warne understands contagion – the way elements infect each other and unify through proximity. a long and ridiculous conversation between warne / taylor / greig about whether the batsmens wristband constitutes part of his bat. the replay clearly showed the ball brushing watsons elbow. had it hit the wristband and had the wristband been touching the wriststrap of the glove watson should have been out – the wristband becoming bat through a series of connections, bat, glove, wriststrap, wristband. taylor was able (so he believed) to prove warne wrong through a literal reading of the law. the glove and its wriststrap were defined as one entity – manufactured as such. the wristband could come into contact with the greater glove but it could never be glove (and therefore never bat). the laws hypocrisy is already evident as the glove only becomes bat through contact – in fact, as soon as the glove leaves the handle of the bat it ceases to be deemed bat (from memory the fate of the 2005 ashes series rests on this issue and the result of the series could still be reversed if retrospective referrals are brought in). the vital significance of warnes way of understanding is played out at another level. the difference in this test compared to the previous 2 is that the cook n trott entity hasnt been in the game. cook n trott (glove wristband shirtsleeve … sweeping up the world into its oneness) have been kept apart. trott has had to attempt to bat with strauss, pietersen etc. the connection is different. though a strip of watsons flesh was

visible between the wriststrap of the glove and his wristband it did not stop warne from recognising the potential for contagion – from recognising possible leaps. trott lacking cook has not yet made this leap. strauss seems irrelevant.

at the waca the wind blows into ian chappells eyes n makes him squint n gives him headaches the sun beats on the pitch n the glare makes him squint n though he normally even now never suffers from headaches it gives him a headache like barbados