G&C 258
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 258
June 2024
Spot the Ball
A: Who is Matthew Mott?
B: I don’t know, I’ve never seen or heard from him.
A: Does he actually exist?
B: Maybe he is an AI operative like Cora on my bank website?
A: That would explain a lot.
B: How did he manage to get a public high profile job in which he wasn’t obligated to speak to the media?
A: Perhaps he doesn’t speak English?
B: Maybe, its not such a bad idea. The foreign Premier League managers just talk gibberish in pidgin English when they are interviewed.
A: Does he talk to the players?
B: I guess he tries get them to play in Mottmode rather than Bazball.
Out and About with the Professor
The Professor addresses one of his favourite bugbears
Why do we have leg byes?
Law 23 tells us what they are:
23.2.1 If a ball delivered by the bowler first strikes the person of the striker, runs shall be scored only if the umpire is satisfied that the striker has
either attempted to play the ball with the bat
or tried to avoid being hit by the ball.
(There are several references to a person’s “person” in the Laws)
23.2.2 If the umpire is satisfied that either of these conditions has been met runs shall be scored…
If in the circumstance of 23.2.1 the umpire considers that neither of the conditions therein has been met, (don’t you just love “therein”) then Leg byes shall not be awarded.
OK, that’s clear, we all know this - but why do we have them in the first place? I just about get the avoidance bit (a slight disincentive for the fielding team to keep trying to hit the batter), but what about “attempted to play the ball”. In other words, in plain English…missed. Is there another bat and ball game where one team gets credit for missing the ball? It is so familiar that it doesn’t seem strange, but it is strange, isn’t it?
I was pondering this when watching one of Yorkshire’s recent attempts to win a cricket match. An off spinner (well…Dom Bess) floated up a full length ball outside off stump and did the right hander comfortably, in the air. A full flowing extra-cover drive, which looked very nice, didn’t actually manage to connect with the ball, and would, had his “person” not been in the way, have hit middle and off. The batter couldn’t be out, of course, because the relevant bit of his person was outside off stump: another case for debate, by the way, why are you not out if you make a “genuine” attempt to hit the ball (Law 36)? Didn’t it used to be “deliberate”? What’s the difference between the two? Even further back wasn’t it sufficient for a not out decision just if the ball didn’t hit in line? Did May and Cowdrey effectively see off that provision? Either way, in these circumstances, and the current Laws, trying (and failing) to hit the ball makes you immune from dismissal. Why?
The next thing that happened, in this little tale, was that the ball was bowled at sufficient pace (and from the Kirkstall Lane End) to deflect past the solitary slip and run down the slope for four, as it so often does in that corner of the ground.
Let’s go through that again. A bowler completely beats a batter with a ball that would have taken his wicket - and the fielding side are penalised 4 runs. Is there a Googlies reader who can explain to me why that makes sense? A sort of counter argument might run, I suppose, along the lines of discouraging negative tactics – bowling right arm round to a right hander and just aiming at the pads. But if you were doing that you would have two behind square on the single, and so it would hardly be a disincentive, and besides, these days – at least in professional cricket – that tactic would see the ball sailing out of the ground over deep square.
So…what’s it all about? Surely there’s a case for getting rid of this part of Law 23; it would cease to reward incompetence and it would relieve umpires of the need to decide if the batter attempted to play the ball, “genuinely” or not.
I don’t, of course, mean to suggest that it would take a change in the Laws for Yorkshire to win a game, although the main obstruction does seem to be bowling sides out.
Still, if it would help…
This & That
The closing stages of the IPL season were marred by some washed out games which affected the final league positions. In the end Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finished top with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coming second. KKR beat SRH in the first qualifier and then beat them again in the final. In the final SRH, despite their much-vaunted batting power, were bowled out for 113 and KKR cantered to victory with nine overs to spare.
It was fitting that KKR’s Sunil Narine was the impact points player of the tournament by some way with 488 runs and 17 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah was second with 12 runs and 20 wickets, whilst Andre Russell was third with 222 runs and 19 wickets.
