Andy turns to cricket for a change

Andy decides to balance the hat on top of his cricket helmet.

Having read the task brief, he immediately starts performing mental calculations, establishing that he knows exactly how long a furlong is (220 yards, or 10 cricket pitches). He then paces out what he believes to be the length of a cricket pitch across the lawn, before asking Alex to place some objects at either end for him, to act as stumps. Alex places an easel at one end of the garden, and a sledge at the other, and then Andy pretends to hit a cricket ball before walking from the former to the latter.

Andy continues to play his imaginary game of cricket, posing at each stump before walking back to the other, until he believes he has completed his 10 runs. However, he does lose track of how many runs he has completed at one point. Having completed what he believes to be the correct number of runs, he then walks as far as the caravan before asking Alex to stop the clock.

In the studio, Greg puts it to Andy that he’s never thinking about anything but cricket. When Andy responds to this with a cricketing analogy, Greg states that Andy has an illness. Andy responds to this by saying “But what an illness!”.

Alex reveals that Andy had ended his attempt after 8 minutes and 45 seconds, and had travelled the equivalent of almost nine runs (197 yards), so was 23 yards short of a furlong. He therefore earns 4 points.

(Written by Karl Craven and proofread by M3 / Andres Sanchez)

(Illustrations collected and adjusted by: David Fuller)