Hi Ho All,

Bugger! I have a five year old son who, this summer, will be presented
with his first kit. And over the coming years I will slowly indoctrinate
him in the fine game that he will inherit. And in time he will ask me
about cricketers and cricket I have seen. And, with a heavy heart I will
tell him how "In my day ..."

I will talk about how the countries used to play each other in what was
called Test Cricket. And the best players there were strived to play it.
They all wore white. They all played long hard games for days on end.
They scored double and triple centuries, teams scored 6, even 7 hundred,
and bowlers took 5, 6, 7 and sometimes 8 wickets. And it was truely a
wonder to watch the best of the best go around for hour after hour, day
after day.
Then at night, while you waited impatiently for the next day, you
talked at length about decisions made, catches dropped, bad umpiring and
good cricket. All along you waited patiently for the next day, praying
the cricket gods that it wasn't going to rain and that your particular
favourite could score those few runs needed for his century or the extra
wicket to get a five-for.

I will tell him about Don Bradman, Victor Trumper, Jack Hobbs, Sobers,
Tendulka, Lara, Chappell and Chappell. I will tell him about Botham in
81' and Laxam and Dravid batting out a day to win a game and create
history. I will go on and on about Bill Brown and his gate, Keith Miller
and the Germans and the days I saw the best of the best at the Gabba.

And he will ask me why dad? Why don't they do it anymore?

And I will tell him how the ICC caved in like a pack of cards and let
money take over. I will tell him how the players, and not players like
those who had gone before, but players more interested in themselves
than the game itself, let it die for the greater good of their wallets.
And how the countries they came from let them do it.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/srilanka/content/current/story/360568.html


And he will ask me whether or not those in charge saw it coming and
whether they tried to stop it. And I will say no, they tried to to
encourage it and pretend they cared about the game.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/360694.html

And many, many, many fans will laugh at the few like me who think that
what I tell my son is foolish for they will think it is living in the
past. They will think the game has changed and whether we like it or not
we must change with it. They will be swept up in petty things such as
their own countries and what they do must be right and so must be good.
They will think a lot of money is a good thing, irrespective of where it
comes from and the motives of those who fork it out.

And he will ask me what will happen in the future.

And I will say I don't know. I will tell him I thought the game was too
beautiful to let it fall apart in the first place and how wrong I was. I
will tell him how I thought those who ran it, played it and watched it
were more interested in cricket than whatever it is they call it these days.

He will then say, "oh well. She'll be right. It's your turn to bowl" and
I will get on with the indoctrination. But I will always remember how it
was in my day.

Cheers
Christopher