The Rational Soul

Keen readers of the Observer will know, no doubt, that the Walsham cricketers are a cerebral bunch.  Wander, as one might, into the home changing room before a match, pick your way through the detritus of discarded apparel and the smorgasbord of Boot’s compression hosiery offerings, and you shall find such earnest conversation happening.

At the heart of the argument will be the two camps – the Platonists, led by Ben Clark and the Aristotelianists, led by Warwick Izzard – and the divisive opinions on the nature of the psyche.  Is the psyche a living thing? Is it the concept that makes all living things alive?  You should then cast your eye to the far corner to find a subject that epitomises the argument.

Joe Scarce, a backbone of the Walsham 1^st XI, each week dons his pads, shadow bats four or five balls in his mind, and centres his attention once more on his task – opening the batting.  If Plato ever played cricket (one might imagine him as a wily, slow left armer bowling into the dustbowl of the Akademia under the olive groves), then he will have had a perfect article for the rational soul in Joe. The near constant battle of the rational soul, with all those decisions to make, combined the spirited soul of determination and courage – vests in Joe each week.  So be triumphant that Joe, wracked as he often is with those demons, has hit a wonderful vein of form with 110* and 83* against Sudbury and Frinton.

Elsewhere, the first graduates of our original All Stars programme in 2018 have reached the senior teams.  Step forward Anthony Clark and Tobias Macrae, talented young cricketers in the making, on their journey.  Jason Smithers and Oli Jackson join Scarce in the Century Club – with 108* (Old Newton) and 105* (Mistley) respectively. In the bowling department, Liam Bryant hit form against Frinton with a 5 for 40.

The Under 13’s have started their new season with a win over Long Melford and the Under 11’s are to commence their campaign away to Battisford.

And Friday evenings are once more a sea of youngsters tearing around the green field of Summer Road – free from all worries, waving their orange bats.  They epitomise the immortality of the appetitive soul – all of their dreams ahead of them.  Come and join us on those evenings and marvel at it, and forget for a moment that self-doubt of adulthood.