PICK YOURSELF UP

by Desmond Kelly

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off & start all over again”. Phrases, hardly used nowadays, “tell the story” so very well. I direct this one to “Australian Cricket”. For so many years, Australia “ruled the roost” as far as cricket was concerned. The Aussie “elevens” were condidered almost impossible to beat, and it didn’t really matter as to whether they were “Test-matches”,
O.D.I’s, or the big-bash 20/20 matches they played.

Then, as I have written before, Aussie Cricket Teams, with the possible exception of the Womens’ Cricket Team, seemed to “lose it”. The Gentleman’s Game, as it truly was, in the Bradman/Benaud eras was gone. The “latter” teams, while also very good, began to think that they HAD to win every game they played. If perchance they were winning a match, it was quite noticible that they were totally relaxed, smiled dinkum Aussie smiles & went on, more often than not, to win their games, bringing them quickly onto the top rung of the cricket-ladder, BUT, if it looked like the opposing side was getting the better of them, things began to rapidly change.

If the opposing team was batting, the “eyes” of the Aussie bowlers seemed to suddenly become very Asian-like, turning into “slits” of paranoic panic. If one of them was hit for a six, silent epithets were voiced as the bowler went back to get ready to send down his next ball. If I was the unlucky batsman to have hit the last six, I would have used both my”rounded” eyes to plead for mercy, because it was impossible to “kneel” with cricket pads on. “DOWN” would come the ball, so bloody fast, ducking & kissing the ground would have been the only way to avoid it.

If the opposing team was bowling the Aussie batsmen out at a rate of knots(whatever it was),the umpires’ index-fingers would have to get very tired indeed, before an Aussie batsman “walked” They simply did not want to “get-out”. I am certainly not picking on the Australian Team only, after all, it was Harold Larwood of England who started the rot with his bodyline bowling. Anyway, Aussie bowler Trevor Chappell, under orders from Aussie Captain, Greg., did the opposite, bowling “underarm” to the No10 New Zealand batsman to prevent him hitting a “six” & winning the match.!(see what I mean? ), wanting to win the match, at any cost. Too bloody bad they were not playing England, at the time, says I.

Cricket Captains come & go, as they must. Coming back to reality, the Australian Team is, at present, not doing too well against India, but, Steve Smith, our present Captain has matured remarkably from a boyish Cricket-Star, to lead a team that, in my own opinion, IS still the best in the World. He has “led” well, & my only advice to him now would be “Steve, pick yourself & the team up, dust yourselves off & start all over again. If anyone can do it, you can.

Desmond Kelly.
Star of eLanka.