Victory but with a tinge of sadness

Now some people will say that I am going a bit soft in the head in my old age. As a young fast bowler You never gave an inch they will say. Victory at all costs they will say. And they would be right.

As a youngster I didn't really understand the beautiful game. Sure I knew that it was about batting as long as possible or getting 20 wickets but the finer nuances escaped me. Even when I took over captaining Huddersfield after Barry Wood left it was still about victory. All I knew how to do was scrap. And it was street brawling not karate.

And then I moved to London through work and joined Old Whitgiftonians. Cricket in Surrey on fine fast tracks was far more polite than the brass knuckle stuff of the Huddersfield and even the Yorkshire League. Tea was finer, proper tea cups even, not the mug that we'd get served up at a cold windy day at Hall Bower when I was a whippersnapper.

I only played a short time in Surrey alas as I was offered the professionals role at Lockwood in the Huddersfield League so every weekend I would commute back up the M1 to have a brawl again. However I had learned a lot in that period of time down South. I had learned most importantly it is not simply about the victory but about how you win. Gordon Gekko was preaching greed is good but the real deal was all about the game. Because without the game you have nothing.

And so to Lords this last week, the very epitome of the beautiful game and one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen. The pressure must have been enormous on the Little Master but his grace and strength is a lesson to us all. He missed out on the honours board and India lost the test. Yes well played England, a fine victory with some inspired bowling and backs to the wall batting.

Yet at the back of my mind and in the depths of my heart there is a little sadness for the Little Man with the most gargantuan talent. So remember all you budding Sachin's or Shanes or Swanns out there it is never victory at all costs because the game should always be the winner.