I told Alexander pictured above (he's the good looking one), that I'd write a post on Troppo when he got his first cricket wicket. Well he got his first cricket wicket, so here is the post! Alexander is besotted with cricket and he's a good bowler. You have been Warned!
If he bowls off breaks I can give him some coaching on the finer points of the art.
My oldest got his first wicket this year and he is now hitting fours well.
My two are besotted by cricket but theur favourite is Andrew Flintoff!!
He is a crowd pleaser and an extrovert. In contrast, offspinners tend to be introverts. Also in Australia the pitches are against as and so we have to be the deep thinkers of the game to get any wickets.
Offspinners are boring.
Let him rip a legspinner or become a fast bowler.
nick looks a bit like robert Hill
I'll crack a tinny to that!
Does he follow in dad's footsteps then, Nick? Were you a dab hand with the agate, getting sharp sideways movement off the pitch? Or were you a guileful tweaker?
And when's young Alex going to start an economics blog?
Nope - I wasn't much of a cricketer, and that's putting it mildly. I was a good sprinter. That's about it in the sporting area.
Well he looks like a quick.
However a word of long term advice young Alex, speaking as a former number three batsman and second slip for my school in secondary school comps.
You get to hang around with girls a lot more if you take up tennis. And even the scanty financial pickings on the tennis satillite circuit are still a lot better than A grade club cricket.
But hey, follow your heart. And the money. And the dames.
Nab, why not first slip?
Tennis sounds like a better bet but badminton is even better because you play in mixed teams.
If you must play cricket, you have to be an allrounder. If you fail with the bat you get a chace to make amends and vice versa.
Speaking as an opener, first change offspinner and longstop.
homer is right, didn't notice it before. nick could be robert hill's long lost twin brother
Congratulations Alexander
and you too Nick - as they say in the classics ( somewhere surely)its a big responsibility being the father of a young, cute, Australian wicket-taking cricketer ( although often not quite as big a responsibility as it is being the mother!).
Way to go Alexander.
He is a beautiful boy!
I hope you meant you have been Warned, not Warne-d. Ewww.
Well done, I remember my first ever wicket - a played-on bowled of one of the opposition's openers, which after rain stopped play left me with the stellar figures of 2-4. I'm sure there will be more wickets coming Alexander's way.