It is interesting that Kohli (741) and Gaikwad (583) were the top run scorers but neither played for the most successful sides. Kohli’s strike rate (SR) improved in the latter part of the tournament but was still only 154 overall. This compares to Travis Head (567 at SR 191), Abishek Sharma (484 at SR 204), Sunil Narine (488 at SR 180), Phil Salt (435 at SR 182) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (330 at SR 234). On a couple of occasions Jos Buttler played majestic “old style” T20 innings where he started slowly and accelerated towards the end and ended up with hundreds but overall, his performance was disappointing with 359 runs at SR140.
Salt and Fraser-McGurk represent the new style of T20 batsman who open the batting and look to hit boundaries from ball one. Narine and Head are more mature left handers who do the same thing. When they come off the Power Play score (first six overs) can be 80 or even 100. This inevitably has a dramatic outcome on the match. Will Jacks has to be included in this group although he didn’t open for Chennai this year. However, in his big match the commentators claim that he went from 50 to 100 in 6 minutes.
In this season’s IPL there were 41 totals of over 200 of which 8 were over 250. The big six hitters were Abishek Sharma 42, Kohli and Klaasen 38 and Pooran with 36. Fraser-McGurk had just 9 innings and hit 28 sixes. This appears to be what the crowds want as the enormous stadiums were substantially full for most of the games. The Hundred doesn’t fit into the World view of T20 and it seems perverse that the ECB persist with going alone down their pointless path.
The key statistic for bowlers is the Economy Rate (ER). Anything below 8 is considered excellent. If all the bowlers achieved that then they would restrict the opposition to 160 which is generally a losing score. The top bowlers to achieve this were Bumrah (ER 6.48), Narine (6.69), Ashok Patel (ER 7.65) and Jadeja (ER 7.85). A stat that came up regularly was taking a wicket in the first over for which Trent Boult is the outstanding exponent. It is noteworthy because it sets the tone to take three wickets in the Powerplay. History shows that it is very hard to recover enough to win if you lose three wickets in the power play.
Amongst those who will want to forget this year’s IPL is Glen Maxwell, the star of the ODIWC, who managed just 52 runs from 9 innings. The Englishmen, apart from Salt and Buttler’s two hundreds, had poor tournaments in general and left early to come back to watch in raining in England.
There have continued to be plenty of runs around in the County Championship. Kent put Somerset in at Taunton and Banton and Rew both scored hundreds as Somerset reached 554. Kent were rolled over for 178 but following on made 564 thanks to Crawley’s 238. Somerset easily knocked off the required runs for the loss of two wickets. Who is pushing this policy of putting the opponents in when you win the toss?
Leicester did the same thing on their own ground against Gloucestershire who racked up a mere 706 for 6 before declaring, Bancroft, Charlesworth and van Buuren all getting hundreds. Leicester were bowled out in their first innings but hung on in their second to achieve a draw.
Surrey batted first at the Utilita Bowl and were bowled out for 123. Hampshire then accumulated 608 for 6 before declaring, with Albert, Gubbins and Brown all reaching three figures. Surrey struggled again in their second innings and only reached 213 thanks largely to top scoring number 11, Worrall, who made 48.
Essex batted first at Canterbury and scored 591 for 7 with Jordan Cox making 207. The thing about these huge scores is that you can still be forced to follow on even if you bat creditably. Kent made a substantial 394 but had to go back in again and then collapsed for 101.
Leus du Plooy stood in for TR-J at Lord’s and followed his lead by asking Sussex to bat. Sussex scored 554 for 9 with Pujara and Simpson making hundreds. Not for the first time Middlesex appeared undaunted by such a huge score to battle against and when the game finally reached its conclusion, they had made 613 for 9, with Robson and Higgins making tons.
