Body Language

Worth a better look by going large

What I enjoy most about the street photography is capturing people's body language. It's something that we are mostly unaware of in our day to day lives. This tacit form of communication often gives context to the spoken word but is mostly undertaken at the subconscious level. Apparently, I do all kinds of weird things with my hands when I talk - yet I remain obliviously unaware of all that animation. A good street photograph often captures this unspoken communication. Not being able to hear what people are saying, our eyes are drawn to the visual dynamic between people.

It never occurred to me before today that I could capture body language on the cricket field. I love all the different things these hands are doing!! This was taken just after Forrest (fourth from the left) had taken a wicket, caught by Henry (far left), the players just about to get back into position before the next man arrives at the crease. That happened to be Eddie, a former teammate of Forrest's and with whom there is a fiercely competitive rivalry. Forrest bowled a quicker ball first up, rapped the new batsman on the pads and he was given out leg before wicket. Two wickets in two balls. The hat-trick ball was faced by young Harry Brook, just fourteen years of age. He calmly denied Forrest a moment of cricket glory that he is yet to experience at any level of the game. That was as good as it got really. Our total of 176 was never quite enough to defend against a very good team, but at least this weekend we were competitive.

By the way, remember this young batsman's name. Many think he has a very great future. The last time I predicted greatness for a local youngster was when I first saw Alistair Brownlee run at just eleven years old. That wasn't a bad call! Take it as a good omen young Harry.

I've succeeded in having a relaxing day, sleeping in and splitting my time between the first team here, playing at home, and the second team, including Roam, playing down the road at Burley. I was shuttling back and forth on the bike between the games all afternoon. Youngest son was unlucky today. He got a wicket in his first over but then had chances missed off both batsmen before they had barely scored. They each went on to get a hundred. They proved to be two very expensive misses indeed. With a score of over three hundred to chase we did well to salvage a point by not being bowled out. Roam played his part in that by hanging around for a long time and putting on over fifty for the ninth wicket with Danny who completed a century in the process.

I should finally add that I'll be playing myself tomorrow. Roam as captain of the third team, out of desperation because so many people are away, has called me out of retirement. Wish me luck! I expect to be feeling very sore this time tomorrow night!