This morning I sloped up to Radio New Zealand to review Richard Boock’s new biography of Bert Sutcliffe: “The Last Everyday Hero”. Kathryn’s a cricket fan so, even though she hadn’t got to reading the book, we had plenty to talk about. Including an unexpected diversion into the subject of Fleetwood Mac.
Listen here or download from the link below:
[audio:http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20100825–1040-Book_Review_with_Dan_Slevin-048.mp3]Andy Bull (good British name) talking about English cricket’s nomads and imports in The Spin:
There is no need to mark a dividing line between those who arrived as children and those who made the decision later in life, just as there is no need to draw distinctions between players who have moved from Test-playing nations and those who haven’t. The point is that they decided to come at all. That is sufficient commitment in itself.
That sentiment is true for all walks of life, not just sport.
90 minutes away from the first day of the 1st Test of the Ashes from lovely Cardiff, here’s something to warm the heart of any cricket fan, the Compton Cricket Club from South Central LA rap about the game:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKa2mp5ePes[/youtube]
More on the Compton Cricket Club here, and here. I once toyed with writing a screenplay based on these wonderful people until I discovered the story had already been optioned – as an opera. My version would a be ripper, though, I assure you.
[Hat-tip The Guardian 11 Best Songs About Cricket]Acclaimed broadcaster and (slightly less acclaimed) pianist Jack Perkins has a book coming out. It’s a collection of his exceptionally well-written cricket reminiscences from the excellent indie-cricket blog Cricket Mystery. I commend it to you (and to the blog which is run by Jack’s boy Bryan). It slides off the presses later this month.
Tonight marks the first night off I have had in quite a while. No Downstage, no study, no films to watch. I got home fully intending to switch on the tv and watch the cricket from Bangladesh, only to discover that my Sky has been cut off – it’s that long since I switched it on. I only keep Sky for the irregular West Ham games (only two so far this season) and the cricket and have to wonder if it’s worth it.
Well, obviously it isn’t worth it and yet, I’ll be in to Sky tomorrow morning to pay the bill.
So tonight I will be updating the blog with last week’s film reviews, updating the Academy web site for the new week’s sessions, and updating the Voice Arts Trust web site with their first podcast.
Not much of a night off then, after all.
It’s almost as if New Zealand Cricket want to make it hard to support the Black Caps. What with sudden, unexpected retirements and the loss of the Boxing Day Test, they now give us this fiasco:
Scotty Styris models the new Black Caps uniform despite the fact he probably won’t get a game this summer.
