Unscheduled day today so we are left to our own devices. We'd spotted a good path from the Palace yesterday, down towards the river so decided to investigate it. With Geoff's immaculate sense of direction we walked along the road heading out of town then turned down an alley that seemed to head in the direction of the river. The alley got smaller as the houses got closer together, finally coming to an apparent dead end where some small kids were playing cricket on what appeared to be a dump.
A bamboo stick for a bat and piled up bricks for stumps - they invited us to take part -Geoff took up the challenge only to be bowled out first ball. More kids arrived,
then their mothers offering another hunk of wood as a better bat. This obviously did the trick as he managed to connect with the ball next time only to bat it into a pile of bricks where it disappeared without trace. Eager to change the subject we asked their names and wrote them in our book before getting them to write them again in Hindi along side - a nice memento for us.
Geoff had a load of small pencils which we then distributed in disorderly fashion and pulled a few pages from the book for them to practice on. [ Some time later we discovered that one of these had been our prized list of names ] They pointed out that by climbing over a fence and walking alongside a few crop fields we could still make it down to the river which we subsequently did, waving goodbye to our now anonymous young friends. This new path took us past small farms to yet another dead end where a farmer removed half a hedge for us to regain the proper path, and we finally made it down to the river, home to a few more temples populated solely by goats and cows.
After a while a young man came along and we chatted as he walked with us back towards town. A woman passed us on the path carrying a huge pile of firewood on her head and said a few words to him as she passed. He said she told him we had been playing cricket with what turned out to be his family [ no mention of the lost ball ] Back in town and feeling quite guilty Geoff went to buy a new ball for the lads but came back with a cricket bat as well. While I was at the internet cafe he found his way back to the cricket pitch looking for the lads only to find our former guide who said they were all at school. So handing over the bat and ball he threw down a challenge to a match later that day down by the temples. Could the opportunity to give us a sound thrashing be refused? - more to follow from our roving sports reporter N.Edmondson......................
"Mon. 9th Feb will linger long in the memory of the inhabitants of the town of Orchha, which is set in a loop of the River Betwa in Southern Madhyur Pradesh. At 4 pm an eerie calm fell over the normally noisy centre of town as Geoffrey Cox, the English Tour Captain led his team of veteran potters through the square and across the bridge to the cricket ground, which lay in the shadow of the impressive palace of Jahangiri Mahal.
The 3 Indian players waiting on the pitch were clearly taken aback that England had fielded such a strong side. After hasty mobile phone calls the Indian ranks swelled to 5. Sides were picked and the Indian captain, having won the toss, elected to bat. A number of early wickets fell as the English players struggled to read the recently, badly laid concrete block pitch. The middle order steadied things down largely as a result of some solid attacking play from the young Indian batsmen, most of whom wore sling shots around their waists to deter the local monkeys from invading the pitch and making off with the ball. Chris Cox managed to bowl out their captain whilst he was answering a call on his mobile phone, and the Indian side was later all out for 72 runs.
Cox led his team with distinction and his battling line up set about their task with typical Yorkshire grit. Green, the highest scorer and only southerner in the side, performed well, but struggled with the language, both Hindi and Northern speak. Uttley, the tour leaders husband, impressed with his bowling.
Last man in for England was Curtis, whose bowling had earlier let him down. On the 4th ball of the final over Curtis, with a determined glint in his eye, struck a powerful leg-drive over the short boundary, via the banyan tree, and secured victory by a single run.
The game was watched, briefly, by a small bemused group of Indians, with more interest by a goat and 2 monkeys, and with worrying intensity by a number of vultures circling overhead. Van Bussel, our EU beer correspondent and only non-playing member of the tour, after several minutes of thoughtful analysis was heard to say " Look Else, those 3 sticks have something to do with the game"
Interested onlookers
A bamboo stick for a bat and piled up bricks for stumps - they invited us to take part -Geoff took up the challenge only to be bowled out first ball. More kids arrived,
then their mothers offering another hunk of wood as a better bat. This obviously did the trick as he managed to connect with the ball next time only to bat it into a pile of bricks where it disappeared without trace. Eager to change the subject we asked their names and wrote them in our book before getting them to write them again in Hindi along side - a nice memento for us.
Geoff had a load of small pencils which we then distributed in disorderly fashion and pulled a few pages from the book for them to practice on. [ Some time later we discovered that one of these had been our prized list of names ] They pointed out that by climbing over a fence and walking alongside a few crop fields we could still make it down to the river which we subsequently did, waving goodbye to our now anonymous young friends. This new path took us past small farms to yet another dead end where a farmer removed half a hedge for us to regain the proper path, and we finally made it down to the river, home to a few more temples populated solely by goats and cows.
After a while a young man came along and we chatted as he walked with us back towards town. A woman passed us on the path carrying a huge pile of firewood on her head and said a few words to him as she passed. He said she told him we had been playing cricket with what turned out to be his family [ no mention of the lost ball ] Back in town and feeling quite guilty Geoff went to buy a new ball for the lads but came back with a cricket bat as well. While I was at the internet cafe he found his way back to the cricket pitch looking for the lads only to find our former guide who said they were all at school. So handing over the bat and ball he threw down a challenge to a match later that day down by the temples. Could the opportunity to give us a sound thrashing be refused? - more to follow from our roving sports reporter N.Edmondson......................
"Mon. 9th Feb will linger long in the memory of the inhabitants of the town of Orchha, which is set in a loop of the River Betwa in Southern Madhyur Pradesh. At 4 pm an eerie calm fell over the normally noisy centre of town as Geoffrey Cox, the English Tour Captain led his team of veteran potters through the square and across the bridge to the cricket ground, which lay in the shadow of the impressive palace of Jahangiri Mahal.
The 3 Indian players waiting on the pitch were clearly taken aback that England had fielded such a strong side. After hasty mobile phone calls the Indian ranks swelled to 5. Sides were picked and the Indian captain, having won the toss, elected to bat. A number of early wickets fell as the English players struggled to read the recently, badly laid concrete block pitch. The middle order steadied things down largely as a result of some solid attacking play from the young Indian batsmen, most of whom wore sling shots around their waists to deter the local monkeys from invading the pitch and making off with the ball. Chris Cox managed to bowl out their captain whilst he was answering a call on his mobile phone, and the Indian side was later all out for 72 runs.
Cox led his team with distinction and his battling line up set about their task with typical Yorkshire grit. Green, the highest scorer and only southerner in the side, performed well, but struggled with the language, both Hindi and Northern speak. Uttley, the tour leaders husband, impressed with his bowling.
Last man in for England was Curtis, whose bowling had earlier let him down. On the 4th ball of the final over Curtis, with a determined glint in his eye, struck a powerful leg-drive over the short boundary, via the banyan tree, and secured victory by a single run.
The game was watched, briefly, by a small bemused group of Indians, with more interest by a goat and 2 monkeys, and with worrying intensity by a number of vultures circling overhead. Van Bussel, our EU beer correspondent and only non-playing member of the tour, after several minutes of thoughtful analysis was heard to say " Look Else, those 3 sticks have something to do with the game"
Interested onlookers
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