Saturday, 4 August 2012

MISSING YOUR (LEFT LINE AND) LENGTH



Every month, the same; a pattern that, when it comes to the effect of deadlines on my productivity, is by now quite well established: the final days arrive, other obligations mount up, the deadline passes, the obligations remain, and when chance presents itself (or I summon the will) I scrutinize Cricinfo hoping to tease a narrative – or at the very least some nice sentences, a few gags – from the mute scorecards’ unambiguous simplifications. I even have to read other people’s reports, so that I know what happened.

Though my access be not as free as once it was, and though the allure of being LeftLion’s cricket correspondent has thus dimmed in step – in weary, blistered step – I am the Sports Editor, the man who appointed me as cricket correspondent, and therefore must endeavour to do my duty and summarise Nottinghamshire CCC’s month for people who already know what happened.

Last month – the last column I wrote, that is; the next one will be compiled over the forthcoming days, just me and Cricinfo all alone – was all about Twenty20. So, in an effort to help Notts put a few bums on seats, I first wrote a brief T20 Preview. (The fixture list will be of little use to you now, unless you have access to a Tardis, or have Sky-Plussed all the games and avoided all media for 5 weeks, but it’s here in case you want to check out the Notts’ promo film: “Put some colour in your cricket”.)

After that, I write a (hopefully drole) report, a paragraph or so to gloss each of their 10 fixtures – about which few people cared, it seemed, because of (a) Euro 2012, and (b) rain: T20 Group Stage Report.

All of which just leaves the quarter-final to report. No spoilers here about how the game turned out (it was a thriller, that’s all I’m prepared to say), but rest assured that it will all be going in next month’s eagerly-anticipated, much-Tweeted Left Line and Length, a prestigious column that I feel truly privileged to be able to write.

Watch this space à _________.

(I can’t believe that some people actually pad out their blogs with waffle like this. Have a word.)



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