with the nothingness of the cricket developing to a high point on day 3, surely day 4 would hold something.

macgill has announced this will be his last test match. his final sally forth attempting to make his name as a hero out of the greatest heros shadow has not proved successful. there is no energy left to keep up the effort. his attempt was always quixotic but without quixote’s faith he was doomed to remain but a substitue.

umpire tief

umpire tief

pow pow pow

three out in 20 minutes

that is no mistake

umpire tief

australia fraid of fire boy

australia fraid of fire boy

when fidel start burning up to brett lee

he goes down

australia fraid of fire boy

teatime is digicel time

teatime is digicel time

digicel the bigger better network

make em play

teatime is digicel time

the antiguan buses are minivans with systems of folding seats to enable the greatest passenger mass to not only ride the bus but move on and off.

rain falls and the cricketers are dissolved then reconstituted into large undifferentiated sheets of white. they lie across the square. at times armys of men in red or yellow coats run onto the ground, dance on the covers, line up along their edge and drag them from the field. the cricketer-sheets billow, ripple, wave and flap in the wind just as they would as regular fielder-cricketers, blown by the movements of the captains arms or the blasting breezes pushed by the batsman’s blade. or like how the batsman is blown away in accordance to the particular way the umpire folds his limbs. the red and yellow army of dancers know how to fold too. they crease the cricketers up into tight packages. the rain falls again and they unfold the cricketers easily and pull them back out onto the ground.

its not so long before the rain stops and the sun shines but the cutting and folding necessary to return the sheets to their earlier forms – bowlers batsman fielders – each individual article able to fold itself in the particular ways necessary for it deliver a unique ball, play in the v, or collect a rolling ball – this folding takes time

sir viv world has poor drainage. it didnt work during the world cup. it was fixed. or wasn’t. either way its still not working. the way the flows of water are folded has not been properly considered, leaves dams in the outfield. the cricketers are reconstituted long before the outfield is fit to play on – the risk of dissolution recurring is too high.

the pitch has a long time to dry out and when the windies finally recommence their innings after tea the pitch holds no demons, they bat on easily. their is no great effort to be found anywhere. the red or yellow groundsmen are the heroes of this test match – this isn’t to denigrate the cricketers. the groundsmen were truly heroic – their work not a substitute to the game but a worthy and important performance in its own right, by its own systems.

sleepiness sloppiness the windies are barely playing.

only waiting to bat i guess – its the only way to get on the scoreboard.

the chance comes late in the day, even ponting is bored of batting here and declares. theres been some rain, there may be some more.

devon smith is a wkt more than a batsman. short and wide outside off stump. for every 4 or 5 boundaries he hits he will hit one straight to gully or point, or edge to slips. he doesnt last long. mitchell johnson has him worked out and bowls short and wide of off stump.

xavier marshall on the other hand – finally the test match has something worthy of being considered a test match. holy shit the way he leaps into his cover drives, his pull shots off one leg. gordon grenidge is mentioned. the west indies are in need of a new hero. given the time to find his place and develop application this guy could be great.

antigua’s air fills everything with sleepiness. lassitude. the cricket ground is in the middle of nowhere. goats n other livestock are herded across the hinterland (carpark) to the west. it makes the stadium seem like a world unto its self. the scoreboard shows no bowling analysis. its all and only about the batting. this is sir viv world.

early jaques leaves a ball outside off stump. i have never seen a delivery in test cricket so insignificant, so close to not exisiting, to not having happened at all. jacques raised his eyes to glance briefly at the bowler as he delivered the ball, shifted his bat out of the way with the knowledge that even this effort was histrionics. he needn’t have moved. the ball passed by. the bowler had forgotten how he’d reached this point – last he recalled he was at the top of his mark. the keeper gloved it i guess.

an over or two later (what’s time anyway?) an almost indentical instance occurs with katich on strike.

nothingness develops

cricket moves slowly through the day. antiguan rum n air has everything under a spell. katich concentrates hard to stay awake. his concerted effort lasts all day and is not to be sniffed at. Jaques gets lazy early. the windies are sleepy n disinterested. wkts occur at times during the day but they come from nowhere and lead nowhere, just strange little obscure moments within the dream. there are a few bams when clarke arrives and the crease he meets the ball hard.

symonds again – developed

fidel n bravo built something too. it started with an assault on lee. yesterday lee knocked shiv flat with a short one. fidel n bravo fired up and let lee have it. lee didnt shy away but he wasn’t unshaken. the battle went on for some few overs, it took on significant proportions. prophets felt that whoever came out on top here would take the match in the end. symonds tried not taking singles to protect lee – from fidel particularly. when eventually lee flashed at a wide one and edged behind the game seemed decided. the remaining crumbs of the australian innings quickly were taken by the wind, swallowed up in the roar of the horns.

BRETT LEE! MERV HUGHES FARSDER THAN YOU!

BRETT LEE! JASON GILLESPIE FARSDER THAN YOU!

