Fast Spin

When we were boys and striding to the wicket,

Learning life while we were playing cricket,

“The bowling good?” we’d ask as we went in;

Departing batsmen scowled & said, "Fast spin".

Two dreaded words to cause a youngster’s heart

To lose all confidence before the start.

What use technique or grim determination?

Who could survive such awesome combination?

We learned that speed faced up to seems less daunting;

That spin is nothing if the length is wanting;

That some the obstacles will overstate,

While runs come gradually to those who wait.

And later, in life’s seventy over match,

When adversaries threaten to dispatch

Our hopes and dreams before they can begin

Those childhood words come back to us - "Fast spin".

                                             By Arthur Salway