The clip is only 34 seconds long and its production values are low; an iPhone in portrait mode on the boundary edge of a sun-soaked cricket pitch. Follow the clues: an unused floodlight looms over proceedings like a giant steel dandelion, we’re not at some tin-pot ground here. What’s that song blaring out? No need to reach for Shazam, you know it – Freddie Mercury giving it both lungs as Under Pressure reaches a crescendo. The sound is tinny, like someone’s put their phone into an empty bowl. Sure, they’ll pay for their last-minute scrabble for ad-hoc amplification with Dorito dust in their speaker duct but all that’s for later. Right now, there’s a moment happening.
A lissom-limbed bowler hurtles in. The music fades out. Bowie doesn’t get a sniff. The young batter comes forward to a length ball and plays a deft glide through point. There’s a gruff roar and hormonal cry of “Come on!” from the boundary as the young lad sprints down to the non-striker’s end, removing his helmet in the process. He charges back for two, the camera’s zoom judders in on him as he leaps in the air à la David Warner. He then blows a kiss down his blade à la Virat Kohli. Everything else in his mannerisms gives the game away though – this is a Flintoff.
