Appleby College

Life Goes On… (continued)

NOTE: It’s been a long time since I attended Appleby (1959), my memory might be a little hazy. If you see something lacking, or something incorrect, feel free to let me know where I went wrong.

 Cricket

Now, here was a sport I did enjoy, sort of. I was normally the “bowler”. That’s the person, for those not familiar with the sport, who throws the ball (bowls) at player who is standing at the opposite end of the “pitch”. His job is to hit the ball as far as he can, while the bowler’s (me) job is to hit the “wicket” and get the player out. If you are confused (I am, just thinking about it!), then you can read all about the game and its rules “on-line”! By the way, we didn’t have “on-line” back in the “good old days” (sigh). Although I liked being the bowler, I wasn’t too fond of being a “wicket keeper” or a “fielder” (there are lots of funny names for them!). You might remember from a few segments ago that I was hit in the forehead by a puck. Pucks are quite hard, put I think cricket balls are just as hard or, maybe a little harder, plus their surface is bigger. 

Cricket players don’t have the type of protection that hockey players to. In fact, the only position with some protection is the wicket keeper. He gets to have gloves (not very thick ones) and leg pads (not very thick ones). However, the hitter can hit the ball in whatever direction he can. That means, if he hits it back towards the wicket keeper, who is very close to the hitter, if could be “lights out”! Image a very hard ball, traveling very fast, coming straight at you (yikes". It’s almost the same for fielders, who don’t have protection. As for the bowler, he at the far end of the pitch and hopefully has time to get out of the way! It was easier for me, I was a "professional" goalie!

The best part of the sport, for me, was visiting other schools. After each game there would be a table full of great food, set up for the players and we would all dig in and help ourselves!