You are Macaulay Culkin. You debut straight out of your mother’s womb and smash the box office. You star in another. Then the paparazzi wait outside your sandlot to wait for your first pimple to break. You’re the chosen one. You are the next big thing, now.
But then it all goes poof. The teens are cruel to you. And slowly the paparazzi just wait for you to trip on the red carpet. And when you do, everyone laughs. You lose your fans, your flair, your faith.
Then you come back. Years later. Given a second chance at stardom, in a low key Coen brothers indie movie. People will you to succeed. What do you do? You screw up the first day of shoot. Because no one knows you’ve got a terrible stutter now. When the camera sizzles on, your tongue freezes. You stammer. You bomb again.
And everyone laughs. You’re the boy wonder who is destined to fail.
You are Ashton Agar. Picked out of nowhere to debut for Australia, in the cauldron of an Ashes Test in England. Playing against one of the best attacks in the world, in front of a crowd who is just waiting for this 19-year old kid to fail, you come in at No.10 – and smash 98 on debut. The boy who would be king. Australia’s new wunderkid.
In just one month, you’re Australia’s new punching bag. Because you fail again and again. That debut knock of 98? A burden of hype that crushes you with the weight of expectations.
Fast forward by four years. You’ve spent all this time alone, drifting away from the game, until suddenly, luck turns. Australian selectors decide to punt on you again. People scoff. Nathan Lyon, the country’s top spinner, has been left out just to accommodate you. A wild hunch. But people still believe in you. Your captain believes you.
In the third over of the first game in the World T20, against the world’s biggest flat track bully, Martin Guptill, you get tossed the ball. You’ve never bowled so early in an innings before in your entire life. You are a spinner who’s never convinced anyone. You’re the child prodigy who became the lucky fluke.
But here’s your chance, your stage, your redemption. The weather’s nice. There are snowy mountains behind you. Perhaps the drift will help.
What do you do? Your first ball is a full toss, Guptill monsters it for a six. You sink your head into your hands. This is cruel. But your teammates will you on. Just a ball, Agar. C’mon, show them what you got.
So you do – your second ball is another low full toss, and Guptill smites it for another six. This is no longer just cruel, this is comical. But the over isn’t over yet.
After three dot balls, your last delivery goes for another six. Your chance for redemption has come and gone. You’re now wishing you were home, alone.
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