Breaking partnerships

Readers will have noted the anguish with which Wickman has recorded the 2s inability to take ten wickets some weeks. Siders and Colly seemed to have offered us a way out yesterday. If all else fails go for a pre-rehearsed run out. It could work like this. Place a silly mid off and and a silly mid on. Wait for the bat to run and then scrag him. While he's on the floor, if he's been an annoying French cricketing type you could even give him noogies or a Chinese burn if the umpire is distracted. You'd only really need one of the two unless the bat was a fat lad. The other one could jump about waving so that the umpire didn't get the full picture. You then run the bat out and, as its an issue for the on field skipper seemingly to decided whether to have the player back, job done.

Except as was plain to all yesterday it was an absolute travesty and Colly should have called him back. Calling batsmen back is a much underated skill. It simply reeks of sportsmanship. Wickman was once run out having to run round a bowler backing up the stumps. This was in a school game in about 1982. It still burns. The cricket master simply told me to bulldoze through him next time. Wickman weighed about six stone.