HAS THE CRICKET MATCH BEEN WON? NO NOT YET!!

HAS THE CRICKET MATCH BEEN WON? NOT YET!

 

The West Indian batsman shuffled across and met the ball slightly outside his offstump , the ball hurtling at about 90 mph, and thumped it past cover. Immaculate and perfectly timed. The cherry hugged mother earth, green as green grass can be, and raced to the fence. The four slips, a gully and the wicket keeper, waiting for that snick, along with the extra cover, just stood and watched. The moment was greeted with silence. Deafening silence. I felt sad.
The eleven men, the two batsmen and the two umpires, all in majestic white flannels and green cap, against a green top ground at Southampton, England, was playing cricket in all its majestic glory. Test cricket and not the short variety. The red cherry that defines real cricket. The English speedster, hurtling with nine men breathing down the neck of a young West Indian batsmen , the ball dug in hard and then moving away off the air or off the seam at 92 mph, the young batsmen, nonchalantly , going down on his knees and whipping it past mid-off , and as the cherry reaches the fence , met with silence. Empty stands. A beautiful stadium. All painted white and not a sole to watch this beautiful tussle. Mankind's response to assert itself but deeply wary of the pandemic.
Cricket returned, test cricket first, as it should be. No masks, thankfully. No attempt to stupidly enforce social distancing in the field. No saliva to shine the cherry though. But the rain and cold kept the wicket lively. The players must have missed the cheers and the accolades of their exploits. No one cheered the six-wicket haul of a young, tall and baby faced West Indian fast bowler, who also is captaining them. Other than his colleagues. He smiled instantly. None of the ferociousness of a Holding or a Roberts. But as effective and determined.
None of them had the casual fury and swagger of a Roberts or the solidity of a Boycott! But play they did! Both the Englishmen and the West Indians. No fear of the virus as is expected of courageous men and women. Poking a thump at corona, as it were.
A message to those who have withdrawn from living, succumbing to fear, unwilling to fight. From the field of cricket. I salute these twenty-two men and two. They are also warriors.

Has the cricket match of life been won. Not yet. We will. Corona can go to hell. Or anywhere else or even stay back. The red cherry and the men with it will take it head on. Have no doubt about it.