{"id":6213,"date":"2020-12-30T00:36:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T13:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/?p=6213"},"modified":"2020-12-30T00:36:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T13:36:47","slug":"the-cricket-term-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/the-cricket-term-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Cricket Term\u2019, Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter Six: Letter From Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next cricket match is against Ginty\u2019s team, Lower V.A, who\u2019ve been coached by Evil Lois and are feeling very confident. But Lower IV.A field, bowl and wicket-keep very effectively, aided by Nicola\u2019s insider knowledge of Ginty\u2019s batting weak spots to get Ginty out for one measly run. Lower IV.A struggle a bit when it\u2019s their turn to bat, but a last-minute effort by Barbara and Pomona, combined with Lower V.A\u2019s pathetic fielding, win the day. Pomona really is a solid player. Nicola should have played her earlier. (I say, with my near non-existent cricketing expertise – I had to Google how many balls were in an over. I really don\u2019t know how Americans would manage to follow all the details in this book\u2019s cricket descriptions.)<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s an excellent scene where Miss Craven and Janice are watching Nicola coach the team, noting how well Nicola is doing. Evil Lois is nearby training Lower V.B, while Janice wonders to herself whether Lois is really only helping the teams playing against Nicola, which sounds demented, \u201cexcept that Lois was<\/em> a demented character\u201d. When Lois joins them, she\u2019s horrified to hear Miss Craven suggest that Nicola will be Games Captain in a few years. Lois blusters about Nicola\u2019s team doing too much practice and how they should be stopped because it\u2019s not fair to the other teams, which Miss Craven thinks is \u201cthe most absurd argument I\u2019ve heard in a very long time\u201d and also, why has Lois stopped Nicola\u2019s team from using the good nets and pitches for practice? Furthermore, if Lower IV.A lose their next match, Miss Craven wants to put Nicola on the \u2018Prospects\u2019 list, where she\u2019ll get special coaching and be considered for the school team. Janice, stirring like mad, says that would be fantastic for Nicola, when not \u201ceven Rowan managed it that young\u201d and then adds pointedly, \u201cIt should almost make up for that\u2014misunderstanding\u2014over the netball team.\u201d Which Miss Craven agrees with, saying it was most uncharacteristic of Nicola to be unreliable, so she should ask Nicola about what really happened at some stage. And Lois leaves, deeply<\/em> unsettled.<\/p>\n

I love Janice.<\/p>\n

I love her even more in the next scene, because she\u2019s the only good thing about the situation. Poor Nicola gets an ominous-looking letter from her mother, so she goes up to the roof to read it in private, worrying that Buster or Tessa have died. But it\u2019s terrible in an unexpected way \u2014 Mrs Marlow has written to say the school fees are going up, so one of the sisters will have to leave Kingscote and it has to be Nicola. It can\u2019t be Ann or Ginty because they\u2019re about to do O and A levels, and it can\u2019t be Lawrie, because she\u2019s so immature that she needs boarding school to make her grow up. Both Marlow parents agree it should be Nicola because \u201cyou\u2019re a sensible person who won\u2019t stamp around, spoiling things for yourself \u2026 complaining for years it was all dreadfully unfair.\u201d Nicola will go to Colebridge Grammar, which must be an okay school because Edwin\u2019s sending Rose there. And she mustn\u2019t talk about this with anyone.<\/p>\n

My previously low opinion of the Marlow parents has plummeted to uncharted depths.<\/p>\n

I mean, REALLY? Mrs Marlow sells their diamonds and spends it on fancy hunting horses, but now they can\u2019t afford school fees? They\u2019ve inherited a huge estate, but they can\u2019t rent it out to earn money because Captain Marlow wants to swan about being Lord of the Manor, with Rowan forced to run the farm for no pay. They chose to have EIGHT children and send them all to expensive private boarding schools, without thinking how they\u2019d afford it all the way through their schooling. There\u2019s no mention of taking Peter out of his naval cadet school, even though he hates it and has no intention of ever joining the navy. And they don\u2019t decide to send all four girls to Colebridge Grammar, where at least they\u2019ll have each other \u2014 no, just poor Nicola by herself, not knowing anyone. And Nicola\u2019s the one who really loves Kingscote, has lots of friends, is doing well academically, showing good leadership skills, and instead of being rewarded for this, she\u2019s punished. <\/p>\n

