A Different Game but still Enjoyable
I'm watching the World Cup of cricket highlights. In many ways the game is unrecognizable from what I knew as a kid. In the most literal way, the rules are different. I don't understand the rules about fielding placements. (There weren't any when I was active.) Batsmen now get a free hit after a no-ball. Video replay has removed doubt about behind the wicket catches, lbws, stumpings and runouts. The massive 50-over scores are just not comparable to the early days of one-day cricket. Yet there's some lovely stroke play to go with the slogging and some excellent bowling.

RIP Dave Mackay
Another of my boyhood heroes has died. As a number of pundits correctly note, Mackay would be worth a fortune today. The nearest recent player would be Viera without the penchant for losing his temper. Mackay was the second-best tackler I've seen (to the incomparable Bobby Moore - see earlier posts) and better than Moore going forward. As a pair of wing-halfs Blanchflower and Mackay with the great Spurs team of the early 1960s takes some beating.
His passing reminds me of the fall of Scottish fitba. Mackay only played for Scotland 20 or so times. Partly that's because internationals were less frequent but it was also competition. Roughly of the same era the Scots had wing-halts of the caliber of Baxter, Crerand, and Bremner. As much as I loved them all (Crerand remains my all-time favourite player) Mackay was the best, all-round.
I've known a few people who knew him to some extent and they all say he was a lovely bloke, too.