The leading run scorers in the County Championship so far are:
David Bedingham 795
Colin Ingram 752
Jordan Cox 731
Emilio Gay 695
Alex Davies 672
Sam Northeast 688
Keaton Jennings 667
Daniel Bell-Drummond 638
Ryan Higgins 637
Joe Clarke 629
Adam Lyth 603
And the top wicket takers are:
Sam Cook 29
Jamie Porter 29
Dan Worrall 28
Liam Dawson 27
Shane Snater 25
With three of the top wicket takers, it is no surprise that Essex are breathing down Surrey’s neck at the top of Division 1. The relegation candidates are Kent and. somewhat surprisingly, Lancashire. Sussex top Division 2 ahead of Middlesex and Yorkshire are battling Derbyshire for the Wooden Spoon.
Middlesex kicked off the T20 Blast at their new home ground, Chelmsford. This must have been a strange experience for both Kent and the hosts since the Chelmsford faithful are famous for not acknowledging any action other than by Essex. Middlesex had another skipper, Eskinazi, on this occasion and he followed the lead of his predecessors by winning the toss and electing to field. Kent said thanks very much and proceeded to rattle up 205. When Middlesex batted they amassed just 107. When you captained a side did you ever put the opposition in when you won the toss?
Two days later Middlesex swapped dressing rooms as Essex were their hosts who gave Middlesex the opportunity to bat first. They made a creditable 203 for 7, but this proved inadequate as the hosts romped home with over two overs to spare. Their would have been some applause from the spectators during this chase.
After a goalkeeping substitution by Pep City this season Ortega displayed
some nifty footwork which prompted the Show’s producer to highlight Ederson on the bench to try to catch his reaction to it. He was busy violently picking his nose and the cameras promptly reverted to the match. But the commentator wanted to persist and the pictures returned to the bench where Ederson expectorated a substantial gob onto the floor. The cameras did not return a third time.
Thompson Matters
Early in May I received a somewhat obscure email from the Editor’s address which contained the following:
I no longer have my Supershorts but can still lay my hands on my Jumbo (more or less virgin). It referenced Power and Range Hitting, terms with which I was contextually unfamiliar. I assumed he had been hacked and I was in receipt of a lewd scam.
An immediate return of correspondence reassured me all was well but also confirmed my complete ignorance of the developments and terms which now permeate the modern game. Such ignorance was further confirmed when I went to watch my eldest grandson and granddaughter (eight and six respectively) at Friday night colts at Brockhampton Cricket Club in the rolling Herefordshire countryside, where I played after leaving London in the 1990’s.
It was a scene replicated I am sure across the country on Friday evenings with thirty-something parents of a certain capacity entrusting their offspring to willing and able coaches who coach those with potential and entertain the rest whilst mum and dad boost the local club’s bar profits.... nothing wrong with that.
As they say, every day is a school day. I’ve ‘bowled’ a few at my pair over the past couple of years and almost inevitably they have both slogged me to cow corner -they were not the first. However, last Friday they were consistently hitting it in the V courtesy of the ingenious batting tee. My apologies to those who have seen this innovation before, but the tee is a plastic elongated cone some six inches /half volley high. It is placed a good front foot stride’s distance from the young batter (I’m with the lingo) with a plastic cricket ball atop.
From a give or take standard stance it is quite impossible to hit anything other than straight which all of the youngsters did. Brilliant. That this doesn’t happen for me as consistently off a smaller tee with a smaller white ball remains one of life’s mysterious challenges and the concept brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘cricket tee’.
Incidentally, one of the most uplifting aspects of that colts evening was the number of girls; at least as many if not more than boys . Some things have really moved on for the better.
With its origins in baseball the concept of power-hitting now transcends cricket’s American cousin and the science behind the transference of body movement with ever-developing equipment to propel a ball extends to tennis and of course golf. Indeed, anyone familiar with legendary American golfer Ben Hogan’s brilliantly illustrated book Five Lessons, published in 1957, will quite understandably claim that the science behind such power-hitting was there for all to see well before the modern cricketer began to appreciate its value to batting techniques. The difference between cricket and golf, of course, is the moving ball and the ability to use the pace of the latter to redirect it as far as possible.
As a related aside, my wife recently bought me a ball-fitting session. No, not another innuendo-driven reference but an hour-long session with the pro at my golf club the aim of which in essence is to match the golf ball one uses to your swing. The simulator screen or Trackman into which one hits is filled with so much data that it resembles the FTSE and measures swing speed, ball speed, spin, launch angle, landing angle in fact almost everything it seems except inside leg measurement.
