During my journey as a club cricketer, I have met quite a few that did manage to lighten up dull moment of a game. They were prepared to break from the pack and give themselves and teammates a good laugh. Many moments flood back to my mind as I write so I will just selects a couple that may amuse the reader.

Scenario 1

A first grade match at Mosman Oval, Petersham Marrickville v Mosman. A Mosman opener was facing a fiery spell from Dave Chardon when he was struck by a sharp one on his thigh. He threw his bat away in disgust, followed closely by his pads. He proceeded then to run a slow lap around the boundary. The two bemused umpires stood beside the discarded bat and pads, discussing what action they would take. The batsman returned and proceeds to ‘pad up.’ When the umpires asked, “what was that all about?” They were told by the batsman that “my physiotherapist told me to always run out a corked thigh as soon as you get it, so I thought I would give it a go.” The umpires just looked at one another, smiled, then walked back to their positions, laughing and telling Dave Chardon not to hit him in the thigh again.

Scenario 2

The same batsman, different game, between the same teams, and Petersham in the field. The opening bowler check the ball after a couple of overs to see it prematurely roughed up and commented, “strange it’s only gone for a few runs.” In a field change, he moved two fielders in close and one of them held up play to check this batsman at as it appeared ‘different.’ On inspection, it was found that stuck to the face of the bat was a very coarse sheet of glasspaper. When questioned by the umpire and then told to remove it he casually replied that his captain told him, his job was to “get the shine off the ball.”