Cricket Witness No 6 - His Captain's Hand on His Shoulder Smote

58 The Outcrop; Walpole; Waugh; Wodehouse Et Al agent of his estates, with the obvious consequence he will have total freedom to play cricket as an amateur. Psmith is also distinguished in that he, with aristocratic taste, is a Manchester United supporter. In 1953 the author re-wrote and published two novels based on a severed Mike: Mike at Wrykyn and Mike and Psmith. It is the former text that sits before me, published by Everyman in 2011, a good century after the original Mike , complete with the commonly used front cover of a boy batsman striking heartily to leg with a wicket keeper turned, eyes raised to follow the ascent of the ‘leather’. Cricket is the motif. The word cricket appears on the third line of the first page. Three of the Jacksons are already playing first-class cricket and the family fight at breakfast over the Sportsman , anxious to keep up with the scores. This is the sort of family which hires cricket professionals to coach the boys privately. Brother Bob is in his last year at Wrykyn and Mike, just under fifteen, is about to enter the school, having scored seven centuries at his junior private school, Kings-Hall. By the end of chapter four he has had a net with the first eleven and been selected for the Under- sixteens and the 3 rd XI. He prospers amid a flurry of rags and ‘what rot’ jargon, with masters subjected to practical jokes and trouble with the ‘gangs of youths’ in the town. Mid-way through the novel Mike is astounded to find himself selected to play for the 1 st XI against MCC, with Joe Jackson and a mix of I Zingari and Oxford Authentics on the team sheet. MCC bat first and, even allowing for the beautiful wicket and delectable outfield of the lovely Wrykyn ground, their total of over 300, with brother Joe scoring a brilliant century, makes for a challenging target. The school manage over 250 but time and the fall of wiickets is against them. Finally, it is the school captain and quick bowler, Burgess, batting at number eleven, who joins Mike for the last wicket. Mike, with a few boundaries to his youthful name, steers Wrykyn home with aplomb to a meritorious draw amid wild cheers from the customary large assembled throng.