"I've often said: the only thing standing between me and greatness... is me."
~Woody Allen -(December 1, 1935- ) American actor, comedian and screenwriter.
It was a tough day in the field last Sunday.
So tough that even the thought of reliving it by having to write about it was enough to make me shudder. The day was not overly hot due to the fact that a merciful sea breeze swept Parkdale United’s home ground in Mordialloc.
Due to Strachany having to spend most of the weekend in Brisbane (ostensibly visiting family and friends), I was handed the captaincy reigns until Strachany arrived at the ground (direct from the airport). I was excited, scared and concerned all at the same time. It occurred to me very quickly that it is far easier to simply roll up and play as opposed to the hundreds of concerns that are the burden of the captain.
Would we have enough players to even make an eleven? The spring racing carnival and other upheavals had conspired to decimate our playing ranks. With a few ring ins and coaxing back the occasional lapsed Yarra saw us having eleven players with Strachany roping in a bloke to substitute for him until he arrived.
The idea was to bat if I won the toss, but looking at the pitch it looked like it was already crumbling and would take spin as the afternoon wore on, so after consulting Chips Pringle our veteran wily off spinner, I decided that if I won the toss I would bowl. As it transpired, I lost the toss by calling incorrectly and the Parkdale captain had no hesitation in electing to bat, so I was going to get my wish in any case.
I called the lads together ever so briefly and gave them the usual rev up before we field. It was short and to the point. I reminded the lads that one thing that we have been doing wonderfully well all season has been backing each other up in the field, with a lot of positive talk and no recriminations if anyone misfields or drops a catch. Pretty much word for word what Strachany would say, except due to the fact that batsmen were already waiting for us in the middle, much more succinct out of necessity.
I threw the ball to Cameron McKenzie-Smith to open the bowling downwind with Justin Southern to partner him. I then proceeded to set the field trying to put lads in their normal positions and try and keep things as normal as possible.
The first two overs passed with out much ado as both lads bowled a tight line. In the third over Cam dropped short, but the ball didn't get up as much as the batsman calculated it would and he miscued his pull shot which was skied in the direction of mid wicket where Rakish was located. After a few steps back with his gaze fixed skyward, the ball finally stuck in Rakish's hands much to our collective delight.
We got the early break through and I was relieved and delighted at the same time - this captaincy gig certainly has more to it than I had considered prior to Sunday. After six or seven overs (I honestly cannot remember exactly how many) I saw Strachany arrive on his scooter in style like the Fonz. I was bouyed by the sight of our captain, though to be fair, Chips Pringle - a man with extensive captaincy experience - was assisting admirably with field placings and encouragement. Soon enough Strachany was on the field and his usual chirpy self heading the cheer leading from cover.
Soon enough a game turning moment was thrust before me in the shape of a thick edge off the bat of the Parkdale opening batsman Christos Pappas as he attempted to cut a ball too close to him. The ball was literally fizzing through the air as it flew about a meter off the ground and wide to my left. I instinctively launched myself in a goal keeper type of dive and while in mid air and horizontal to the ground, I managed to get both hands to the fast moving ball and in an instant I thought to myself "got it" as the ball stuck in my clasped hands only for gravity to bring me crashing to the turf where the ball was dislodged from my grip when my left elbow jarred upon connecting with the ground.
I was really upset to state the bleedingly obvious. While none of my team mates would have thought anything of it - it would have been a blinder of a catch if I held it - I was disappointed due the fact that I have specifically been practicing taking "impossible" diving catches at training by throwing myself around diving hither and thither and taking eight or nine out of ten of the chances that come my way at training. To drop this catch when it had "stuck" in my hands was galling. It became even more galling as the afternoon wore on as Pappas proceeded to hang around like a Geoff Boycott or Chris Tavare. Barely playing a shot, rarely scoring a run, but a vital cornerstone around which the other Parkdale batsmen rallied around and created partnerships which steadily built the score as the day wore on.
Wickets were hard to come by and the score kept mounting when I dropped yet another catch - this one later in the day when the score was already beyond 200 when one of the Parkdale batsmen played a thumping hook shot off the middle of his bat which flew to me flat at a rapid rate of knots and I simply lost sight of it...not getting a look at the ball until it was too late and I didn't even get a hand to it as it bounced off my stomach just to the right of my belly button. Six inches higher and I would now be nursing broken ribs. Six inches lower and the chances of their being any future descendants of Victor James Nicholas would be remote. The only good thing that came out of it was that my stomach stopped a certain boundary.
