The Twentysixth Post : Why I'm Leaving my bat out for Phillip Hughes.

Some people call me cold hearted while others accuse me of being unable (or unwilling) to connect with emotional issues on a personal level.

While both these accusations have some basis in merit I most often feel that they miss the point when I make a point of asking them why they feel so upset when someone with a certain amount of fame dies.

“Did you know them?” I ask when they tell me that such-and-such has died and how sad it is. “Did you meet them ... were you ever going to meet them?” If the answer to these questions is “No” I look them straight in the eye and ask them “Then why are you even upset about it?” I’d like to think that the silence that usually follows is due to them actually analyzing themselves and their overreaction to a situation they have no real connection to but, more likely, they are really thinking how on earth can this guy NOT care about it !!!

“My favourite actor just died and I’m distraught.” Why? The only connection you have to them is through their movies (which still exist exactly as they were before) so it’s not like you yourself have lost anything.

“My favourite singer has died. Isn’t it a tragedy?” For his friends and family- yes. For you, who had never spoken to him at all, no.

“A celebrity I admire has died. She was only young.  Isn’t  it a waste?” Again, terrible for her friends and family but if you're genuinely upset about some C list celeb with a loud mouth from a rubbish reality show you have invested too much in someone you have no association with , and that is the real waste in this situation.

“The head of a multinational company just died. How horrible.” No. That’s life. Sometimes it’s not fair and sometimes it’s not right. Tough. The absolutely terrible part of this is you thinking you are emotionally involved in this person’s life just because you own an I-pad.

you’re not. You’re delusional if you think you are. Don’t get upset about it.

A quick “Oh dear, what a pity. Never mind.” is all that required from you for the amount of emotional investment you had in someone who you didn't know, had never met, and were never going to meet. Anything more marks you out as a fool, at best, and some sort of emotional vampire/voyeur of misery at worst.

Having said that, the recent death of Phillip Hughes has caught me somewhat off guard and I found myself genuinely upset at his passing.

 

Here is someone I had never met, was highly unlikely to ever meet and didn't even have a vested interest in his playing career or development seeing as he played for a nation I don't live in anymore and haven't for over 20 years.

Why did this incident affect me more than any other?

How could I explain it without becoming a hypocrite?

There’s no doubt that I am more sensitive to cricket issues. It is my favourite sport and something I care for, and have more interest in, than most other things. But even as I struggle to keep my bias out of my reasoning I keep coming back to the thought that there is something special about cricket and the community that surrounds and is involved with it. Which I will attempt to explain later.

The modern cricketer is well padded and well protected to the point of resembling a warrior knight of yesteryears. Much like the armour of old chinks in the chainmail exist to allow movement and flexibility. The thrust and parry of swordsmen would seek out any weak links and target them to gain an advantage. Again, there is no difference in the modern cricket as bowlers will dish out “chin music” to batsmen whenever they seek to unsettle him and captains will often call orders for “one up in the ribs” to keep the batsman on his toes. Regardless of the amount of padding the batsmen wear there will always be fleshy parts left exposed that somehow, despite the best efforts of the batsman, will at some stage, end up sporting an impressive bruise.

Discomfort, pain and bruises are present companions of everyone who walks out to the middle with a bat in hand. More serious strains, sprains and even broken bones are present concerns for every cricketer from first class to club. Career ending injuries occur occasionally bringing the finite time available to play and enjoy the game to the fore of every player’s consciousness.

Life ending injuries are rare and are shocking because of their scarcity.

It’s not like it’s a sport where death is an obvious consequence of something going wrong like formula one or rallycross.

Pain may well be the cricket batsman permanent partner but death is the racing driver’s navigator.

Every single person who has ever played the game, whether batter or bowler, knows that there is some element of pain involved no matter where you stand in the batting line up. From the opening batsmen facing up to the fast bowler with the new, hard, ball to the last of the tail enders who don't know which end of the bat to hold, every single one of them knows that there is a small sphere of compressed cork wrapped in leather that is equal to five and a half ounces of pure pain about to be hurled directly toward them. They know they will have to stand there and defend themselves against it, and if they get hit, stand there and take it. Then, wait again for the next delivery, and take it again.