There can be no doubting the benefits of modern technology and science to modern sport and I have no idea to what extent the modern-day club batsman analyses their technique in this regard but there may be much to commend the advice one occasionally receives from behind on the tee when gathering your swing thought, “ Just ****ing hit it!’
I was at the Saturday of James Anderson’s first Test at Lord’s against Zimbabwe. He was wicketless that day but took five-for in the first innings. I shall be there on the Friday of the Lord’s Test against West Indies for his last appearance. It’s hard to say who of the very modern era, since 2000, has been our greatest but for me it’s Jimmy or Chef. It’s equally hard to say what the perfect shot is but the ball with which Anderson bowled Michael Clarke in 2013 is arguably as great, as skilful and as perfect as Warne’s ‘Gatting’ ball. In doing so with that ball he overtook Fred Truman’s Test haul and went on of course to eclipse many more. I look forward to bookending Jimmy as the Burnley express is finally shunted into the sidings. Whether the Fat Controller has timed taking him out of commission correctly only time will tell but one thing is certain, we are unlikely ever to see his class again.
Easy Win
George noted that Checkley's second XI recorded a 10-wicket victory over Wedgwood's second XI in the first round of the Cricket Cave Talbot Shield in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League.
They needed just nine to win after Wedgwood were all out for eight in 10.1 overs, with eight of their batters dismissed without scoring.
In reply, Checkley sealed the victory after one legitimate ball. Blake Haddrell hit the first ball, which was also a no-ball, for four and then hit another four when it was re-bowled.
Of Wedgwood's eight runs, five of them were extras, coming via four leg byes and a wide.
Ged Matters
Ged Ladd (Ian Harris) goes back to his preamble to that iconic match. This article previously appeared on King Cricket
Since the end of the last century, I, together with a group of cricket nuts known as The Heavy Rollers, have attended the first day or three of the Edgbaston Test match. In the early years, our expeditions began the night before day one of the match, with cricket in the garden at Wadderton – The Children’s Society’s residential centre near Bromsgrove.
In 2004, things started to go downhill in more ways than one, with Wadderton’s closure imminent, plus Charley The Gent comedically attempting to defy the laws of physics and field a ball unscathed.
But Charley “The Gent Malloy” Bartlett was also a master of persuasion, as was Nigel “Father Barry” who had, once again, secured us front row seats for the 2005 Ashes Test.
In January 2005 an e-mail came through from Charley simply stating: “Here is an additional little treat to look forward to!!”
The above scan was clear: two lanes of the Edgbaston Cricket Centre for an hour, the evening before THAT Ashes Test match.
How did Charley pull off such a coup? Several long phone calls, almost certainly. Tales of tireless work for The Children’s Society, probably. Sob stories about the closure of Wadderton, perhaps. Implications that war veterans might be involved; vague mentions of battles past and “the fallen,” possibly. Chas didn’t disclose his sources and methods back then and he sure won’t do so now.
But in late March our group rejected that wonderful eve of Edgbaston 2005 opportunity. Big Papa Zambezi Jeff proposed that we stay at his Bedfordshire homestead, where he would cut a proper strip and arrange a barbeque for after the “eve of the Ashes” game.
The change of plan was agreed by acclamation.
I wonder how Chas phrased his cancellation of our Edgbaston booking? I don’t suppose it read:
“Dear Mr Basseit
Thanks for all the time you and your colleagues spent on the phone, listening to my pleadings, eventually acquiescing to my request for two lanes of the Indoor School on 3 August 2005. On reflection, the group would sooner play in Jeff’s back garden, so please cancel our booking.
Yours sincerely
Charley “The Gent Malloy” Bartlett”
Old Danes Gathering
The Next Old Danes Gathering will be held at Shepherds Bush CC on Friday 26 July. The event will be held during the afternoon and all Old Danes, their wives and friends will be welcome.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
is produced by
James Sharp
Broad Lee House
Combs
High Peak
SK23 9XA
[email protected]
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 258
June 2024
Spot the Ball
A: Who is Matthew Mott?
