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
>>
>>
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