Introspection...

Revisiting familiar old territory..!

Counting my sacrifices to the Art of Wicketkeeping - 5 busted fingers, 2 broken noses (actually, 1 nose, broken twice), 1 hernia (which seems to have recurred now, after the operation to fix it first time around)... Plus innumerable blows to the body... I tend to agree with the Don when he says in his classic book "The Art of Cricket" that a wicketkeeper ends his career with a host of injuries... As opposed to Bob Taylor, England wicketkeeper, who reassures the beginner that he had only a chipped finger to show after a glorious career....

Can you spot the broken nose?!!

Retrospection...

I played a match last Sunday, or rather, didn't play... Ever since I started playing for the staff team at MIT, I've never sat out in any match that I was picked for. This time, for the first time ever, I graced the seat next to the scorer and marveled at the ease with which the little boy who was the scorer for the day systematically did this painstaking job. My knee is not hurting much, but I was scared of worsening the injury.

We lost, mainly due to some unimaginative batting and 41 runs being plundered off one of our bowlers' quota of 4 overs. But the keeper who has replaced me behind the stumps - Santosh Amin, had an excellent time in both the matches he played. Very few byes and he held on to the only chance that was on offer. He is young (only 30), has a good technique, and probably what's more important - the right temperament. And he is a very good batsman to boot. A really good investment for the future for our staff team.

So, is this the way it all ends..? After the indignity of losing out on the keeper's slot last year to a nitwit, I was looking forward to playing this year, when the osteochondritis stopped me from keeping. But looking at the situation now, I think it is safe to assume that I have played my last match as keeper for the MIT staff team. It would be highly egoistic and inconsiderate of me to insist on playing as first choice keeper when somebody who is a great keeper and younger too is around.

This is not the way I wanted it to end. I'd always thought of it as ending in a climax of one terrific tournament, one perfect diving catch, one flawless stumping and maybe a fighting score batting... Before the creaking of one's bones and the fatigued trembling in one's legs would send an urgent signal about the R-word...

Maybe I can still play as leg-spinner. I trouble the guys regularly at nets when I float some of them old leg breaks in. However, something about keeping has kept me hooked. Whenever my mind gets troubled, I always used to think of a green field, crouching down behind the stumps, heart hammering in anticipation as the fast bowler gears up and the umpire calls "play..."

I need to find something else now...

Osteochondritis...

Talk about rotten luck! Last year I was all fit 'n raring to go even after breaking my nose during practice and they dropped me... This year, I'm back in the team and a bad knee forced me to play as fielder in the first match (that we won). At this point I must say that to play as a fielder after being a wicketkeeper thus far is so boring... I mean, I must've touched the ball a total of 5 times in the entire match! Barring touching it while passing it back to the bowler etc. When you keep wickets, you're in the thick of the action all the while, every single ball of the match.

"It's a tough job wicketkeeping, but I'd rather do nothing else but it." A thought I'd penned while in a pensive mood last year, but oh so true.

And now, a terrible blow - the orthopedist has diagnosed that I seem to be carrying an injury in the cartilage in my knee joint and can't play for at least 15 days. Osteochondritis, he says... Just growing old, says Tojo, our captain..!

The second coming...

Played my first match after 2008 - as a non-keeper... Had a bad knee and a fever, there was no way I could keep. Fortunately, Santosh - a newcomer, offered to keep and kept well. I had to play to make up the numbers... We took on MU Hostels yesterday afternoon and bowled them out for 98 - all the bowlers did well. We then made heavy weather of the target, but won by 1 wicket with 3 overs to spare. My role was restricted to fielding in the covers and mid-wicket and making a few stops! Feels terrible to play and not keep...

Resurrection...

Back to practice after a year's hiatus! Looks like I'll be in the team this year - the first match is on January 10. Started practice on Saturday, very tentatively, in the nets. The space for the keeper is severely shortened in the new nets (only 8 paces behind the stumps), which are otherwise very good. I'm keeping with the helmet on, even while standing back - can't afford yet another broken nose. On Saturday, I was finding it difficult to concentrate; guess I was low on confidence as well... Yesterday, got the first catch of this season - tickle from Raviraj off Rajesh Nayak. Nothing like a catch to boost the confidence, even if it is just a simple one like that. Got a few good collections too, but the nets is not a good place for the keeper. Can't wait to keep out there in the centre..!

Sultans of swing..!

This is a picture of a two-piece leather cricket ball taken during the monsoon, when the ball had been sitting innocently on the table in my office, during the monsoon. Can you see the difference in colour where the ball has absorbed moisture along the seam from the humid (97% RH) air of monsoon Manipal? The weight distribution is going to be affected by this (and the construction of the seam itself, of course) and could this offer some insight into the enigmatic dynamics of pronounced swing in overcast conditions???

Loosener...

I'm just continuing the blog I used to have on Live Journal earlier (under the same name) because I cannot access that blog anymore - thanks to it being blocked by my employer! On the cricket front, I am nursing a torn rotator cuff muscle in my right shoulder. I had fallen and dislocated the damn thing in the Himalaya trek in July. Before you picture me falling off a rock or being caught in an avalanche, I'd like to add that I just tripped over a guy rope at Base Camp (shame, shame!).

Anyway, net result is that no cricket for the time being, despite the monsoon withdrawing....

My Live Journal blog can be accessed at: http://srikumarcochin.livejournal.com/