Set the scene (Wednesday evening)....well cared for oval with a hill at the east end sporting a very grand club house. The cricket whites are out in force with ages of the players ranging from 20 to perhaps 40. Crowd of 500+ uni-students arguably more interested in who is getting the next beer than what's happening out on the pitch. The match is mid-way through at a guess...there is no scoreboard. I sit down to watch my first ball....a three stride, rain-maker that bounces at least thrice before passing the batsman. It's a wide and a no-ball! Oh dear. Maybe his fingers were a bit sweaty? The bowler waddles up again, employing the extra-short "walk-up" to preserve energy (or perhaps restricted by lack of fitness) and dribbles one along the ground way wide of off stump. A wide. The captain shakes his head and offers some encouragement. Next ball, another looping bent-arm extra slow ball...it hits the centre of the pitch! A cheer goes across the ground (from me)...it's dispatched over square leg for six! This is not going to be a good over, and it wasn't.
I stayed for 20 comical minutes. Dropped catches, grubbers, wides, no-balls, miss-fields, run-outs, chicken-wing throws, you name it, it happened. I concluded that there were no future cricket stars playing that day. At best it was like watching a bunch of grown men with the cricketing ability of six-year olds. But they were enjoying themselves.
June 20th, 2012
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