Hello again, Hello

Perhaps one of my favourite love songs....

One of the most entertaining half hours I have spent was watching a Middlesex XI playing a charity match against a club side. I think it was Denham or Iver or West Drayton, or somewhere around there.

Middlesex opened the bowling with a couple of youngsters and the club side made a fairly decent start against them. Then Phil Edmonds came on to bowl. The batsman visibly tensed up. You could almost see his thought process. This is the one and only time in my life I will play against a Test bowler so I'm not going to make a fool of myself.

Ball one. A studious forward defensive shot.

Ball two. Another studious forward defensive shot, but afterwards you could see the batsman's relief at surviving a couple.

Ball three. A quite expansive defensive drive up to mid off. The batsman smiled.

Ball four. The batsman took a step down the wicket and lofted a beautiful drive back over mid off's head. Four runs. The batsman hitched his shoulders Delboy style, beamed broadly, and was thinking about how one day he would tell his grandchildren about the time he tonked one of the best bowlers in the world all over the place.

Ball five. It was delivered in exactly the same manner as balls one to four. The batsman took the same step down the wicket and swung the same lofted drive. Except, of course, he missed the ball completely. It was a wrong 'un (if that is the right term for a left-arm spinner). Inevitably it was followed by the clatter of ball on stumps. I have never see a better WTF? expression as that batsman had then.

The next four overs he bowled he did exactly the same to four other batsmen and finished his spell 5-0-20-5. The club side went from something like 72-2 to 103-7 and that was very much that.

Wonderful post.

I choked on my rice crispie square

me too, except it was on my Tim Hortons cinnamon French toast bagel!