What wood are the tops usually made of?

Most antique cricket tables have tops made from thick boards of oak or elm. You sometimes see sycamore or pine on later nineteenth-century pieces from rural workshops. Elm was particularly popular for the wide circular tops. Its interlocking grain stops the wood from splitting when it gets wet in a tavern or dairy setting.

I have an old table but the legs seem quite short compared to regular dining tables, is this normal for these sorts of pieces?

Yes, they usually stand lower than standard dining room furniture. They functioned as occasional tables to sit beside low tavern benches or cottage chairs. Keep an eye on the very bottom of the feet though. Damp stone floors rot the timber over the centuries, so many legs were trimmed down by an inch or two to level them up.

Why do they only have three legs?

A three-legged stance provides reliable stability. All three feet make solid contact with the ground. Early cottages and country pubs rarely had level timber floors. The tripod design was a simple engineering solution for uneven flagstones and beaten earth.

Sometimes the top is made of several different planks instead of one solid piece, does that mean it has been repaired or altered later on?

Multiple planks are standard on these pieces. Getting a single wide board for a large circular top was difficult for a village carpenter. They joined two or three heavy boards together to form the circle.

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Antique Cricket Tables from the 19th Century

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Antique cricket tables are simple three-legged occasional tables, usually featuring circular tops, designed to stand firm on the uneven stone floors of historic country taverns and cottages.