By Kevin Egan
A Fox in the Score Box?
For those of you familiar with cricket, the match scorers are not the most prominent or visible amongst the game's personnel. They are of course vitally important and indispensible because they keep track of all the numerical detail that has to be recorded. Their time is spent in a very dimly lit and secluded place during the passage of play - the score box. There is usually a pair of them, one provided by each team. Their view of the pitch is enabled by looking through an open hatch in the front of the score box - the only source of daylight.
On one hot and sunny Saturday afternoon in July, Edward and I went to watch the local team and took our places on a wooden bench by the boundary. We were halfway between the clubhouse pavilion and the score box, the latter of which being about the size of a very large garden shed. After about 30 minutes or so we changed places to a seat next to the score box for a better view of the match.
Our own home team scorer had just left her position in the box at that moment to get some chilled water for them both from the pavilion. This left the lady from the visiting team on her own for a short while, apparently quite content with filling in both scorebooks and maintaining the scoreboard as well - single handed until her counterpart returned.
"No foxes in here" says Edward
Suddenly, there was a very loud scream from within the score box and in an instant, our visiting scorer came running out waving her arms in the air and shouting ..."Help, there's a fox loose in there ... please do something!" Edward it seemed had wandered off to investigate the inside of the score box having never ventured there before. At the tea interval, the lady explained that she hadn't heard him enter and was only aware of his presence when she dropped her pencil on the floor - to be greeted by an inquisitive little Pembroke face peering up through the gloom back at her!
Not being a pet owner, it hadn't occurred that this was not an encounter with local wildlife. The commotion had clearly alerted both umpires who then conferred with both captains about the interruption. "Well that's a first for me" ... said one of the umpires ..."A first what?" ... asked the visiting captain. The umpire explained ... "I've officiated at matches in the past when rain or bad light stopped play - but never a corgi!" ... then it was time for tea.
Time for tea
Reproduced from Our Corgi World, Christmas 2015 with the kind permission of the author/editor.
Around with Edward
Around with Edward - 2
26.12.2015
