Work in progress

Vitae Lampada

"Everybody a cricketer, you understand? Everybody. You don't get to choose. You must play what you can play."

If sport mirrors life, what can you take from one to help with the other? Rev. Jon Knipe must find out. He comes to his old ground, Trent Bridge, not just to watch a match, but to get answers about the past, to repair ties he broke when his marriage and profession were destroyed by scandal. It's a critical event. Outwardly it looks relaxed, but beneath the appearances is struggle. There must be advice to offer young Todd, the next generation, and new fire must be found to ignite the depths of two old men, so they don't get out with overs to spare.

It is no time for shirking. What lies ahead does not look good - 'a bumping pitch and a blinding light' as the old poem would say. All the more important to know what game you play, and how to play it well.

• Chapter 1
• The start of Chapter 2