Last Saturday afternoon I decided to go for a walk in the park. There was a cricket match on, the away team had just been bowled out for 90, the fielders had just come back on the field so I decided to watch.
The first ball was a full toss, it went over the stumps. The second was well short and offline. The third and fourth were not a good line or length but the batsman could no get it past the fielders. He managed two runs the next ball with the final ball being close to a wide.
I have never before seen anything quite like the second over. The bowler, on a short run up, sort of paused as he got to the wickes and sent down an almost round arm delivery. It cleared the stumps by nearly a foot, the line was poor as well. The second was really short giving an easy two. I saw this bowler through three overs, he had somehow contrived to get two wicket, both catches from mishits. He had bowled five of his full tosses. He had bowled down the leg side to a left hander, the line and length was totally erratic, one ball landed short of the halfway point of the pitch; it was despatched over the square leg boundary for six.
The first bowler actually get one straight and on a length in his third over, clean bowling the batsman. Talking of the batsman (which I am reluctant to do), apart from the left hander they all had one stroke, the crossbat swipe. Despite the terrible bowling they somehow managed to get out; I abandoned the match after six overs when the home team were sixteen for three with fifty-four overs left.
I reckon that our final year primary school team would have beaten either of these, based on what I saw, quite comfortably. What on earth has happened to the game.
