Crocker (sport)

Crocker (sometimes spelled Croccer) is a team sport played between two large teams. Its origins are in cricket and baseball. It also makes the use of a soccer ball which may explain its name. It is a casual sport not played formally, but often found on British summer camps.

Crocker is played between two teams of undefined size, typically between 10 and 50 per side. The teams are not necessarily exactly even, though they are usually of similar size. Alternatively, a lack of skill on the side of one team may be made up for by a numerical advantage (for example in the case of many children playing against fewer adults).

Crocker fields vary, but will often take advantage of whatever space is available. Often taking place on large, flat, grassy school fields, a crocker pitch may not have defined outer limits.

A generally agreed setup will involve a semicircular bowling and batting area usually marked out with cones. The batsman stands in the middle of the flat edge of the semicircle while the bowler stands opposite him on the curved edge. A wicket is set up behind the batsman, as in cricket, usually made of four cricket stumps set up to make a wider version of real cricket stumps or in another variation of the game a chair may be used as the wicket.

Behind the stumps stands a fielding player, or sometimes two; this position is usually called the wicket-keeper. At either corner of the semicircle are two more stumps set up, between which the batsmen may run.

The rest of the fielding team stand anywhere in front of the batsman and outside the semicircle. The fielding team are not allowed inside the semicircle while the ball is being bowled, and at any time typically only six players are allowed on the edge of the semicircle. The rest of the fielding team tends to spread out to field and catch shots played by the batsman.

In the general case, apart from the batsman, none of the batting team is allowed on the field of play. Instead, they line up several meteres behind the batsman to watch and prepare to bat. However some variations on the rules make use of the 'disrupting rule', whereby 5 members of the batting team are allowed to enter the field of play and disrupt the fielders as they try to recover the ball. The disrupters have to follow three clear rules. First, they must not touch the ball with their hands (unless they are inside the bowling/batting area and are permitted to use their hands to remove the ball from the semicircle.) Secondly there must be no physical contact between a disrupter and any member of the fielding team. And thirdly the disrupters may not interfere with the ball when it is on its way back to the bowler.

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