in position by Velcro (R.T.M.) material.

The apparatus of the invention may be provided with a knee pad for the batsman. This is because the game is preferably played such that the batsman plays on one knee.

The knee pad may be a cotton pad. The knee pad may be provided with a fastening strap for enabling itto be secured around the batsman's leg.

The apparatus may be provided with demarcation means from which the bowler must bowl. The demarcation means may be a strap. Similar demar cation means may be provided from which the batsman must bat.

The apparatus may further be provided with a first container for receiving balls that have passed through the ball-receiving hole in the bat. If desired, the apparatus may also be provided with a second container or receiving balls which have passed through the ball-receiving holes in the board. During the playing of a game, the balls can be put into the appropriate containers to facilitate scoring at the end of a game.

The apparatus may be provided with as many balls as may be desired, twenty balls being presently preferred. The apparatus can also be made in a variety of sizes dependent upon whether the game is to be played indoors or outdoors and dependent upon whether the game is to be played by young children, older children or adults.

The bat and the board can be made from a variety of materials. Relatively hard plastics materials such as acrylic materials are presently preferred but wood and light metals such for example as alluminium alloys, ca also be employed if desired.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a bat; Figure 2 shows a first board; and Figure 3 shows a second board.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a bat 2 which forms part of apparatus for playing a game of cricket.

The bat 2 has an elongate handle 4 which is provided with a plurality of raised protuberances in the shaped of birds 6. The birds 6 form gripping means for enabling the handle 4 to be gripped easily by a batsman.

The handle 4terminates in a circular striker disc 8.

The striker disc 8 has its front face covered with an impact-reducing material (not shown) for reducing the impact of balls on the stricker disc. The impactreducing material may be a soft material such for example as natural or a synthetic rubber or a foamed plastics material. The impact-reducing material may be in the form of a thin sheet.

The striker disc 8 is provided with a ball-receiving hole 10 for receiving a ball bowled buy a bowler. The ball-receiving hole 10 has a mouth 11 which opens out into an elongate ball-receiving cavity 13. The ball-receiving cavity 13 is of a larger size than the mouth 11 as shown so that it is not easy for the ball to bounce out of the ball-receiving cavity once it is in the ball-receiving cavity 13. The mouth 11 of the ball-receiving hole 10 is inclined towards the front face of the bat 2. The ball-receiving cavity 13 is provided on the reverse face of the striker disc 8, and it may be formed by attaching a channel shaped member to the reverse face of the-striker disc 8.

By way of example only it is mentioned that the mouth of the ball-receiving hole 10 may be 7 inches and 6 point or more in circumference. The elongate handle 4 may be 6 inches long, and the circumference ofthe striker disc 8 may be 13 inches or more.

Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a board 12. The board 12 has twelve ball-receiving holes 14.

The ball-receiving holes 14 may be 12 inches or more in circumference. The board 12 stands on a pair of legs 16. In order to keep the board 12 vertical during the playing of a game, the rear face of the board is provided with support means in the form of a folding leg (not shown). The leg folds for ease of storage of the board 12.

On the rearface ofthe board (notshown),four small hooks are provided, one in each corner 18 of the board 12. A net (not shown) can be hooked over these hooks so that the net can retain the balls that have passed through the ball-receiving holes 14. The board 12 is foldable about the line 20 so that is can easily be stored.

The front face of the board as shown in Figure 2 is provided with a thin sheet of impact-reducing material for reducing the impact of the balls on the front face of the board 12. The impact-reducing material can be the same type of soft material as that employed on the bat 2. The edges of the impactreducing material surrounding the holes 14 are shown by the dotted lines 22.

Referring now to Figure 3, similar parts as in Figure 2 have been given the same reference numerals and their construction and operation will not again be given. In Figure 3, the front face of the board 12 is provided with a plurality of raised square plates 24. The plates 24 enable the bowler to easily sight the ball-receiving holes 14.

In a game between a bowler and a batsman, or one team and other team, the bowler may bowl, for example, twenty table tennis balls to the batsman.

The bowler may bowl to the batsman from a distance indicated by demarcation means in the form of strap. Similar demarcation means may also be employed for the batsman. The demarcation means may be placed, for example, 13 feet from the board 12. If a ball goes into the ball-receiving hole in the bat 2, then the bowler may be awarded five points. Balls that have gone into the ball-receiving hole 10 may be kept separately in a small plastic box reserved for balls given five points each.

