Cricket Uncut
A group blog run by professional cricket writers from across the world
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Cricketing Cliche 9
Using the long handle.
When a batsman is tonking bowlers around, or sending them on a leather hunt, he is said to be "using the long handle". Well, Virender Sehwag did that beautifully yesterday, but has shifted his focus from the long handle to the (universal cliche coming up) long haul. When the 100-run partnership between Sehwag and Rahul Dravid came up, Dravid had made 49 of those runs, and Sehwag had contributed 48. Dravid had been his usual efficient self, but Sehwag was somewhat quieter than normal. He had said yesterday: "I want to bat all day tomorrow." That is a long time.
When a batsman is tonking bowlers around, or sending them on a leather hunt, he is said to be "using the long handle". Well, Virender Sehwag did that beautifully yesterday, but has shifted his focus from the long handle to the (universal cliche coming up) long haul. When the 100-run partnership between Sehwag and Rahul Dravid came up, Dravid had made 49 of those runs, and Sehwag had contributed 48. Dravid had been his usual efficient self, but Sehwag was somewhat quieter than normal. He had said yesterday: "I want to bat all day tomorrow." That is a long time.
