"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"
The Cricket field of the Christian life
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Thomas Waugh (written around 1910)
The author states his reason for writing: "Thousands more of these young men remain unsaved, and many of them are steadily drifting away beyond our reach. The widening gap between them and the Church is one of the saddest things and most ominous signs that we are called upon to face...I may,in presenting the Christian life to them under the figure of a game of cricket, help the former class into closer fellowship with the Lord". [Page 10]
Cricket has been chosen because it "suggests and illustrates so many points and phases in the Christian life". [Page11]. The setting is a game of cricket between Christ's team and Satan's. One particular feature of the cricket game is that the Lord's team is always batting and the devil's team is always in the field. The bowlers include the flesh and the world. The devil himself bowls googlies! [Page 99/100]. The bowlers will have no scruples about hitting batsmen. [Page 132]
Reference is made to the double responsibility of Christian batsman to defend wicket and score runs which means "Walk worthy of his captain and the team [and]..to live a consistent Christian life...We cannot get runs at cricket if we get out and Christian character is the first requisite for Christian service". [Page 82]
There is a reference to slow balls - "when we are tempted to neglect the nourishment of our spiritual life in prayer" [Page 95]. Just as a batsman can be out to an innocent looking ball, a Christian can succumb to innocent sounding temptation. [Page 120]
When the game is over "on the resurrection morning you come out of the pavilion, leaving your playing clothes behind you and robed like your glorious Captain..and reach heaven to a welcome of 'Well played, Sir'". Page 147-48
While there is no reference to it, there are some echoes of Henry Drummond's Baxter's second innings.
The argument generally stands the test of time but there is an amusing reference to surprise at Australia being good at cricket [Page115]. The comment, "I have never heard an oath on a cricket field" [Page 11] was clearly not written in the modern era!