The ball still swings

Cricketers in their seventies

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  • Published 20200427
  • ISBN: 9781922268761
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

Click here to listen to Editor Ashley Hay in conversation with Ian Lowe and Ingrid Burkett.


‘IT’S JUST LIKE the game we used to play,’ a teammate observed, ‘only in slow motion.’ He was talking about over-­sixties cricket. The slow bowlers bowl with as much guile as ever, but those of us who used to be fast are now a gentle medium pace. We do not hit the ball as hard as we once did, and sometimes in the field, instead of getting our hands down to ground level, we stick out a foot in desperation. Most of our throwing arms are decidedly fragile and we no longer move as fast, which means special consideration must be taken with field placings. Running between wickets requires fine judgment. The game, in short, is as much a challenge as it was fifty years ago – possibly even more so, now that we know more about it.

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