The only safe place for a batsman against this potential promise of pain stands 22 yards away at the non strikers end where your batting partner stands, offering you advice to get behind the line of the ball, tough it out, dig in and play for tea, while hoping to stay where he is, out of pains way.

If you are lucky enough to find a single and change ends with your partner you can rest assured that he will also be trying to get off strike as quickly and painlessly as possible too.

I can think of no other sport where this prospect of possible pain is repeated ad nauseam. Forcing a batsman to stand in front of three small sticks and defend them, and himself, with a slightly bigger stick while attempting to score runs for himself and his team is pretty unique. Even in baseball the strike zone is an imaginary box (judged by the home plate umpire) of which the batter stands to the side of, not in front of. And if the baseball batter does get hit he gains an automatic “walk” to 1st base and out of the firing line. In cricket, if there’s no run you stay where you are and get prepared to do it all over again. Without escape.

Goalkeepers in hockey may well have balls hit at them repeatedly, but they are always specialists in that position and only one member of the hockey team will ever field in goal. I expect that there is a certain amount of fraternity amongst hockey goal keepers. However, every member of a cricket team will have to bat at some point no matter how specialised they are at it. With every player able to sympathise with each other readily and easily as we don’t just feel team mates (and the oppositions) pain, we know the pain.

It is this challenge for the competent batsman and abject terror for the incompetent batsman that unites every single cricketer from every single country on earth in one big family. Everyone from Bradman to Tuffers, from batter to bowler, from 1 to 11. Everyone, from every fraternity in cricket (be it the “Brotherhood of Openers” to the “Fast Bowlers Union”) is part of the same family.

This lends cricket and cricketers to be more of a family,

And family is stronger than fraternity.

The shock of one of cricket’s family members being seriously hurt is disturbing enough. The death of a cricketer due to factors on the field of play is enough to leave one distraught.

The death of Phillip Hughes on the field of play came out of the blue through no fault of his own, no fault of the bowler, and through no fault of the game.

A terrible tragedy that has brought an end far too soon to a promising talent and a flourishing person.

The shock of the events reverberate through every member of the cricket family as we all come together to lend support to everyone affected while struggling to understand our own mortality and our place in the game that is bigger than all of us.

So, with all that said let me finish by saying... Phillip Hughes : I never met him, I was never going to meet him, but he was a member of my family ... and I leave my bat out for him.

 

The Twentyfifth Post : Ireland v. Scotland, Game Three, Match Report.

After having controlled the previous two games Ireland found the going a lot tougher today as the Scots continued to improve as the series progressed and claim an easy win in the last match of this three game series.

Chasing Ireland’s total of 241/9 which, despite containing a late flurry of runs still looked under par.

Cross went in the second over, caught on the fine leg boundary hooking a short one from Young, for 1.

The possibility of Young going through the Scottish like a dose of salts again must have loomed large in Scottish minds but Ireland had to wait 35.5 overs before their next wicket as Macleod and Gardner racked up the highest second wicket partnership in One Day Internationals. Their stand of 179 saw them take control of the run rate early and after the mandatory 10 over powerplay Scotland were 50/1.

An aggressive decision to take the batting powerplay immediately (instead of just leaving it to languish until being forced into using it late in the innings) kept the scoring rate consistent. After 15 overs Scotland were 72/1 (compared to Ireland’s 43/1 at the same stage) and in control.

Macleod consistently caught the Irish fielding on the back foot and picked up singles at will, nerdling around the infield and ‘drop and running’ as well as punishing the bad ball all the way to the boundary kept the scoreboard constantly moving. Both MacLeod and Gardner were on their way to centuries until the part time spin of Balbirnie claimed Gardner as his first O.D.I. wicket, caught behind, against the run of play for 89 off 98 balls.

Captain Mommsen joined MacLeod at the crease and saw MacLeod to his century off 128 balls and also saw Scotland home without further incident with 26 balls to spare.

At the start of the day play was delayed for 30 minutes due to dew and some wispy mist. Scotland won the toss for the first time this series and chose to field sending Ireland in to bat under cloudy skies.

Things didn't look good for the Scots as Balbirnie was dropped in the first over off an edge that was a difficult chance for keeper Matty Cross, but one that should've been taken. The miss didn't cost Scotland much as Sharif had Balbirnie L.B.W. to one that kept low a few overs later for 6.

