Change of Tone

More observant readers may have noticed that the photograph which appears at the head of this page is new. After a few years of Tendulkar and Warne I felt it was time for a bit more colour, a change of tone.

It was taken at the County Ground in Exeter during the Minor Counties Championship match between Devon and Cornwall in June of this year. The batsman is David Lye, a man of Devon who, once upon a time, played for England's under-15 side with Graeme Swann.

He never made a career out of the game. At one time Middlesex were interested but an untimely injury put paid to that. He's well past thirty now, and these days you can see him on summer Saturdays around the Devon seaside grounds, accumulating with punchiness and a touch of class which is easy to recognize but hard to define.

There are all kinds of levels of cricket. In the realm of Tendulkar and Warne, David Lye is of no consequence. But if he played in one of the village matches which I've been known to play he would be the lord of all he surveyed.

I look forward to seeing him play for a few more years.