LIKE many other sports lovers I have been enthralled by the England v India Test matches this summer and the high drama they have produced.

Should Ian Bell have been given out at Trent Bridge when, thinking it was time for tea, he began to walk to the pavilion only to be run out because the umpire hadn’t called the afternoon session over?

Geoffrey Boycott thought he should but this is the same ‘Sir’ Geoffrey who saw cricket as his own particular fiefdom and who, as WG Grace before him, reckoned that the spirit of the game, according to lesser mortals, didn’t necessarily apply to him.

Anyway, the real hero at Trent Bridge was a collective one – all of the Indian team who, according to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, agreed that Bell should have a second chance to bat. It really was a gesture of goodwill that should be talked about again and again throughout the Empire.

And the second hero of the Test series, to date? Perhaps the England crowd who, both at Lord’s and at Nottingham, gave Sachin Tendulkar a standing ovation whenever he walked in to bat.

Why? Because they wanted to witness him scoring his hundredth century in international matches.

True, they wanted England to win, but they understand genius and wanted to applaud it, no matter what nationality it might be.

Also on the subject of rules in cricket…did you know that they are going to abolish the rule that, if you’re injured, you can call for a runner? A shame, that, because the sight of two batsmen and a third standing further away from his injured colleague has given me acres of entertainment over the years, particularly when the injured batsman ‘forgot’ he was injured and set off at the same time as his runner… ah, a glorious muddle as he was run out … but the runner wasn’t!
Nowadays, of course, if a cricketer is injured and his team is fielding he is allowed to leave the field while a replacement fielder comes on.

Listening to England v India on the radio I was intrigued when, with Swann off the field with an injured finger, the commentator said that it was quite within Swann’s rights to pull up a deckchair behind the boundary, watch the cricket and then take to the field only when it was his turn to bowl.

It won’t happen, of course, but if it did so it would be within the current laws of cricket.

Which cricketing team holds the only Olympics silver medal behind Great Britain’s gold?

France, who were beaten by 158 runs in the 1900 summer Olympics. France’s involvement in world class cricket intrigues me because it seems so alien to the French way of life…but then does it?

Not according to Tony Banton, Le President of France Cricket and, after 30 years of living there, now a France National.

‘Our problem is in bringing together a national team from all parts of France,’ he said, as Jersey were beating them at the FB Fields in the ICC European Division I Championship recently.

‘That, and only having matting to play on. The pitches you have here are a cricketer’s dream – but we’re not used to anything like them. It took us two games before we’d even found our mark. Third or fourth place here, though, keeps us in the ICC European Division I, where we’re comfortable to be at the moment.’

Tony added that they are hoping to encourage France cricket through their youngsters and I can’t imagine anything better than an idyllic day near the Loire, a glass of French plonk in one hand and a baguette in the other, listening to the strains of a French bowler appealing for ‘la jambe devant wicket* ’.

Sadly, though, I didn’t hear much of that in the game I was watching although there were any number of ‘allez, allez, allez’s’ coming from the field, most of them in any number of accents and languages. I wonder why?

Is it perhaps, that the team was made up of the likes of Ramesh Sithambaranathan, Arunkamar Ayyavooraju, Avisha Liyanaarachchi and Williamdeep Singh?

Although there was a Thomas Liddiard, oh, and a Robin Murphy, and also one Hug Pinsent.

‘Strewth!’ I did tell them it was Hugo when they were writing it down,’ I was told, when asking ‘Hug’ if it had been spelt properly.

Oh well. I quite like the name ‘Hug’. It’s got a kind of friendliness to it…

I love the Collins Stewart Sark to Jersey rowing race and on the day itself have a set routine of tea and cake at Bonne Nuit café, followed by a gentle amble to the shore.

Not so the rowers who emerge in all shapes and sizes. Rowing allows for that; plus all ages from the 15 and 16 year olds in the JRC Youth Team fours boat to the last one home, the evergreen Karl Guille, who insists on rowing the 19 miles on his own and in a men’s fixed seat boat… slower than the others and not so kind on the bottom.

This year, of course, was more dramatic than most. Rowers overboard and rushed to the hospital; one boat whose pump wasn’t working, so they had to use the casing around their flares to bail; goodness knows how many ex-Beaulieu students in a variety of teams and enough ex-JRFC members to make a decent 15-man side.

Guernsey, as usual, dominated. But this year one of the most heart-warming moments was Ian Blandin’s reaction when, for only the second time in 45 years, a pairs team had crossed the finishing line first.

‘Incredible achievement,’ he said. ‘Fantastic. I’m over the moon for them.’ This and much more from the only pairs boat to beat him, as he paddled in with first-timer Derik Mare.

After that he made a point of going across to talk to the two men who should have been rivals, Joseph Paul and Paul Isaacs.

‘I’m well proud of you pair,’ he began… and afterwards, at the awards ceremony, both Guernseymen were given a standing ovation.

If only all sportsmen could show as much appreciation for their rivals.
But then, on reflection, none of the rowers are really competing against each other. Instead, what they’re competing against is more threatening than any of the rest of us mortals.

They’re battling against the sea.

Post Script: Kiley Trehorel-Daly, one of the winning fours’ rowers in the Sark to Jersey, made the following valid point afterwards: ‘While reports say that Guernsey dominated the race… please note that Jersey (women) came first in the fours, pairs and singles.’ She adds that – as the records will always show – ‘if it hadn’t been for our women rowers, it would have been a complete whitewash by Guernsey’.

*There is no word for ‘wicket’ in France.