Posted by If you’ve got a picture of an animal being conspicuously indifferent to cricket, please send it to king@kingcricket.co.uk.
Last summer, Doctor Alexander Snoddie, one of the Doctors of Leamington, initiated correspondence with regular King Cricket contributor Ged Ladd…
Snoddie: Delighted to bump into you in the jacks… and [Daisy] too, patiently waiting outside the jacks…
… I suppose this is too poor to be sent to King Cricket for the ‘Animals totally disregarding cricket’ section [sic]: two pigeons eating the seeds sown by Karl McDermott [Lord’s Head Groundsman] whilst the substitute [Dan Lawrence] guards the covers, with Ireland in full flow on Day 3…
…you may need a bit of zoom…
Ged: We have the technology, but can you send me a better-quality copy of that image? The version you sent me is about one pixel per pigeon. Also, can you supply a few more words to support your (self-admittedly poor) visuals? Was the indifference simply about eating rather than observing cricket, or were the pigeons “giving cricket the bird” even when not eating?
Snoddie: I think I have been too clever by a quarter… don’t understand tech… nor pigeon behaviour… I’m not Doctor Doolittle… best pass on to cricket square pastures new.
Ged: Understood, but, undeterred. I have sent your picture to deep learning image generating tool DALL-E, instructing it thus: “The two pigeons to the left and right of the nearest person should be larger, more prominent and be looking away from all the people”.
Here is the result.
Snoddie: Hold the front page, King Cricket, we’ve got a scoop for you!
Wise decision to move on swiftly from Bonkbuster-gate.
Get yourself back on the previous thread and make a contribution to the Bonkbuster XI, Sam Blackledge!
Some people have a reputation to uphold.
Coincidentally, Daisy and I visited Leamington and saw Doctor Snoddie on our Warwickshire tour a couple of weeks ago, as Ogblogged here:
https://ianlouisharris.com/2024/05/17/a-short-break-in-warwickshire-for-tennis-theatre-13-to-17-may-2024/
Snoddie will be thrilled to see that his handiwork has finally been published here. He had all but lost hope.
Ged – I was recently researching the work of a charity for something vaguely work-related, and came across this: https://foodcycle.org.uk/valentines-volunteering-with-ian-and-janie/
Chapeau
Cheers, APW.
Daisy and I don’t get to be poster children all that often any more. And unlike Lord’s, where we are still younger than the average punter, we are quite a lot older than most FoodCycle volunteers.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c511k00x3mlo – these people buying shares in teams in the Hundred are probably not going to be too upset if it cannibalises the rest of domestic cricket, are they?
Although on the other hand, when have the ECB ever been naive or acted rashly in dealing with people who (appear to) have large amounts of money in the past, eh? What’s that? Allen who?
Did you see….Azam Khan dropping a sitter in the T20 at The Oval
A few posts back I commented on the Australian warm-up games featuring only nine players, and the hilarious prospect of having to rope their coaching staff in as fielders. Well against Namibia that’s exactly what happened.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-men-s-t20-world-cup-warm-up-matches-2024-1434088/australia-vs-namibia-warm-up-1434095/match-report
“At one stage there were four substitutes on the field for Australia comprising head coach Andrew McDonald, assistants Brad Hodge and Andre Borovec plus national selector George Bailey. Borovec, who is fielding coach, and Bailey were the first-choice subs when play began.”
McDonald and Bailey are in their early 40s. Borovec, a former player for Victoria age-group and Second XI sides and according to his Cricinfo bio a w/k, is 46. Hodge is 49. This is excellent village 4th XI shenanigans from the reigning and six-time ODI champions of the world. Borovec at least proved his fielding coach credentials by taking a catch. Quite funny in its own way, Tim David had to bowl a full four overs for Australia to get their overs in. At least Marcus Stoinis arriving in Trinidad for the Windies warm-up game would relieve some pressure.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-men-s-t20-world-cup-warm-up-matches-2024-1434088/west-indies-vs-australia-warm-up-1434102/match-rep
“Allrounder Marcus Stoinis did arrive in Trinidad on Wednesday meaning Australia had 10 players in camp but his kit had been delayed in Miami so he did not feature. Chair of selectors George Bailey alongside assistant coaches Brad Hodge and Andre Borovec sub fielded at various stages again with Borovec dropping Pooran.”
Pooran scored 75 off 25 – sack the fielding coach! And that missing kit is also a ‘that’s so village’ candidate. So we again got 4 overs of Tim David, Ashton Agar opened the batting so that others could bat in their more normal positions, and the number 9 Josh Hazlewood had to survive the last over to prevent Australia being all-out for just eight wickets down. I’m not sure whether it’s funnier how Australia easily beat Namibia with just players or the way got they thrashed by the Windies. Actually no, tell a lie, I do indeed know the answer to that.
Yeah, the player without kit detail is a beaut.