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My cousin Ben was a good cricketer. A right-arm quick, he played for the combined services, often counting county 2nd XIs and Minor Counties as opponents. On reading my book, he told me this story about playing at Arundel some years before (apologies if I get it wrong).On arriving at the ground, he finds a new keeper in the pavilion, rummaging in an old bag. Said keeper triumphantly extracts a pair of gloves and prises the palms apart before turning to Ben, introducing himself as Paul and saying, This should be interesting, I havent played for three years.Cut to Bens opening spell. Two balls into his first over, the keeper runs up to him saying Ben, Ben... mind if I stand up, mate? Ben nods, a little bemused as he considered himself pretty pacy. Running in for ball No. 3, Ben sees an arm waving frantically towards square leg. Wide down leg? Sure, I can do that, thinks Ben. Wide the ball flies, at pace. Out pops a glove, snatches the ball from thin air, and whips off the bails. The keeper turns to the umpire, How was that?, and then to the bat, Ill give you a clue: on your bike, mate. All in all, he stumped three bats standing up to a bowler flinging it down at speeds well over 70mph.Weve all had games with somebody like that, those players who are simply a different class to the rest of the field, but their impact on a game is perhaps greatest when the step up is merely one or two levels. Im more interested here in those players who have not only reached something like their full potential, but who occupy a snow-capped, cloud-obscured pinnacle of performance compared to the grassy lowlands of, say, Sunday cricket.Ive been lucky enough to have played with several individuals whose natural level is far, far beyond mine, including the current England Womens captain Heather Knight (well, I had a net with her), and pros who play franchise T20 in their homelands and 2nd XI county cricket in England. As a moderate Sunday player, the difference in our respective levels is quite extreme, and for me to try to step up to their level would be mildly insane. Any innings of mine would be Hobbesian - nasty, brutish and short - and professional spin bowling is too quick for me to stand up to as a keeper. As for seam, I recently kept to a bowler who, at full steam, has been clocked at 85mph. Off four paces I could only just stay with him. And it hurt. It might be counter-intuitive, but when active pros step down to my level, and, most pertinently, down to my level of facilities, their class can count against them. It might seem odd that I should score 10 when a county 2nd XI player managed a mere seven runs more in the same innings, but there is a simple explanation, and its not merely that he wasnt fully concentrating.Heres the rub: the professional reacts; the amateur responds.One of the most enduring of defining characteristics thought to separate the human from the animal was put forward by the ancient Greeks, namely that humans respond while animals react. A response is considered; a reaction instinctive, automatic. Weve all heard of the fractions of a second it takes for a 90mph ball to reach the batsman, and how this is not long enough to allow much in the way of rational thought. This is where training comes in. We train in order to make the fundamental techniques automatic.When I trod the boards as a musician, I honed my technique through hours of hard work so that I could, when in the zone, pretty much make sound happen. There was no thinking about fingerings, chords, notes, rhythm patterns. I simply heard sound, and out it came. Its the same in cricket. When youre in the zone, everything clicks, and you simply will the ball to the boundary. Theres no thought, simply perfectly timed reactions. These reactions are honed by hours of work in the nets and in the middle. All practice is designed to reduce the need for thought. And thats where everything goes wrong.Put a pro on a Sunday wicket, all low, slow, variable bounce, and the instinctive becomes suicidal, even accounting for the headroom built into their game. The ball pitches short, the batsman goes on to the back foot to pull, the ball stays two inches above the ground. A half-volley invites the drive, but the ball plugs, the bat swings, mid-off says thank you kindly. The very thing that makes the pro so good is their downfall.And as for bowling, the pros stock ball is almost always too short, too wide, and too quick. Hardly any Sunday player can get near them. The pro is, therefore, forced to think, the very thing they train to avoid. Me? Im constantly adjusting, thinking, changing my mind, quite often during my shot. At my level, its feasible, and on the wickets I frequent, one might say its even imperative.Its only at the very highest level that you find the very best, the ones capable of adding improvisation to instinct, to move, like those rare truly great musicians, beyond technique and well-rehearsed patterns into the realms of pure expression. These players will change any game.Oh yes, the keeper. Sorry, I got distracted. At the end of the game, Ben took a peek at the scorebook and clocked who he was: Paul Farbrace.Cam Newton Jersey . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Ryan Kalil Womens Jersey . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. http://www.shoppanthersonline.us/panthers-luke-kuechly-blue-jersey/ . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. DJ Moore Panthers Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Greg Olsen Panthers Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services.Mick Fanning has capped an extraordinary return to the scene of last years shark attack, winning the World Surfing League event at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.Fanning fought off what was believed to be a great white shark in the disbanded contest final of 2015, eventually fleeing the water uninjured with fellow Australian Julian Wilson.On Saturday Fanning beat Hawaiian John John Florence in the final after taking out good friend Wilson in the semi-final.In variable small swell, which saw the contest drag into its 11th day, Fanning beat Florence 17.70 points to 17.13.Florence had beaten another Australian, Josh Kerr in the other semi-final.An almost zen-like calm enveloped Fanning after the decider, the 35 year-old speaking in relaxed tones of his relationship with Wilson.Hes just one of those guys that always has your back, Fanning said of Wilson, who came to his aid when the shark began to circle the three-time world champion.As for the enormity of winning in such emotional circumstances, Fanning said hed made an early call to come back to J-Bay and was always going to stick by it.That was always the intention to come back - to right the wrongs of last year, he said.Now we have, we can move on.It just feels a lot lighter not going for the world title andd not having that pressure on.ddddddddddddFanning, on a reduced schedule this year after a difficult 12 months that included the shark attack, death of his brother and break-up of his marriage - overcame even more complications on the eve of the round six event after hurting his ankle while free-surfing.He was even seen wearing a moon boot after the mishap though showed few signs of injury in a fluid three rounds on Saturday in which he beat Brazils Filipe Toledo, Wilson and then Florence to snatch his first win of the season.In what he labelled his personal year Fanning has thus far surfed in four of the six events, until Saturday securing a best finish of third at Bells Beach, Victoria.Despite the win, Fanning confirmed he would only surf one more event this season.Ive already said Ill go to Trestles (California) and that will be my last event of the year, he said.World titles arent the biggest thing for me any more.Fanning, who went from 16th to fifth in the world rankings with the victory, was watched from the shore by his mother, Elizabeth Osborne.Australian Matt Wilkinson still leads the mens standings after six events. 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