The Cricket Term Summary

Warning: this chapter-by-chapter summary is a "spoiler". Don't read on unless you want to know what happens when!

Chapters

Home--
Interval
--And Away
Assorted Disappointments
Postcard from Home
Letter from Home
Dolphins and Nemesis
Casualty
The Prosser
The Play
The Cricket Final
Breaking-up

Summary

Summary text copyright Chris Fox, 1999.

Chapter 1: "Home -"

Packing to go back to school, Nicola tries to persuade Lawrie to take back an extra book for her, as she wants to take The Mask of Apollo as well as Ramage. Lawrie refuses, so Nick decides to smuggle the extra one. She delivers some laundry to the farmhouse, where Karen is now living with her husband and stepchildren, and finds Karen cooking the children's lunch. Chas enthuses about his new book, a thesaurus, and Karen gives Nicola a letter from Edwin.

Chapter 2: "Interval"

The letter tells Nicola about her sixteenth-century ancestor Nicholas, who ran away from home to become an actor and then joined the Navy, sailing on the first Ark Royal. Nicola is thrilled about this, but sad that she can't rush over to Patrick, as she would have done the previous year, to tell him about it. She meets Rowan, and they talk about Lower IVA's chances of winning the cricket cup. Neither of them rate these very highly, but Rowan gives her the sensible advice to concentrate on fielding rather than batting, to ensure that they keep the opposing team's total score within their reach.

Chapter 3: "- And Away"

Back at school, Nicola delivers Daks back to Esther. While they are talking, Daks plays with and ruins Nicola's summer hat. Monica and Ginty discuss the parts they are up for in the play, and Monica says that she doesn't really want to be in it. Lawrie rushes off to look at the play list. She knows she's supposed to be acting Ariel, but hopes (in vain) that she might be auditioning for Caliban. Miranda and Nicola institute a new tradition of meeting on the roof at the beginning of term, and saying goodbye there at the end. Miranda reminisces about the seniors acting ballads for her class when she was in the junior school - in particular she remembers Jan Scott, currently her favourite sixth former, and Nicola's sister Karen.

Chapter 4: "Assorted Disappointments"

On the first day of school proper, Miss Cromwell makes Lawrie move from her seat at the back of the class to Marie Dobson's desk in the second row - Marie has been ill and won't be back for a while. Pomona moves up from Lower IVB, and Miss Cromwell warns Lawrie that she may be moved to the B form next term. The drama mistress, Miss Kempe talks to Nicola about singing Ariel's songs in the play. Nicola starts coaching the team form for the cricket cup, and is annoyed that when she signs up for practice nets or pitches, someone keeps crossing her name out. She finds out that the culprit is Lois Sanger, who tells her that most of the nets and pitches are reserved for the school teams. Tim and Nicola discuss costumes for the play. Ginty is disappointed to find that she has not got the part she auditioned for, but thrilled that Monica refuses her part so that she can keep Ginty company.

Chapter 5: "Postcard from Home"

Nicola has decided to get round the ban on using the nets and pitches by holding practice sessions before breakfast, and the team is coming on well. Miss Cromwell finds out that Nicola smuggled the Mask of Apollo back to school and as a punishment gives her a list of classics to read instead of reading books of her own choice. Much to their pleasure, Lower IVA win their first match against Upper IVB, who have been coached by Lois.

Chapter 6: "Letter from Home"

Rehearsals for the play are going well, except for Lawrie's acting of Ariel. Lower IVA's next match is against Ginty's form, Lower VA - and they win again, partly by luck, but also because they have been working so hard on their fielding. Janice, talking to Miss Craven about the match realises that he only teams Lois has coached are the ones drawn against Lower IVA. Miss Craven finds out about Lois refusing to let junior teams use the nets and pitches; annoyed, she makes her lift the embargo. Nicola receives a letter from her mother, telling her that she will have to leave school at the end of term because they can no longer afford four sets of school fees. She talks to Janice about this, and Janice suggests that she tries to win the Prosser scholarship which will be re-awarded at the end of term. This will involve Nicola working hard and improving her marks. In the upset of getting the letter, she has missed the first lesson - when she gets back to the classroom, she finds that the rest of the class took the opportunity of bunking off the lesson to look for her, and are now in the middle of a huge row.

