RCC 2's losing draw to Effingham

History has always struck me as a rather pointless subject. Don’t the winners just end up writing the history books? And if we are meant to learn the lessons of the past why are continually repeating the same mistakes? Wars, economic hardship and political corruption to name but a few seem to just be on a repeating cycle. Much like spokes on a wheel; if we are to accept that academic disciplines all ultimately describe the world around us and who we are in that world, then the History spoke seems a particularly fragile descriptor. You might just as well spend three years of life studying the wherefores and whys of cricket. As someone once said cricket is like life; if you walk away with a draw you have done well.

It is testament to this team that a draw away at Effingham felt like a heavy defeat. We bowled okay - nothing amazing. We fielded okay – a few bloopers matched by a few good catches. We batted okay - but couldn’t quite properly connect with the ball when required as the run rate steadily rose from 4 to 6 an over. When it got to levels that even Mahendra Singh Dhoni might raise an eyebrow we realised we weren’t Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Luckily, (or unluckily, as was the general consensus in the bar afterwards, as we backed ourselves to pass their total if the number of overs had been a straight split) we weren’t playing straight limited overs and we drove away from “@!!@$!!!EFFINGham £@@!!$!” annoyed that we hadn’t quite chased the total down and had instead achieved parity.

So back to History... Somehow in a moment of weakness I caught myself getting drawn into Simon Schama’s series on the plays of Shakespeare on the awesome BBC 4 i-player. Schama investigated Shakespeare’s deep interest in the nature of kingship and therefore leadership. Is a King somehow just born and these individuals naturally separate from the rest of the people? Or, are they just like ordinary folk bearing the weight and burden of their population?... Surely a little bit of both Simon? In today’s age they have to be much like a multifaceted cricketer and have to be able to contribute in more than one area of the game...

Man of the Match: Ross Cameron.
(report by Hemish Gunasekara)