Somewhere around this time I was involved in the play of the season so far, though I did not see any of it. Let me explain how and why. The left handed Parkdale batsman played a thunderous cut shot that was flying along the ground and seemingly destined to pass me by about two meters and career to the boundary as there was nobody behind me in my position stationed at deep point.
I launched into a desperate dive to my left and I just managed to get enough of my out stretched left hand onto the ball to parry it towards cover. The batsmen thinking that it was surely going to be four runs until my intervention, then hesitatingly set off on single to salvage something out of this fine shot.
After I got my hand on the ball, I naturally crashed to the turf and hit my head so I did not see what happened next. When I deflected the ball it ran away to cover and straight into the path of Strachany who - as ever - was alert to the situation and scooped up the ball and threw it inch perfect to our keeper Timmy Miller who whipped off the bails to run out the obdurate Pappas. Christos Pappas marathon innings of 52 stretched out over about sixty five overs of painstaking but effective batting.
While all this commotion was going on, I was laying on the ground in the starfish formation staring skywards but in a daze and seeing stars when only clouds were overhead. My first inkling that something had happened was when I heard excited whoops of joy and Strachany walking towards me to see if I was OK...I saw our boys in a huddle and the Parkdale batsman starting to troop off. Strachany's huge smile told me that something miraculous had happened and his "well done mate" confirmed it all.
I really wish at times like this that someone was filming our game with a handy-cam - but my teammates vivid narrative of what happened was just as illuminating as any action replay could ever be.
After what seemed like forever, the day drew to a close when we completed the seventy sixth - and last - over of the day with Parkdales score finally resting on 8 for 251. It was a tough day all round and as we trudged off, I knew that we would have a huge task ahead of us next Sunday in order to come away with the win. We would have to bat out of our skins to make the 252 necessary to win.
The key to the Parkdale score was a number of partnerships and about four batsmen making decent scores - that is exactly what we have to do.
I hope when I next write to you, it will be with the news that we have won.
Here's hoping!
Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA
~Woody Allen -(December 1, 1935- ) American actor, comedian and screenwriter.
It was a tough day in the field last Sunday.
So tough that even the thought of reliving it by having to write about it was enough to make me shudder. The day was not overly hot due to the fact that a merciful sea breeze swept Parkdale United’s home ground in Mordialloc.
Due to Strachany having to spend most of the weekend in Brisbane (ostensibly visiting family and friends), I was handed the captaincy reigns until Strachany arrived at the ground (direct from the airport). I was excited, scared and concerned all at the same time. It occurred to me very quickly that it is far easier to simply roll up and play as opposed to the hundreds of concerns that are the burden of the captain.
Would we have enough players to even make an eleven? The spring racing carnival and other upheavals had conspired to decimate our playing ranks. With a few ring ins and coaxing back the occasional lapsed Yarra saw us having eleven players with Strachany roping in a bloke to substitute for him until he arrived.
The idea was to bat if I won the toss, but looking at the pitch it looked like it was already crumbling and would take spin as the afternoon wore on, so after consulting Chips Pringle our veteran wily off spinner, I decided that if I won the toss I would bowl. As it transpired, I lost the toss by calling incorrectly and the Parkdale captain had no hesitation in electing to bat, so I was going to get my wish in any case.
I called the lads together ever so briefly and gave them the usual rev up before we field. It was short and to the point. I reminded the lads that one thing that we have been doing wonderfully well all season has been backing each other up in the field, with a lot of positive talk and no recriminations if anyone misfields or drops a catch. Pretty much word for word what Strachany would say, except due to the fact that batsmen were already waiting for us in the middle, much more succinct out of necessity.
I threw the ball to Cameron McKenzie-Smith to open the bowling downwind with Justin Southern to partner him. I then proceeded to set the field trying to put lads in their normal positions and try and keep things as normal as possible.
The first two overs passed with out much ado as both lads bowled a tight line. In the third over Cam dropped short, but the ball didn't get up as much as the batsman calculated it would and he miscued his pull shot which was skied in the direction of mid wicket where Rakish was located. After a few steps back with his gaze fixed skyward, the ball finally stuck in Rakish's hands much to our collective delight.
