A Tale of Two Balls

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Cricket used to be a simple game. Former England captain Andrew Flintoff in trying to describe the game to American singer Jennifer Lopez during ‘The Graham Norton Show’ a few years ago said “Cricket lasts for five days; we break every now and then for food, and we spend a lot of time rubbing our balls on our trousers.”

The game however has come a long way from the picture Flintoff painted as most of the Test matches (especially played in subcontinent) end inside three days, players rather rub the balls on sandpapers and if you eat every now and then, you’d be dropped even if you are the best cricketer.

Last week Australian captain Pat Cummins made a gutsy call to declare their second innings on 227 for 3 giving Pakistan a target of 351 to chase down in the last four sessions of the match. When Pakistan finished the fourth day on 73 for no loss, Cummins was really feeling the heat for two reasons; one – he appeared to have given the series away to the hosts, two – this was the last thing the skipper needed following a massive outcry by a number of former Australian cricketers for his role in the sacking of former coach Justin Langer. Going into the fifth day, Cummins and co were desperate for the ball to get old in order to get some reverse swing for the quicks.

On the same day, meanwhile, West Indies fast bowlers were on song against hapless England, with the new ball reducing Joe Root’s men to 114 for 9, but as the ball got older batting became easy in Grenada and the last pair frustrated the Windies, batting for over 35 overs adding 90 runs.

While Cummins was waiting for the ball to get old in Lahore, Kraigg Brathwaite was desperate for a new ball in St. George’s.

Hooliganism has new face

While rugby is well and truly back in Sri Lanka, the inter-school rugby encounter between Trinity College and S. Thomas’ College brought about a new face for hooliganism.

There have been so many instances in which the male spectators have made attempts to assault referees successfully or unsuccessfully – which by the way is absolutely disgusting and has no place in the sports. But on Saturday the Sri Lankan rugby fraternity was presented with a new face of hooliganism when a woman, appearing to be a Trinity supporter, was seen whacking one of the match officials in the head as they were heading back to their room following the full-time whistle. What was more sickening was the smirk on her face as she was dragged back by men, illustrating the level of arrogance and idiocy.

While the Trinity boys, who had just had their hearts broken losing the Canon de Saram Trophy, made sure the Thomians – their fierce rivals – walked off to a guard of honour, the adults who were supposed to be setting the example abused and assaulted the referee. There are so many things wrong with this country.

Ukraine war and football

The war between Russia and Ukraine has impacted so many industries. Many believe that any military reactions from the West led by the USA would lead to World War III.

Therefore, Russia has now been sanctioned left, right and centre. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson sanctioned the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich for his previous connections with Vladimir Putin, freezing all Chelsea transactions which meant the club could not even sell tickets for their fans. Their FA Cup quarter-final clash with Middlesborough was only attended by 600 fans who had purchased tickets before the sanction. There were talks that the players themselves may have to contribute financially for the team's travel and the first team manager Thomas Tuchel claimed he would even drive a ‘seven-seater’ if it comes to that.

The irony is, as a result of the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, tens and thousands of Londoners who have nothing to do with it, were not allowed to just go and support their team.