Lawry's Lives
I dislike December. I dislike cold Weather. .I dislike getting up, at 6 a.m. I dislike Monday morning. But to get up at 6 a.m. (tea-time in. Australia) on a cold December Monday morning to find that Bill Lawry is still batting is too much. Twenty-five minutes later and Lawry was taken at the wicket by Parks for 166. Probably Parks caught him off the seventh ball of the match on the Friday for 0. If he did not then he and the MCC close fielders should be acting at the Old Vic. Lawry of course stood firm. He always does, and he is entitled to. But at 166 he 'walked' as soon as he touched the ball. And as Cross- bencher used to write--for why?' Either because he has suddenly changed his spots, or because he was admitting that the first life was enough. The second, 1 think.
Of course the ball may have come off pad or rump rather than bat, but if Lawry had gone in the first over all sorts of things might have gone' right for the MCC. It seems odd that an innings and perhaps a test match and perhaps the Ashes could depend on an umpire being unsighted. I wonder if one day we'll find a more scientific way of settling the arguments. Many sports have done so, but I expect cricket will stay as it is. On balance I prefer the uncertainty.
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