What a
take !! (pic credit cricinfo)
பளபளன்னு
போட்டிருப்பது யாரு கொடுத்த சொக்கா’ – a child asking the butterfuly as to who gave it such a
beautiful shirt ! – was a grand hit of yesteryears.
Our school days were lost
without our understanding many things – remember this English poem of William
Wordsworth (1770 – 1850), an English romantic poet whose magnum opus is considered
to be ‘the Prelude’ : this was ‘butterfly’
I'VE watched you now a full
half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
.. .. .. ..
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!--not frozen seas
The opening lines
reveals his apparent entrancement. It perhaps was no poem on
a simple butterfly, but more of what it could represent ! It's
fragile, delicate, short lifespan and every moment could be it's last, with all
the "predators" out there. Though we take solace planning
longer things, our life too is fragile…
William Wordsworth was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with
their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).
Wordsworth was Britain's poet laureate from 1843 until his death.
In Nov 1992 the New
Zealanders had been in Colombo 11 hours after a 40-hour journey from Zimbabwe
when, on the eve of their first game, a suicide bomber crashed his motorcycle
into a car outside their team hotel containing a Sri Lankan vice admiral, killing
the two of them as well as three of the admiral's aides. Many of the New
Zealanders were sitting outside on their hotel balconies when the bomb went off
while Ken Rutherford, eating inside, recalled the blast knocked his breakfast
tray off his bed. Warren Lees, in an adjoining room, had his balcony doors
blown open.
Remember seeing this
stylish Warren Lees play at Chepauk in Dec 1976 when India beat NZ by 216
runs. Venkat scoring 64 with a six of
Peter Petherick who had had a great debut months earlier at Lahore taking a
hattrick on debut. He debuted alongside
Javed Miandad, Robert Anderson & wicket keeper Warren Lees. Despite that great start, he played in only 6
tests.
The butterfly – leading to
Wordsworth to Warren Lees sounded something and made me search in google – for I
remembered hearing the name of another wicket keeper Wadsworth when India
toured New Zealand in 1976.
In the 1st Test
at Auckland in Jan 1976, India made history on NZ soil beating them by 8
wickets. Dilip Vengsarkar, Surinder
Amarnath & Syed Kirmani made their debuts -
the wicketkeeper for Kiwis was Ken Wadsworth – little did I realize the
reason why he was not playing at Chepauk in that test in Dec 1976. Ken Wadsworth was the first wicket-keeper to
hit a century in One Day. He scored 104
off 98 at Christchurch in Mar 1976 in ODI 11 against Australia, but NZ lost
that match. But sadly, at a very young
age of 29, Ken passed away in Aug 1976 – Lees had replaced him for that NZ tour
to Pak/India in late 1976.
At the time, wicketkeeping
was largely considered to be a specialist’s job. But, by wielding the willow at
the domestic level, Wadsworth challenged that notion. It was for this reason he
replaced Barry Milburn — a wicketkeeper of modest batting ability — during the
aforesaid tour of England. Kenneth John
Wadsworth, died in Nelson, New Zealand, aged 29. He had been New Zealand's regular
keeper since 1969, playing in thirty-three Tests, the last of them against
India at Wellington in February 1976: in these he dismissed 95 batsmen and made
over a thousand runs.
That brilliant take at the
start is NZ present day keeper batsman Bradley John Watling who played against
India in Test no. 2387 that ended on Mar 2020 – and Cricket World is waiting
for long for the next test
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
12.6.2020.
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