A Cricketing Tale

He looked determined, ready to prove himself. He had beat me the previous delivery with a ball that came in sharply. He was short in stature, and was using that to his advantage by skidding the ball.

He started his run-up, expertly hiding the ball in his hand, glided to the crease and tried to reach escape velocity as he jumped to deliver the ball. He landed hard, and the ball left his hand with the seam scrambled.

It headed towards the leg stump, and I attempted a flick. The ball beat me for pace and I heard the timber shattering. The leg stump lay uprooted.

The bowler howled in delight and started his customary dance on claiming any wicket. I rearranged the stumps and as he finished his dance, I picked the ball and threw it back to him, pointing to him the start of the run-up. He dejectedly walked back, and I marked my guard once again.

Being an elder brother sure had its advantages.

I write about …

17 Responses to “A Cricketing Tale”

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1 Karan February 7, 2011 at 11:41 am

Haha 😀
- 2 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:08 pm
  
  🙂
3 Rakesh February 7, 2011 at 11:48 am

Awesome ! These things used to happen so regularly, alas I was always at the receiving end 😦
- 4 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:13 pm
  
  We should make a league of the younger brothers 🙂
5 Aniket February 7, 2011 at 11:51 am

Haha, yeah this is a pretty common occurance 🙂
- 6 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:14 pm
  
  This, and the guy who owns the bat! He also can bat till he wants.
7 mythalez February 7, 2011 at 2:46 pm

lol …. painful childhood memories? 😛
- 8 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:15 pm
  
  Nah.. My elder brother was cool 🙂 He would let me bat, if I could ever get him out – which was very rare 😛
9 Himank February 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm

Ha ha 🙂 Awesome.. Like it 😀
- 10 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:15 pm
  
  Thanks!
11 mythalez February 7, 2011 at 6:52 pm

and for a moment, i had thought you were narrating about WC Grace 🙂
- 12 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 12:18 pm
  
  The bowler did bowl gracefully, but then WC Grace was a batsman!
  - 13 mythalez February 9, 2011 at 5:23 pm
    
    lol, no no, wasn’t there a reported incident in a local match, where some bowler bowled Sir Grace, but Grace coolly replaced the bails and got ready to face again. When confronted by the bowler, Grace told him something on the lines – all the crowd here is not to see you bowl but to see me bat
    😀
    - 14 Kunal February 9, 2011 at 5:27 pm
      
      I think you are right.. Now even I remember that incident 🙂
      
      Although, my inspiration was the elder brother playing cricket with a bunch of young kids in my apartment building.
15 Sangfroid March 4, 2011 at 12:51 pm

Nicely done! The big brother or the bully have their own set of rules in every aisle in India.

I remember this one quite distinctly – If you’re out on the 1st ball you face, you could always say it was a ‘Try Ball’ 😀
- 16 Kunal March 4, 2011 at 3:37 pm
  
  I’ve used/abused that try-ball rule scores of times 😀