not cricket adjective unfair UK From the rigid rules of the game, but now always in phrases “it’s not cricket”, “that’s not ...”, etc.
[Y]our husband’s stuck in a barracks in Derry with nothing but a nudie book and his right hand, and possibly even getting shot at, too, well ... it’s not bloody cricket, it it? Eh? — Mike Stott, SoldiersTalking, Cleanly, 1978