Don’t remember exactly, but see to recall Andrew had a snap about cricket way back when…
Doug
> On Dec 31, 2015, at 9:28 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> with my memory and over 10 years of snaps and what thousands of poems I open it up to the group -perhaps one of our keen sports poets or at least a memory!!cheers P
> wasn't you Max???
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Bill Wootton
> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 2:21 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Long on - a cricket poem
>
> I don't, Pat. Remind me ...
>
> On Thursday, 31 December 2015, Patrick McManus <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Bill do you rember we had a poem snap some years????? ago about long on? I
>> remeber that was when I was forced to play the game my favourite
>> (favorite!!) position -safe!!
>> new years greetings
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Bill Wootton
>> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 6:15 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Long on - a cricket poem
>>
>> Thanks, Max, Pat, even Doug.
>>
>> Here's the good oil on the googly, called by Shane Warne at some point, a
>> 'zooter' just to further scare the pants off batsmen.
>>
>> While a normal leg break <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leg_break> spins
>> from the leg to the off side
>> <
>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fielding_(cricket)#Off_and_leg_side_fields
>> >,
>> away from a right-handed batsman <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batsman
>> >,
>> a googly spins the other way, from off to leg, into a right-handed batsman
>> (and is distinct from an off break
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off_break> delivery). The bowler achieves
>> this change of spin by bending the wrist sharply from the normal leg break
>> delivery position. When the ball
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_ball> rolls out of the hand (from
>> the side near the little finger
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_finger>, as in a normal leg
>> break),
>> it emerges with clockwise spin (from the bowler's point of view). A googly
>> may also be achieved by bowling the ball as a conventional leg break, but
>> spinning the ball further with the fingers just before it is released.
>>
>> The change of wrist action can be seen by a skilled batsman and the change
>> of spin allowed for when playing a shot at the ball. Less skilled batsmen,
>> or ones who have lost their concentration, can be deceived completely,
>> expecting the ball to move one direction off the pitch
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_pitch>, only for it to move the
>> other direction. If the batsman is expecting a leg break, he will play
>> outside the line <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_and_length> of the
>> ball after it spins. This means the ball can either strike the pads for a
>> potential lbw <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leg_before_wicket> appeal,
>> or may fly between the bat and the pads and hit the wicket
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicket>.
>>
>> The googly is a major weapon in the arsenal of a leg spin bowler, and can
>> be one of the bowler's most effective wicket taking balls.
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Bill, a dud fieldsman who could no more deliver a googly than he could
>> execute a leg glance when batting. Hit ball, run was his mantra.
>>
>> On Wednesday, 30 December 2015, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Funny to think of the details here being obscure to outsiders…
>>>
>>> Cricket not for me, but it’s been hard to avoid, and the vocab here
>>>
>>> is often bemusing - goggly I know of but couldn’t define -
>>>
>>> leggies and offices almost guessable -
>>>
>>> the cherry! joke word for that vicious hard red ball …
>>>
>>> This poem deserves a place in any anthology of poetry -
>>> devoted to cricket. Are there such?
>>>
>>> Max (gave up cricket in 1949)
>>>
>>> On Dec 29, 2015, at 13:29, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]
>>> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Dud fieldsmen get captain-directed right
>>> > down on the fence, miles from mid-innings
>>> > action, when no one is likely to take
>>> > a swipe and test your unreliable hands.
>>> >
>>> > At change of overs, you either bolt
>>> > down the other end or get slight relief
>>> > by holding down mid-off for an over
>>> > where at least conversation is audible.
>>> >
>>> > Once in a blue googly, someone swats
>>> > a sitter to you in close and if you manage
>>> > to dispel your panic and actually swallow
>>> > the catch, you will know true gratitude.
>>> >
>>> > Normally restrained leggies and offies,
>>> > unlike their wild-haired, truculent
>>> > cousin quicks, will gather you up,
>>> > tousle your hair and grin goofily,
>>> >
>>> > pretending they planned the trap.
>>> > But mostly, fielding is a lonely business,
>>> > hearing distant thunks as the cherry
>>> > arcs off where others congregate.
>>> >
>>> > Late in the innings, you may be offered
>>> > another reprieve, closer to the popping
>>> > crease but equally isolated - deep fine
>>> > leg - on the off chance of picking up
>>> >
>>> > a skewed hook or a keeper's miss.
>>> > On TV, balls glide across bowling green
>>> > -like surfaces but in the suburbs, any-
>>> > thing can happen as balls spit and jump
>>> >
>>> > over mis-mown, crevice-cracked buffalo
>>> > grass. A sweep along the ground can
>>> > leap up and collect you in the teeth.
>>> > But must not fray your focus. Just don't
>>> >
>>> > let that ball get to the boundary.
>>> > Sorts you, fielding. You're there
>>> > for the duration of afternoon,
>>> > holding down a position.
>>> >
>>> > bw
>>>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Done in by creation itself.
I mean the gods. Not us. Well us too.
The gods moved into books. Who wrote the books?
We wrote the books. In whose dream, then are we dreaming?
Robert Kroetsch.
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