Last week, The Times of London published a heartbreaking article about 55-year-old club cricketer Jonathan Mills. This tribute, written by his brother Daniel, was addressed to a sales manager at a beauty company whose cricket was not about playing for the country or county. A passionately dedicated cricketer, Jonathan's life and career choices were determined by his beloved Brookweald and his club's cricket season and schedule.
He scored 200 points as the club's longtime opening pitcher. According to the club's website, the club happens to be located in one of the most beautiful parts of Essex, serves the best tea in the league, has its own bar and is a great place to hang out. A sunny Saturday afternoon. In this picturesque setting Jonathan spent the last 100 years of his life. According to his brother, it was straight out of the “golden age of schoolboy magazine stories.”
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However, in the midst of this wild six-batsman party in which once-rare T20 hundreds are becoming a daily possibility, Brookweald CC's second hit was “110 off 123 balls, 21 slots.'' It's worth remembering Jonathan's win at The XI played against Woodham Mortimer in the local village league.
Sports as a celebration of life
If orchids had weight, this would be one of the heaviest tons in the world. Rarely has a knock meant so much to one person and the few people around him. We are told that cricket, and even football, is more than life and death for many people. It's ridiculous, it's a cliché wrapped in hyperbole. For Jonathan, about a year of cricket was a celebration of his short life, his oncologist told him.
After six months of active treatment for stage 4 colon cancer, Jonathan was told he was one of the 45 percent of people in the world who did not respond to chemotherapy. His tumor was stubborn and was growing rather than shrinking. Given six months to live, Jonathan said no to palliative chemotherapy and wanted to return to a normal life, but that meant inflating his bill for club Brookweald. “When I got the diagnosis, I thought, 'Okay, maybe I can play,'” he later said.
He will contact the club and they will give him a warm welcome. Jonathan's sportsman will be riddled with guilt as he has been away from cricket for some time. Did his team-mates give him a place in the side out of pity? The opening pitcher, who is in his mid-50s, had another reason for his good results. In a limited time when death is said to be creeping in, Jonathan doesn't want to sacrifice the assets of his team, he wants to do what he loves the most. Those fears turned out to be unfounded, as he continued to play an emotional innings that had enough power to touch the heartstrings of England as a whole.
When Jonathan completed his half-century, he and his opening partner Gary Wolfe burst into tears on the pitch. “I was breathless when he turned 50, but I honestly never thought he would go on to reach 100. It was a really special moment. I felt lucky to be there,” Wolf told the Times. The report mentions a brief piece of advice that John's partner Sharon gave him. He was told, “Please don't get angry.” “She knows how important it (cricket) is to me.” By the time he reached 100 years old, he was exhausted and the effect six rounds of chemotherapy had on his body was showing. I was there. He was too tired to even cry.
A photo of Jonathan standing in front of the scoreboard scoring 110 points went viral. It would be voted as the innings of the season on many websites. Before the game against Kent, Essex called Kent to ring the ceremonial pre-game bell. MCC chairman Stephen Fry was due to invite him to the Ashes Test at Lord's. “I'll go and talk to Mr McCullum and see if he needs any hints,” buzz-bowling opener John told BBC Essex's Around the Wicket.
John appeared on earth with the twins. “Every once in a while, you meet people who remind you how special life is and how to squeeze every last drop out of it,” Fry says. Smartly dressed in a blue shirt and maroon tie, he looked in good health while being interviewed by Jonathan Agnew on the Test Match Special. Almost a year later, veteran broadcaster Agnew, who has interacted with almost the entire cricket world, will remember his unique guest. “It was a wonderful and inspirational interview and one I'll never forget,” Agnew later said.
Unseen and unpaid
Jonathan's death puts a spotlight on Cricket's army of invisible, unpaid followers. It could be among your friends, or it could be someone who lives next door. They also have an incredible talent behind the many sporting fairy tales that cricket throws at them. These are the people who don't miss weekend games, despite sore limbs and increasing complaints of neglect at home. They bat for a while in a game of gully cricket and then explain the nuances of the game to the children. They persuade parents to send their talented children to the academy. They keep the game alive and the story richer. In Jonathan's case, the game sided with his faithful servant. It became a support system when he needed it most.
There were some heart-wrenching comments from the day John defiantly raised his bat. “I thought I wouldn't be able to do this anymore. I feel like I've lost this war, but I'm going to try to win some battles along the way…I've had fun. I'm sorry. But my time is my time, so I want to go out with a smile on my face.'' He says he did this at a care home, where, according to his testimony, there was fino sherry in the fridge and whiskey on the sideboard. He was surrounded by former teammates and golf partners. Cricket had given good old John something more precious than what the IPL winner would take home after the final on May 26.
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