Key events
With more important things happening elsewhere, my mind goes back to Don McRae’s brilliant 2017 interview with Zafar Ansari, who retired from professional cricket aged 25, just months on from his Test debut for England. Here he speaks about playing against India while the 2016 US presidential election was taking place:
It was a very politically significant time. Trump was elected on the first day of our opening Test in India. I was batting at 10 and we weren’t allowed our phones in the dressing room. I was getting snippets of information from security but I felt so disconnected from something I would have been hyper-connected to here. The combination of playing very difficult cricket, while missing things that mattered so much, made me think more clearly about my future.
I heard the news about Trump at the end of that day’s play. We got our phones and it was a shocking moment. I expected [Hillary] Clinton to edge it and found it difficult to accept. I’ve since focused most on the policy – like changes to healthcare provision, the attempted Muslim ban, as well as the ramping up of immigration and deportations – rather than just thinking of Trump as the clown he often appears. It’s important to be less hysterical about the person but more hysterical about the political implications.”
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to a bit of jeopardy: a decider in this three-match ODI series between England and West Indies in Barbados. At 160 for four chasing an imposing 329, England were down and out in the second one-dayer before Liam Livingstone – dropped in the summer, now stand-in captain – swung his way to a maiden ODI century, nine sixes included in his 85-ball 124. Fuuuuun.
England haven’t won an ODI series since before last year’s horrendous showing at the World Cup, so, despite the experimental nature of their current setup, this game has genuine meaning to it. You don’t always get that nowadays with the white-ball stuff.
I’ll be here for the first half, with Rob Smyth braving the early hours for the finish. Drop me a line with all your thoughts, queries, political analysis, ways to heal the world, whatever you fancy.