Fortunately, Janice is there to offer unsentimental, practical support (and barley sugar). Jan also notes that now that Karen has left Oxford, her Prosser scholarship can be awarded to someone else, and maybe, if Nicola works a bit harder, she could win that and stay at Kingscote. Nicola\u2019s only real rivals are Miranda, who definitely doesn\u2019t need the money because her father\u2019s just paid for the school swimming pool, and Meg Hopkins. So there\u2019s a bit of hope.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Nicola has been so distressed that she\u2019s missed first period English with their inept student teacher, who is told by the girls that the correct procedure is for them all to go outside and look for Nicola. This is a welcome bit of comic relief, as Lower IV.A \u201cprance about the grounds, looking under dock leaves and turning stones\u201d, doing Nymph dances in the middle of the playing field. Unfortunately, Miss Cromwell happens to look out the window and see this and there is blood for breakfast. They get a form conduct mark, so they\u2019re out of running for the Form Shield for the third year in a row, and they have compulsory silence till Sunday, which Nicola doesn\u2019t mind because at least no one will ask why she\u2019d been so upset.<\/p>\n

Chapter Seven: Dolphins and Nemesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginty is still a bit miffed that she\u2019s not in the school play, but thanks to all the extra practice and her lucky four-leaf clover, she and Monica are chosen for the swimming and diving match against the Wade Abbas Collegiate, which I guess is a girls\u2019 school attached to the Abbey. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lawrie is having trouble with her Ariel role, because she just can\u2019t imagine herself as a \u201cfairy\u201d. Miss Kempe attempts to explain that Ariel isn\u2019t some twee fairy, but a near immortal, soul-less being with magic powers and suggests Lawrie read Lord of the Rings<\/em>. But Lawrie continues to be terrible in the role.<\/p>\n

Nicola reflects to herself that at least when she leaves Kingscote, there\u2019ll be no annoying Ann or Lawrie around. Even Tim despairs of Lawrie. Tim\u2019s also not making much progress on her costume design, although she has a good cathartic laugh with Nicola when they contemplate Ariel wearing briefer-than-briefs with glitter, in relation to Miss Keith. Then there\u2019s a good conversation between Nicola, Tim, Miranda and Esther about what they might do in future. Tim has her sights on producing St Joan<\/em> when they\u2019re in Sixth Form and then becoming a real-life producer. Miranda will end up working in her father\u2019s antiques shop, but wishes she had more of a choice – although she doesn\u2019t really know what she wants to do, probably something in art and design. (I’m surprised Miranda isn\u2019t aiming for Oxford and something more academic, as she seems very intelligent and curious about the world.) Nicola usually tells people she wants to join the Wrens, but unfortunately, she knows she\u2019ll never get to command a ship because she\u2019s not a boy. She tells the others she\u2019s planning to sail solo round the world, then decide about her future. Esther, unexpectedly, wants to be a gardener and live in her own flat with Daks. Good for her. <\/p>\n

Then there are some more cricket matches. Upper V.B, the favourites, annihilate the poor little Seconds, in a very unfair and humiliating display of dominance, so the whole school turns against them. Meanwhile, the Sixth Form team, which includes Lois and Janice, beat Middle Remove, who had already won against Upper V.A. (\u201ca bunch of intellectuals who could have beaten them easily enough, but had decided that passing their numerous O levels creditably took precedence\u201d and therefore played to lose, to Ann\u2019s dismay). This means that the entire school, including Nicola and Miranda, turn up to cheer the Sixth when they play those rotten scoundrels, Upper V.B. The Sixth, encouraged by the wild applause, play well, and Janice is a batting star, and they win. So I think that means Nicola\u2019s team will be playing Lois and Janice and the other sixth formers in the final, if they first manage to beat Lower V.B. <\/p>\n

I am still mad at the Marlow parents.<\/p>\n

Next, Chapter Eight: Casualty<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Six: Letter From Home The next cricket match is against Ginty\u2019s team, Lower V.A, who\u2019ve been coached by Evil Lois and are feeling very confident. But Lower IV.A field, bowl and wicket-keep very effectively, aided by Nicola\u2019s insider knowledge of Ginty\u2019s batting weak spots to get Ginty out for one measly run. Lower IV.A … Continue reading \u2018The Cricket Term\u2019, Part Four<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[293],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-6213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-books","tag-antonia-forest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6216,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213\/revisions\/6216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}