Ged writes:
The best laid plans, eh?
My plan for the day was to have a real tennis lesson at 10am and stay to watch the finale of the Middlesex v Durham match. But Middlesex decided to bring an end to those proceedings the day before.
Plan B. Real tennis lesson at 10am, then scoot from Lord’s to Radlett to catch at least two sessions of dinky-doos play there (Editor: We have no idea what this means, but sometimes it’s just better to publish and hope that no-one uncovers your ignorance than actually ask for an explanation.) To my shame, I had still not been to Radlett, despite my constant intention to get round to it since my last aborted attempt, reported on King Cricket years ago.
After the lesson, I returned to Dumbo (Editor: Ged’s car) in Car Park No. 6 to find Paul Collingwood, in his Durham track suit, loading up an Enterprise van with Durham kit, much of which was piled up in front of Dumbo.
I threw my measly tennis kit in the back and turned on Dumbo’s engine. Colly gave me a look of exasperation and started moving the kit that was blocking Dumbo’s way.
“Smart move,” I said. “You don’t want any of your kit inadvertently run over, Colly.”
Colly didn’t smile. He looked in a thoroughly bad mood for some reason.
I added to the bad mood by then remembering that I needed to book Dumbo in for his MOT and service, so I got out of the car to get my diary, fiddled around for a few minutes making that call and then drove off.
Dumbo suggested that he or I might write up that Colly encounter for Cricket Badger (Editor: Now Wisden Cricket Weekly). Indeed, you might well have read about it in that esteemed organ before you read this.
Dumbo got very excited when we drove into the Radlett car park, as you could see the field of play just beyond a low hedge. Regular readers will know that Dumbo is constantly trying to repeat his first cricket experience, at Clontarf, Dublin, where he could actually see the field of play. That is hard to achieve at, e.g. Uxbridge and/or Lord’s.
Radlett is a lovely ground and that day was a beautiful day for being around cricket. Michael Atherton was putting his son Josh through his paces in the nets – a fairly regular school holiday sight at Radlett, I am told. As one of the Middlesex regulars put it to me: “You get a very good class of father and son playing in the nets here at Radlett.”
The afternoon passed remarkably quickly. I didn’t get as much reading done as I had intended but I did chat well with some of the Middlesex regulars, who are always good company.
On the way back into London, at the end of the M1, Dumbo started coughing and spluttering. He’s been doing that intermittently of late. Perhaps the excitement of seeing the cricket had been too much for him. Probably just as well I had booked him in for that service.
October 9, 2018 at 1:49 pm
I googled ‘kinky doos’ from my work place and now Compliance want to speak to me.
Then I realised – shoot – it’s dinky doos.
Right.
Dinky doos.
That’ll explain it.
October 9, 2018 at 2:36 pm
Not ending with (Editor: you’re fired) was a sitter.
October 9, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Informative, textbook, classic Ged.
Dumbo. My father sailed a Fireball racing dinghy with a doctor friend of his who named the boat Ochitis. Clever that.
Dinky doos. I’m abroad at the moment where they don’t seem to clear up after their little toy dogs, so there’s plenty of those around.
October 9, 2018 at 8:55 pm
I think you mean orchitis, not ochitis, don’t you, Edwardian?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchitis
Sorry to be pedantic, I must seem like a right pain in the nads sometimes.
October 9, 2018 at 3:57 pm
Is dinky doos ironic posh rhyming slang for “twos” ie the seconds?
October 9, 2018 at 4:58 pm
Re dinky doos – spot on Jimmy.
Perhaps even more interesting for those who are interested in participation/community cricket, is the launch we did last week, of which i am enormously proud and which I have just finished Ogblogging:
http://ianlouisharris.com/2018/10/09/formal-launch-of-the-london-cricket-trust-seven-kings-park-4-october-2018/
Enjoy.
October 9, 2018 at 7:04 pm
Put doesn’t rhyming slang normally make use of regular words? What’s dinky doos other than a sequence of sounds that ends in the same as ‘twos’?
Is it South African slang?
October 9, 2018 at 8:58 pm
Strangely, I think of your man Atherton in the context of that phrase – he uses it a lot.
I can’t find many references to it, in truth. One here in Simon Hughes’s wonderful book A Lot Of Hard Yakka:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fNl8GPgtgiAC&pg=PT39&lpg=PT39&dq=dinky+doos+cricket&source=bl&ots=XUwDpIks6g&sig=eqzNWviUCac7rW80Kz2HjkW0SIE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2kf_jvvndAhUqI8AKHYhjAQwQ6AEwFXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=dinky%20doos%20cricket&f=false
October 9, 2018 at 8:58 pm
In other news: tee hee hee.
October 10, 2018 at 7:49 am
Is Athers son any good?
October 10, 2018 at 8:12 am
Bit early to tell, Bradders.
He was 14 when I saw him 2 years ago, giving back to his father as much chirp as he was getting. I’m not sure if that is a very good sign or a very bad one.
Coincidentally, he has played several matches for the Middlesex Dinky-doos this year, which is a big step up for a 16 year old. We must rate him:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/1115195.html
October 10, 2018 at 8:14 am
Prior to taking that big step up this year, he was scoring runs for fun in the age-based leagues:
https://www.play-cricket.com/website/player_stats_widget/batting_stats/3361347?rule_type_id=179
October 10, 2018 at 4:30 pm
Disappointing to find the young girl lad doesn’t share the great name.
However, this has led me to discover the fascinating background of David de Caires
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.stabroeknews.com/2008/news/guyana/11/08/david-de-caires-remembered-as-man-who-touched-many-lives/amp/
October 10, 2018 at 4:30 pm
No idea how the word ‘girl’ found its way into that.
October 10, 2018 at 11:09 am
Trent Boult just hit 61 off 30 balls and it is the greatest innings of all time.
http://scoring.nzc.nz/livescoring/matche4b2a0e5-36d6-43cf-ac38-aa99647de165/scorecard.aspx#video-player
Watch his boundaries. He falls over at least three times.