05 June 2015

Bagging a king pair

Mine occurred when Middlesex played the Pakistan tourists in 1974. I never could play leg-spin, an unfathomable mystery, so it was no surprise in the first innings I was lbw to Intikhab Alam. Second time around, it was a different leg-spinner Mushtaq Mohammad bowling from the Pavilion end, so as I passed him I asked him what he would bowl. “I will bowl you a googly,” he said. It is possible to over-intellectualise these things: I played for the leg break, the ball spun back in instead, through a gate the team bus could have got through and I was bowled. Mushie, a wonderful fellow, chortled away. “I told you I would bowl you a googly.” “Yeah, thanks a bunch Mushie,” I muttered as I went back past. “I thought at least I could trust you to be fucking devious.”

- Mike Selvey, Guardian, 4 June 2015

No comments: