Village Cricket Match

In A Village Cricket Match A.G. Macdonell has used humour as the main ingredient of the story. Substantiate your answer with instances from the text.
Ans: The story ‘A Village Cricket Match’ by A.G. Macdonell is replete with humour and this is very subtle. In fact, the humour is clothed in the garb of seriousness but in spite of that, the reader appreciates it and cannot help but smile while going through the lines. The first instance of humour is found in the incident of the negotiations between the two captains. Mr. Hodge, captain of the visiting team, had completed his rather tricky negotiations with the Fordenden captain, as two of his players had failed to show up. Just as the decision was made to begin the match with eleven men on each side, the defaulters arrived with an extra man. Discussions ensued and it was decided that the match would have twelve men on each side. This episode is a satire directed at the manipulation of the rules which were rearranged as per convenience. Mr. Hodge won the toss, not normally, but by his own system based on ‘the differential calculus and the Copernican theory.’ Also, the ground behind the wicket was level for a few yards and then sloped away rather abruptly. As a result, the bowler could not be seen by any player on the field during his run up. Thus, the blacksmith, the fast bowler, charged like ‘Vulcan and Venus Anadyomene’ and he became visible only at the last moment. The first ball landed near the long-leg and went into the hedge and four byes were signalled by the umpire. The gaffers shook their heads, called for more pints of beer and agreed that they had not seen four byes for a long time. The second ball hit the wicket-keeper’s stomach and he had to retire. Then a ball hit the left ear of a batsman and he also had to retire hurt. Another batsman hit his own wicket and was out. There was a Cambridge Blue who played a disgusting stroke and was stumped. People wondered how he could do that and then they