...The walk to the crease is lonely, no matter if you are Sunil Gavaskar opening for India or yours truly going in at No 7 for Brondesbury Third XI. You are padded up and waiting, and as the wicket falls, your teammate or your skipper gives you the nod and says "Best of luck mate" or "...75 more mate see what you can do".
..So you get your helmet and your bat, start to pull on your gloves as you bound off the pavilion and and into the oval, crossing the boundary line. You swing the bat around in an arc over your head. You stretch your hamstrings and do little hops to loosen your knees...More in hope than in warning...
..Ahead you see triumphal fielders watching you approach. You cross the batsman who has just gotten out. If he is not happy with his performance he eyes are downcast and he shakes his head a couple of times.
..As you approach somebody sings out "New batsman in lads". There is polite applause. The older player will say "Best of luck mate". The younger players will sledge. "Its tea-time granddad, better make it quick". Or "Is the beginning of the end".
..The notout batsman meets you as you get to the strip in the middle. He offers some advice. "ball's swinging a bit mate. Watch out for the Asian feller he's quick. This is a lippy lot". You touch bats and you walk to the popping crease.
...The wicketkeeper looks balefully at you without expression as you walk up. He turns to the closein fielders and says "all right fellers let's wrap this up I want me tea". You mark your bat position and turn to the umpire and take your guard..
..Its a beautiful day. Warm and sunny. All around you is a green sward bordered by good English oak and beech trees. Beyond the trees you see sheep in a farm baa-ing in their torpor. An idle tractor rests uncaring. Little rabbits bound about at the edge.
..Its strangely silent. Everything looks so far away..
..The field spreads out around you. Slips, cover, extra cover, silly mid-off and a short square leg in catching positions. You take your stance and wait as the bowler goes to the start of his run-up and turns in at a gentle jog accelerating quickly. You try to keep your stance easy and your head level with the pitch as you banish all thought from your head and look at the ball in the bowler's hand, only the ball, as he makes his leap at the crease and lands on his right foot, right arm straining at the start of the release as his hip swivels towards you and the ball is visible for an instant, seam vertical, glistening, as his right shoulder leads his body and the ball is propelled towards you. And you feel no fear, no emotion, no expectation, nothing as you watch the line of the ball and try to judge its length as you step out left foot towards the line of the ball, head level, left arm leading the bat at the top of the backlift, elbow leading towards the line, right hand steadying the bat, as you bring the bat down on the ball as it lands and rises from a foot in front of you, barely 2 seconds after it left the bowler's arm...
...Nothing matters at that moment of truth. You've judged it perfectly, and the ball leaves the bat due to pure timing towards the outfield. Or the ball drops dead at the foot of the bat. Or, the ball swings just a bit at the point of contact and you see it flying towards slip..
...That is after the fact. All you can do is play the best stroke you can..
...Whatever happens, like Auden wrote in "musee de beaux arts", Icarus can fall from the skies or the batsman is out first ball or it is despatched to the boundary in Gower-like elegance. The rabbits will bound through the grass, the sun will shine on a rural English scene and the world will go on.
..You just play the best stroke you can.
The day Table Tennis died
2 years ago
2 comments:
This the most brilliant piece I have ever read. What a lovely depiction of a sublime moment. Thjere's truly nothing greater than village cricket in England.
This is a collector's item, I propose to kepp for a long long time.
Bravo.
Ravi
heavily challenged both technically (as i have never understood cricket) and emotionally (such abundance in your style of writing - as though playing a piece of music) to write a comment a such a beautiful piece.
But i do want to thank you for there is also a great learning from this piece. whether cricket, or life, there are always going to be expectations. Instead of weighing oneself against the expectations, one should play his strengths the best and then leave it to the sun to shine.
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