As I type, it looks as though England might yet win another sporting contest. This time, it is in a one-day international cricket series against the Australians. The Aussies have dominated cricket in all its various forms for a seriously long time and there are very good reasons as to why this is so. One of them lies in their excellent cricketing infrastructure which means that they are able to chuck out sensational players with monotonous regularity. But only a few ever reach the heights of Shane. The quixotic, mercurial and inspirational Shane Warne. Pain in the ass, bad boy Shane. Articulate, passionate and probably the best bowler the world has ever seen. A flawed individual, he’s instantly recognisable – spawning a generation of spin bowlers with blond highlights – and it’s that flawed humanity that makes him so appealing. You can’t help but bond with a guy who’s struggled with his weight and got banned from the game because he took a diuretic women take to deal with pre-menstrual bloat (on the advice of his mother). Yup, he’s not exactly faithful – in fact you could probably say he’s a skirt chaser – but I am personally long since thinking that this is a crime. I don’t go out with men like that, but equally I’m not hung up on sexual fidelity either.
So here’s to you Shane, you glorious creature you: one team, one dream, nothing is impossible.
2 comments:
Well, in spite of having a very reliable sports filter, I could understand certain parts of this (like diuretic and Australia) na, j/k, now, it seems to me that when I was in Pompey, times had changed so that instead of many young boys being out playing cricket all through the summer, now it's just the Pakistani boys. And the same is true here. Imagine how astonished I was to see boys out playing cricket, and here they do it year round, but again, and perhaps more understandably here, only Indian and Pakistani lads.
I look forward to Sleepy's comments. She's a big cricket fan. :-P
Ye bluddy gods...
Post a Comment