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
>
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