Playing without bails

"We were playing on a very windy day - so the bails had been removed. During one passage of play a fielder shied at the wicket trying for a run out, which was not given. The stumps were knocked askew and the batsmen carried on running. Another fielder then picked up the ball, threw it and hit one stump, with the batsman out of his ground. The stump was left standing, but doesn't a stump have to be removed completely from its position for him to be given out - as he was?"

No. The batsman was indeed out Run out. When the umpires have agreed to dispense with bails it is not necessary for a stump to be knocked out of the ground. It is only necessary to decide that the ball struck the wicket, or part of it, for the wicket to be considered as broken.





Read more about Law 8 - The wickets - at the MCC website