And the people gathered together, grumbling among themselves.
They approached the Lord saying, ‘Now don’t get us wrong and we’re really grateful for the way you got us out of Egypt. But quite frankly things get a bit quiet in the desert, especially at weekends.’
‘What’s your point?’ asked the Lord.
‘Well,’ said the people, ‘we wondered if we could invent some sort of game—.’
‘I’m the inventor around here,’ the Lord reminded them sharply.
‘Of course, of course,’ said the people. ‘Sorry. Perhaps You could create a game to provide carefree family entertainment and encourage a sense of team spirit amongst the young.’
‘Let me sleep on it,’ said the Lord. ‘I’ll let you know tomorrow.’
‘Does the Lord really sleep too?’ asked one little boy in the crowd.
‘Shhh’, his mother warned.
The next morning the gong sounded and the people assembled promptly.
‘OK,’ said the Lord, ‘I’ve come up with a game called Cricket. It’ll be played over five days and will be called a Test.’
‘There He goes again,’ muttered a middle-aged man, ‘always testing us. Can’t He give us a break just for once? And five days, how ridiculous!’
‘That’s enough, dear,’ soothed his wife.
‘Here are the rules,’ the Lord continued. ‘I’ve had them carved into these stone tablets. Mind you study them well.’
‘Yes Lord,’ replied the crowd, ‘thank you Lord for Cricket. We shall play it in Thy name.’
And they did. And they were content and peace and healthy sporting attitudes bound the community closely together.
But after a while, fresh grumbling could be heard.
‘It’s a silly game,’ a few of the men said. ‘It goes for so long and sometimes there’s not even a winner and they call it a “draw”. What a stupid word. Or occasionally, on the fourth or fifth day, it gets a bit interesting and then there’s a dust storm or a flash flood and still there’s no result.’
‘But we asked for it in the first place,’ some of the other men chided.
‘We asked for something that would kill time, not drag it out endlessly.’
‘Cricket is the Lord’s work,’ said its defenders. The others fell silent.
But not for long. For the feeling that Cricket wasn’t all it might be gradually gained strength. Teams were hard to muster, very few turned up to training, and crowd attendances dropped sharply. A delegation was despatched to meet the Lord.
‘What is it now?’ He demanded.
‘We thank You daily for all You have given us,’ the delegation