Start to retreat to the cricket pavilion? (3,3,3,6)
I believe the answer is:
get off the ground
'start' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'to retreat to the cricket pavilion?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'to' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for get off the ground that I've seen before include "launch" , "Make a good start" , "give message to unruly fans at the match?" , "Successfully start" , "what red card requires player to do" .)