This set was introduced in the 1969/70 season and featured in a wonderful cricket range image used in the general Subbuteo brochures of the time (below).
It consisted of inverted T-shaped solid white plastic panels linked by brown joins. The corner pieces also use these joins at either end, and mirror the rounded corners of the printed pitch.
The big puzzle with this set is exactly how many pieces constitute a complete set?
The lovely illustration is clearly representative – not to scale – so not surprisingly 3 panels by 2 is far too small for the playing surface. In fact 4 x 2 (shown below) also doesn’t work. But, as you can judge from this, 4 x 3 would be far too wide.
The image above shows my set, which came with two smaller panels, making a good fit with the printed pitch. But these two panels have a slightly home-made feel to them, as if they may have been cut down from larger pieces? Possibly in production, or possibly not.
In May 2024 a Club Edition set was put on Ebay for sale including this fence (pictured below). That set also had two smaller panels, the first time I’ve seen this other than my own set.
However, Ashley Hemming found a 1969 Rugby set rule book which shows the fence set up on the oval ball pitch. The set did appear briefly in rugby price lists as well. Behind the goal posts appears to be a gap in the white fencing.
It has also been suggested that the gap was to fit a sight screen at either end, as shown below. That does leave the fence very close to the boundary ropes down the side however, with a big space from rope to fence at either end.
On balance I still think its most likely that a full set for cricket comprises of 14 panels (two smaller than the others), four corners and 18 brown posts. Having a gap in the fence in the very place the ball is most likely to go feels so illogical.
But perhaps the rugby set was different? Maybe this fencing was intended for football as well, but then found not to be suitable after all as it is very fiddly to set up.
It’s a puzzle I don’t know the answer to for certain, and if anyone does I’d be very keen to hear.
My set came in a clear plastic bag and I’ve seen pictures of this fencing in original packaging, which was a stickered bag, as per the baize pitches.
Given the evident scale issues it is perhaps not surprising that the product was withdrawn from price lists in the July of the 1970/1 season, with the new interlocking picket-style fence, joining the range the following year.
Subbuteo Cricket 