clr james refers to bradmans autobiography – after scoring his 100th run to make up his 100th first class century bradman is finally able to play ‘in the way i would always have loved to do had circumstances permitted’ bradman goes on to score another 71 runs in 45 minutes. james is as anyone would be astounded by bradmans statement and wonders at the restrictive circumstances that have haunted bradmans batting for so long. cardus speaks of bradmans batting tieing together good taste (a moral sense) and freedom. warne(r) in different circumstances prior to ever scoring a single first class run smashes an innings roughly equivalent to 100 with such an immensity of freedom that even the amoral demands of 2020 fall shockingly short of what is given. 2020 opens souls. there is but a small sideways shuffling movement from faith to gambling from kierkegaard to runyon duminy stakes his life against 6 runs and paddles a full length tait missile for six just past his own heart. batsmen will die attempting to replicate this shot throats torn out or hearts hammered to a stop. duminy pulls it off. even after watching tait dismiss abdv with a delivery so savage abdv had no option but to flail his bat at the stumps in the hope he would hit them and be excused from the field. duminy harnessed taits physical power to his own end but the risk involved left the world gasping. 2020 moments are immense and often very final. there is no time to recover or for balances to be redressed. vengeance must be swift. there is no time for arduous pilgrimages of faith. this years ipl will be looked forward to with just as much expectation and excitement as this years ashes. cricket is entering a wonderful phase of development a new brilliant free easy terrifying form is presenting itself a bearded hayden

(the summary to the rsa v australia experiments is still on its way – while 2020 may be a breeze test cricket is not easily dealt with. im overjoyed at all of it)