two sleeps to go those cellos those cellos rise up take a hold out of an ocean all alone one test all alone
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music review (singles) : incomplete
The selection comittee has met and decided that Australia must retain the same batting line up that has appeared in the previous 4 tests. Hayden must play. It would be cheating the narrative of the series if changes were to be made. Those that have dug their burrows must be the ones given the chance to dig themselves out. The responsibility must be borne squarely on these shoulders. They will be the desperate ones.
The desperation is very clear in the passion with which the Australian top 5 deliver their latest single ‘incomplete’ – the most powerful song to hit the charts since Robbie Williams’ heyday. While the lyrics of the song contain a certain sense of having given up hope, a resignation that now, with Steve Waugh long gone, the Ashes too are lost, the delivery of the song contains a searing emotion, a searing heart, that can only be built out of pure hope or even exact knowledge that it is within them to fill the empty spaces that are filling them up with holes – there is little room to doubt, in this impassioned and rawly honest self appraisal of where the Australian batting line up finds itself, that they will finally deliver that final telling blow. On the back of this song, the backstreet boys reaffirm their position as one of the greatest boybands in the world.
The second track on the ‘incompleete’ single contains the line – ‘lets not talk about a possible ending’.
last ditch
On Monday morning after the conclusion to the test I sat on the tram in a daze. I had taken my book from my satchel and was planning to read it but I just sat there with it in my hands as I thought about the cricket. My breathing was all over the place. I was basically sighing or maybe even panting – there was exhaustion and tension and exhiliration all involved in the make up of my gasping. And I hadn’t even satyed up to watch the England innings. I only heard about the score on the morning news. These magnificent last ditch efforts by the Australians (or should I attribute them more precisely – El Warno and Lee) are all well and good but just not quite good enough. Its tantalising stuff.
Its a shame there’s been so much whingeing from the Australian camp about substitues (ok, it’s a pretty iffy tactic of the Poms but it should be pursued quietly along the proper channels) and the umpires (certainly the umpiring’s been poor but only in the same way that Hayden’s form has been poor, or poor old Dizzy – misfiring players get replaced by other players, not by computer animated simulations.) Its not the outbursts on the field that are a problem, that’s heat of the battle stuff, the frustration after having worked so hard takes over, as is reasonable. Its in the days between matches that losing teams need to keep their gripes tightly quiet, to speak is to be a sore loser and displays in some sense an acceptance of the fact that they are not cut out for copping sweet blows and going on to really challenge a dominant opposition.
still waiting
It really is opposite world when Clarkey, far from freeing himself from the burden of restraint, takes this taut passivity upon himself to a degree hitherto unheard of. Watching him bat was wrecking my guts. The tension was massive. The wait continues. The Waugh–hole is beginning to show. These binary flickerings of faith are threatening to enter into a tedium of zeroes. But It is the very tension of the wait that provides me (yet) with the conviction that all is not lost. The wait must come to fruition at some point, and there really aren’t too many points left to go. The Oval must be immense for Australia. They have to play like they have been on the 3 last days of the last 3 tests for each and every day of what is going to be the ultimate test.
there is only the wait
ah the frustration! Wating waiting waiting for some Australian player to lead a true and spirited fightback. Waiting for someone to launch themselves (in this topsy turvy world it is Flintoff who keeps launching himself deep into the spheres, taking his comrades with him) out of the hole that the Australians just keep digging themselves deeper and deeper into. They remind me of the creature in Kafka’s story ‘The Burrow’. It begins with a line something like, ‘I have just completed my burrow and I believe it to be perfect’. The rest of the story has the creature becoming more and more desperately paranoid about the noises of the small fry that he can hear tunneling in the earth around his burrow – he becomes convinced that the sounds he hears are being made by one massive predator against which his burrow will be no safeguard, slowly getting closer and closer. Despite this the creature is enamoured of his construction and will leave it only for the shortest snatches and only to watch over its entrance like a guard. Though it is clearly inadequate, he is unable to launch forth from his underground dwelling and the burrow becomes a trap. But of course there is still hope. In Deleuze and Guattari’s reading of ‘The Burrow’ the creature’s description of the dwelling is a ruse to trick the enemy. It is the enemy that will be trapped by the perfectly functioning machine that the burrow in fact is. The burrow is not a defensive trench, the creature fears nothing. Australia have forced England to make Australia follow on. Michael Clarke will never be in a better position to realise his full potential and free himself from the burden of restraint.
Highlights 4th test Day 1 Part 2
Gilly finds it hilarious. I need a new pair of spikes for this season, I want some like those.
Higlights 4th test Day 1 Part 1
Aleem Dar
Q: where did Dizzy’s mojo go?
A: McGrath’s regeneration continues. Body part by body part. During the Edgbaston test he took the opportunity to renew his legs, now he his working on his upper limbs. Dizzy’s awful, sad form slump begins to make sense if you think about how strenuous this process must be for McGrath. Physically regenerating a body part is no problem (that same old elbow one day, spanking new model elbow the next), but the new body is nothing without a force character in which to embed itself – the McGrith needs a structural charisma. It seems clear that Dizzy has sacrificed his mojo to the cause. McGrath will play at the Oval, but shortly after that he will disappear from the scene – mystery will surround the event. But Dizzy, in his new starring stooge role on Pizza, will have a full understanding and a certain pride. From out of 2 great Australian bowlers, one youthful force, greater than any that have gone before it, comes to tear up the cricket world with its pace, its control, and phenomenal ability to move the ball in manners that not even the master of the dark Welsh art of reverse swing, Simon Jones, could imagine. He will be tall with a blonde mullet and he will mutter.
nervous excitement
here is a link which captures the kind of nervous excitement that the cricket world is feeling in the final few hours of the lead up to the 4TH TEST. Personally I feel like I’ve suddenly turned left handed, it is as though every movement I make has never been made before. I have no maps for this. Tonight I am going to the ballet. I am more than a little confused, will El Warno be dancing there, and do they allow raw meat at the ballet?
the future of cricket
Now that cricket is sexy and all cricketers are going to be superstars, here’s a bit of a prediction from one of the many cricket prophets that I regularly consult. I showed the sage this picture of Warney – this is the future they saw:
Gilly seems a bit concerned, it’s like he’s the on field grooming expert. He’s probably got a bit of concealer and lip gloss tucked away in his pocket, a bit of hairspray and the like for quick touch ups. With all the hair on the field these days it’s only a matter of time. No more tea breaks – makeovers instead of overs.