So I went to the Oval again on Thursday, this time to watch a T20 between Surrey and Gloucestershire. It was a pretty unremarkable game. Gloucestershire struggled to make 150, largely thanks to a lively spell from Dirk Nannes and a spell of such unremittingly tedious darts from Batty that I don't remember a ball of it, and Surrey were over the line with the best part of three overs to go. There was only one player who provided any real enjoyment for the watching fans, and that was Stephen Davies. He kept beautifully to some 80mph bowling, standing up to the stumps and even holding a nick, and then he hit the small matter of 92* from 55 balls.
Now left handed batsmen can broadly be grouped into one of two categories, due to the angle of delivery they usually face. You have your stodgers, who know where the off stump is, and let the ball go across them, and who also know where the line of leg stump is, and are wont to pick off anything that pitches outside it through the leg side. You know the sort - Katich, Chanderpaul, and Cook and Strauss to a lesser degree. Then you have your flowing stroke makers, who are prone to timing the length ball angled across them through the off side with a grace their right handed counterparts rarely seem able to match - your Laras, your Gowers, your Gangulys.
Davies, it's fair to say, fits firmly in the latter camp. He is some player to watch.
On Thursday night he had the crowd cooing with awe at some of his strokes through the off side. If the ball was full, it usually went through point with an open face at the point of delivery. A fraction shorter and it was punched through cover. Murali came on and went for 14 in his first over - a stunning clump over long on for six, and then, having had the stuffing knocked out of him and feeling the need to push it through, some terrific late cuts behind square. It was such an attractive innings.
I suppose we should mention the gay thing.
Cricket has been around a long time in England. The first payments by aristocrats to 'local experts' in the game from nearby villages in the game took place after the Restoration. In 1744, the first laws of cricket were written. Hambledon Cricket Club (a magical place I was fortunate to play a lot of games at as a child), was founded in the 1760s, and Lord's was opened in 1787.
About 250 years, then. Probably more. And in that time, there's only been one other gay professional cricketer, and he came out after retirement. Of course that's wrong. There have been plenty more than him.
In some ways I think we've underestimated how brave Davies was. Perhaps the fact it created less of a stir than one might expect was more of a reflection of society than cricket. But we should be proud, as cricket followers, that the other players and journalists respected his private life when he chose to keep his proclivities secret, and also provided an environment within which he felt was able to announce them to to the public.
In this and many other matters, sport, being an outlet for masculinity, lags somewhat behind the rest of society. The court of Blatter seems to resemble a 16th Century palace, and a gathering of England football fans seems to embody a mentality of about 300 years prior to that. A few years ago, Marcus Trescothick was so scared to announce that he was suffering from mental illness that he fluffed his (pre-prepared) lines during a Sky interview and said it was a virus, which made his situation a whole lot worse, creating endless speculation about what was really up with him. So three cheers for us, as cricket fans. He said he wanted to be remembered as a good cricketer, not a gay one, and I honestly think he will.
It's just a shame for him that we live in an era of infeasibly talented keeper-batsmen. There are few players in County Cricket I'd rather watch batting at present.
Now left handed batsmen can broadly be grouped into one of two categories, due to the angle of delivery they usually face. You have your stodgers, who know where the off stump is, and let the ball go across them, and who also know where the line of leg stump is, and are wont to pick off anything that pitches outside it through the leg side. You know the sort - Katich, Chanderpaul, and Cook and Strauss to a lesser degree. Then you have your flowing stroke makers, who are prone to timing the length ball angled across them through the off side with a grace their right handed counterparts rarely seem able to match - your Laras, your Gowers, your Gangulys.
Davies, it's fair to say, fits firmly in the latter camp. He is some player to watch.
On Thursday night he had the crowd cooing with awe at some of his strokes through the off side. If the ball was full, it usually went through point with an open face at the point of delivery. A fraction shorter and it was punched through cover. Murali came on and went for 14 in his first over - a stunning clump over long on for six, and then, having had the stuffing knocked out of him and feeling the need to push it through, some terrific late cuts behind square. It was such an attractive innings.
I suppose we should mention the gay thing.
Cricket has been around a long time in England. The first payments by aristocrats to 'local experts' in the game from nearby villages in the game took place after the Restoration. In 1744, the first laws of cricket were written. Hambledon Cricket Club (a magical place I was fortunate to play a lot of games at as a child), was founded in the 1760s, and Lord's was opened in 1787.
About 250 years, then. Probably more. And in that time, there's only been one other gay professional cricketer, and he came out after retirement. Of course that's wrong. There have been plenty more than him.
In some ways I think we've underestimated how brave Davies was. Perhaps the fact it created less of a stir than one might expect was more of a reflection of society than cricket. But we should be proud, as cricket followers, that the other players and journalists respected his private life when he chose to keep his proclivities secret, and also provided an environment within which he felt was able to announce them to to the public.
In this and many other matters, sport, being an outlet for masculinity, lags somewhat behind the rest of society. The court of Blatter seems to resemble a 16th Century palace, and a gathering of England football fans seems to embody a mentality of about 300 years prior to that. A few years ago, Marcus Trescothick was so scared to announce that he was suffering from mental illness that he fluffed his (pre-prepared) lines during a Sky interview and said it was a virus, which made his situation a whole lot worse, creating endless speculation about what was really up with him. So three cheers for us, as cricket fans. He said he wanted to be remembered as a good cricketer, not a gay one, and I honestly think he will.
It's just a shame for him that we live in an era of infeasibly talented keeper-batsmen. There are few players in County Cricket I'd rather watch batting at present.
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