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June 27, 2005
Enfield 1st IX versus Bacup visitors IX.
Its a quintessentially limey thing, and one of those thing that makes me miss home.
Its like a familiar taste of home cooking, or the feel of a well-worn jacket. Many call it boring, but they miss the point... the tedium is the best bit!
Fair enough, you don't get to paint your face, wear red and white wigs and wrap yourself in flags. You don't get to scream, shout and leap around - unless you're the bowler appealing for a lbw (leg before wicket).
Where else do we get the luxury of a lazy day in the sun. The crack of willow bat against leather ball marking the moments of the afternoon like the slowest tick of a clock. The ladies in the pavilion making tea and cakes, old men reminisce about nothing in particular, and your mind drifts to watch a bumblebee visiting clover blossoms. Every so often... something happens, and a ripple of quiet clapping breaks the hush. Eventually, you wend your way around the ground for a pint (or two) and catch up on enough village gossip and goings-on to write a kiss-and-tell blockbuster.
Five and half-hours later we had lost. By four runs for and five wickets before the visitors declaring for 149 runs (if you are really counting)...but so what.
It is said, that one has to grow up with cricket to make any true sense of its unfoldings, but for my American friends and family this is the classic explanation of the rules.
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.
When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!
Posted by Andrew at June 27, 2005 11:28 AM
Comments
Clear as mud.
Posted by: thedude at June 27, 2005 06:14 PM
Holy SHa zIAM!
no wonder you blokes have CROP CIRCLES!!!
you little summer fuzzbugs
yum
Posted by: Nansie at June 27, 2005 11:31 PM
Holy SHa zIAM!
no wonder you blokes have CROP CIRCLES!!!
you little summer fuzzbugs
yum
Posted by: Nansie at June 27, 2005 11:33 PM