"Life, Death and Test Cricket"

Happy New Years EVERYONE. I hope that you have been able to celebrate or commiserate your successes and fails of 2012 and are as per usual at the beginning of a new year we are given the opportunity to feel a sense of renewal.

For those who know me I love cricket. I play and have coached and gained my successes along the way.

But as with anything we need our champions to model and lead so as to allow for us who are for whatever reason not able to take the next step up to that elite level we look to those who have as something to strive and aspire to achieve or simply admire the qualities that got that group and individuals together.

What inspired this post today is that I was watching the cricket Australia V Sri Lanka. #AUSvSL and I remembered part of the reason that I particularly love cricket is that for the level I play I am quite good at it.  But also It as I see it is a game that is in essence quite simple but as the Cricket Family (anyone who plays and loves cricket) knows it is also a complex game that has intrigue, strategy, power struggles, mind games and if you look into the game and its associated activities you can find stories and anacdotes to guide your experience of the wider experience of life.

It has concepts and themes that abound, or at least the topics that I really love to explore.which is all things associated with people interacting with other people.

I would like to think though that me as an individual apart from simply taking have been able to positively contribute to the games legacy.

As stated I have coached and know that many of those young people that I have coached to play cricket are still playing the game.  I am actually playing in the same team as and against at least 2 of them that I can remember at this moment.  As is the case in sport generally is the case in life as we all know but unlike life sport is generally played by a stated set of rules.  And a number of checks and balances are set in place to allow for formalized and not so formalized processes to solve disputes and grievenaces.

But as is generally the case when all is said and done you battle on the field and sometimes off but are able to share in the experience, agree and disagree with a level of respect and decency most of the time.

But I was like most within the family saddened to hear the passing of one of the icons of the game Tony Greig particularly moving was the show of solidarity at the beginning of the Sydney TEST Match where team mates, friends, family and competitors were able to show respect for the man's contribution.

RESPECT Tony and all within the family.

But in the vain of the spirit of my general BLOG content.  The game as a whole can be generally seen as a example of Inclusion in the Human services context a great example as there are numerous stories of people who have played and made it to highest level with a range of Disabilities and disadvantage.

Now as I am aware if you dig enough you can see its faults where these rules have not applied and Respect for our fellow persons has not occured but it is this sense of fairness dispite a persons background that I love the fact that if you are able to demonstrate the INHERENT requirements of the tasks then you have an equal opportunity to succes as the person you are competing against barring intervention from external forces.  In the case of Cricket these may be the pitch and field conditions.

But it is this interaction between you as an individual your team as a group and the external forces that really create the part of the game that I most enjoy.  The learning and gaining experience of the ability to lead (as I have been a Captain of teams) be lead and guided by others more experienced and testing the limits of all your skills both Mental and physical.

In fact Tony Greig played with Epliepsy, and there are others such as Michael Slater who has acknowledged that he played dispite challengers with the "Black Dog".  Now it is true that I cannot think of a cricketer that had a physical disability but due the nature of the game and the Inherent requirements to do with the bowling and batting action it is if we were to put this into a employment context not unlawful to discriminate.  Nor is it likely immoral but I will steer away from that for the moment.

Many employers can be fearful of consequences of discrimination but if you have a clear understanding of the role and the INHERENT requirements that you are needing the person to fulfil then you are all good.

I am a person who actually loves all forms of the game but as you imagine from my story so far I love test cricket.  In more recent times I have observed and admired the show of strength and courage shown by  Francois "Faf" du Plessis and Peter Siddle where they both went at each other in the the 2nd test of the 2012 test series #AUSvSA where Du Plessi bats for a total of 10+ hrs to almost single handledly assist in guide his team to a much needed draw to keep their series in their advantage.  This is a emmense mental challenge to complete this.  From the same game there were moments when Jacques Kallis batted through pain to bag him and team a much needed 50 as well as taking up as it turned out much needed time at the crease.

As you may well have appreciated by now I also like to try hopefully to use these words of mine that are generally an opportunity for me to reflect and talk with and gsuppose guide myself but also to share with others just SOME of the resources are available for People with a Disability (PWD) or to highlight issues of #Inclusion and how to help each of us help ourselves through helping others.

Afterall if you look at the latest Acronym from Positive Psychology and Seligman PERMA

Positive 
Emotions
Relationships
Meaning and 
Achievement


are available in all aspects of the game of cricket.
   

But this may need further exploration at another time for thispost has to come to an end.  I am sure that the game of Cricket, (the game that I love) will at times will present opportunities to share anacadotes that explore the range of topics that interest me.

But if I can end with one final  cheerio and join me me in Thanking "the family" for the respect and care shown for the life and contribution of one man at this time.

And may we say Cheers to Tony.