Mommsen juggled the bowling constantly and succeeded in keeping Ireland's scoring rate low. By the time Haq came on to bowl in the 18th over Ireland had worked hard on their way to 49/1.

By the end of Haq’s first over Ireland were 50/3 with Thompson and Anderson back in the dressing room.

Haq was Scotland’s most successful bowler claiming his best figures in O.D.I.s ending with 5/ 54, none more impressive than a sharp caught and bowled as he parried a full blooded Sorensen drive to take it with bruised hands on the second attempt.

For the most part the Irish batting lacked staying power as batsmen played themselves in only to get out. Mooney was the one to stand up and be counted and scored his first half century in four years. He started watchfully and moved up the gears as the game progressed. He finally fell on 96 off the penultimate ball of the innings, caught at point going for the boundary that would give him a well deserved century. Coming in when Ireland’s score was 95/3 and leaving when he had guided them to 240/9 he was the one responsible for Ireland’s fighting total and a knowledgeable crown thanked him warmly for his contribution.

It was an inning in vain though as Scotland brought some long overdue composure to their performance and head home with a consolation victory to smile about despite losing the series two games to one.

 

You can see the published version on CricketEurope ... HERE.

The Twentyforth Post : Ireland v. Scotland, Game Two, Match Report.

Another sunny day, another Irish victory in this three match series against Scotland.

For the second time in this series the start of play was delayed by dew on the outfield but for the second time it didn't stop Ireland winning the toss, choosing to field, and wrapping up this game early. This time with 5.4 overs to spare with three wickets in hand.

It should not have been as close as it was as Ireland were cruising toward Scotland's sub par score of 221 before some lapses in concentration saw them lose wickets at unnecessary points. Both openers, Balbirnie and Anderson, getting in and making starts before both losing their wickets caught behind off the bowling of Davey.

Andrew Poynter was dropped on 8 as Wardlaw was slow to react to a skied hit at fine leg and couldn't buy a boundary for most of his 21 runs off 50 ball innings. He didn't need to while Kevin O’Brien was at the wicket with him. Their partnership of 68 was the best of the Irish innings with O’Brien looking unstoppable and in good touch. He carried over his form from the previous match to rack up another imperious half century and looked certain to steer Ireland home over the line again.
He brought up his 50 off 52 balls with a 4 off Ali Evans, bowling his best in a Scotland Shirt, and 50 partnership with Poynter of 60 balls.

It was only a great catch by wicketkeeper Matthew Cross of the bowling of Ali Evans, that managed to dislodge him for 67 off 65 balls but by then he had guided his nation to safety at 157/4 in the 31st over.

Ireland stuttered after the captains dismissal losing regular wickets as the Scots desperately squeezed what pressure they could out of the game but even losing three wickets for 29 runs couldn't shake Ireland off the scent of victory and they pass Scotland's total with 3 wickets in hand with 34 balls to spare.

Earlier in the day Max Sorensen and Craig Young played their own game of 'Wickets Tag' as they ran through the top order of the Scottish batting. Sorensen opened the bowling and looked fierce from the start showing the upstart, Craig Young, how it’s done. He had Matty Cross trapped L.B.W. for 4 with the third ball of the first over with one that stayed low. Young opened from the other end and Bowled MacLeod for 4 with his third delivery that was fast and full. The very next over Sorensen moved ahead as he bowled the Scottish Captain, Mommsen, off an inside edge for 3.

After three overs Scotland are 11/3 and reeling. Berrington was the next in and with Gardner set about righting the ship and stopping the flow of wickets. By the end of the 10 over powerplay they have dragged Scotland to 39/3 and showing signs of being able to push the score on.

Sorensen and Young continued to keep the bowling tight and its Sorensen who gets the next breakthrough claiming Gardner in the 11th over for 13 chasing a wide one and nicking to the keeper.

Berrington is the only Scottish batsman to survive the Max and Craig tag team rampage and his 101 not out of 126 balls  contains eight 4's and one 6 and is the only thing between being bundled out for another embarrassing score and setting the semi decent total of 221 that gave Scotland some hope of defending.

