Where to begin….??
Sporting tales careering around the place like confetti in a wild breeze…
Start close to home. Weekend runners. DESERT COP deservedly getting his head back in front at Windsor under a fine ride from Benoit De La Sayette. Sprinters…??!!
The margins at their finest over sprint trips. A beat missed at the stalls, a gap closing, others drifting into your path. Cards need to fall not right but absolutely spot on, and “spot on” and horse races often don’t mix and match…
Some of the cards that he has been dealt have been a little unfair but DESERT COP, a brilliant winner of the Grade 2 Chairman’s Cup in Bahrain last year, got it all together in some style Thameside on Saturday evening. All credit to the team at home, and especially to Harriet who rides DC most days. And great / relief for his patient owners Will Downs, Chris Heney, George and Candida Baker (?!) and The Turf Club….
ELSA TAN (Jack Callan) to Wolverhampton yesterday on debut. A horrible draw, and first day at grown up school, but encouragement for sure…
One runner today. VESPER HONEY (Pat Cosgrave) to Kempton. Effectively her first run given that she had a “Hamlet moment” at Goodwood on debut that was not her fault…
BENVENUTO CELLINI winning The Irish Derby. Desperately unlucky at Epsom when missing the break by a couple of lengths ?! Stewarding at its most bonkers on Derby day…?!
Stokesie….
“Bazball” might well have piqued a purist or three along the way. But Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes’ brand of Test cricket re-energised a format that was in decline. They got turnstiles clicking, and the younger generations fully engaged in 5 day cricket. Barney and Tallulah love Test cricket – and their first real experiences of the longer format were energised by the breathtaking way in which England under Stokes took the game to the opposition…
A cold assessment of results will tell a tale. But not the whole tale. Better to go down all guns blazing rather than settle for tepid draws. At times, the middle ground was ignored when a little common sense and rationale might have been applied…
But what the hell, genius is often flawed. And this was a genius brand of cricket that filled grounds and column inches…
There will be plenty who will not bemoan the end of Bazball. And maybe it is time for this attacking style to be refined and even reformed…
But Ben Stokes has been an iconic and totemic cricketer, and I for one will miss watching him stride through the Long Room at Lords, and on other stages, very very much…
“Genius is often flawed”. And not every step has been in tandem or blessed with best judgement. And the irrationality of some of yesterday was bizarre, but should not cloud or define…
One of the cricketers of my time. One of the great sportsmen of an era. Thanks for the memories Ben, it was a privilege to be able to say on many occasions that I was there…
And most doors remain just a tiny bit ajar…
Spring of 2027. An Ashes Summer upcoming. Whether it is Root or Brooks or somebody else, the skipper might well be tempted to send a text message…
“Ashes Ben….??”
