On holiday in Cornwall the usual apartment Daneille Steel, Wilbur Smith and Jonh le Carre’s were supplemented by the ‘Art of Captaincy’ first published in 1985 – the book draws on Mike Brealey’s various experiences while captaining Middlesex and later leading England to the famous Ashes victory in 1981.
Being the only cricket book which talks about and explores the various challenges a cricket team captain must surmount, it has often been referred to as a “treatise on captaincy”. (Scott 2011).
It was therefore considered appropriate for our captain to undertake the arduous task of reading this tome in preparation for the stiff challenge to be posed by the strong East Meon team…
However after two and a half chapters of ‘Brian Close was a bit of a hard case’, ‘as a professional I began in a different dressing room’, and ‘after 4 days I suggested to Bob that he bowl from the other end’ I decided that there was little I could learn, and closed the epistle from 1981 and went back to the beach.
Arriving at East Meon with a strong team, well articulated by match manger Hillier (A) our captain was quick to lose the toss, and be put out to grass for the 150 mins before tea.
But on a small pitch, with short boundaries, and against a traditionally strong batting line up, and with Hillier ( B) bowling down the hill and Harrington (E) bowling up, and with a team packed full of youth, with aged mariner Hawthorne being the senior pro for the first time, the impressive Rioteers kept it tight.
One key ball from Hillier actually pitched online, moved off the seam, and as their captain groped blindly for the ball, it tickled the outside edge, and sped at waist height to the waiting first slip.
Our captain had set an aggressive field knowing the value of this first wicket and had his most reliable fielders at slips one and two, with Hillier and Hawthorne enjoying the focus this gives them.
As the ball flew threw the gap where Hillier had been, for 4, and setting their captain on track for an 85 ball score as part of an overall total of 155, our captain thought, not for the first time, if he’d got past chapter 2 he’d know what Brearley would do now, as he looked over at Hillier standing in a very recent and innovative deep fly slip position.
But setting this inside, the captain knuckled down and with Harrington taking a couple, and wickets slowly mounting, including a great run out from Sudip, and with runs tight, he brought himself on. Thinking like Brearley at last, and so it proved to be, as he returned wicketless, (Brearley 461 FC matches, three wickets).
However we kept on going, and soon had them all bowled out, 10 mins before tea for 155. We’d bowled and fielded well and with the trio of spinners combined with the searing pace offered by our other bowlers, we settled into tea in a positive frame of mind, a frame made all the more positive when the first view of the cakes on offer were viewed. Following on from a delicious set of homemade pork wellingtons, there was a glorious strawberry gateaux, a stunning Dundee fruit cake, and outstanding scones and cream.
Our captain felt like Brearley for the first time, surely they don’t get stuff this good at lords?
Our captains next task was similar to the choice each player was offered on attendance at the tea table, as he viewed the not inconsiderable batting talent on display.
And at 94 for 4 with 18 overs to go, we had batted sensibly, with Sudip, new recruits Samil and Harrington playing well, but not going big. Big was reserved for newly veteran Hawthone, oldest for the first time ever, who with agility belying his elderly status flogged the ball to all corners, including shot of the day a cover drive rocketing to the boundary.
As Hillier (B) strode to the wicket at 4 down, the captain’s instructions were clear. Play yourself in, see off a couple of overs, and then go Botham. However the bowling which had been tight all game, became tighter still, and on his third ball, having seen himself in, and facing the East Meon Captain, the middle stump was uprooted, and the game changed..
However still with rabbits in the hutch we ticked along towards the target, but the East Meon captain kept it tight, and wickets kept coming, and our 10 and 11 came together with 28 needed off the last four.
Williams and Hiller seeking a famous win knuckled down to the task, batted out two overs, and were left with 24 off the last two overs, with all four results still available.
The penultimate over was Captain v Captain, and some gloriously aggressive shots ( go for the win!) delivered very little in the way of runs, until the 5th ball, when an outside edge flew high to the right of the keeper, and was brilliantly caught, giving captain Atkinson a five wicket haul ( to go with his 85). Our captain’s contribution was 0 wickets and 1 run.
So whilst a glorious afternoon of cricket ended in a narrow defeat, the conclusion from this is that whilst Brearly may view captaincy as an art, the more one steps into the requirements as Rioteer’s captain the more one realises that if the opposition captain takes half their teams wickets and scores half their teams runs, then its not an art but more of a mathematical calculation where
C(EM) (½ R * ½ W) > C(R) (0R*0W).