Just for laughs: Is cricket worth a cricket? 

There’s a sea of a difference between cricket and a cricket. But the one with a bird’s eye view of the pitch will have you know that the batting book of words borrows more than just a feather in the cap from the aviary. 

While a bird takes flight, a good bowler needs to flight the ball amply between wickets to send the batsman flying to the pavilion. And if he’s got the talons of his craft in pecking order, he could get more than one of those willow fellows out for birdfeed or even a duck. 

It’s okay if you’re as blind as a bat, but while you’re at the crease a good batsman couldn’t turn a blind eye to the bowler’s guile. But it’s not always the top-order that takes pride in securing the win; very often, it is the tail-enders who take on the crucial task of making the score soar. Like they say, one swallow doesn’t make summer. 

The Duke of Dorset emphasised his bird’s eye view of life when he said: “What is life but a game of cricket?” The brood of score addicts would scarcely disagree with that. But like all things even cricket has its critics. One goes: “Cricket is a game where one pitches a ball, two strike it, and ten men go scurrying after it for the next five days, apparently, for no fun at all.” No wonder, the five-day game is going as extinct as a dodo.  

And William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury remarked: “Personally, I have always looked on cricket as organised loafing.” But that doesn’t explain why some are always down with cricket fever. Any medical advice?