Security Breach - New Cross Committee Revealed.

It's been a few years since we had a contested election at the HX agm, leading some to mutter about "democracy with North Korean characteristics". However, the stitch-up has usually been accompanied by a North Korean-style level of secrecy.

Now, in a shocking development, leading Cross dissident, PVB, has posted a list of club officers to the world wide web at http://www.eastleague.org.uk/. For those without access to the ESCA website we reproduce his list in full -

• Secretary - Osama bin Laden.
• 1st XI Captain - Yogi Bear.
• 1st XI Vice-Captain - Tiberius Gracchus.
• 2nd XI Captain - Mickey Mouse.
• 2nd XI Vice-Captain - Jeffrey Archer.
• 3rd XI Captain - Cheryl Cole.
• 3rd XI Vice-Captain - Atilla the Hun.
• Juniors - Freddie Flintoff.

It is not yet clear how many of these are merely codenames or even whether this is a full slate. The omission from the list of President-for-Life Robertson has led to renewed speculation over the health of the Dear Leader.

Veteran Central Committee hard-liner, Comrade Admin, rumoured in some quarters to be a candidate for 3rd XI vice-captain, commented on the security breach - "This is exactly the sort of deviationism I was trying to prevent by obstructing the development of the website through two Five Year Plan periods. I look forward to working closely with Comrade Cole."

Breaking News....McGill is 'bowler of the year'

http://www.cricketscotland.com/AwardsfortheBest

This, along with his other great achievements can be celebrated this Saturday (contact Bainbro for details, though I believe that things kick off at The Stockbridge Tap at 6pm..)

Calling All Rat Fans ......

Short notice, we know, but Gerry's band, Doc Rodent, are playing tomorrow night at Whistlebinkies on South Bridge. Or as G puts it himself -

So there you are after a hard week of being harrassed by a pure bastard of a boss ...... or, indeed, you are that bastard and it's tiring, you know ...... and your day has finished and you fancy a pint. Hell yeah. So, I think you should be slinking down to Whistlebinkies and while buying a pint, noticing there's a band on ...... why, it's Doc Rodent ...... what a coincidence. Start at 6.30, finish at 8.30. Poifick. Good start to a weekend, I would say.

KF on Scottish Cricket (part 2 of a continuing series)

With the Ashes now over and the South Africa vs South Africa 2nd XI test series yet to start, in his latest posting KF turns to one of the er ..... burning issues of the day.

Climate change !!! Is it really happening? As I'm about 99% unqualified to judge (with a 1% error margin), I feel I must waffle on this contentious topic immediately. Is it colder now than a month ago ? Yes. Is it warmer than it was last night ? Yes. Seems like a no brainer to this no brainer. Indeed, if the climate didn't change it would surely be time to worry.

But what has this got to do with the East League fixture schedule, I hear you ask ? The ESCA website has announced that the fixtures for next season "will run from Saturday 1st May until Saturday 28th August inclusive". Meaning the usual pre-season friendlies will be on the 17th and 24th April. You may see where I'm going with this now. Indeed, I could say you are already getting warmer (or colder).

I don't recall any "t-shirt weather" during this early period of the season and my memories of playing cricket at that time primarily involve at least two jumpers. Come the end of August and into September, once the season has ended for most folk, its flip flop and barbecue time. Cricket doesn't necessarily require the players to be warm, but it does require the best of weather conditions to get a decent or at least playable pitch. I believe it's time to look at adjusting the season as I believe it starts and ends too early.

Squinting briefly at Scottish football, there is often talk of a winter shutdown. The obvious problem with this being that our winter can last about 8 months, so which 2-4 week period do you close down for ? Trying to nail down exactly when, or even if, we have our summer isn't much less difficult.

A serious look must be had at historical temperature records, rainfall charts and anything else of use. I wouldn't be surprised to find that there's been no cricket played on the 3rd of July for 120 years or something similar, but I'm sure those records would back up my intuition that the open and close of the season require amendment. As the days shorten in September the kick-off times might have to be brought forward an hour.

In the meantime, I'm sure Jon B will take orders for club fleeces or maybe for long johns (with embroidered badges ???? fnarr).

It is now time for you to shout down my simplistic idealism with unfortunate realities like overlaps with the rugby season or pitch availability or whatever ......

Art Attack

Some of you may have read about Michael Vaughan's excursion into the art world; 'artballing'-paintings created 'by throwing or batting painted balls at a blank canvass':
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8383197.stm

If you follow this link, you will see the efforts of a unnamed artist and Holy Cross cricketer who-inspired by Vaughan's work- threw 50 paint balls (assorted colours) at a blank canvas from a distance of 20 yards. For those hoping for a closer look, its current owner (C. Saatchi) has kindly agreed to allow it to be displayed in the Arbo Green room next May.

How to Save Cricket?

This may be of interest to some of the readers of this blog (especially those who prefer cricket to Twenty20 and who appreciate the batting of VVS Laxman):

http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/5569511/how-to-save-test-cricket.thtml

Captain Darling ?

This Thursday night at 9.15, Radio Three are broadcasting a talk by Mike Brearley on Narcissism and Leadership. Brearley, who lost only 4 of his 31 Test matches as England captain, is now a psychoanalyst. Apparently, he warns that "anyone in a position of responsibility has to be wary of the wish to be admired." Could be an interesting listen, especially for our notoriously image-conscious slate of skippers - EC, Ziggy, Ken and Coco.