Rafa, Roger, Novak and cricket: All in a day's play

Roger had a crazy fan following

Roger had become something of a legend. He had played with the best, and had beaten them. Roger, when not even a teen then, had stood up to Pete, Andre and Marat, all of whom were in college now. He had an elegance which few possessed, and he knew it. His tales of victory had permeated the walls of schools on the other side of town, and that was saying something. He lazily walked up to the guys, hair in place, clean white socks, a smile on his face and said, ‘So who’s winning today?’ Which basically meant, ‘Whose side am I on?’ Novak chuckled and took him to their side.

Tommy ‘Robo’ R looked on with disgust. He didn’t like this arrogance, and hated being hit for a six every single time he bowled to Roger. But, like all the others, he kept quiet, smiled politely and made his way to the crease. They would beat him today; he could feel it in his bones. After all they had Andy as their captain. Sure, he was a Mommy’s boy, but that didn’t make him a bad cricketer. In fact, he was very talented, and that lousy, seemingly permanent scowl on his face meant that people didn’t notice his phenomenal speed and powerfully hit pull shots.

Then there was the unpredictable Tomas, who had gotten Novak and Roger out the other day. Stanislas was another critical asset in their team – he was in Roger’s class in school, and had played with him for the longest time. Add Rafa and Juan Martin to the team, and Robo felt very confident indeed. John could bowl over after over, and Nicolas could play shot after shot, but John found it very hard to get wickets, and Nicolas found runs hard to come by. Nonetheless, they would have to make do with what they had.

It was seven o’ clock, too dark to see the ball any more. When even the street lights weren’t good enough to continue play, the boys grudgingly uprooted the wickets and trudged back towards the peepal tree. There was no post-match huddle and no ‘see you tomorrow’. There was just plain disappointment in all their faces: homework time.

Some, like Novak and Nicolas, looked worried. They’d both broken their 6.30 deadlines, and Lord knew what awaited them. ‘Do we walk slowly to delay the inevitable? Or walk faster to reduce the severity?’ They did not know what to do! No one paid any heed to Rafa’s plaintive cries for ‘one last over’; instead they all looked on as Roger waved casually to the girls, who were much gigglier than normal. Some guys had all the luck.

There was still tomorrow though. Oh well, all in a day’s play.

There’s a bit of them in all of us, and there’s a bit of us in all of them. That’s a heartening feeling, wouldn’t you say?