10 Things # 29

Cricket Et Al Goes Electric....again

1/ A packed house at Willie the Boatman tonight for the annual Cricket Et Al Goes Electric, which was adorned by special guests Ed Cowan and Steve O’Keefe - official Friends of the Pod and subscribers to 'the ‘stack. Pete could not find his T-shirt, but we had one for SOK, while EJM Cowan looked his usual suave self in a wide-ranging conversation centering on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the rift in the Indian lute. Back in July, in the context of the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as coach, I speculated: ‘Expectations of India will be high in Australia this summer. Who will take the blame should Rohit Sharma’s team fall short?’ Now we know and, as we noted, it sure as hell ain’t the coach. Ed, who played two series against India, and SOK, who twenty-odd years ago was the young player deputed to pick Virat Kohli up from the airport when he was a guest at Brisbane’s Centre of Excellence, had great insights into the characters of the dramatis personae. Pete and I nodded - we’re good at that. It was also quite moving to bring together two former teammates who played so much cricket with and against each other, and ask them their reflections on each other. Truly does nobody know you quite so well as a fellow cricketer.