Alchemy of sun, rain, grass and soil
the ground staff’s patient weeks of toil
will test two countries on a wicket
pampered by water and roller
prepared to be neither paradise
nor purgatory for batsman or bowler.
First morning of the test match sees
a flash of shiny red impact on green
and the ball like a rapier flick off the seam
to feather the edge and the catch is held
and so is the crowd by this eye-blink drama.
But -Oh the surprise- the umpire’s finger
fails to rise.
Afternoon brings an easier pitch, the pace
more leisurely, measured by a century.
Looped between lunch and tea
the slow bowler’s web is finely spun
two batsmen ensnared for not many runs.
In the Long Room members watch players
enter and exit but recall a different cast
from earlier plays: Crowe’s majestic cut and hook
Sutcliffe’s grace or Hadlee’s record breaking feat
all mixed with tonic or savoured neat.
The eastern bank’s bared-torso fans
toast boundaries and bouncers with cans
of beer and cheer women bravely parading
or salute a fieldsman’s diving save
arms upraised in Mexican wave.
A norwester gate-crashes the third day’s play
and dresses players in long-sleeve sweaters.
Into the bail-scattering gale
buffeted bowlers lean their shoulders.
Wind, gusting swirling twists their stride
balls misguided down leg side.
On the fifth, the final day, the test
proves no match for Wellington’s weather.
Curtains of rain, the stumps and the game
are all drawn together.
© Jack Perkins Jan 2002