B: I don’t know, I’ve never seen or heard from him.
A: Does he actually exist?
B: Maybe he is an AI operative like Cora on my bank website?
A: That would explain a lot.
B: How did he manage to get a public high profile job in which he wasn’t obligated to speak to the media?
A: Perhaps he doesn’t speak English?
B: Maybe, its not such a bad idea. The foreign Premier League managers just talk gibberish in pidgin English when they are interviewed.
A: Does he talk to the players?
B: I guess he tries get them to play in Mottmode rather than Bazball.
Out and About with the Professor
The Professor addresses one of his favourite bugbears
Why do we have leg byes?
Law 23 tells us what they are:
23.2.1 If a ball delivered by the bowler first strikes the person of the striker, runs shall be scored only if the umpire is satisfied that the striker has
either attempted to play the ball with the bat
or tried to avoid being hit by the ball.
(There are several references to a person’s “person” in the Laws)
23.2.2 If the umpire is satisfied that either of these conditions has been met runs shall be scored…
If in the circumstance of 23.2.1 the umpire considers that neither of the conditions therein has been met, (don’t you just love “therein”) then Leg byes shall not be awarded.
OK, that’s clear, we all know this - but why do we have them in the first place? I just about get the avoidance bit (a slight disincentive for the fielding team to keep trying to hit the batter), but what about “attempted to play the ball”. In other words, in plain English…missed. Is there another bat and ball game where one team gets credit for missing the ball? It is so familiar that it doesn’t seem strange, but it is strange, isn’t it?
I was pondering this when watching one of Yorkshire’s recent attempts to win a cricket match. An off spinner (well…Dom Bess) floated up a full length ball outside off stump and did the right hander comfortably, in the air. A full flowing extra-cover drive, which looked very nice, didn’t actually manage to connect with the ball, and would, had his “person” not been in the way, have hit middle and off. The batter couldn’t be out, of course, because the relevant bit of his person was outside off stump: another case for debate, by the way, why are you not out if you make a “genuine” attempt to hit the ball (Law 36)? Didn’t it used to be “deliberate”? What’s the difference between the two? Even further back wasn’t it sufficient for a not out decision just if the ball didn’t hit in line? Did May and Cowdrey effectively see off that provision? Either way, in these circumstances, and the current Laws, trying (and failing) to hit the ball makes you immune from dismissal. Why?
The next thing that happened, in this little tale, was that the ball was bowled at sufficient pace (and from the Kirkstall Lane End) to deflect past the solitary slip and run down the slope for four, as it so often does in that corner of the ground.
Let’s go through that again. A bowler completely beats a batter with a ball that would have taken his wicket - and the fielding side are penalised 4 runs. Is there a Googlies reader who can explain to me why that makes sense? A sort of counter argument might run, I suppose, along the lines of discouraging negative tactics – bowling right arm round to a right hander and just aiming at the pads. But if you were doing that you would have two behind square on the single, and so it would hardly be a disincentive, and besides, these days – at least in professional cricket – that tactic would see the ball sailing out of the ground over deep square.
So…what’s it all about? Surely there’s a case for getting rid of this part of Law 23; it would cease to reward incompetence and it would relieve umpires of the need to decide if the batter attempted to play the ball, “genuinely” or not.
I don’t, of course, mean to suggest that it would take a change in the Laws for Yorkshire to win a game, although the main obstruction does seem to be bowling sides out.
Still, if it would help…
This & That
The closing stages of the IPL season were marred by some washed out games which affected the final league positions. In the end Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finished top with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coming second. KKR beat SRH in the first qualifier and then beat them again in the final. In the final SRH, despite their much-vaunted batting power, were bowled out for 113 and KKR cantered to victory with nine overs to spare.
It was fitting that KKR’s Sunil Narine was the impact points player of the tournament by some way with 488 runs and 17 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah was second with 12 runs and 20 wickets, whilst Andre Russell was third with 222 runs and 19 wickets.
