Pictures Speak 1000 Words

Pope's Bumrah Yorker talks a lot...

    There are many days when pictures speak a thousand words. And it’s usually on those days when cricket writers receive a call or message from their editors asking for an extra 400 words, up from 500 to 900 because, say, Jasprit Bumrah produced one of the great spells of Test match fast bowling on the subcontinent.

The photographs do far more justice to his inspired, bewitching and deadly bowling than words. At this stage of the evening it isn’t even worth attempting to compete. These are long days, made even more exhausting by the non-stop pace of play.

    Many hours of research and note-taking in preparation for the first Test in Hyderabad lie unused in my tour book, and more still will remain unused by the end of the Vishakapatnam Test. One day, perhaps, I will tell cricket listeners about Rajiv Ghandi’s late entry into politics and unlikely rise to Prime Minister. And that he was a pilot with Air India, and his politician brother died in an air-crash…never mind. The moment has passed, for now.

    There was so much to say about Visag, too, and the late rise to Test status of the State. In earlier decades, Test cricketers used to have mutually agreed sessions, albethey subliminally or subconsciously agreed, wherein they would allow the game to drift for a couple of hours, gently awaiting a lapse of concentration and a mistake. These were the times commentators might share their experiences and recently gleaned knowledge of the venue and environment.

Ben Stokes has brought an end to these passages of play. Ben Stokes has made the (radio) commentator’s job easier, provided they are happy not to drop below fourth gear, because there is barely a moment to relay the Visag coffee experience or the Nobel Prize-winning scientist currently working as the Hotel Concierge. No complaints from me. I’m hooked on Test cricket more than ever.

    Ollie Pope’s 196 last week was top-five in the innings I’ve seen, in over 350 Tests. So it’s both unfortunate and revealing that he should be the victim of one the best deliveries I’ve seen in that time. There were plenty of photos which captured the yorker, all good. That’s the benefit of auto-shutter, or whatever it’s called.

Proper photographers still sit in the hot sun for eight hours a day, but at least they can concentrate on the ‘money’ shots with their automated cameras behind the bowlers’ arm guaranteed to catch the ‘contract’ pics. (I fear I may be jabbed in the chest by Phil Brown tomorrow. Yes, Phil, you DO work longer and harder hours than I ever will…)

Many England supporters enjoy a beer while supporting their team. None is available in Indian Stadiums. But it didn’t take long for the more robust adventurers to find a local ‘beer shop’ close to the Vizag Stadium. They are, initially, intimidating places, caged with steel bars with only a hand-sized porthole to pay and receive a cold beer. But they are unfailingly fair and honest, and the beer is bitterly cold.   

(Talking of beers, my monthly subscription is less than one a month. But a near-full glass would still be greatly appreciated! :)