It was not enough though and Ireland take another well played for and well deserved victory. Ireland also the series with one game still to play on Friday.

p.s. in the end it was Max Sorensen who won the tag team challenge with his figures of 10 overs 4 wickets for 40 runs (his best in O.D.I for Ireland against Craig Young's effort of 10 overs 3 wickets for 39.

You can see the published version on CricketEurope ... HERE.

The Twentythird Post : Ireland v. Scotland, Game One, Match Report.

For the first time in a long time Ireland and Scotland face off against each other without any qualifying points or table position or playoffs for world cup places. This may lead you to think that the pressure is off or the intensity lessened and that a little relaxing game of cricket would play out today under the bright skies and warm sunshine and that everyone would have a jolly good time. 

The extra frisson of excitement with these games comes with the knowledge that there are still a few World Cup places on the line for players hoping to make it onto that plane. A good performance during this series could see them seal their ticket for that journey of a lifetime. 

Craig Young did his best to book his seat on that plane by taking five wickets for 46. The 8th best on debut in O.D.I and only the 2nd associate nation player to take five in a O.D.I. match (behind Codrington of Canada) 

After Ireland won the toss and chose to field they looked unusually scrappy at the start of the innings and watched Scotland set a good pace to be 51/1 after 10 overs. 

A change of ends for Young saw the first of his wickets come immediately. MacLeod caught at slip for 25. 

Gardner followed soon after, bowled through the gate for 10, before Young claimed the Scottish captain, Mommsen, for his third victim. After 15 overs Scotland were stalling and Ireland were applying the squeeze. The pressure drew some soft dismissals as the Scots struggled to rebuild. By the 26th over Scotland were 105/7, their innings in tatters. 

It was left to the normally big hitting Leask to restrain himself and make sure his bowlers had something to work with. Along with Sharif he puts together the best partnership of the Scottish innings, a 57 ball fifty.  

Young is brought back into the attack to break up the promising partnership and succeeds almost immediately by removing Sharif caught behind of a thin under edge for 18. 

Leask pushed on and brought up a chanceless 50 at a run a ball before the man of the moment deceives him with a slower ball bouncer that deflects off his gloves onto his chest before ballooning through to the keeper. 

Haq and Wardlaw fail to add any runs between them and Scotland were all out for 172 with 8.3 overs remaining unused. 

 
Ireland have bungled Scotland out so quickly and efficiently that Ireland must bat for 20 minutes before lunch can be taken. 

With no pressure on their openers, Anderson and Balbirnie, take things slow and play for lunch. Anderson falls to L.B.W. to Wardlaw before the lunch can be taken and Ireland walk off for a sandwich and frozen oranges with the score on 28/1 after 8 overs. 

 After lunch Mommsen juggled his bowlers with success coming via Davey claiming Andrew Poynter caught behind for 16 in the 15th over. Kevin O’Brien settles in to close out the innings with a minimum of fuss and gathers a quality half century along the way finishing not out with a run a ball 56, passing 2000 O.D.I runs along the way and another impressive Irish victory. 

The clouds gathered as the game drew to a close but the only Scotland felt the sudden chill. The Irish fans and players were too busy having a jolly good time in the sunshine. 

 The second game of the series takes place on Wednesday. 

You can see the published version on CricketEurope ... HERE.

 

The Twentysecond Post : Could Scotland Be A "NEW" New Zealand.

During a rain break in the Scotland v New Zealand “A” game recently the upcoming referendum on Scottish Independence had me thinking .... “ If independence is gained, could Scotland become a “NEW” New Zealand ?”

There are already many similarities the two countries share. Both have a history of English/British rule. Both countries share a similar look, lush green land due to high rainfalls and glorious countryside in their highlands and mountains (when irn bru needed to film a summer commercial in the depth of the scottish winter they searched the world for a place that most resembled Scotland in summertime ... and found it in New Zealand.) Both share a similar population figure (New Zealand around the 4 million mark with Scotland around 5 million).

Both countries are cold in the winter.

Some of the statements from friends over the last year regarding voting yes have been “How much worse could it be?” or “We couldn't make as big a shambles of running our own country as the English.” and even “ What's the worst that could happen?”

