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Video

When Dougie Did The Double

Peter Langston | January 23, 2024


I was 12 when I went to my first Test match at the SCG. Doug Walters made 242 & 103 not out against the Windies and I recorded the double in tally marks in an old school exercise book. This poem uses cricket as the context for a story about a boy, who life experience was only three suburbs wide, taking his first steps in a larger world. Thrilled that this poem sat beside Dougie's 1969 Baggy Green in an exhibition in the SCG Museum. #cricket #cricketlovers #poetry #australianpoetry #veterans_cricket_australia_o40 #veterans_cricket_nsw #australian_mens_cricket #abc_sport


About Me

Peter Langston

Current Rating: 5 / 5
www.peterlangstonpoet.com
Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
I was a teacher for twenty years and a writer forever. I played the game with great passion and commitment from about eight. I had several satisfying innings, bowled more overs than I deserved and held the very occasional screamer ... until I lost my playing mojo in my early 30's. Unfortunately, I've never found my way back beyond the boundary apart from several games where my mates were fun but I was rubbish, so I watch and occasionally write about the game instead. In my other worlds, I have published five volumes of poetry, had a play come to the stage and written about all sorts of topics, in all sorts of way, in all sorts of media. I have been married to Sue since 1979. We have lasted this long because although she has bad taste in men, she can't admit she is wrong. We have three adult children, five grandchildren and more stories than an afternoon can last.

Favourite players: Doug Walters, John Hildred, Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell and Andrew Davis

Favourite grounds: SCG, Lambert Park, The LCG (Langston Cricket Ground)

All-time cricket hero: Doug Walters

Favourite bat: Symonds Tusker, which mocks me from the corner of my study.

Most memorable moment in cricket:
I am old enough that I have forgotten my most memorable moments in cricket but they almost certainly involved mates from the Waratahs Cricket Club of Armidale.

What’s the best cricket advice you’ve ever received:
Most advice is useless. It only works for the bloke giving it.