One cannot help but feel there is something of a dichotomy in the current playing conditions of day-night test cricket. One of the reasons that the concept was instigated was an attempt to make test cricket a little more spectator friendly in an ever increasingly secular society. But one aspect doesn’t seem to align with... Continue Reading →
Cricket and Coronavirus Part Six: Beauty in Cricket
Cricket and beauty aren’t really ready bedfellows. The sport encompasses many great aspects and perspectives but beauty isn’t really one of them. When one considers the rudimentary nature of Cricket and its fundamental parts, ball hurled at great speed toward three pieces of timber by one player with another attempting to hit said ball with... Continue Reading →
Cricket and Coronavirus Part Five: You Tube Rabbit Holes and the 1999 World Cup
The coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdowns have brought to the fore certain terms and words that previously were unlikely to have been part of society’s vocabulary at large. Thus, the likes of lockdown itself and furlough became part of one’s everyday lexicon as everyone attempted to navigate through such extraordinary times. Another term... Continue Reading →
VCE: The Travails of the Umpire Part Two
The early stages of an amateur cricket contest require a high amount of organisation for the team batting first. The act of batting may only require two members of the team but the team as a whole need to organise one or two more batsmen / women to ‘pad up,’ one or two players to... Continue Reading →
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
For the average Football fan the arrival of the FA Cup Third Round is a much cherished occasion. The juxtaposition of the sport’s leading lights with their lower division and non-league equivalents provokes that sepia tinged sense of romance that is the bedrock of a sports fan’s psyche. The underdog crossing paths with the sport’s... Continue Reading →
Futility
Once every few months or so a similar article appears. The names of the players involved and the exact details of the match itself obviously change each time but the theme very much remains the same. In a nondescript match player X has scored an astonishing number of runs off of a ridiculously low number... Continue Reading →
The Multi-Day Cricket Conundrum
When considering county cricket’s great conundrum regarding the modest support for the County Championship there are a litany of reasons, many of which are multi-layered and intertwined, as to why attendances do not match those in more popular formats such as the T20 Blast. Simple, obvious factors such as the timings of matches, which days... Continue Reading →
Largesse
“Bowler’s Name?!” It’s a refrain commonplace across the recreational cricket playing fraternity, one that is part of the fabric of a contest and has become part of the game’s vast lexicon. Most who have scored a contest will have hollered the question into the ether in an attempt to discover the unknown and complete the... Continue Reading →
Homes from Home Part Five
Wormsley - Quintessence: There is a fine line between quintessence and parody. Familiarity generated by the former can often lead to a metamorphosis into the latter. The notion of a quintessentially English cricket ground is well worn territory possessing the inherent danger of venturing down a cul-de-sac filled with clichés and tropes. Regardless of such... Continue Reading →
Homes from Home Part Four
Falkland – A Tour: Some venues capture one’s heart the moment one arrives. Sometimes the reasons are obvious, sometimes one cannot quite put one’s finger on a particular aspect or feature. Perhaps the prevailing atmosphere or the natural surroundings forge a niche in one’s cricketing soul, providing a sense of calm and escapism from everyday... Continue Reading →