Cricket

The English are having a field day at the moment. At my expense. I am copping it every which way. The bloody cricket. The Australians have been trounced by the Indians in the first two Tests. To add to this ignominy the English managed to salvage a draw against the New Zealanders. The Kiwis. Despite being more than two hundred runs behind in the first innings. I jumped the gun a little when I saw that the English were being dominated by the Kiwis. After the first innings. I sent texts to quite a few of the English to wind them up. I didn't anticipate them rallying for a draw. 

It came as quite a shock.

The term 'having a field day' apparently originated in the mid eighteenth century. It would appear to have military origins.

A 'field day' referred to practice drills for the troops. Which were not much fun. A century later this percolated into civilian life where a 'field day' took on the meaning of a time "full of exciting events and glorious accomplishments." Nowadays it means just having a really good time.

The term 'jumping the gun' relates back to the days where races were started by the firing of a weapon. If you 'jumped the gun' you started too early. Interesting huh?

The word ignominy means shame or disgrace. It is an appropriate descriptor for the Australian cricket team at the moment. Our performances have been woeful.

Ignominy is an excellent word and I shall try and use it verbally in a sentence tomorrow. It shouldn't be that difficult. I shall simply talk to someone about the performance of the Australian cricket team. In India.

The English have also gone to town on the fact that four Australian cricketers have been dropped from the team for the Third Test. They have been excluded from the team because they failed to complete a written review report on their poor performances. This review was required to be completed by all players in the Australian team. It was demanded by the Team Management Committee. I have never heard of such a thing before. However rules are rules and if they didn't comply then they should have been dropped from the team.

The origins of the term 'gone to town' are a bit obscure. I have checked a couple of sources. It would appear likely that it referred to rural people going on outings to a town to have fun. A night out of sorts. That would make sense.

I have tried to come back at the English with some witty barbs claiming that the four Australian cricket players who didn't complete the written assessment of their form were likely illiterate. I have added a touch of self deprecation. This is the Australian way. I have suggested that these four players were all educated in English Boarding schools. I have implied that the teaching standard at these facilities is such that they didn't learn to read or write. This is not at all true and it is a fairly weak come back. I know. However it is all I could muster. The English call these boys boarding schools Public schools. In Australia we refer to them as Private schools. There is some disparity in terminology. Education costs a lot of money at these schools. They are considered elite. 

All learning comes at a price.

I am traveling to Sydney, Tokyo, India and Cambodia over the next two weeks. For work. I leave on Sunday. There will be a lot of contrasts between these four nations. It might sound a bit glamorous to some people but I am quite weary of all this travel and I will be spending a lot of time on planes and in airports. I will skip through several different time zones and I will likely be a bit tired and grumpy as well. I have a lot of meetings in these places. I have a busy schedule. It is all work and no play. I will be jet lagged the whole time. My sleep will suffer. I will miss the cricket too.

I have informed the English that I am confident that the Australian Cricket Team will rally for the upcoming Ashes series. We tend to lift another gear when we play against the Poms and our national pride is at stake. I am not all that confident though. I am in fact not confident at all. Australian cricket is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. 

We aren't as good as we once were.