It is interesting that Kohli (741) and Gaikwad (583) were the top run scorers but neither played for the most successful sides. Kohli’s strike rate (SR) improved in the latter part of the tournament but was still only 154 overall. This compares to Travis Head (567 at SR 191), Abishek Sharma (484 at SR 204), Sunil Narine (488 at SR 180), Phil Salt (435 at SR 182) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (330 at SR 234). On a couple of occasions Jos Buttler played majestic “old style” T20 innings where he started slowly and accelerated towards the end and ended up with hundreds but overall, his performance was disappointing with 359 runs at SR140.
Salt and Fraser-McGurk represent the new style of T20 batsman who open the batting and look to hit boundaries from ball one. Narine and Head are more mature left handers who do the same thing. When they come off the Power Play score (first six overs) can be 80 or even 100. This inevitably has a dramatic outcome on the match. Will Jacks has to be included in this group although he didn’t open for Chennai this year. However, in his big match the commentators claim that he went from 50 to 100 in 6 minutes.
In this season’s IPL there were 41 totals of over 200 of which 8 were over 250. The big six hitters were Abishek Sharma 42, Kohli and Klaasen 38 and Pooran with 36. Fraser-McGurk had just 9 innings and hit 28 sixes. This appears to be what the crowds want as the enormous stadiums were substantially full for most of the games. The Hundred doesn’t fit into the World view of T20 and it seems perverse that the ECB persist with going alone down their pointless path.
The key statistic for bowlers is the Economy Rate (ER). Anything below 8 is considered excellent. If all the bowlers achieved that then they would restrict the opposition to 160 which is generally a losing score. The top bowlers to achieve this were Bumrah (ER 6.48), Narine (6.69), Ashok Patel (ER 7.65) and Jadeja (ER 7.85). A stat that came up regularly was taking a wicket in the first over for which Trent Boult is the outstanding exponent. It is noteworthy because it sets the tone to take three wickets in the Powerplay. History shows that it is very hard to recover enough to win if you lose three wickets in the power play.
Amongst those who will want to forget this year’s IPL is Glen Maxwell, the star of the ODIWC, who managed just 52 runs from 9 innings. The Englishmen, apart from Salt and Buttler’s two hundreds, had poor tournaments in general and left early to come back to watch in raining in England.
There have continued to be plenty of runs around in the County Championship. Kent put Somerset in at Taunton and Banton and Rew both scored hundreds as Somerset reached 554. Kent were rolled over for 178 but following on made 564 thanks to Crawley’s 238. Somerset easily knocked off the required runs for the loss of two wickets. Who is pushing this policy of putting the opponents in when you win the toss?
Leicester did the same thing on their own ground against Gloucestershire who racked up a mere 706 for 6 before declaring, Bancroft, Charlesworth and van Buuren all getting hundreds. Leicester were bowled out in their first innings but hung on in their second to achieve a draw.
Surrey batted first at the Utilita Bowl and were bowled out for 123. Hampshire then accumulated 608 for 6 before declaring, with Albert, Gubbins and Brown all reaching three figures. Surrey struggled again in their second innings and only reached 213 thanks largely to top scoring number 11, Worrall, who made 48.
Essex batted first at Canterbury and scored 591 for 7 with Jordan Cox making 207. The thing about these huge scores is that you can still be forced to follow on even if you bat creditably. Kent made a substantial 394 but had to go back in again and then collapsed for 101.
Leus du Plooy stood in for TR-J at Lord’s and followed his lead by asking Sussex to bat. Sussex scored 554 for 9 with Pujara and Simpson making hundreds. Not for the first time Middlesex appeared undaunted by such a huge score to battle against and when the game finally reached its conclusion, they had made 613 for 9, with Robson and Higgins making tons.
