Free Standing Cricket Wicket with Flexible or Detachable Stumps

Abstract

A free standing cricket wicket deployable without penetrating a playing surface is described. In a preferred embodiment, the wicket has three stumps that mimic the behavior of traditional cricket stumps. The stumps are movably joined to a support-mount so that when a ball strikes a stump with sufficient velocity, the stump moves sufficiently to dislodge a bail. A sufficient velocity is one greater than 10% of the maximum velocity typically achieved in a game. The mechanism may also be a detachable mechanism, configured so a ball travelling with sufficient velocity strikes a stump, the stump separates from the mount. A sufficient velocity for this may be a velocity equal to half the maximum velocity attained in an average game. The mechanisms may include a ball-and-socket element and/or rare-earth magnets.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A free-standing cricket wicket, deployable in an upright orientation without penetrating a playing surface upon which it is deployed, comprising:
 at least one flexible stump, said flexible stump being uniformly cylindrical and having a height that is at least 5 times its diameter;   a supporting mount;   a flexible mechanism flexibly joining a lower end of said flexible stump to an upper portion of said supporting mount; and   wherein said supporting mount comprises at least one lower support element, and wherein said supporting mount has a width, length, shape and weight sufficient to support said stump in a vertical orientation when said supporting mount is placed such that said lower support elements rest on a substantially horizontal playing surface.   
     
     
         2 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 1  wherein said flexible mechanism is self-righting. 
     
     
         3 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 2  wherein said self-righting flexible mechanism comprises:
 a rare-earth magnet embedded within a stump-base in proximity to a concave lower surface of said stump-base; and 
 a stump-holding Ferro-metal post having a convex shaped rounded-top shaped to substantially be a complementary fit to said concave lower surface of said stump-base. 
 
     
     
         4 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 3  wherein said rare-earth magnet is of a strength such that when one of said flexible stumps is struck by a game ball travelling at a velocity that is greater than 10% of the maximum velocity typically achieved in a game being played with said game ball, said struck flexible stump moves sufficiently to dislodge a bail resting on a bail holding groove located in a vicinity of a top end of said flexible stump. 
     
     
         5 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 3  wherein said concave lower surface of said stump-base and said convex shaped rounded top of said stump-base are both truncated elliptical paraboloids. 
     
     
         6 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 1  wherein said flexible mechanism is configured to be a detachable mechanism such that when said vertically supported stump is struck by a game ball travelling at a sufficient velocity, said struck flexible stump detaches from said supporting mount. 
     
     
         7 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 6  wherein said sufficient velocity is a velocity equal to half the maximum velocity attained in an average game played using said game ball and said free standing cricket wicket. 
     
     
         8 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 7  wherein said game ball strikes said stump from any incident angle  305  within +/−45 degrees of a theoretical horizontal plane bisecting the height of the stump, said incident angles being within a space defined as being excluded by a theoretical cone. 
     
     
         9 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 6 , wherein said detachable mechanism comprises at least one magnet and one magnet pole piece. 
     
     
         10 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 6  wherein said detachable mechanism further comprises a ball element and a socket element, and wherein said connecting element is fixedly connected to said lower end of said detachable stump, and said ball element is fixedly connected to said upper portion of the supporting mount, and wherein said ball element and said socket element are detachably connected to each other. 
     
     
         11 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 10  further comprising a rare-earth magnet fixedly attached to said socket element or to said supporting mount and a magnet pole piece fixedly attached to said ball element. 
     
     
         12 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 10  wherein said socket element further comprises at least one spring leaf element shaped to provide temporary capture to said ball element. 
     
     
         13 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 10  further comprising an upper temporary bonding surface and a lower temporary bonding surface, said upper temporary bonding surface being fixedly attached to said ball element and said lower temporary bonding surface being rigidly attached to said socket element. 
     
     
         14 . The free standing cricket wicket of  claim 13  wherein said upper temporary bonding surface and said lower temporary bonding surface comprise complementary elements of a hook-and-loop type temporary binder. 
     
     
         15 . A free-standing cricket wicket, deployable in an upright orientation without penetrating a playing surface upon which it is deployed, comprising:
 at least one flexible stump, said flexible stump being uniformly cylindrical and having a height that is at least 5 times its diameter;   a supporting mount;   a flexible mechanism flexibly joining a lower end of said flexible stump to an upper portion of said supporting mount;   wherein said supporting mount comprises at least one lower support element, and wherein said supporting mount has a width, length, shape and weight sufficient to support said stump in a vertical orientation when said supporting mount is placed such that said lower support elements rest on a substantially horizontal playing surface;   a rare-earth magnet embedded within a stump-base in proximity to a concave lower surface of said stump-base; and   a stump-holding Ferro-metal post having a convex shaped rounded-top shaped to substantially be a complementary fit to said concave lower surface of said stump-base.