Wednesday 25 February 2009

MLK Day... No, better make that Groundhog Day

I had a dream, my friends, not a long dream, but a dream nonetheless, in which Ian Bell was no longer in the England team. I had a dream in which men were judged by the content of their character and not by their misleading average, I had a dream in which selectors viewed times of hardship as times of opportunity, where they put aside timidity and they put aside doubt and they gave willing young men their chance, they threw them in the fires of the crucible and said, 'here is your chance, we'll back you,' and when those young men fell down, they picked them up again and said, 'there, you're stronger now, because hardship makes you strong, so keep going because soon, you will make us stronger too'. I had a dream my friends, where we let go of the past and looked to the future, where we realised that some men never change, no matter how much we may want them to, and so we bid them farewell, with thanks and no hard feelings. I had a dream my friends...

Oh, woah, I must have nodded off there. Belly's coming back is he? Number six? Jolly good. He likes it there. Averages 47 you know. Imagine what he'd average at number eight - better watch yourself Broady! And Harmi, too. No Fred, you see, so we better have him. Nine wickets at 41 since KP brought him back. He's a stand-up guy, just needs the right kind of pitch. Like 2004. Remember 2004? Glorious. Best to play it safe. Khan, Bopara, Rashid.... untested, you know. And young. So young. At least we know what we're going to get from Bell and Harmi.

4 comments:

Brit said...

Well said, sir. Strange how we've gone from revolving door to old boy's club so quickly.

The Old Batsman said...

Inevitably, the selectors read this and immediately dropped Bell and Harmison...

Brit said...

And only about 10 games too late. You are obviously a cricket blogger of rare and powerful influence.

The Old Batsman said...

Arf. Yes I've found there's nothing that the selectors like more than hearing everyone's opinion and then trying to accommodate them.