We got the early break through and I was relieved and delighted at the same time - this captaincy gig certainly has more to it than I had considered prior to Sunday. After six or seven overs (I honestly cannot remember exactly how many) I saw Strachany arrive on his scooter in style like the Fonz. I was bouyed by the sight of our captain, though to be fair, Chips Pringle - a man with extensive captaincy experience - was assisting admirably with field placings and encouragement. Soon enough Strachany was on the field and his usual chirpy self heading the cheer leading from cover.
Soon enough a game turning moment was thrust before me in the shape of a thick edge off the bat of the Parkdale opening batsman Christos Pappas as he attempted to cut a ball too close to him. The ball was literally fizzing through the air as it flew about a meter off the ground and wide to my left. I instinctively launched myself in a goal keeper type of dive and while in mid air and horizontal to the ground, I managed to get both hands to the fast moving ball and in an instant I thought to myself "got it" as the ball stuck in my clasped hands only for gravity to bring me crashing to the turf where the ball was dislodged from my grip when my left elbow jarred upon connecting with the ground.
I was really upset to state the bleedingly obvious. While none of my team mates would have thought anything of it - it would have been a blinder of a catch if I held it - I was disappointed due the fact that I have specifically been practicing taking "impossible" diving catches at training by throwing myself around diving hither and thither and taking eight or nine out of ten of the chances that come my way at training. To drop this catch when it had "stuck" in my hands was galling. It became even more galling as the afternoon wore on as Pappas proceeded to hang around like a Geoff Boycott or Chris Tavare. Barely playing a shot, rarely scoring a run, but a vital cornerstone around which the other Parkdale batsmen rallied around and created partnerships which steadily built the score as the day wore on.
Wickets were hard to come by and the score kept mounting when I dropped yet another catch - this one later in the day when the score was already beyond 200 when one of the Parkdale batsmen played a thumping hook shot off the middle of his bat which flew to me flat at a rapid rate of knots and I simply lost sight of it...not getting a look at the ball until it was too late and I didn't even get a hand to it as it bounced off my stomach just to the right of my belly button. Six inches higher and I would now be nursing broken ribs. Six inches lower and the chances of their being any future descendants of Victor James Nicholas would be remote. The only good thing that came out of it was that my stomach stopped a certain boundary.
Somewhere around this time I was involved in the play of the season so far, though I did not see any of it. Let me explain how and why. The left handed Parkdale batsman played a thunderous cut shot that was flying along the ground and seemingly destined to pass me by about two meters and career to the boundary as there was nobody behind me in my position stationed at deep point.
I launched into a desperate dive to my left and I just managed to get enough of my out stretched left hand onto the ball to parry it towards cover. The batsmen thinking that it was surely going to be four runs until my intervention, then hesitatingly set off on single to salvage something out of this fine shot.
After I got my hand on the ball, I naturally crashed to the turf and hit my head so I did not see what happened next. When I deflected the ball it ran away to cover and straight into the path of Strachany who - as ever - was alert to the situation and scooped up the ball and threw it inch perfect to our keeper Timmy Miller who whipped off the bails to run out the obdurate Pappas. Christos Pappas marathon innings of 52 stretched out over about sixty five overs of painstaking but effective batting.
While all this commotion was going on, I was laying on the ground in the starfish formation staring skywards but in a daze and seeing stars when only clouds were overhead. My first inkling that something had happened was when I heard excited whoops of joy and Strachany walking towards me to see if I was OK...I saw our boys in a huddle and the Parkdale batsman starting to troop off. Strachany's huge smile told me that something miraculous had happened and his "well done mate" confirmed it all.
I really wish at times like this that someone was filming our game with a handy-cam - but my teammates vivid narrative of what happened was just as illuminating as any action replay could ever be.
After what seemed like forever, the day drew to a close when we completed the seventy sixth - and last - over of the day with Parkdales score finally resting on 8 for 251. It was a tough day all round and as we trudged off, I knew that we would have a huge task ahead of us next Sunday in order to come away with the win. We would have to bat out of our skins to make the 252 necessary to win.
The key to the Parkdale score was a number of partnerships and about four batsmen making decent scores - that is exactly what we have to do.
I hope when I next write to you, it will be with the news that we have won.
Here's hoping!
Vic Nicholas
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA
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