I sometimes enjoy reading about matches in the newspaper or on Cricinfo,
but I can stand it only in small doses. I was reminded of a particularly
annoying trope in cricket writing today by the first paragraph of Sriram
Veera's article on
the
problem with [M.] Vijay.
M. Vijay can be a good batsman to watch. At times his skill even makes
you gasp. There is this shot he plays, when he just pushes at a length
delivery, on the up, and the ball speeds past the bowler to the
boundary. You think that mid-off, if not the bowler himself, will cut it
off for it was just a mere waft. The ball, however, keeps
accelerating.
No, it bloody well doesn't keep accelerating.
Unless M. Vijay runs along with the ball and keeps hitting it (is there
an ICC regulation against that?), the only force acting upon it once it
has left the bat is friction. In the absence of other forces, the ball
can only decelerate on its way to the boundary.
No matter how good the batsman, the laws of physics don't change.