Thursday, March 23, 2006

Spin bowling and the devil

Well on Thursdays my work day starts at one, and goes till nine thirty at night every other week. This week was one of those. So I went to the Melbourne Cricket Centre for a Leg Spin clinic. I have already started my preseason training for next season. The last season ended two weeks ago, I figured that was enough time off :)

As we are discussing the different deliveries, and working on our action, the talk comes to deception. Our job is to deceive the batsman. To make the batsman think one thing is going to happen, when infact something altogether different is going on. And I started to wonder about the devil, and how he operates.

One thing we talked about was to scramble the seam. That means we bowl the ball with the seam running the perpendicular to the spin, this makes the seam impossible to see, and then impossible to figure out which way its going to turn when it bounces. And I thought, the devil doesn't just come at me with simple things anymore, its all so much more subtle now. So the attractive girl is really open to talking about God, and seems to really need me to help her make sense of the scriptures. I think its God opening a door, or is it...

Then we talked about doing the same thing three or four times, and then doing something that looks the same, but is different. The batsman gets used to you. Oh yeah, I have seen this before I will just act this way, but then the ball goes through the other way. Out!!!

There is the way you set your field, leaving a big gap where you want him to try to hit it. Sometimes we see the easiest options as God's opening the way for us, or is it maybe something else entirely.

There are countless was of deception, and I want to learn them all.

When I am on the cricket pitch, I guess I am a devil

:)

the rev

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never mind this cricket business. Take up skateboarding again. I'm enjoying it more now than I ever did when I was a kid.
And beside, who ya gonna play cricket with when you get back to the states?

Are there skate parks in Oz?

urbanmonk said...

now thats an interesting topic

Anonymous said...

Man, I never thought that the devil would be a middle-aged white man wearing all white, with a pot-belly and red-face from too much sun exposure.

Who is he supposed to be tempting other than hungry seagulls?

Good point about temptation though, but including Raquel asking you about the God and the bible as an example, now that is low!

Anonymous said...

Hi Rev..
What a analogy...I love it. Ive played Cricket for 7 years and I have been a Church goer for 7 months! In this form bowling as many maidens over is accepted..but in Christianity your not allowed to bowl any! I my good Christian friend have many tips on the mighty game.I live in Perth..I play 4th grade and a little bit of 2nds. I dont know if they told you in your clinic...but concealing your grip/delivery while you are approaching the popping crease is a good tip too. I bowl medium outswing..good slower ball..leg cutters..and a middle order bat too!

God Bless.