A Cricketer's Dream (concluded)

To tell the truth, I have no clear picture of what happened next. This is how E.W. Swanton, writing in The Daily Telegraph, summed things up:

Those of us fortunate enough to be at Lord's yesterday were witness to one of the most extraordinary exhibitions of batting in the history of modern Test cricket. In an innings of great purity and beauty, and from a position of the utmost peril, Barnaby Capel-Dunn first defied an Australian pace attack in full cry, and then, in an atmosphere of almost unbearable excitement, put it to the sword. What we saw was nothing less than the systematic destruction of some of the deadliest bowling in the world, to such an extent that the Australians were a beaten side long before the tea interval arrived with 40 runs still needed for victory. And yet, more than the scintillating strokeplay, the flawless technique, it was the 'emotional' quality of the innings that made it so memorable. Here was a fine player of the old school, in the twilight of his career...

 

'... am wearing a tie, but at church I wear gloves. Number 15: Mr Cooper is washing TV; he always washes TV on Sundays. Number 16: Mr Mboto is addressing the Pan African Congress in English, but at home, with his tribe, he speaks Swahili'.

Mr Beluze sat back. He was looking rough. We were both looking pretty rough.

I pulled myself together with an effort and made a great show of looking at my watch.

'Right Mr Beluze', I said crisply, 'that's it for today. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the past'.