A delicious thunk. An exhilarating clunk. Scritch-scratch … gudd-unk. It’s hard to put into words the noise made by Jimmy Anderson’s scudding detonation of Dean Elgar’s off-stump on the morning of the third day at Old Trafford. Believe me I’ve tried. Thud clop whomp whump tunk bonk clonk … qunckk. This was very nearly a 900-word onomatopoeic paean to that singular sound. There’s something about the harmonics of a ball cannoning into a stump that gets me in the pit of my stomach and sets my senses alight. I’m not sure what it is and probably shouldn’t delve too deeply but the particular combination of a five and a half-ounce leather ball thwonking, yes thwonking, into 28 inches of tubular English ash does something to me.
I’m clearly not alone. No sooner had Elgar’s ejected stump been retrieved and reunited with bail and ground than the dismissal had been “clipped up” and posted online to much cooing. Individual fans and official accounts giddily shared the five-second clip and urged others to watch, more importantly listen.
