Posted by Have you tried to read summat while at a cricket match? Let us know how it went at king@kingcricket.co.uk
Edwardian writes:
This was the day Alastair Cook scored his final Test century. I was at Lord’s to watch Middlesex play Kent and also to meet up with regular King Cricket contributor Ged Ladd after he had flung himself around playing Real Tennis.
I was sitting in the member’s stand dipping in and out of The Tartar Steppe (1938) by Dino Buzzati. Buzzati records where he wrote the book. “I was working at Corrierre della Sera in those days. It often occurred to me that that routine would never end and so would eat up my whole life quite pointlessly.”
Perhaps this sentiment could be applied to cricket. The novel relays the trials of Giovanni Drogo, a young soldier posted to a remote mountain fort where he must watch for the Tartars to invade.
He waits. Nothing happens. Time passes. Months go by. Drogo tries to leave, but seems compelled to stay in this dreamlike world of repetition.
He waits the unexpected. He knows his important work is not futile. Is he the third man, an outcast at cow corner waiting for the ball to approach?
He knows the importance of waiting. He is not thinking about his dinner. He is clutching at purpose, awaiting the moment of glory and God forbid he misses the catch.
The story, like the slow game developing in front of my eyes at Lord’s, will have twists and turns and he can’t tear himself away, waiting for the battle to be fought, embracing his importance in this task, beyond the limits of reason. His fort, like cricket, is a glorious distraction.
Thank you, Edwardian. That has picked up my morning, and they sometimes do need picking up at the moment.
Thanks Edwardian. I enjoyed reading your piece. Here is my take on that enjoyable afternoon:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2018/09/10/a-few-hours-at-lords-for-middlesex-v-kent-and-some-memories-10-september-2018/
Seems I flung myself around playing modern tennis rather than real tennis that particular day. I am a bit of a tennis tart to be honest – it’s the ping-pong variety at the moment – all we’re allowed.
Nicely done, Edwardian.
A case of Waiting for Ged, oh, sorry, that doesn’t really work ….
Daisy sometimes calls me “Geddo” and sometimes has to wait for me, so I think it does work. Except that I turn up when someone is waiting for me, unlike Beckett’s character Godot.
Samuel Beckett played a couple of first class cricket matches, you know.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/player/24553.html
I believe he is still the only Nobel Laureate to have played first class cricket.
The only Nobel Laureate to have played first-class cricket was Irish and the only British Prime Minister to have done so was Scottish!
Indeed, Bail-out.
ASH played 10 first class matches for 6 different teams, which must be a bit of a record.
The two he played for Middlesex CCC were both against Oxford University, which he also represented and for which he was eligible at the time he played against them.
It reads a bit like my real tennis representative career:
http://ianlouisharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Match-Reports-and-News-_-Josh-Farrall.html
The above match report reads a bit like a KC one until you get deeper into it!
I mean ADH of course – Alec Douglas-Home.
The six first class teams he represented were Middlesex, Oxford University, H. D. G. Leveson Gower’s XI, MCC, Free Foresters and Harlequins.
He must have been quite a good cricketer…but pretty ordinary as Prime Minister. Oh well.
Samuel Beckett? Him out of Quantum Leap? Well I never.
[Hums theme tune]
If people are seeking some visual distraction utterly unconnected with cricket, I received a variety of stuff first thing this morning, which I felt compelled to share:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2020/04/28/laughter-joy-be-wakeful-deep-thoughts-on-the-bus-lockdown-videos-viewed-before-breakfast-28-april-2020/
Enjoy (if that is the right word).
Thanks all and for your blog piece, Ged. Re Beckett, I’ve always liked that ‘Fail better’ quote. Intetesting that he played cricket.