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School Stories · Chapter

Now, Talking About Cricket explained

The narrator reflects on the joys and nuances of cricket, contrasting it with football, and extolling the virtues of the game as a serious business.

What happens

The narrator reflects on the joys and nuances of cricket, contrasting it with football, and extolling the virtues of the game as a serious business. He shares personal anecdotes about school matches, the importance of white boots, the superiority of bowling over batting, and the peculiar rituals of lower games and umpiring.

Themes in this chapter

  • Athleticism and Sport

    The chapter is a sustained meditation on cricket as a sport, its techniques, rituals, and the emotional highs of playing and watching.

  • Nostalgia and Idealization

    The narrator looks back fondly on his school cricket days, idealizing the game and the memories associated with it.

Characters to notice

  • Charteris

    The narrator, reminiscing about his school days and cricket experiences.

  • Smith

    Mentioned in the context of a dispute over a wicket during a lower game.

Key passages

  • “In cricket, however, nothing can escape you. Everything must be done in full sight of everybody. There the players stand, without refuge, simply inviting criticism.”

    Cricket is uniquely open to scrutiny; every action is visible and subject to judgment.

    Highlights the critical nature of cricket spectatorship.

  • “The process of initiation is generally this. One plays in shoes for a few years with the most dire result... Then an angel in human form, in the very effective disguise of the man at the school boot-shop, hints that, for an absurdly small sum in cash, you may become the sole managing director of a pair of white buckskin boots with real spikes.”

    The transition from playing in ordinary shoes to white boots marks a transformative rite of passage in a young cricketer's career.

    Emphasizes the symbolic importance of proper equipment in cricket.

  • “But no batsman can experience that supreme emotion of 'something attempted, something done,' which comes to a bowler when a ball pitches in a hole near point’s feet, and whips into the leg stump. It is one crowded second of glorious life.”

    Bowlers experience a unique, intense satisfaction from a perfectly executed delivery that a batsman cannot match.

    Expresses the narrator's preference for bowling over batting.

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