Chapter 7: "Dolphins and Nemesis"

Ginty and Monica find themselves entered for a swimming gala against another school. Miss Kempe tries to explain the part of Ariel to Lawrie, who is still finding it difficult. Tim, Nicola, Miranda and Esther discuss the play - Miranda is understudying Ariel and would love to play the part, but can't say so. Tim says that when she's in the sixth form she'd like to produce St Joan as the school play. The next cricket match is the sixth form against Upper VB, who have created a lot of bad feeling by thrashing the Seconds when they played them. Mainly due to the onlookers' support, the Sixth win the match. Nicola is delighted by this outcome - they could never have beaten Upper VB, but have a fighting chance against the Sixth.

Chapter 8: "Casualty"

Lower IVA's next match is against Lower VB, and they just win it. Lois is trying to coach the sixth form team, but they are unenthusiastic. Ginty asks Nicola to hold her four-leafed clover locket during the swimming gala. Ginty and Monica both do well in the gala; the locket breaks and cuts Nicola's hand badly. Matron takes her to hospital to have it stitched, and makes her sleep in the San overnight. Unable to sleep, Nicola sits up reading Dombey & Son, one of the books on Miss Cromwell's list. She's not allowed to play games while it heals, but has extra study periods in the library instead. Miss Kempe finally loses her temper with Lawrie and calls in Miranda to play Ariel. Lawrie decides to tell her that she'd rather Miranda played the part. Miranda is thrilled. She realises that Nicola is worried about something, but Nicola won't tell her what it is. The form exams take place, and Nicola thinks that she has done well, but is quite certain that she won't get the Prosser, because her marks haven't been high enough the rest of the year. In particular, Meg Hopkins has beaten her most of the time.

Chapter 9: "The Prosser"

The exam results are announced. Nicola has come first by a mile, and wins the form prize, mostly because she read the instructions at the beginning of the exam papers which indicated that questions should not be answered in order. Both Miranda and Meg Hopkins, who normally beat her, have done badly. Talking about it afterwards, she hears that Meg's father will be furious, because Meg might have won the scholarship. Ann has her final Guide meeting and amazes the rest of the family by being very calm about it. Nicola goes into town to choose her prize. She selects a set of Homer, printed in Greek, because she likes the look of them. Miss Cartwright, in charge of the shopping expedition, tells her that Marie Dobson has died. When Nicola gets back to school, the rest of the class have also been told, and are writing a letter of condolence to Marie's parents. On Speech Day, Mrs Marlow, Karen and the young Dodds are late: their train has broken down, and they only get there just in time for the speeches, so Nicola still doesn't know whether or not she has won the Prosser. To her shock, it is awarded not to her but to Lawrie. The reason given is that Lawrie shows enormous promise as an actor and has demonstrated great maturity by turning down the part of Ariel because she felt that she could not do it justice.

Chapter 10: "The Play"

Nicola is relieved that she will be able to stay on at school, but upset that Lawrie has got the scholarship that she worked so hard for. She goes out for dinner with Miranda's father and watches the play with him. Rowan comes to pick up the rest of the family and also enjoys the play. Nicola and her mother talk briefly about the scholarship, and Karen tells her that she has another letter from Edwin for her which she will post tomorrow. When she gets back to the dormitory, she finds that both Lawrie and Ginty are despondent, Ginty because she missed out on a part in the play and Lawrie because she will never get a chance to play Caliban.

Chapter 11: "The Cricket Final"

The next day is the day of the cricket final and the school diving competition. Both Nicola and Lawrie do quite well; Ginty is off form and doesn't. She pretends to her friends that she dived badly deliberately to let Monica win. Lower IVA win the cricket to their unalloyed joy and Lois's fury.

Chapter 12: "Breaking-up"

Nicola gets Edwin's letter, which tells her that Nicholas saw one of Patrick's ancestors executed at Tyburn, and that Nicholas married Richard Burbage's daughter. She goes o the library to find out more about Burbage and finds Jan Scott there, who tells her about him. Jan also consoles Nicola for not having won the Prosser. Lois tries to apologise to Nicola for her behaviour over the last two years. Nicola rebuffs the apology. In furtherance of their new tradition, she goes up to the roof to say goodbye to Miranda