I had the unfortunate experience of facing a fast bowler when a wo 11 year owd.
Ad nivver laiked red ball cricket afooar. Mi best mate who wo laiking fo Darfield under 16s said the worra couple o players short and would a be interested in fillin in. A sed no cos ad nivver laiked at league standard afooar. Ennyrooard, to cut a long story short he talked me into it, sed the wo desperate so I reluctantly agreed and went int nets forra practice. Ad got gloves and pads on but no helmet and this 15 year owd sez to mi "let's see what tha medda then". A saw him tekka 30 yard run up at full pace and started thinkin to missen as he beared darn on me "oh sh1t". Mi instinct told me to gerata theear burra panicked instead, a froze, cringed, just shut mi eyes and prayed. Fortunately the ball whistled passed mi earoyle. Av nivver bin so relieved!
Lad came ovver an shook mi hand, sed a wo braver than mooast ot cricket virgins he'd bowled at. A dint tell him what really happened to me but he said to me thuz no mercy in this game, bowlers want to tear thi eeard off. Keep thi eye on ball young un, thu not gonna bowl slower or mek allowances fo thi cos tharra bairn.
A wo way art a mi depth though. A gid it a gu but a wo far too young, naive and pretty much useless in a young man's teeum. A knew nowt abart the game, techniques involved or owt. A wo proper chucked in at deep end but a wo glad I experienced it. A learned a few lessons abart spooart that day.
Fascinating insight in to the Australian dressing room last summer has Archer was bowling 96mph at Steve Smith .
https://youtu.be/UOYhmScLXts
A know a few of you on here ed yer reasons fo expelling him, the debate was interesting as I was full of admiration for his performance during the Ashes, yet your were cynical of his past misdemeanor and thought he should a not even bin laikin which is fair enough.
Looking back a year on, he wo the difference between the sides. Should he have bin laikin? Probably not. Am I glad he did? Personally yes because he's a world class batsman and even though his centuries hurt me as an England fan, a couldn't help but admire the talent and mental strength and the quality of the man on show in the midst of adversity. Of course the adversity was brought on by himself and he deserved a bashing from the crowd and the criticism that came his way. However, this kind of clip shows his character and the robustness of Cricket.
It's a wonderful sport. A tell thi, a wish that I knew what I know nar when a wo younger. Who sang that nar? Adda loved to ev smashed that fast bowler art ot grarnd when a wo 11 year owd!
I've waited practically my whole life to see an English fast bowler ..... cough !!! .... put the shytes up Aussie and when we do find one the bstrds have the son of Don Bradman to counter it .
To be fair to Smith he's fecking magnificent , without him we'd have won the series last year reasonably comfortably in my opinion .
There's nowt to touch ashes cricket especially right now when theirs the width of a fag paper between the two sides .
The next series down under can't come around quick enough for me .
Archer and Wood in tandem and 96mph at Perth will be more than interesting .
For me the test series against the other nations are just pre season friendlies to knock ourselves in to shape for the ashes encounters .
Blood some players and see who has got something to add to the team and who hasn't .
I like a hard series against India or South Africa prior to an ashes series which normally are a good test but for me everything should be geared towards the ashes .
Beating the Windies , Pakistan or even India means nowt to me .
That little urn is everything .