Page #5 & 6 of “OUT OF IT” a novel by Michael O’Leary

It eleven had been sent into bat, Malone once again looked at his programme and pondered the prospects of the two teams. Both teams were set side by side in a fashion that you could compare each player by their place in the batting order, thus …

NEW ZEALAND OUT OF IT

1) Dipak Patel Jimi Hendrix

2) Ken Rutherford Monk Lewis

3) John Wright (V.C.) Te Rauparaha (C)

4) Martin Crowe Oscar Wilde

5) Jeff Crowe Jim Morrison

6) Jeremy Coney (C) Alfred Jarry

7) Richard Hadlee Janice Joplin

8) Ian Smith Bob Marley (V.C.)

9) John Bracewell Herman Goering

10) Lance Cairns Lord Byron

11) Ewen Chatfield James Joyce

12) Martin Sneddon James K. Baxter




“Yeh, I reckon he’s gotta somehow tap into his mana, e. Seeing he’s not allowed to do it in the old way then he’ll probably try to look for some metaphorical means, maybe use Sutcliffe’s name as a mantra, who knows? Anyway he is the man …”
“I’m sorry Billy, but Richard Hadlee is about to bowl the first ball of the first over of this historical match. Jimi Hendrix takes a look around, just checking who’s where as Hadlee comes in off his short run. I wonder what’s going through Jimi’s mind as he watches one of the world’s foremost strike bowlers moving towards him …”
Hey man, wow like the white streak of power that provides the purple haze which is the universe propelling projectiles such as the red planet of Mars towards me the centre of the star-spangled galaxy there is a theory such as a reverse energy matter which interpreted into reality means if I flick this switch that’s in my hand in the opposite direction, Mars will go flyin’, I mean flyin’, back through the same galaxy of time and space and over the boundary of infinity into eternity, far out man!

“Well Dennis, Richard Hadlee will not be pleased with that. No bowler relishes the thought of being hit for six back over his head, and certainly not off the first ball of the innings.”
“Yes John, you’re quite right there. But what a shot. I think even Vivian Richards would take a bow to that. Well, we said it would be an exciting match and here we see right from the very first ball the intentions of this Out of It side.”
“Yeah, their intention is to hit the ball out of it e, heh heh …”
“Ha, ha, ha, that’s right Billy. The question is how will Hadlee counter this. I think Jeremy Coney will be a worried man, even though it really is too early to say what might happen.”
“Well here comes Hadlee in again from the Southern end, I suppose you’d call it, of Eden Park. He really looks an athlete this man as he passes the umpire now …”

Outside in the distance the wind cries as the man who is as lost as a child throws his round red ball towards my bat which I hold erect, yeah man, the wind cries because this