Abe, 72: The greatness of Cricket - Doubtful initiative with expected outcomes, told by a Grandfather.

I’ve always believed cricket to be the pinnacle of human achievement. There’s something poetic about a game that takes five days to complete. Unfortunately, my grandson doesn’t share my enthusiasm for what I call “real sports.” Instead, he’s fallen head over heels for table tennis—yes, table tennis.

I used to walk him home from school through Regent’s Park, where we’d chat about the important things in life—like overs, wickets, and the unparalleled glory of Lord’s Cricket Ground. But then something happened, something sinister. One day on our route through the park, we noticed shiny new boxes by the table tennis area, these were stuffed with table tennis paddles and balls.

“Look, Grandpa! We can play table tennis after school!” he squealed. We played a few times. I’m as agile as a fox, mind you, but ping-pong wasn’t exactly my forte. I obliged nevertheless. After all, I’m a loving grandparent.

To mitigate my suffering and backpain, I wrote in the sports app thing—that my grandson wanted to “play someone after school on Wednesdays”. Some sort of digital bulletin board. I thought nothing of it, until a Chinese gentleman appeared a couple of days later with his granddaughter. We’d seen them before, walking home from school in the opposite direction. Mr. Li didn’t say much. He muttered something about how he’d never played table tennis, and then proceeded to stand there like a table tennis referee watching closely. Not exactly the height of social engagement. The kids had the time of their lives, laughing and batting back and forth, talentless. But they were having fun, so I kept my opinions to myself—mostly.

In the end, I get it—this inclusive infrastructure thing everyone’s raving about. It’s great for the kids, brings communities together, and all that jazz. But it can lead people astray from the things that matters. For instance, maybe those sharing sports boxes in Regent’s Park could close between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Give people a well-earned break after work and school.

That was years ago, and my grandson is doing his Masters degree now. I had dreams once—dreams of seeing my grandson in cricket whites, lifting a bat high and glorious. Instead, we occasionally go to Lord’s to watch real cricket together.

Me and Mr Li still play a game everyday after lunch, he definitely played back in China but I’m not too bad myself, it’s grown on me, but it sure isn’t cricket!