Cricket The Fifth Doctor called cricket " the greatest game in the universe " . ( AUDIO : " Phantasmagoria " ) Though primarily associated with Britain and her former colonies , ( AUDIO : " The Roof of the World " ) cricket became an Olympic sport by 2060 . ( AUDIO : " Nekromanteia " ) Some people thought that cricket was the key to defining the spirit of Britain , and perhaps even democracy itself . Upon making a trip to Cuba , for instance , the Brigadier thought that if that island nation " had rain and cricket to concentrate on . . . Castro wouldn ' t have had a look in . " ( PROSE : " Last of the Gaderene " ) Description . Cricket was played using a flat - faced bat and specially designed cricket ball s on a pitch — itself situated on a larger " ground " or " field " delimited by a boundary line . The offensive object of the game was for the batsmen to score as many runs as possible . The defensive object was to get the batsmen out , either by successful bowling or by running the batsmen out . ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " , TV : " Black Orchid " ) It was played at a number of levels . Nations battled in the most prestigious events , like the Ashes . ( PROSE : " Graham Dilley Saves the World " ) But inter - county or inter - village adult leagues were common throughout Britain at least . Villages like Stockbridge and counties such as the one in which Greyfrith was situated had long traditions of some form of league play . ( AUDIO : " Autumn " , PROSE : " Father Time " ) Other regular competitions were held at more of an inter - organisational level , such as between individual constabularies . ( PROSE : " The Devil Goblins from Neptune " ) Still other matches were very much one - off events , as happened at the wedding of Bernice Summerfield and Jason Kane . ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " ) Finally , there was also a strong tradition of academic competition for minors and young adults , with schools having their own league system . ( PROSE : " Human Nature " ) The Doctor and cricket . The Doctor had a long relationship with the game . The First Doctor claimed not to know the sport at all when he landed the TARDIS in the middle of Lord ' s Cricket Ground during an Australia / England match , ( TV : " Volcano " ) but in later incarnations , he seemed to know the game well . Indeed , by his second life he had already taken to carrying around a cricket ball on his person , ( PROSE : " Invasion of the Cat - People " ) something that would continue in later lives . The Third Doctor at least once lamented the fact that he had preferred motor sports over cricket . He thought that if he had regenerated into a younger body he would have quite certainly taken up the sport . ( PROSE : " Island of Death " ) The Fourth Doctor sometimes claimed knowledge of the finer points of bowling . ( TV : " The Ribos Operation " , " The Horns of Nimon " ) His sixth and seventh incarnation s were not so keen on the sport , but they still exhibited a knowledgeable appreciation of it . ( AUDIO : " The Fourth Wall " , PROSE : " Human Nature " , " Happy Endings " ) The Tenth Doctor , even when chameleon arch ed into the human John Smith , seemed to possess " muscle memory " of how to bowl exceptionally well . ( TV : " Human Nature " ) Clearly , though , it was his fifth incarnation that seemed the keenest on the game . Not only did the Fifth Doctor regularly wear an outfit that approximated cricket whites , but he took every opportunity to play it ( TV : " Black Orchid " ; AUDIO : " Autumn " ; PROSE : " Goth Opera " ) , teach his companion s its rules ( AUDIO : " Phantasmagoria " ) and attend famous matches . ( AUDIO : " The Roof of the World " , " Nekromanteia " , " The Emerald Tiger " ; PROSE : " Graham Dilley Saves the World " ) The Doctor sometimes spent long periods of time playing the game . He embedded an entire summer with the local team at Cheldon Bonniface ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " ) and at least one full season with the Stockbridge Cricket Club . ( AUDIO : " Autumn " ) He had probably also intended to spend a similarly long period playing cricket in the Eye of Orion , but Borusa ' s plan to pluck the Doctor ' s past selves from the time stream intervened . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " , PROSE : " The Eight Doctors " ) The Doctor ' s ability to play the game varied depending upon incarnation . While his fifth incarnation was evidently an excellent player who was an asset to every side he joined ( TV : " Black Orchid " , AUDIO : " Autumn " ) , his seventh incarnation once flatly claimed that he needed to learn the game because he was no longer the same man . Nevertheless , he seemed to retain a knowledge of the strategy behind the game , as he once cunningly called for a batsman on his team to deliberately throw a full toss in order to bring the match to a dramatic conclusion . ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " ) The Eleventh Doctor once confused cricket with football . ( TV : " The Lodger " ) Companions and cricket . The Doctor ' s companions were almost universally unimpressed with the game and resisted the Doctor ' s attempts at proselytisation . ( AUDIO : " Phantasmagoria " , " The Roof of the World " ) Indeed , when Roz Forrester innocently asked the Seventh Doctor the question , " What ' s cricket ? " , Bernice Summerfield immediately interjected , " I think that ' s in the top ten of the most dangerous questions in the universe , right up there with ' Excuse me , Mr Dalek , what does that stick do ? ' " ( PROSE : " Happy Endings " ) The game had rubbed off enough on Turlough that he once felt the need to explain to Tegan Jovanka what the term " hit for six " meant . Annoyed by his assumption that she was cricket - ignorant , she pointedly reminded him that she was Australia n , and therefore well versed in the game . She went on to note that Australia beat England every time the two sides met . ( COMIC : " The Forgotten " ) Nevertheless , at least one companion — Ian Chesterton — was a fan . He listed being able to take in a cricket match as one of the reasons he wanted to take a gamble with the Dalek time machine and try to return to 1960s London . ( TV : " The Planet of Decision " ) Another — Harry Sullivan — may have possessed genuine skill as a bowler , since he seemed confident in his abilities to use a cricket ball to deactivate a defensive robot on Space Station Nerva . ( TV : " The Ark in Space " ) The Fifth Doctor told Abby all about cricket . ( AUDIO : " The Fog " )