Cricket has always had its dark arts | Brief letters

By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion

Wicked wickets | Regatta antics | Rock salt of ages | Spuds for dinner | Making a meal of it | Chef’s kiss Regarding your editorial on cricket fair play ( 30 July ), as an elderly cricket fan, I can remember being told as a small boy to watch a Yorkshire wicketkeeper who was known, when standing up to the bowler, to nudge the stumps with his toe when the ball was close enough to make it look like “bowled out”. But in those days, league cricket was serious business and not played for fun. Tony Brown Kingston, Ontario, Canada • May I present the Seagull outboard race scandal of 1963? At a regatta in Coverack, I was hanging over the bow to keep it down when we were overtaken by a faster boat. With a boathook, I carefully pushed his fuel tap shut; he mysteriously stopped several yards short of the finish line. Did we carry away the prize: 2/6d? My lips are sealed. Jonathan Fletcher Helston, Cornwall Continue reading...