ON AND OFF THE FIELD

Press, 16 February 1980, Page 14

ON AND OFF THE FIELD

'. . . I can dispute caught-behind decisions for I am able to see, or hear, that they are out.’ — Mr Willy Rodriguez, West Indian cricket manager. What happens on the Field of Play Is only Half the Battle — # You bat, you bowl, you know the Way To make the Helmets rattle, * That’s not the Finish of the Game! Of course, the Umpires were to blame. You bowl, you field, but that’s not all, When aiming at the Wicket. If unsuccessful with the Ball, You use your Boot, and kick It. Such Sporting Gestures leave no Doubt Of what your Game.is all about. . Well, not quite All! A Bowler’s Miss Can be a Batsman’s Mile — That’s only Poet’s' Cricket, this A Test Match, Eighties-style, Where the last Ball’s a verbal Bumper Bowled by a Manager at an Umpire. » * * HOME’S BEST Wellington was too .cold, constrained and confined for him . . . stopped going to cocktail functions because he always met the same kinds of people, such as politicians and diplomats ... no finer city in the world than Auckland. . . — Mr Muldoon. He doesn’t like the Capital. He loves his native Citv. Now. what am I supposed to feel? Some Svnroathv? or Pity? An Exile’s piteous Complaint — Perhaps my Heart should bleed, too, Because he weens in Wellington. But does he really NEED to?