Spreading the Ashes
1.
It was way back in 2050,
the introduction of the National Cricketeering
Scheme but look how it has met so many of its lofty aims.
Lambasted as Compulsory National Cricket Service
by the opposition, who now only want to tinker with it,
this cricket, this game, this dress-up-in-white stuff,
where everyone's in a team, everyone has a role,
a part to play in a narrative that unfolds
in up to five days, clearly has legs.
It's a multi-age gig and multi-racial.
Who remembers now the distant mantras:
Stop the Boats. As though we were under attack,
as though there were enemies, rather than
oppositions, kitted out in white uniforms.
Sure there were teething problems:
those who thought Third Man
a zithering opportunity rather
than a fielding position,
or Long On an entreaty
to further yearning.
But soon the arcane
was embraced,
interpreted, defended,
accepted as lingua franca.
New arrivals, fifth generation stalwarts,
men, women, trans, as soon as they reached
the age of thirteen were all in,
called up, to serve, allocated
to a randomly generated team, issued
with boxes and whites and required to report
to an oval near them. No weapons
beyond willow blades and red leather balls.
And coaches often still learning the game themselves.
The economy boomed. All those outfits,
flash equipment, new grounds, stands,
advertisers clamouring for TV rights.
It's hard to remember now
when sport was just something you did
or watched or ignored on the weekend.
How soon it became natural
to see ovals in use every day
and queues forming in elevens.
2.
The weather was an early issue
with nowhere near enough covered playing
surfaces but even those scheduled to play en plein air
soon spoke of showers or storms
as rain delays and before they knew it,
were bonding in the dry as they waited.
The Don's average, once a test
designed to ostracise the ignorant,
merely served as a conversation opener.
Differences, jealousies, competitiveness, desires
to sublimate, aggressions are still out there
but so is the Decision Review System.
Who could have known that the DRS would
become the model to arbitrate most
every dispute imaginable?
Let's just replay that video, hear
again that audio. Was there a snick?
What revelations are sorted by Hot Spot?
When we look back on times
like the twenty teens, when parliamentarians
bickered by standing and delivering verbal bouncers
it seems inconceivable now that all it took to play
ball on that apparently sticky wicket was
to play a straight bat, respect
the opposition and allow proceedings
to get underway, after the simple
action of the tossing of the coin.
bw
15.7.13
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