 

Things could easily get a lot worse than they are under a united Britain. It doesn't seem unreasonable to imagine that within a short space of time and following a few bad political decisions (or some good decision with unforeseen bad outcome) combined with a world credit crunch or a natural disaster, Scotland could find itself a failing economy forcing many of its inhabitants into poverty and economic shackles. The resulting brain drain as those who are able to escape with their career to a more economic rewarding country doesn't seem like that far fetched of a scenario leaving scotland a third world country economically and also intellectually.

As for not making a bigger shambles under our own watch, you only need to point out the spiraling cost and mis management of the scottish parliament during construction and the Edinburgh trams debacle could be two arguments against self rule.

 

More worringly is the answer to whats the worst that could happen ....something like this seems a little far fetched, so lets leave the doomsday scenarios aside for now. They already exist in the deep dark recesses of every thinking Scottish persons mind as it is.

 

Instead lets turn attention to a question of equal importance but is often overlooked in what may well turn out to be a vote of “FEAR” vs “HOPE” this referendum may well actually be.

 

“Whats the best that could happen if Scotland gains independence?”

Clearly, the best that could happen is that all people living in Scotland instantly become billionaires get to live in mansions with free heating and a non stop supply of whatever makes you happy.

But for a realistic view of what's the best that could happen if Scotland gained independance I would prefer to think that scotland could become a “NEW” New Zealand.

Before you scoff too loudly here are a few things that makes being a “NEW” New Zealand something to be hopeful of.

For all the jokes about New Zealand it has been one of the most progressive nations, dating back to before it was even a nation.

New Zealand was once governed as a part of the territory of New South Wales (later a part of Australia). When Australia federated in 1901, New Zealand was offered a place as one of their states. New Zealand refused and is its own country with no ties to Australia (other than trade and commonwealth). A forward thinking new zealand must have asked itself some question like Scotland is asking itself right now and drawn a proficitic conclusion.

An early choice to go it alone without the support or involvement of a bigger (both economically and population) neighbouring country could be something Scotland could look to for inspiration for a similar sized nation who may well be trying to go it alone sometime soon.

But even before the Kiwis refused Australias invitation to join in a union/assimilate N.Z.were a progressive nation.

 

In 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Compare that to Britain - 1918 and even then only to “women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities.”

or Australia - 1902  ... unless you were black. The right to vote in federal elections was denied to Aboriginal women who, together with Australian Aboriginal men, had been specifically excluded from the franchise in Australia by the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902. (Indigenous people in Australia had to wait until 1962 before the vote was afforded to them.)

Perhaps this progressive attitude of treating all people as equal despite their sex  is the reason why New Zealand is the only country in the world where all the highest positions have been simultaneously held by women: In 2006, the Queen, the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice were all women. A case of early forward thinking paying off there.

But even more recently N.Z. have been at the forefront of environmental issues. During my youth whenever there was a story of environmental awareness or protest it was always the Kiwis leading the charge. While the bombing of the greenpeace sea vessel “Rainbow Warrior” (most famous for agitating and getting in the way of french nuclear testing in the south pacific in the 1980s) was not a direct attack on New Zealand itself, the outrage of the new zealand people was reflected by the parliament and  New Zealand was forced out of the ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) alliance when it outlawed nuclear arms and power. To this day, there are no nuclear power stations in New Zealand, and a change of law would be required before one could be built.

With the pro independence Scottish National Party wanting nothing to do with anything nuclear, which the governing British government seems determined to push onto the whole U.K. (in the form of power stations/ trident submarines/ who knows what else), the hopes of emulating New Zealand are something to aspire to.

Even more recently New Zealand continue to push ahead with progressive attitudes and issues of inclusiveness and equality setting the trend for many others to follow.

In april 2013, New Zealand became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise gay marriage and the 13th in the world.

(Australia - not yet.)

Here Scotland is not far behind the ball. Scotland legalise gay marriage in February 2014 and received Royal Assent on 12 March 2014 around the same time as their counterparts in England/Wales - July 2013 and came into force on 13 March 2014, (even though everyone is a long way behind The Netherlands who were first in the world to treat all love as equal - 1st jan 2000)

However, Scotland have consistently been ahead of their English counterparts on many issues in recent years including the smoking ban indoors (introduced a full year before England adopted a watered down version) Scotland introduced a ban on fox hunting two years before England (Banned in Scotland in 2002. England and Wales  2004.)

