This week your correspondent writes from the comfort of his bed. Saturday morning stretches out before me and after Rosaneri’s Friday night efforts at Lincoln Road I have some great memories to sift.
I was once a student of economics way back in the last century and although I spent most of my three years drunk or asleep I do remember being fascinated by the range of applications for economic thought.
There is Political Economy. This is a quality the Rosaneri squad has in spades.
Patriarch Roberto Tona has long practised alchemy with club finances. Some commentators have cried foul play and the clubs only registered auditor has never been allowed near the accounting records. During the 1998/99 football season the said auditor was substituted on a hat-trick chance no fewer than nine times, coincidentally exactly the number of requests for information made to the club treasurer over the same period. It was John Shuttlewood however, who defined the term Political Economy. He was so frugal with his academic energy during his A-Levels that he managed a solitary D grade in Politics. Not remarkable per se but when you consider he managed to secure place on a Geography degree course with it, then terms like genius immediately spring to mind.
There is Micro-Economics, for those unfamiliar with the term this is the study of supply and demand. For most of us our relations with the opposite sex are entirely defined by the supply and demand of exit passes. For example last night Coxy’s lack of a curry pass was a perfect example of how an increase in demand leads, over time, to rising prices and eventually dinner with the in-laws whilst the lads hit the Polashi.
Sporting economy is just another application of supply and demand. I am not referring to anything financial here, what a man like Steve Coppell achieves on shoestring at Reading is impressive but is not what fascinates us about professional sport. Rather it is the economy of effort and movement that all great sporting men and women have.
Behind every cliché lies an essential truth and “he makes it look easy” is particularly well worn in sports journalism.
As amateurs we have all experienced, however momentarily, how it feels to strike a ball like a professional, to make it look easy. These moments creep up on you and when you least expect it you ping one. Tony Alferi will never forget his 30 yard rocket in the Middlesex cup 4th round in back in 2004. Kevin Mully will never forget Dunston Hall 2006 when he walloped the Big Bertha 250 yards to within two feet of the pin and now Sheridan Leigh will never forget Rosaneri vs Edmonton County teachers in 2007.
As the Rosaneri opening pair walked out for first ball at Lincoln Road last night it was with the knowledge that the club needed a victory badly after two poor performances. There was a palpable tension around the ground and Rosaneri brows beaded with sweat under the strong evening sun.
Pits produced a personal best eight runs before being caught at square leg but it was Sheridan Leigh who won the match before the opposition went into bat, impassively stroking his way to fifty runs from just thirty nine balls he promptly retired, paving the way for the rest of the team to pile on another ninety four. One hundred and forty four was just too big a target for Edmonton, the bowling stats are a footnote.
Leigh’s batting was the definition of economy, he pushed and probed and occasionally broke into a sweep but never took anything as vulgar as a swing at any of the deliveries. Fast balls were edged for four, Yorkers were a threat to the windows of the Georgian style townhouses in Wellington Road. The applause came in waves from the pavilion and from some notable cricket aficionados. The Rosaneri has its first victory and its first hero and it was a pleasure to watch.
Those of you who attended the game on Friday will notice something is a little awry here. “Hang on” you will say. Alferi and Sparrey opened for the Rosaneri, Alferi got twenty three and I’m sure Pits only managed four. Come to think of it Edmonton only needed seventeen overs to pass the one hundred and sixteen target they were set and the Rosaneri lost the game. Well dear reader that brings me neatly on to the last type of economy, False Economy, well defined by your humble correspondent who wrote this article on Thursday before the game took place. As James Downing once said the truth is boring!