Introducing
Lew West, an extremely mild-mannered young chap who beats the skins
for a living. Sounds rather desperate dear reader, doesn't it.
Actually, Lew is a drummer, a hard-working and more than decent
drummer at that. For the rather more important sporting side of
things, Lew is solid batsman with a keen eye and adventurous nature.
His bowling is tight, pacey and focused. All in all, a well-rounded (That's
Beefy, surely? - Ed),
well balanced (Okay,
not Beefy - Ed)
individual.
Right
then, that's the contractual obligation bit out of the way. Watch out,
Mike Hills - the competition is here. The low-down on Lew? Never face
this man in the nets. If you happen to experience this misfortune, do
a low-down and GET low down, oh, and DO wear a helmet. You see, as a
bowler, he's as mean as they come and views that shadowy, white-clad,
knees-a-knockin' figure at the other end as the enemy, nay, Public
Enemy Number One even, whose sole purpose in cricketing life is to get
in the way of his thrashing those stumps clean out of the
ground. A touch of impatience can be felt, heard and tasted (not
necessarily in that order, either), which manifests itself by odd
blasts of steam shafting out of his ears.
The
other side of Lew's coin, of course, comes with the bat. A work of art
to most cricket-lovers, any beautifully crafted slice of English
willow fast can become a rather dangerous weapon in his hands. Timing
is a necessity in his day-to-day job, and Lew applies the same maxim
to his batting. Sleight of hand transmogrifies a gentlr push into a
well-timed and executed boundary. And that's the two sides of Lew.
As
he is a skin-beater by trade, it matters not where the hide
originates. If you are simply standing in the field, stand back in awe
and pity the bowler. Be grateful it's not your hide he's administering
a thrashing to - metaphorically speaking of course.
Photograph
published with permission. 'Cos I asked him. So there.
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