White Supremacy

Spotting the red ball against a busy and colorful background is tricky business as cricketers and cricket watchers know too well. As March 2010 dawns on us, we are about to realize that we are going to lose sight of it soon. The background is on the verge of turning awfully busy, even garish at times, making it all but impossible to spot. In reality, most of the red cherries have already been packed up and mothballed away right now.

Oh, for one more Welshman in Cardiff… (Cricinfo)

Published in Cricinfo, July 2009

As all those rugby loving Welshmen in Cardiff last week, perplexed by the unexpected opening act of an age old tradition of the island watched their city taken over by cricket, a lad from nearby Morriston, Swansea in Wales was the one who was so poignantly missing out there on the fresh turf of Sophia Gardens. Cardiff, as a choice for the first Ashes Test of 2009 was a tough pill to swallow for the more traditional venues, especially out in Manchester, but it would have been poetic if – Freddie aside – my favourite bowler from the previous edition of the Ashes of 2005 had lined up for the national anthems on July 8th, 2009, before the horns were locked.