Exciting news over at Duneditin 2009.
Well I never. I've just heard that I've been retained to be the official Chief Pitch Adviser at the France v England cricket match, to be played at the Lille Metropole stadium in the summer of 2012.
Regular followers of the great game will remember that it has been some time since France played England - in fact, the last game happened in 1900 (England were the winners by 158 runs), when cricket was an Olympic sport (and let us all hope that it will some day return to the Olympics). Prior to that, there were a few games played in France, but in 1789 an important scheduled match between the MCC and a Louis XVI XI was delayed, not due to rain, but due to revolution. I say - the sans culottes could have planned things a bit better, don't you think?
The current France team is lead by that well-known frenchman Waseem Bhatti, whose vice-captain is Arun Ayyavooraju. With a name like that, obviously a Parisian.
I'm sure that it won't be long before the sound of leather on willow will be heard all over France.
In some quarters, so I understand, it is claimed that Frenchie invented the great game. And that the very name cricket originated from the word criquet, which means stile or wooden gate. Sacre bleu! That cannot be correct. Have I not already shown that cricket was popular amongst the Ancient Romans, and almost certainly even a long time before that, when it was popular amongst the neolithic Orkadians? A theory I hope to prove sometime in the not too distant future is that the game was played on a regular basis by the Ancient Egyptians, and that the pyramids are, in fact, part of a fielding plan (showing the slips), which the Egyptians built in order to be viewed from space by passing Martians, in the hope that they had brought their bats with them.
Also, JC recently sent me evidence from Palymra showing how popular the game was there in ancient times. I will post this shortly.
But I digress. I am very much looking forwards to advising on what I promise will be a sporting wicket for the Lille game.
MM III
3 comments:
I didn't notice any comments by your good self at The Corridor blog. Unless you were incognito.
The New Caledonian têtes plates will be able to translate the the French rules for me.
LBW
Mingin'! Everything that was any use at all was invented by a Scotman. I am not surprised that no one in Scotland claims to have invented creekit! Says all you need to know about the game! Hotboy
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