Village cricket match
It is an excerpt from A. G Macdonnel’s humorous novel ‘England, their England’. The English society has been satirized in a light hearted manner especially what is known as ‘Englishness’ , as seen from the eyes of a Scotsman. In this the author humorously describes a cricket match being played between men from England and men from Scotland in the village of Fordendan. The cricketers are petty businessmen or local shopkeepers. The story is presented in a mock epic style and ornate and bombastic language has been used to bring out this effect. The author has used humor as the main ingredient of the story.
His description of the players, their style of playing, movements, and conduct is humorous. The story begins with the arrangements of Mr. Hodge who completed his tricky negotiations with the Fordendan caption. Just as the two players who were arranged to play for both sides went away in dismay, a motor car arrived containing not only Mr. Hodge’s two defaulters but also a third gentlemen who swore stoutly that he had been invited by Mr. Hodge to play. Negotiations therefore had to be reopened. This funny arrangement at the beginning of the story underlines the streak of humor which will run throughout the story.
The method of winning of winning the toss by Mr. Hodge is described in a humorous way. ‘Mr. Hodge having won the toss by a system of his own founded upon the differential calculus and Copernican theory… ‘. The bowling end of the ground was so steep that at the end stood a fielder who saw nothing saw nothing of the game but the blacksmith walking back or running to bowl. It was only during the last few yards of his run when the blacksmith was visible to the batsman. The blacksmith ran up to bowl climbing the slope superbly like a ‘mettlesome combination of Venus and Vulcan Anadyomene’.
