Shining the ball
Sir: There must be a great many cricket spectators besides me who would like to know just why a bowler chooses his groin, of all places, as appropriate spot for
aubbing-ii on the bab-Efiftft
delivering it. Surely there must be a less, shall we say, erogenous zone in the human anatomy which could be used quite as effectively for the purpose of imparting lustre to the leather.
The 'ITV cameramen tend to dwell on the zoom frontal shot of each bowler indulging in this vigorous inguinal exercise and watchers of the England-Australia series on television have been treated to endless close-ups of one fast bowler polishing furiously with both hands while leisurely walk
ing the forty paces to his starting mark.
To any spectator, unaware that a player was actually holding a cricket ball in his hands, the bur
nishing performance might be alarmingly misconstrued! Would not the laws of cricket
permit the bowler to use a special cloth for this ball-buffing ritual
and so eliminate gestures that are embarrassing, monotonous and to some people inexplicable? An American visitor watching
these antics enigmatically asked me if the phrase Test Play wasn't
some sort of abbreviation!
Mark GO ulden
Director, W. H. Allen & Co Ltd, 43 Essex Street, London WC2
Previous page