Scotland is also more progressive and ecologically minded than its southern neighbours and wants to have 100% of its energy provided by renewable sources (wind power, wave power, hydro electricity) by the year 2020.

With a more center left outlook politically than gets represented in the Westminster government this trend of being more progressive looks set to continue for some time.

Perhaps Scotland could follow N.Z. progressive example and make sign language one of its official languages and aim to make it the official world language allowing every member of the planet to communicate with each other no matter what tongue they speak with ( New Zealand has three official languages: English, Māori and Sign Language, Scotland could have English, Gaelic and Sign Language.) or even race them to become the worlds first non smoking country.

 

Perhaps being the best country in the world is beyond Scotland (in the immediate future anyway) NZ was voted the world’s best country in 2007 and 2008 by Wanderlust magazine, but perhaps Scotland could, and should, aim to be the least corrupt nation in the world (N.Z. is tied with Denmark for this honour, according to the Corruptions Perception Index) while also ranking first on Forbs list of the ‘Best Countries for Business’, ("up from No. 2 last year, thanks to a transparent and stable business climate that encourages entrepreneurship. [New Zealand is the smallest economy in the top 10 at $162 billion, but it ranks first in four of the 11 metrics examined, including personal freedom and investor protection, as well as a lack of red tape and corruption"]).

 

And if Scotland manages to maintain as good a sense of humour as N.Z. has while doing all this (The logo for the Royal New Zealand Air Force is a kiwi- a flightless bird ...) it will indeed be a country to be proud of.

Mind you, the scots may have beaten the kiwis to a punchline on one occasion ... the official animal of Scotland is ... the unicorn !!!

And when all that is done, perhaps, one day, Scotland will be able to play cricket as well as new zealand does ...

New Zealand A visited Scottish shores in August to supplement Scotland’s meager international summer schedule and to give experience to many of its fringe players. With World Cup places up for grabs it was a near full strength New Zealand side that flew into town for three one day games (the only players guaranteed places on the team sheet missing were Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor).

While New Zealand languish near the bottom/mid of the world cricket rankings they are often an underrated team, especially in the one day format.

Nether the less Scotland would have had high hopes of competing with them and perhaps pulling of a victory in the three match series. And if Scotland had not been missing up to eight of their front line players for the series through county commitments or injury (including captain Kyle Coetzer and vice captain Preston Mommsen) perhaps things would have been different than the two match drubbing they received with the 3rd match abandoned due to persistent rain.

Mind you, for the first half of the first innings in the first game Scotland looked to have a grip on the game and an upset looked like a possibility with the kiwis on 5/139 in the 30th over. But the experience of the New Zealanders shone through the gloomy Ayr skies and  they refused to panic after the early inroads Scotland had made before launching into attack mode for the remain 20 overs of the match. They plundered over 200 runs of the remaining 20 overs for the loss of only 1 additional wicket to finish on 347/6 and remove any confidence the Scots had of competing in this game after all.

Centuries to Grant Elliot and B.J. Walting only tell a fraction of the story as Scotlands bowlers had nowhere to hide with only Majid Haq avoiding being carted all over the field.

In return Scotland looked like they were going to attempt to aggressively chase down the mammoth total but early wickets saw things fall apart at the seams and Scotland were bungled all out for a poultry 148, giving N.Z.”A” victory by 199 runs inside 33 overs.

Things didn't fair much better for the Scots in the 2nd match after New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. They started out scoring quickly, continued scoring quickly and finished scoring quickly too. Centuries from Bracewell, Elliot (again) and 98 from Rutherford set up a huge platform and although the Scots took 4 wickets in the closing overs the damage was already done and the kiwis had pummelled 369/6 out of the hapless bowlers.

Scotland batted better this time round and a composed 82 from Hamish Gardiner the highlight of their innings. A supportive 50 from Berrington kept hopes alive of Scotland getting close to the target but the Kiwi bowlers took regular wickets to keep any run chase in check. By the time Haq made a quality 54 the pressure was off and Scotland’s innings was wrapped up with 2.1 overs to spare and 97 runs short.

A rain interrupted third match was shortened to 29 overs per side. Having won the toss and choosing to bat New Zealand set about wasting no time in racking up another massive total. Scoring at more than 10 an over there was nowhere for the Scottish bowlers to hide and when another massive 6 brought rain down with it the game was abandoned. 45 minutes of play, 8.1 overs, 91 runs and another lesson in world class batting.

