NO PROMISES. CRICKET DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY

January 24, 2019. This weekend I received some rather flattering feedback from local club cricketers and spectators. It certainly made the many hours melting in the sun a whole lot more worthwhile. On a high, of sorts, I would later come across a tweet posted by a cricket writer I admire offering to critique a piece of writing. I sent away last week’s T20 report that, I am told, made its way around Howick and Pakuranga.

I woke up on Monday morning to a lengthy direct message with excerpts of text as well as feedback. My piece – not a piece, more like a brief look at 240 balls – had had the guts ripped out of it and for the next hour, so had I. Throughout the morning, I would think about what it all meant. When few people are willing to offer direct feedback, I knew there was only one way to take it. Did I want to keep writing shopping list match reports? Or do I want to find what interests me and say that?

So, for the next little while, please bear with me. I’m changing my game. Or at least, attempting to. I’m putting some shots away in hope of honing some others. What better time to start anew than the week after attending eight games of cricket – six Premier club matches, one domestic T20 and a SuperSmash Final. Here goes.

The Pearl Dawson (and T20 championship) double-header festivals are fun. Six teams. Three early games. Three late games. The cricket has flair and there is a distinct funkiness to it all. Don’t be fooled though; there are also rough rides and tough tides. Teams applauded each other off the field. One can never be reminded enough that this is merely a game.

When I arrived at the ground, I had planned to write about the Unitak and Howick Pakuranga game. In writing it up, I may have formerly written that the match promised this or that. There was a reason for that; Howick Pakuranga have a stack of young representative players. Unitak, however, have established domestic stars at their disposal.

Unitak were too strong. The difference in experience was glaringly apparent from the outset. Sam Curtis tinkered with her field-sets and Howick Pakuranga were bogged down by disciplined bowling on a tired wicket. Old wickets do not promote positive cricket. Low and slow wickets promote a slog-fest while the ball is hard and that is exactly what Unitak did in their chase of 76. It would be amiss to label the chase that way; there wasn’t much risk in the stroke-play.

Curtis bowled unplayable leg-spin on pitches that were turning too much. Off-spinner Anna Peterson would pick up wickets with her first ball in both matches. Did Curtis take any wickets? No, because that is often how cricket works. You don’t always get what you deserve. Sport, I am told, promises nothing; it doesn’t work that way.

Did you see that catch? Players from adjacent grounds asked each other about Anlo van Deventer’s one-handed screamer diving to her left at cover. A break between deliveries meant most at the ground were fortunate enough to witness Te Atatu Park’s catch of the day. TWD’s amateur cameraman had his equipment pointed elsewhere.

Later rumours surfaced of a team having a piñata. It’s not every day you see a piñata at a cricket ground. Based on noticeable sombreros from a distance, I don’t doubt it. Players donned fun socks. An early finish to the Unitak / Howick Pakuranga match had players seek sanctuary from the sun in the clubhouse to watch a WBBL semi-final on a television that had case of the flickers. There the players would do some learning of their own.