Cricket

It was always difficult to get another women's team to play and that day our luck had turned- almost. The other college's team was a woman short and so we had technically won, but there was going to be a friendly anyway. So our captain looked through the ranks to, possibly, give the other one what she considered a liability. The least sporty of the team were me and a girl with an Irish accent 'Nagihan can bowl pretty well, she should go for it' she said all of a sudden. I was rather happy to be playing at all, and so I went over to the other team.

As it is, what the girl was saying turned out to be true- sort of. When it was my turn to bowl I gave it my all and yet when the ball hit the ground, it had no life left in it, and it sort of sauntered towards the wicket and I wondered whether it would even make it to the line. But then, taken unawares by this slow progress the batswoman lost sight of it and pop it went to the wicket under her very nose and hit it! The other college's team couldn't quite believe their luck and they all came to me and did the whole cricket tap on the shoulder, 'Good show' sort of thing. I protested that I wasn't good at all and that it was a freak incident, the ball hadn't even bounced. The captain of the team said assuredly "Bouncing is overrated".

Then my 'trick' repeated itself a number of times, because really, I had no armpower whatsoever. After securing the team's 'friendly' victory I was out and I approached the boys who were keeping the score. All our coaches (who were all male) had gathered together on this day- I had never seen them so all together and they were quite a sight with their public school boy
(h)airs and cricket sweaters. They had enormous smirks on their faces and were laughing totally absorbed with themselves. They had not seen me coming. When I approached them in order to get into the pavillion for water I heard one of them say sarcastically "Whatever you say, cricket's the winner". Then he lifted his head up from the score log where he was scribbling beside my name and saw me and for a moment his face froze with guilt. The others first looked at him and then at me. I smiled and said 'I should say it is'.