Deep Backward Point

Just plain great writing from The Old Batsman, waxing poetic on Sehwag:

This week, David Warner made his Test debut. Sehwag was more right than most of Australia. Warner does not have Sehwag’s talent, but he shares his worldview. There will be many more who do in the years to come, and then it will become the new orthodoxy. That is Sehwag’s true legacy. He has shared an era with Lara, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, yet he is not one of them. As great as they are and have been, they are the old order, more connected to the past than to the future.

I fear that Sehwag is a once-in-a-lifetime event who is treated like a role model by the next generation. One can imagine approaching the performance of the old order (Dravid, Ponting, Kallis) through talent, coaching and practice. How do you train the new order? You can’t coach “don’t overthink it”. At least, I don’t thin you can.

Previously on DeepBackwardPoint.com:

• Sehwag on Sehwagology

Jarrod Kimber goes after every cricket board in the known universe and wants to Occupy Lord’s:

Maybe it’s time cricket’s 99% had more say.  Maybe it’s time we Occupy Lord’s.   Let us  show those in charge know that we are the people who finance this game, and our voices should be heard.  Sure Lord’s isn’t really the ICC home anymore, that’s now nestled in cricket’s heartland, but it’s the ground that calls itself the home of cricket, and it’s a far more grand statement than occupying some soulless building in a non cricket loving country.

It’s great writing, it’s honest and best of all, it ends with a call to action.

However, the good news is you don’t have to travel down to St John’s Wood with your sleeping bag, a few tins of fair trade baked bins and a guitar you can’t play.  You can just email the ICC’s independent governance review here governance.review.icc@uk.pwc.com.

Unite. Unite all you deep, backward, short and silly fans of the game.

∞

The title of this post borrowed from an idea from Matt Becker’s response to Kimber’s post, titled Occupy Bryn Mawr Park:

As you start to dip your big toe into the American Sporting Waters, you will be tempted to dumb the game down for the unwashed masses: don’t do this.  And, in fact, stop doing this everywhere else, too.

What I mean is: test cricket is cricket at its very best.  Full stop.   And this is coming from the uneducated cricket loving American. [..]

Other than that, remember this: it is a beautiful game.  Full of villains, and history, and magic.  I fell in love with it instantly and deeply, but only by accident.  Stop being so insular, celebrate your game, as it really is for everyone.

Uneducated cricket-loving Americans. We’re adorable and naive, aren’t we?