Another book (12th June)

There is another book that I am reading besides Sea Hunters. Actually both these books are arranged chapter-wise where each chapter doesn’t have much to do with either its successor or predecessor, so I can read them in parallel. The other day one of my friends spotted me with this second book and nearly fell off his chair laughing. "What on earth are you reading Dickie Bird’s autobiography for?" he managed to ask between hysterical bouts of laughter. "Are any special intellectual capabilities needed for reading this book? Of course you wont know of them anyways" I shot back with as much sarcasm as I could muster in my injured tone. But by now he has become immune to it so he calmly answered "A basic working knowledge of cricket must be the pre-requisite".

Now it is true that I only understand the sport in its broadest terms – when the batsman is run out, when he is stumped, when he is caught, when a six is hit and when it’s a four. Despite trying hard I have never been able to understand an LBW. I don’t understand a Yorker or a swing. And I have never bothered to find out where exactly is the silly point. So in the cricket parlance I score a duck when it comes to the technicalities of the game.

However I don’t see this as a handicap when I read the auto-biography. Sure, there are pages where such a knowledge is needed to figure out what Mr. Bird is saying but despite skipping such pages I am enjoying this book because it tells me a lot about what it takes to work as an umpire. I mean we all see these 2 people signaling in weird gestures – curse them when they don’t signal a four or a sixer when our favorite team is batting or signal an out when our favorite team is fielding. But they had to pay attention to a lot of things – especially in those days when there was no 3rd umpire. The laws of the game seem complex as well. And the spectators have become more aggressive over the years. Mr. Bird says rightly that the umpires and the groundsmen who prepare the pitch don’t have an enviable job! I guess the next time I watch a game I am going to be more sympathetic towards the umpires.

Finally, it’s interesting to read about the players and their personalities. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this sport about which George Bernard Shaw said

"The English are not very spiritual people, so they invented cricket to give them some idea of eternity."