A Bat And Ball Game
Country Life UK|November 20, 2019
A life-long cricket fanatic who finds the game a cruel mistress, James Fisher heads to the MCC Academy at Lord’s to brush up on his skills
A Bat And Ball Game

THE only thing I hate about cricket is that I am unfathomably bad at it. Reader, I am very, truly, Bambion-ice-skates awful. Cricket has often been described as a cruel game; those long hours in the field, getting out first ball, bowling for 15 overs for absolutely no reward—these are just a few of the many mental and physical horrors that can occur on the pitch.

However, for me, cricket’s greatest trick, its most cruel joke, is that I spend almost every waking hour reading, watching, listening to and playing the game—yet despite my intense passion, I am still terrible. Like the most deranged of scorned lovers, I keep coming back, knowing that the great willowand-leather scorpion is guaranteed to sting me in the face yet again. I don’t really bat, I can’t really bowl and my fielding is dubious at best. I can sledge, I suppose, but then it’s difficult for the batsmen to hear you when you’ve been stuck on the boundary to minimise the damage your ineptitude might inflict upon the scoreboard.

この記事は Country Life UK の November 20, 2019 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Country Life UK の November 20, 2019 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

COUNTRY LIFE UKのその他の記事すべて表示
Put some graphite in your pencil
Country Life UK

Put some graphite in your pencil

Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell

time-read
3 分  |
May 08, 2024
Dulce et decorum est
Country Life UK

Dulce et decorum est

Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday

time-read
4 分  |
May 08, 2024
Heaven is a place on earth
Country Life UK

Heaven is a place on earth

For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee

time-read
5 分  |
May 08, 2024
It's the plants, stupid
Country Life UK

It's the plants, stupid

I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.

time-read
3 分  |
May 08, 2024
Pretty as a picture
Country Life UK

Pretty as a picture

The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market

time-read
2 分  |
May 08, 2024
How golden was my valley
Country Life UK

How golden was my valley

These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale

time-read
7 分  |
May 08, 2024
The fire within
Country Life UK

The fire within

An occasionally deadly dinner-party addition, this perennial plant would become the first condiment produced by Heinz

time-read
3 分  |
May 15, 2024
Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good
Country Life UK

Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good

Its dainty white flowers add sunshine to the garden and countryside; it will withstand drought and create a sweet-scented lawn that never needs mowing. What's not to love about chamomile

time-read
4 分  |
May 15, 2024
All I need is the air that I breathe
Country Life UK

All I need is the air that I breathe

As the 250th anniversary of 'a new pure air' approaches, Cathryn Spence reflects on the 'furious free-thinker' and polymath who discovered oxygen

time-read
3 分  |
May 15, 2024
My art is in the garden
Country Life UK

My art is in the garden

Monet and Turner supplied the colours, Canaletto the structure and Klimt the patterns for the Boodles National Gallery garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

time-read
9 分  |
May 15, 2024