India Uncut
This blog has moved to its own domain. Please visit IndiaUncut.com for the all-new India
Uncut and bookmark it. The new site has much more content and some new sections, and you can read about them here and here. You can subscribe to full RSS feeds of all the sections from here.
This blogspot site will no longer be updated, except in case of emergencies, if the main site suffers a prolonged outage. Thanks - Amit.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Why should Flintoff's cliches matter?
Andrew Miller of Cricinfo complains, "Flintoff still full of cliches." He writes that after the defeat at Melbourne, "all of his [Flintoff's] usual buzzwords were in place" as he kept restating the "bleeding obvious."
Now, no one's as severe a critic as me of cliches being used in cricket writing, but Miller's criticism is misplaced because Flintoff's not a cricket writer. Flintoff's job is to play good cricket and lead his side well on the field, and speaking to the press is just one of the burdens that come with the job. As long as he's been reasonably honest and respectful, it's unfair to berate him for using unoriginal phrases. As unfair, in fact, as it would be for Flintoff to say that Miller's batting technique is defective.
Let us leave aside the small matter that phrases like "on a wing and a prayer" and "staring down the barrel" turn up in Miller's article as well. Perhaps Miller was just exhausted after a hard day's play, and those tired phrases crept in. Think of poor Flintoff then.
Now, no one's as severe a critic as me of cliches being used in cricket writing, but Miller's criticism is misplaced because Flintoff's not a cricket writer. Flintoff's job is to play good cricket and lead his side well on the field, and speaking to the press is just one of the burdens that come with the job. As long as he's been reasonably honest and respectful, it's unfair to berate him for using unoriginal phrases. As unfair, in fact, as it would be for Flintoff to say that Miller's batting technique is defective.
Let us leave aside the small matter that phrases like "on a wing and a prayer" and "staring down the barrel" turn up in Miller's article as well. Perhaps Miller was just exhausted after a hard day's play, and those tired phrases crept in. Think of poor Flintoff then.