BRETT LEE! ANDRE NEL FARSDER THAN YOU!

BRETT LEE! YOURE SLOWUH!

SHIV! LICK HIM OUTTA KINGSTON

At times the sound grows slowly. a faint couple of horns answering each other. one or two may join in and the pairing overlap for a time. then one or a pair recede. out of the blue there can be a flash of brilliance, something occurs in the play. horn blasts explode throughout the stadium, the cacophony slowly recedes through any combination of duets, trios, chambers, solos – or gains new momentum from another blast of action from the field (conductor)

W W W W HAT JUST HAPPENED?

late in the day sabina park was one single deafening horn. australia 4/12.

the windies lack an image, they lack names that carry with them already the threat of the devastation the figures they refer to will bring. fidel needs to make a name for himself. garner, holding, ambrose. the names themselves have the opposition reeling. for years 5 letters kept england in a state of utter bewilderment – a e n r w.

ONE MORE SAME PLACE

ONE MORE SAME PLACE

fidel’s dismissmal of hodge was classic fast bowling. he’d been bowling consistently to nightwatchmen johnson and johnson was all at sea. the moment came when the strike turned over. with 2 balls left in a so far threatening over fidel let loose two deliveries short and wide of the off stump. hodge smashed both to the boundary for 4. an over passed from the headley end. first ball of the over, hodge on strike. fidel goes wide on the crease. he lets loose a short delivery wide of off stump. it looks just like those last two. hodge is certain off the result, another 4 cracked to the point boundary. but the angle in has been increased. the ball maybe cuts in slightly further off the pitch and hodge ends up trying to cut the ball off his chest, playing it straight to the keeper.

one of the greatest sights in world cricket at the moment is the temper of andrew symonds batting. the way he builds innings. not really building but definitely development. natural budding. he starts tiny, appears tentative, he barely moves. he restricts himself to a pin prick of a strike zone. risk is foreclosed. he sees clearly the future of his innings and understands how patience will take him there. ball by ball his strike zone expands a little contracts a little, mostly it expands. thresholds are setting themselves. as the expanding stike zone grows beyond these boundaries symonds shots become more expansive until every ball is travelling at speed to or over the rope, at times deep into the stands. it usually starts with some cracking cover drives. from there things speed up. but it is as though the risk involved at no point increases. symonds sense of the innings is superb. he is an example to anyone learning how to occupy a space.

the seats are perfect i am sitting in the george headley stand directly above the bowlers arm

PLEASE DO NOT MOVE BEHIND THE BOWLERS ARM

there is a huge inflatable mascot thing on the west side of the ground. I cant work out if its a crab or some kind of bean but of course i realise its an anagram – crabibean

theres an australian tour group just to my left – they all have the same shirt and same hat. late in the day merv hughes visits and he gets a big cheer – earlier in the day extinct pm howard and janette leant over the balcony and waved at the group who applauded politely.

there were no histrionics before play, 10 oclock sharp the players walked onto the ground and commenced play. i dont think they even tossed the coin, the windies wanted to bowl the aussies wanted to bat so they just went with that.

The highlight of the day came early – Katich’s innings (i think he scored 12) was by far the best knock of the day. His bat hung loosely to the off, like a salacious tongue waiting to feed

easy livin no hassle – a kingston taxi driver taught me this phrase, it sounds better when he says it

katich was lookin to live easy, the few blows he struck were savage and exhilirating he was batting like a guy with a taste for it (as you would if youd had katich’s bradman summer)

it was promising but at the same time it was clear to see just how loose that bat was hanging out there… he was always going to be caught in the gully for 12.

good ponting innings have become so clinical lately that i barely notice them, sure he’s been out of form (he still is, he was dismissed trying to pull, ponting never miscues the pull) but that didnt effect todays execution. he was patient but scored quickly, he hit one ball in the air late in the day off the spinner, a six over square leg. other than this the entire day was anti 2020. hussey batted very carefully, he battled with sammy who was bowling a patient line. no one’s patience broke. the west indies need to amalgamate some of their bowlers together, to get a bowler who might be able to threaten. edwards and powell both bowled occassional vampiric deliveries, but mixed em in with too many loose balls. sammy bowled a good line and length but has no killer delivery. jaggernath bowled ok for a first go – he was getting a lot of advice from the crowd. it was friendly. the crowd comment was a revelation – they actually knew their cricket. basically they would sit there shouting advice to the players, kindly. no wonder i struggle on this new planet when my background is moronic.

hodge is a clone of ponting – they batted exactly the same. compared to the casual but immense desire displayed by katichs bat they were completely indinstinguished. some pretty shots sure, but no feeling. a walk in the park.

when ponting scored the century two of the australian moronics group ran on the field and danced around a bit. a third was dressed in a canary yellow and green lycra suit with a lot of hair bursting out everywhere and he got over the fence but then bailed out and a comic scene ensued as he attempted to return to the crowd.