The rain had washed away any chance of a result in this last match but New Zealand had washed away any hopes that Scotland may have harboured of showing the world they can be the plucky upstart of world cricket, underdogs that can play better than the rest of the world expects and gives them credit for, especially from a nation with a small population.

A team that plays better than the sum of its parts.

 

A nation that will always rise to the challenge, never give up and always go down fighting, with pride. A nation of good conscious. Innovative and unafraid to push boundaries where others fail to tread. With an unrivalled sense of fair play, compassion and acceptance for all. To push for doing the right thing simply because its the right thing to do. A nation unafraid to stand up for itself and actually be its own nation in a world full of larger, more powerful nations.

New Zealand has been giving these lessons to the world for a long time already and now they have shown them to Scotland too.

One thing that has become clear during this cricket tour is that Scotland still have some way to go before they can be regarded as a new New Zealand... on the cricket field at least.

 

Who knows what the 19th of September will deliver to Scotland but hopes of emulating New Zealand on the world stage as an independent nation should be a challenge to rise to.

Assuming the referendum vote goes that way.

But considering that New Zealand has more Scottish pipe bands per capita than any other country in the world, perhaps its worth taking some time to think  very, very, carefully about becoming a “new“ New Zealand.

The Twentyfirst Post : What Would Moe Berg Say. Part Four.

It's been a while since I last blogged (a bit longer than I wanted or expected, but what can you do ... sometimes life gets in the way of plans working out, eh?) but just in case you have forgotten, around this time last year I was out in Canada enjoying a holiday with my family and attempting to gain an interview with my guitar hero Mr. Moe Berg from the amazing and awesome Canadian power pop band “The Pursuit of Happiness”.

 

I had sent off previous letters (check back over previous blogs here, here, and here for further details) and remained hopeful, but not overly optimistic, of gaining any kind of reply.

Imagine my delight when I see an email like this one pop into my inbox...

 

It was a little bit like this ...

I hesitated opening the email, savouring the feeling of having all the positive possibilities in the universe available to me before I opened it to find the one and only eventuality presented to me in all its crushing reality. Because, let’s face it, I’d done well to get this far. An actual response was what I set out as my most likely highlight from this whole prospect. The fact that the most likely response would be some sort of “Thanks, but no thanks” or “ I'd really like to meet but am just far too busy to schedule anything, have a great summer.” would be awesome enough but crushing to the slim hopes of a yes response.

While the email remained unopened all possibilities were possible.

This must be how Schrödinger felt before he opened his box to find his cat dead in it.

An atom of radioactive may have killed the cat but I was curious to find out what Moe Berg had said, so I opened the email and found out that sometimes cats survive, and that sometimes dreams also survive outside the box.

The email read:

 Hi Adam,

I'd be fine to sit down with you for an hour or so. I'm usually good in the afternoons and next week would be best. Let me know when you might be in Toronto proper and we can figure something out.

moe
 

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Is that the sound of all the best things in the world falling into place ... or is it the sound of my beating heart?

I fired off an email thanking him for his time and arranging where and when to meet. After a couple of false starts we settled on a time and place early in the coming week.  

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!! (Settle down Adamski. Keep it together. Don't blow your cool.)

The night before we were due to meet I spent a restless night worrying that I would muck this up and make a fool out of myself by being too fanboy or just not knowledgeable enough.

Restlessness let me to checking my emails at 2am, just to kill some time, to see an email recently arrived from Moe regrettable cancelling our meeting tomorrow. Can’t be helped, can't be changed.

(Sigh.)

I knew it was too good to be true.

He did propose meeting later in the week, same time same place, and asked if that would be ok with me.

I sent a reply back straight away saying that I understand that some things can't be helped and I’d be happy to fit into his schedule.  

Then I shut down the computer, turned off the light and held out little hope that Thursday would lead to meeting with a legend either.

Disappointment replaced excitement, and sleep came easy.

But I did continue to wonder what he would say.

 

Don’t know who Moe Berg is ... then check out this song from his band’s “The Pursuit of Happiness” fourth album (Where's the Bone) because, lets face it, "little things are so important, but big things don't matter much."