I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
TS Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The American-born TS Eliot cloaked himself with English affectations, but really missed a trick by not having the anxious J. Alfred don his flannel trousers for a village cricket game with others of similarly delicate age, rather than an amble beach.
Three Australian cricketers were still out at the Silverwater Jail training ground on Monday, despite Et Al arriving an hour late for the scheduled media opportunity. Nathan Lyon, 37, had applied the factor 50 plus to his scalp and was among the bowlers sending down deliveries to the jet-setting Steve Smith, 34. Sean Abbott, 33, who recently had the honour of being the first player ever subbed out of a First Class game in this country, was there too, having returned to Sydney ahead of the NSW team.
Despite missing the opportunity to hear Smith say he was happy to bat anywhere for the side, the largely subterranean drive from the inner west via the M8 and M4 tunnels was not a complete bust. Recently back from New York, Smith stopped by The Commons cafe for a brief chat about the price of coffee in the village and the success of Pat Cummins’ Manhattan pub.
Cummins, 32, was out there on Tuesday running laps, which is a good sign given the first Test is exactly a month away, but the fact he has yet to roll an arm over in public is a concern, unless they’re considering playing the New York publican as a specialist batter.
Smith is set to be named in the NSW XI for the Shield match against Queensland at the Gabba. Mitchell Starc, 35, and Josh Hazlewood, 34, currently occupied with 50-over duties, will join Smith for the game against Tasmania at the SCG two weeks out from the first Test. Lyon will presumably play both games.
Thanks are due to the Sunday Time’s crumpled cricket correspondent, Simon Wilde, for dusting off the first Dad’s Army salvo of the pre-summer with a piece in the English newspaper this weekend, where he points out that this Australian side is potentially the oldest in almost 100 years.
The Dad’s Army trope invoked by Wilde is, fittingly, an oldie but a goodie.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Cricket Et Al to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.