At 14 I joined senior men’s cricket.
PICTURE: Alessandro Bogliano/Unsplash
It was pretty intimidating at first, but I watched the boys. They used to bait each other in the nets. The batter claiming each shot went for four, the bowler, that any miss-hits resulted in a wicket!
So second week I got into the spirit. One guy, Nicko, was into it. So I’d bowl my spinners and let him have it! “Caught mid-on Nicko! Totally stumped Nicko! Caught on the boundary Nicko! Ha, ha!”
Little did I know that Nicko’s real nickname was Nippo – ‘p’ not ‘k’ – and new kids weren’t supposed to be so brash!
Six months later, after we’d become good friends, he told me the other boys had to hold him back from knocking my block off that day!
People have shown me such grace, I’m trying to show grace to others. Thanks Troy.
