Stoolball is the forerunner of cricket, rounders and baseball and the rules are very similiar to those of the modern limited over cricket game. It is played throughtout the South East, with leagues predominently in Kent, Sussex & Surrey.

League games are played between two teams of 11 players, each team taking it in turn to bat or field.  A team will bat/field for between 16-20 overs, this is predetermined at the start of each game.  An "over" consists of 8 legal balls bowled underarm to a batsman standing at the "wicket". The wicket is a 1 foot square board, mounted on a post shoulder high.  When an over is finished and called by the umpire the fielding team cross over and bowling commences from the opposite wicket.

The batting team score runs by hitting singles or boundaries, in Kent we are only permitted to score 4 runs but in Sussex and Surrey 6's are also allowed. "Extras" are scored when the ball is deemed to be bowled either too high or too low by the umpire, when the batsmen run without striking the ball this is called a 'Bye" as in cricket.

A batsman can be "out" by being bowled, caught, stumped/run out or body before wicket (as per an LBW in cricket).

Once the first innings has been batted the teams change over and the second batting team then strive to beat the score posted by the first team.