One game goes the distance

It's good to finally sit through a full game, after the first two warm-ups involving India and Pakistan were wrecked by rain. The weather...

It8217;s good to finally sit through a full game, after the first two warm-ups involving India and Pakistan were wrecked by rain. The weather gods are kinder in South East of England, and by the looks of it, South Africa will finally get a full day8217;s practice against Kent here in Canterbury, home to Geoffrey Chaucer and his famous tales. Because the weather is so dodgy in the north, I opted to head down here rather than travel up to see the Indians play Yorkshire in Harrogate, which is said to be a pretty place. And right now I8217;m congratulating myself because I hear the game has been abandoned because of a wet pitch. It would have been good to see Sachin Tendulkar play before his adopted home crowd 8212; he played a season for Yorkshire 8212; but who wants to travel three hours up to see a game washed out? In Derby yesterday, a whole bunch of Pakistani fans from all over streamed in and paid ten quid to see half a game 8212; no refund, no carryover to another game. Worse, grumpy Pakistan players were in no mood to obligeautograph hunters.

Venkat, the brains

Speaking of Derby, old-timers there speak with great affection of Srinivasa Venkataraghavan, the great Indian off-spinner who player for Derbyshire in the 1970s and is now an umpire he will officiate at the opening game in Lord8217;s on Friday. One club member told me how difficult they found it to pronounce Venkat8217;s full name till one of them spotted a hoarding on the ground one day that advertised Kenny8217;s Rent-a-Caravan8217;.

After that, Venkat became Mr Rent-a-Caravan or simply Kenny. The brainy Tamil Brahmin that Venkat is, he also left a lasting impression on folks at Derby. Another member recalled how Venkat was once invited to talk to students at a local school. He was escorted into a classroom where a Latin class had just been held and the blackboard was full of Latin expression. Venkat coolly went on to translate all the stuff and had the students and staff in complete thrall.

Woods are lovely

Back here in Canterbury, the ground is some wayfrom the town center and the tourist spots, mainly the famous cathedral where Thomas A Beckett was murdered. Like most English grounds, it is picturesque with some wonderful traditions and folklore associated with it. Square of the wicket within the boundary line stands a magnificent lime tree, whose roots alas are now said to be dying.

But the local cricketing heavies are so fond of the tree 8212; a hit to the tree counts as a boundary 8212; that a new sapling was planted by EW Swanton outside the boundary in the ground. But when the old tree falls, the new one will be moved to the same spot.