Rain hasn't ruined this term - Cherwell, 18/05/12

Let’s get the obvious arguments out of the way first. I enjoy cricket as much as the next man. As with many second-team stalwarts my game’s modelled on a slightly lessened Chris Harris, or possibly Glen Chapple without the flair. An early summer deprived of college cricket is indeed a potential nightmare, and certainly a term lessened. But a term ruined? I wouldn’t say so.

Before now I’d have thought that cricket was the alpha and omega of summer-term sporting hijinks. If nothing else, a few weeks as Cherwell Sports Editor during this rain-clogged Trinity has taught me that there’s a multitude of sport that endures while the clouds open. Rugby’s commonly perceived to stop after Cuppers final, but there’s been as much played so far as there was with last term’s freeze-offs. With three well-contested tournaments at Iffley in as many weekends, there’s been plenty for sportsmen (and women, mixed touch sevens was a comprehensive success) to be happy about.

That’s not all, either. Mixed hockey cuppers has been picking up steam, with a bit more attention and commitment than last year, and this weekend looks set to provide a festival of hockey, regardless of the weather. With the semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday, anyone with a yen to watch some sport should head down to Iffley this weekend.

It’s impossible to entirely escape cricket though. Much as all the above is true, I can’t wait to get back out there. So the best I can say is to drag out that old saw about absence and the heart growing fonder and hope that in a week or so the sun’s going to come out alongside my batting form. Trinity term is far from ruined, but even putting sport aside for a moment I’d be the last to hope the weather continues. It’d mar those post-finals weeks for one thing, when all the third years want to do is sip Pimms, punt and play croquet (the Trinity triple-whammy of clichés, each one of them conformed to).

So Trinity hasn’t been ruined. There’s plenty else to do, and it might mean we’ll enjoy the cricket and the sun all the more when they arrive. But it had better be a matter of when, not if, and it had better be soon. Otherwise, it’s just not cricket.

http://www.cherwell.org/sport/feature/2012/05/20/debate-rain-will-ruin-this-trinity