The leading run scorers in the County Championship so far are:
David Bedingham 795
Colin Ingram 752
Jordan Cox 731
Emilio Gay 695
Alex Davies 672
Sam Northeast 688
Keaton Jennings 667
Daniel Bell-Drummond 638
Ryan Higgins 637
Joe Clarke 629
Adam Lyth 603
And the top wicket takers are:
Sam Cook 29
Jamie Porter 29
Dan Worrall 28
Liam Dawson 27
Shane Snater 25
With three of the top wicket takers, it is no surprise that Essex are breathing down Surrey’s neck at the top of Division 1. The relegation candidates are Kent and. somewhat surprisingly, Lancashire. Sussex top Division 2 ahead of Middlesex and Yorkshire are battling Derbyshire for the Wooden Spoon.
Middlesex kicked off the T20 Blast at their new home ground, Chelmsford. This must have been a strange experience for both Kent and the hosts since the Chelmsford faithful are famous for not acknowledging any action other than by Essex. Middlesex had another skipper, Eskinazi, on this occasion and he followed the lead of his predecessors by winning the toss and electing to field. Kent said thanks very much and proceeded to rattle up 205. When Middlesex batted they amassed just 107. When you captained a side did you ever put the opposition in when you won the toss?
Two days later Middlesex swapped dressing rooms as Essex were their hosts who gave Middlesex the opportunity to bat first. They made a creditable 203 for 7, but this proved inadequate as the hosts romped home with over two overs to spare. Their would have been some applause from the spectators during this chase.
After a goalkeeping substitution by Pep City this season Ortega displayed
some nifty footwork which prompted the Show’s producer to highlight Ederson on the bench to try to catch his reaction to it. He was busy violently picking his nose and the cameras promptly reverted to the match. But the commentator wanted to persist and the pictures returned to the bench where Ederson expectorated a substantial gob onto the floor. The cameras did not return a third time.
Thompson Matters
Early in May I received a somewhat obscure email from the Editor’s address which contained the following:
I no longer have my Supershorts but can still lay my hands on my Jumbo (more or less virgin). It referenced Power and Range Hitting, terms with which I was contextually unfamiliar. I assumed he had been hacked and I was in receipt of a lewd scam.
An immediate return of correspondence reassured me all was well but also confirmed my complete ignorance of the developments and terms which now permeate the modern game. Such ignorance was further confirmed when I went to watch my eldest grandson and granddaughter (eight and six respectively) at Friday night colts at Brockhampton Cricket Club in the rolling Herefordshire countryside, where I played after leaving London in the 1990’s.
It was a scene replicated I am sure across the country on Friday evenings with thirty-something parents of a certain capacity entrusting their offspring to willing and able coaches who coach those with potential and entertain the rest whilst mum and dad boost the local club’s bar profits.... nothing wrong with that.
As they say, every day is a school day. I’ve ‘bowled’ a few at my pair over the past couple of years and almost inevitably they have both slogged me to cow corner -they were not the first. However, last Friday they were consistently hitting it in the V courtesy of the ingenious batting tee. My apologies to those who have seen this innovation before, but the tee is a plastic elongated cone some six inches /half volley high. It is placed a good front foot stride’s distance from the young batter (I’m with the lingo) with a plastic cricket ball atop.
From a give or take standard stance it is quite impossible to hit anything other than straight which all of the youngsters did. Brilliant. That this doesn’t happen for me as consistently off a smaller tee with a smaller white ball remains one of life’s mysterious challenges and the concept brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘cricket tee’.
Incidentally, one of the most uplifting aspects of that colts evening was the number of girls; at least as many if not more than boys . Some things have really moved on for the better.
With its origins in baseball the concept of power-hitting now transcends cricket’s American cousin and the science behind the transference of body movement with ever-developing equipment to propel a ball extends to tennis and of course golf. Indeed, anyone familiar with legendary American golfer Ben Hogan’s brilliantly illustrated book Five Lessons, published in 1957, will quite understandably claim that the science behind such power-hitting was there for all to see well before the modern cricketer began to appreciate its value to batting techniques. The difference between cricket and golf, of course, is the moving ball and the ability to use the pace of the latter to redirect it as far as possible.
As a related aside, my wife recently bought me a ball-fitting session. No, not another innuendo-driven reference but an hour-long session with the pro at my golf club the aim of which in essence is to match the golf ball one uses to your swing. The simulator screen or Trackman into which one hits is filled with so much data that it resembles the FTSE and measures swing speed, ball speed, spin, launch angle, landing angle in fact almost everything it seems except inside leg measurement.
