Almanac Poetry: Backyard Internationals

With the Test series fast approaching, I thought I would re-produce a poem I wrote just prior to the ill-fated home Ashes series of 2010-11.

Hoping for a much better outcome this time!

The title is a misnomer as, due to our father’s green thumb and precious lawn, my brother and I were forced to play our ‘Test Matches’ in the driveway. The pitch, two lanes of concrete separated by a strip of grass, was apt to become unplayable when the ball (tennis) hit the juncture of turf and tyre worn cement.

It felt unfair that my brother could bowl Jeff Thomson style so when England’s John Lever burst on the scene, taking 7/46 on debut in India, I decided that he had an action similar to Thommo, and was able to sling the ball to great effect. My brother, whilst protesting, had no leg to stand on as, back in those primitive telecast days, there was no vision of Lever’s feats from the sub-continent to prove me wrong!

My brother is Australia, I am all the others
There’s war in Seaview Street, war between two brothers
Mimicking our heroes, sometimes we look silly
Especially my brother, a left-handed Dennis Lillee

I love the foreign names, the mystery around them
My Chandra serves the leggies up, my brother tries to pound them
I’m Engineer and Lloyd, Barry Richards too
Playing flashing drives, like Pollock used to do

We play Tests like our heroes, I never seem to win
I drop a Dennis Amiss, bring Gavaskar in
Thinking of it now, it certainly seems funny
Should have been the first one picked, amazing little Sunny

We played at night, right after school, and when weekends came around
We never had an umpire, and many times we stood our ground
I played my brother many times, he considered me a pest
But soon we’ll be together, at the Boxing Day Test

C’MON AUSSIE C’MON

 

 

Read more from Glenn Here.

 

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