As Subtle as a Sledgehammer!

Last Sunday had me playing a cricket match for i2 against Shaw Wallace. Their opening batsman was one Richard Rushton, a South African who sported the Castle Lager t-shirt. He hung on for most part of their innings like a true out-of-form South African. I tried to pick up some casual conversation with him during the drinks break. But all that I was able to elicit out of him were terse monosyllabic replies. I thought then that he was a typical supremacist South African white.

When my opening partner and I went into bat, we found that he was opening the bowling as well. He was a gentle medium-pace seam bowler. He dug in a short one to my opening partner, who prompted swatted him for a boundary through the vacant mid-wicket area. Let me tell you that my partner is an extremely unorthodox; he can get on your nerves with his complete lack of orthodoxy. Richard went up to him and intoned in disgust, "What the fuck was that?" with the emphasis on the enjoyable unparliamentary invective. My partner retorted something that made me guffaw out loudly; he snapped back, "That was a shot!" That reply, whatever it meant, gave me immense enjoyment; the South African was left to tear his hair! I, for my part, proceeded to needle him throughout the over in which he eventually went for 24 runs! The final ball of the over was a juicy half-volley which my pinch-hitting partner slammed straight back for a six. Rushton snatched his hat from the umpire and challenged my partner, "Let's see how you play my short ball! Let me see your backfoot play." to which my partner, a true Thakur, growled back, beaming like a proud lion, "Don’t worry, you won't get bowling!" Richard fumed his way to first slip.

The first ball of the second over was the icing on the cake. It was on the middle stump on a length, just angling in. I played an on-drive on the up, a check drive, left elbow high and all that; a shot that, I must admit, surprised even me. I turned back at Richard and gloated, "That is copybook cricket for you." For my gratuitous bragging, I was rewarded amply; I got out that very over! But we won the match easily and every new batsman was advised to get under the skin of Richard Rushton. After the match, Richard invited us for a round of beer, which we politely declined and instead simply sat round and, though among ourselves we were all a little irritated with this South African whom we thought to be a little too high-headed for his cricketing abilities, we flopped down into a haphazard circle for a light banter. A little friendly banter which simply put the entire of the match and my impressions of it in a different perspective. We asked a player from Shaw Wallace, "How is your company doing?" He candidly quipped, “The Company is looking to expand in India. Our past few ventures have been profitable. Our MD, Mr. Richard Rushton has been a dynamic leader!" And that was when all of us bit our tongues in an enviable togetherness!

- posted by Dileepan @ 6:55:00 am

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