There can be no doubting the benefits of modern technology and science to modern sport and I have no idea to what extent the modern-day club batsman analyses their technique in this regard but there may be much to commend the advice one occasionally receives from behind on the tee when gathering your swing thought, “ Just ****ing hit it!’
I was at the Saturday of James Anderson’s first Test at Lord’s against Zimbabwe. He was wicketless that day but took five-for in the first innings. I shall be there on the Friday of the Lord’s Test against West Indies for his last appearance. It’s hard to say who of the very modern era, since 2000, has been our greatest but for me it’s Jimmy or Chef. It’s equally hard to say what the perfect shot is but the ball with which Anderson bowled Michael Clarke in 2013 is arguably as great, as skilful and as perfect as Warne’s ‘Gatting’ ball. In doing so with that ball he overtook Fred Truman’s Test haul and went on of course to eclipse many more. I look forward to bookending Jimmy as the Burnley express is finally shunted into the sidings. Whether the Fat Controller has timed taking him out of commission correctly only time will tell but one thing is certain, we are unlikely ever to see his class again.
Easy Win
George noted that Checkley's second XI recorded a 10-wicket victory over Wedgwood's second XI in the first round of the Cricket Cave Talbot Shield in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League.
They needed just nine to win after Wedgwood were all out for eight in 10.1 overs, with eight of their batters dismissed without scoring.
In reply, Checkley sealed the victory after one legitimate ball. Blake Haddrell hit the first ball, which was also a no-ball, for four and then hit another four when it was re-bowled.
Of Wedgwood's eight runs, five of them were extras, coming via four leg byes and a wide.
Ged Matters
Ged Ladd (Ian Harris) goes back to his preamble to that iconic match. This article previously appeared on King Cricket
Since the end of the last century, I, together with a group of cricket nuts known as The Heavy Rollers, have attended the first day or three of the Edgbaston Test match. In the early years, our expeditions began the night before day one of the match, with cricket in the garden at Wadderton – The Children’s Society’s residential centre near Bromsgrove.
In 2004, things started to go downhill in more ways than one, with Wadderton’s closure imminent, plus Charley The Gent comedically attempting to defy the laws of physics and field a ball unscathed.
But Charley “The Gent Malloy” Bartlett was also a master of persuasion, as was Nigel “Father Barry” who had, once again, secured us front row seats for the 2005 Ashes Test.
In January 2005 an e-mail came through from Charley simply stating: “Here is an additional little treat to look forward to!!”
The above scan was clear: two lanes of the Edgbaston Cricket Centre for an hour, the evening before THAT Ashes Test match.
How did Charley pull off such a coup? Several long phone calls, almost certainly. Tales of tireless work for The Children’s Society, probably. Sob stories about the closure of Wadderton, perhaps. Implications that war veterans might be involved; vague mentions of battles past and “the fallen,” possibly. Chas didn’t disclose his sources and methods back then and he sure won’t do so now.
But in late March our group rejected that wonderful eve of Edgbaston 2005 opportunity. Big Papa Zambezi Jeff proposed that we stay at his Bedfordshire homestead, where he would cut a proper strip and arrange a barbeque for after the “eve of the Ashes” game.
The change of plan was agreed by acclamation.
I wonder how Chas phrased his cancellation of our Edgbaston booking? I don’t suppose it read:
“Dear Mr Basseit
Thanks for all the time you and your colleagues spent on the phone, listening to my pleadings, eventually acquiescing to my request for two lanes of the Indoor School on 3 August 2005. On reflection, the group would sooner play in Jeff’s back garden, so please cancel our booking.
Yours sincerely
Charley “The Gent Malloy” Bartlett”
Old Danes Gathering
The Next Old Danes Gathering will be held at Shepherds Bush CC on Friday 26 July. The event will be held during the afternoon and all Old Danes, their wives and friends will be welcome.
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
is produced by
James Sharp
Broad Lee House
Combs
High Peak
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