Cricket at Tughlaqbad Fort
The first delivery was a bouncer which sailed over my head (here, I face the quick):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVT_5OXRSesn153sI3RqUPdTQqi6rCVqjuTgK3aa85x4acD5n5CFuvU0nGhglC4Oy59FdAqHwRmhFH5IKhvWeAtSElwRQIrK7FPN4t22S3GXcrT4parDV_uEbJQrkwWlK9kLhdQ/s320/DSC_8838.jpg)
And here the ball flies over my head:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjUm7-ZiSZy5L4EnnFkAYvERSVuUVKMQlLFxVKrTxTuKxsh4rNQIG7owHEtHIAMizvJJv3sYYODy6tDap3IwD6kagtozzMpfDbwWG2GzJWbvPALWnWXxk5emnRlsta9jiaUMwVhA/s320/DSC_8839.jpg)
The second beat me outside off-stump; I pulled the third and skied it in the direction of midwicket, but the catch went down; on the fourth, I attempted a smash through midwicket, and the handle of the bat came off:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxvqOE6NaWULIr3iM-d96zxIwgZvAiV7mAkvFU6vw4ynMbBycXVl3DRRQMdfY1fBOw75gaKWh_9Pss_oCij3FJOn9ijQR_ZP2fmSerlCH6EsnsmHxyWpALohjeDRkVnw7tFF3Fw/s320/DSC_8844.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4UksTWTzI4uGN8N82YHY0gJi4V20ZDkjNNqYq6BTqIO95EiGZYkriF3YrOcCe0BN7F8A3IgjhYpsyDuiUG5Z9ssVdvysHLpp7oEx6Pj0yidb2mhDKKsBBzeOWGqO61PcAkYXQ0Q/s320/DSC_8843.jpg)
On the fifth, a new bowler, nicknamed "Ponting", came up to bowl, and clean bowled me first ball (sadly, this momentous event was not captured in a photograph). Later, I did some bowling. My first two deliveries were wides, the third was smashed away to squareleg, and the the last one was blocked. A deeply, deeply satisfying experience to say the least. How often do you get a chance to play cricket in Doc Martens on a real dustbowl in the center of the ruins of a fourteenth century fort? My partners in crime, the lads who so generously offered us a game, were excellent company. There was a great deal of banter directed at me, and at each other. Everyone seemed to have a nickname, including Leverock!
Thanks lads, for the great memories. And thanks to Scott Dexter for the photographs!