Beyond the blue

Cricket Season arrives in Australia...

Australia the land of great cricket talent has a strange obession with oval shaped balls, players wearing tight shorts and poles (not the people) stuck in the ground. Its during this time, that the cricket supporter stares wistfully into the space (usually a rugger's head got plenty of space) and counts the cracks in the sealing or walls.

The old willow is gathering dust in some forgotten corner, the whites have got grey moudly blotches and the bag is home to a tribe of spiders. Then with a suddenness, a fine october morning calls and a mad panic is created as the aforementioned character cusses himself for falling for the same trap year after the year after year.

The first training season of the session is always very hard, excess fat has gathered around the mid regions and muscles, long forgotten, are requested to make a sharp appearance at the instanteous bidding. Usually season ending injuries at this point in time and one needs to take time and patience to build up for the first match.

Meaning while, the cricket yobbo, wakes from his football induced hang over and finds the next event he can be drunk at and yell obsenities at. He practices his no ball chant, his charming wit and his beer consumption methodically every weekend in preparation for the main event - boxing day test match.

And while all these events are taking place, the fields are being freshly mowed, ladies are out preparing buscuits and short eats and the food vendors are putting in large orders from everything from buriyani to hotdogs and chips..

As the linseed oil smell wafts from suburb to suburb, so does the smell of the new cricket season... Viva la cricket ... Its here at last.