Many Happy Returns of the Day Sir Vivian

Just wanted to wish a happy birthday to one of the greatest cricketers I have ever seen live, Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, who turned 70 yesterday. You may read about his life here.

England are currently being battered in the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Sadly, at 127 for 5 as I write, it's no surprise. To cheer myself up I will (once again!) add my favourite photo I got of the maestro, an incredibly rare moment in his career as he is clean bowled at Lords, by Derek Pringle I think.

A Rare Cricketing Moment

Photo: Ariel J Friedlander

Some of you, I know, enjoy watching cricket. Not most of you, but I know some people who do. For those of you who claim it is difficult to understand, there's a famous sort-of-explanation of the rules, which makes baseball look simple IMO:

The Rules of Cricket:

* you have two sides, one out in the field, and one in.

* each player in the side that is in, goes out; and when they are out, they come in and the next player goes in until they are out.

* when they are all out, the side that is out comes in, and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those who are coming in out.

* when both sides have been in and out, that is the end of the game.

The author of that is anonymous, which is a good thing. meanwhile, back to my photograph. I think it is a rare cricketing moment because Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the sport and, I think, rarely clean bowled. So I am rather pleased to have taken a picture of him having been clean bowled. If you look carefully, you can see a flying bail just above Graham Gooch's head.

I looked up the details and I record them here for my statto persona:

2nd Test Match

England v. West Indies

at Lords Cricket Ground, 16th June 1988

2nd innings

IVA Richards (c)  b. Pringle         72

(W. Indies won by 134 runs)

A Very Important Question

As usual, Calvin asks the important question. But there is always the possibility of a change of mind and/or heart. Take, for example, a cricket match in Nottingham yesterday. An England batsman was given out just before tea, but after a discussion in the pavilion, the Indian captain decided to reinstate him. He did not have to.

Today's Guardian asks: "Is upholding the spirit of cricket more important than getting rid of an in-form opposition batsman?" Votes are currently running at over 70% for Yes. While I am glad to see such a percentage, it is also sad that such a decision has been a cause for praise and rejoicing, rather than accepted as standard practice.

The Second Test

Apologies for those of you expecting a religious treatise or an ancient myth. This is cricket. Unless you are English or Australian, you'd better go browse in the blogroll because this is serious business. After a humiliating whitewash last time the Ashes were contested down under, England have made a fine start this time round. The photo above is the schadenfreude-of-the-week moment, as the Aussie captain Ricky Ponting is out first ball at the beginning of the Second Test.