Eighty not out

Some might call it lazy journalism, but they don’t understand what websites such as the Rust are about. Our primary purpose is to reflect the interests, observations, attitudes and complications of life as it is lived in the 21st Century by those who have reached broadly the age of fifty or beyond.

We’re not ageist – but we’re open and honest about the stage of life we have reached and how things seem to be looking from here.

In which regard, I take pleasure in bringing to our readers’ attention the following appreciation by Mike Selvey of Garfield Sobers, the legendary West Indian all-round cricketer, as he reached the age of eighty – published yesterday on the website of The Guardian – see here – THE GUARDIAN

I personally never saw Garry Sobers on the field of play in the flesh, but he was my all-time favourite cricketer. Not only was there literally no skill yet invented in cricket that he could not apply to international standard (e.g. batting, slow or fast-medium bowling, slip catching) but he had a rare charisma – an easy-going, insouciant, devil-may-care, seemingly effortless style – about him that greatly impressed the onlooker.

Another great West Indian batsman Viv Richards possessed something similar, but his was steeped in a certain arrogance hinting at danger. Sobers’s version was as dominant, but less overt. His was all about excitement, enjoyment and fun in the days when even cricket professionalism retained much of the amateur approach about it.

Given his skills, Sobers was also a remarkably humble man. Although reputedly a party animal, he didn’t say much – his interviews, when given, tended to be low-key and bland – but then frankly he didn’t need to.

He did his talking out on the pitch.