Making the same impact as Julia Roberts' underarm (19 May 1999)
What is the most terrifying experience an amateur cricketer can have
19-May-1999
19 May 1999
Making the same impact as Julia Roberts' underarm
Tim Rice
What is the most terrifying experience an amateur cricketer can have?
Facing the pace of Courtney Walsh when your batsmanship is scarcely
capable of dealing with that of Courtney Love? Not quite, although
many have told me that my trembling description of a short stretch in
the nets up against the great West Indian last week was among my
finest contributions to sporting literature, though not quite up to
the standard required for this column. In fact, it was written by a
rival Tim Rice.
Far more harrowing than having 5.5 ounces of hard leather (and how
sad it is to see this majestic Imperial weight traduced as 155.9
grams in the Laws of Cricket as per Wisden) flashing past your
temple, is the challenge that meets so many cricketers, indeed all
sportsmen - the after-dinner speech. Personally, it is as a listener
that I tend to suffer most, but for many finely-tuned athletes it is
having to be the deliverer that brings out the cold sweat.
As the average county cricketer's benefit season is now a complex and
long-running affair, many a stylish batsman or penetrating bowler has
to sing for his supper much more often than he would like. Once up on
his feet he may well find that his style and penetration on the field
are of little use to him.
On the other hand, he may not. Plenty of top players have delivered
the goods at the Grosvenor House or Hilton with a panache that
matches their playing achievements, or even exceeds them in some
cases. I come to praise M C J Nicholas' after-dinner turn, not to
bury his fine career statistics when I say that he is but one that
falls into the latter category.
However, by and large it is probably true to say that the best
cricket speakers have been those who will never appear in The
Cricketers Who's Who. This tradition goes back a long way - notably
to J M Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan and founder of the
Allahakbarries CC. His team (whose name, roughly translated from the
Moorish, means 'God help us') was founded in 1893 and early sides
consisted primarily of writers and artists. Sir James' love of the
game was on an heroic scale, but there was never any danger of him
being better known for it than he was for his writing.
Barrie gave many speeches welcoming touring teams to this land,
notably the great Australian sides of the Twenties and Thirties. In
1930 he explained his alleged bewilderment at being selected to do so
by the fact that his host wanted "a left-handed speaker". He would
speak warmly about every player, stating at the end that he "just
wanted to run through the side".
The World Cup was got off to a somewhat underwhelming start by a
speech from Tony Blair, whose enthusiasm for Lord's has hitherto been
on a par with his enthusiasm for the House of Lords. However, as
Tony's predecessor, a lover of cricket sans pareil, told a packed
house welcoming the Sri Lankans at Northamptonshire's County Ground
last week, if England win the World Cup, there will be no greater
cricket-lover in the country than the Prime Minister.
John Major is not the only current Conservative MP to have shone
while addressing a cricketing gathering. Michael Ancram, the party's
chairman, stunned a Lord's Taverners luncheon recently with a grasp
of the essentials and his guitar. He even sang a duet with your
columnist, appropriately a song made famous by The Crickets. Only
Julia Roberts' underarm has made similar impact in all-male circles
this season.
One of the best cricket speeches I heard recently was in Los Angeles,
delivered by that distinguished goalkeeper of the Old Wilsonians' 7th
XI, Bob 'The Cat' Bevan, at another Lord's Taverners outing. Whether
all the Californians present latched onto his references to Nicholas
Parsons playing down the wrong line, or to his definition of an
optimist as an England batsman with sunscreen I cannot say; but they
appreciated his tale of the nervous after-dinner speaker who told his
host that he had trouble in public with his "Fs," "Ts" and "Hs".
"So you can't say fairer than that."
Even the best speakers worry beforehand, toying nervously with their
lines. One night the audience will be rolling in the aisles, the next
night the same speech dies a thousand deaths.
But panic attacks, as long as the good shows outnumber the bad, are a
small price to pay for the privilege of being accepted, at least
after hours, into cricket's magic circle. Certainly less frightening
than facing Courtney Walsh.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)