Tuesday 14 February 2012

NEW BLOG: DOG BEFORE WICKET


This post is to announce an offshoot, a spin-off, a side project to reverse sweeper – namely, a blog devoted to my cricketing reminiscences: Dog Before Wicket (if you haven’t worked it out, my nickname used to be ‘Dog’, as in Scotty Dog.) 

I decided to start the new blog because I had been sitting on two substantial old texts that I’d written in the 1990s, texts that are probably of zero interest to anyone beyond the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League, texts that I had revisited fairly recently with a view to including them on a Moddershall CC website that was in the pipeline (a pipeline that I was building). At the time of writing, and with circumstances having taken me away from my beloved old club, such a site has not yet emerged. So, Dog Before Wicket will be their first home. Their kennel.

In addition to these, erm, dog-eared old works, there is some new material, stuff that had been swimming about in the back of my mind, occasionally coming up for air – things that I had not so much half-written, as half-thought about writing. Chiefly, this means an account of the 2008 title victory that I’ve given the provisional title Underdogs, Under Dog.

That season contained more than a few memorable moments and matches, recollection of which gave me the idea of compiling a list of all the ‘Champagne Moments’ of my playing days – taking in Moddershall CC, Wollaton CC in the Nottinghamshire Premier League, Nottingham University, the NSSCL Representative XI – and perhaps even some memories from watching cricket on TV and live. I haven’t yet finished this list, let alone started writing about the events and episodes, but suffice to say it is not intended to be a long, self-congratulatory pat on the back for myself so much as the jumping off point for some stories that are perhaps interesting for those involved in them.

Finally, I had other material in hand, memoirs relating to some of the more controversial episodes I have been caught up in. Crikileaks, if you will. I’m sure the Official Secrets Act now permits me to publish these. I had thought about calling these Lowlights, as opposed to the Highlights mentioned above, but it’s not entirely true that I didn’t enjoy them.

So, if any of that is of any interest to you, drop in at Dog Before Wicket from time to time. And bring your friends.



No comments: