Cricketers share a universal language. It is a language that speaks of character.
I used to play cricket with Jon. He was a stylist. He loped. When young and leonine he loped around in the covers looking languidly threatening. Eventually the years drove him into the slips, but as a batsman he continued to lope. He would lean on the half-volley, ease it between cover and extra, and without haste he would put the toe of his bat into his right hand and would lope down the pitch for a couple of runs. Everything was done with grace, and that indefinable but unmistakable quality of time.
Jon did not like to sprint. If he had to dive for the crease he opted to be run out. Cricket for Jon was not a game in which one should look ungainly or dishevelled.
He scored few runs on the leg side and fewer still in the air. Batting was an exercise in easing and loping. Nevertheless there was steel in his spine. If the bowling grew hostile Jon grew ever more combatively languid. The more the bowler grew fractious, the more Jon laid on the suave charm. His lope down the pitch became ever more leisurely. There was in his manner a fine disdain.
Jon now works for an international corporation. Recently I had dinner with him and his managing director, a fierce Presbyterian Scot who for some reason is devoted to cricket.
When Jon loped off to the toilet the MD asked me if I had played cricket with Jon. I said I had, a lot.
"What was he like as a cricketer?"
"He eased,” I said, “and he loped."
To illustrate, I cocked my left elbow in the manner that all cricketers understand and with my palm turned inwards I mimed a cover drive seeking to make the movement as sweet and liquid as tipped honey. The MD nodded and seemed intensely interested. And then I grabbed the top of the giant pepper mill in my left hand, and placed its base in my right, and across the restaurant floor I imitated Jon loping a single, the mill swinging from side to side.
"So he was good?” said the MD.
"Yes,” I said, “he was very good.”
''And under pressure?"
"Better still,” I said as Jon returned to the table.
I have since learned that Jon was being considered for a momentous promotion. I have not yet heard if he’s got it but I am very confident indeed.