If a ball goes into one of the ball-receiving holes 14 in the board 12, then the bowler may be awarded one point for each ball. The balls may be left in the net at the back of the board 12 or they may be placed in another small plastics box reserved for balls that are given one point each. After the or each bowler has finished bowling, he or she should record the total points that he or she has gained, for example on a score pad that may be provided with the apparatus of the invention. It will be noted that in playing the game, it is the bowler who gains points, unlike normal outdoor cricket where the batsman gains points, i.e. runs.

Obviously, the game can be played with a variety of rules. For example, more or less than 20 balls can be bowled.

Usually, the players will determine the bowling and batting order by the toss of a coin. Also usually, the winner of a particular game will be the person with the highest score after all the players have bowled all the balls.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the impact-reducing material may be omitted from the face of the striker disc 8 and from the face of the boards 12. Also, the boards 12 may include more or less than the illustrated twelve ball-receiving holes 14. Advantageously the batsman is provided with a knee pad (not shown). The knee pad may be a cotton pad with a fastening strap for enabling the cotton pad to be secured to the leg of the batsman. The batsman can then kneel on one knee on the knee pad. The use of the knee pad facilitates playing of the game indoors where space is obviously limited. The ball receiving cavity 13 may take the form of a net if desired.

Advantageously, the boards 12 are 24" high and 19" wide. The legs 16 may be 2" high. Other sizes may be employed as may be desired.

The apparatus of the present invention may be manufactured and sold in a boxed form. Preferably the apparatus is sold under the name SEMI CRICKET.

Claims

1. Apparatus for playing a game of cricket, which apparatus comprises a bat, a plurality of balls, and a board, the bat having a ball-receiving hole, the board having a plurality of ball-receiving holes, and the apparatus being such that a bowler can bowl the balls in succession to a batsman and points are awarded to the bowler in dependence upon where the balls go.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which opens out into a ball-receiving cavity, the ballreceiving cavity being larger than the mouth so that it is not easy for a ball to bounce out of the ball-receiving cavity once it is in the ball-receiving cavity.

3. A game according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which is inclined towards the front face of the bat.

4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the bat has an elongate handle terminating in a striker disc.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which the ball-receiving hole in the bat has a mouth which is positioned on the periphery of the striker disc, and a ball-receiving cavity which is an elongate cavity which extends from the mouth along the reverse face of the striker disc.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5 in which the striker disc has its front face covered with an impact-reducing material for reducing the impact of the ball on the striker disc.

7. Apparatus acording to claim 6 in which the impact reducing material is natural rubger, a synthetic rubber or a foamed plastics material.

8. Apparatus according to any one of then preied ing claims in which the bat has an elongate handle which is provided with gripping means

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 in which the gripping means comprises raised protuberances.

10. Apparatus according to claim Sin which the gripping means is a gripping sleeve.

11. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the balls are made of a light plastics material.

12. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the board has support means for enabling it to be stood on a surface during the playing of a game.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 in which the support means is one or more legs.

14. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the board has its front face covered with an impact reducing material for reducing the impact ofthe balls on the board.

15. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the front face of the board is substantially flat.

16. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14 in which the front face of the board is provided with raised squares which are positioned over the ball-receiving holes and which are designed to help the bowler see the ball-receiving holes.

17. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims in which the board is provided with a net on its rear face, the net being for containing the balls that have passed through the ball-receiving holes in the board.

18. Apparatus according to claim 17 in which the net is held in position by hooks or by Velcro (R.T.M.) material.

19. Aparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and including a knee pad for the batsman.

20. Apparatus according to claim 19 in which the knee pad is provided with a fastening strap for enabling itto be secured around the batsman's leg.

21. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and including demarcation means from which the bowler must bowl and/or demarcation means from which the batsman must bat.

22. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and including a first container for receiving balls that have passed through the ballreceiving holes in the bat.

23. Apparatus according to claim 22 and including a second container for receiving balls which have passed through the ball-receiving holes in the board.

24. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and in which there are twenty balls.

25. Apparatus for playing a game of cricket, substantially as herein discribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.