In conversation with the English sketch artist Dr Dan Diaper on cricket

Dan Diaper’s sketch of Marnus Labuschagne playing the second Test match against India. Pics Courtesy/@DrDanDiaper on Twitter

Fans of cricket across the globe are as numerous as cars on roads. From the expert in the pub to the commentator in the media box, they have a take on everything - Virat Kohli's form to KL Rahul's wedding. Few, though, capture the intricacies of movement through a scientific and precise observation as Dr Dan Diaper's sketches do.

The 67-year-old scientific psychologist has acquired fame on social media for his live-sketches of ongoing telecasts. But the good doctor does not consider himself an artist. "Artists are specialists whereas I am a generalist," he notes simply.

The Newcastle and Cambridge University alumni calls himself a ‘dedicated and scientific psychologist', and as such, his love for cricket reflects this intellectual pursuit. "I started following the game in my 30s. I thought a well-rounded person should at least follow one sport, and I chose [Test] cricket because it is ‘a truly complicated game, for the connoisseur, to be leisurely enjoyed'," he remarks.

A self-portrait of Dr Diaper

His early years were spent with the BBC Radio broadcasts, often interrupted by the shipping forecast, he tells us. These experiences led to his book, Watching Cricket on the Radio (2015). It wasn't till the late 2010s that he turned to sketching during live matches. He says, "I have been sketching since I was a boy, but my skills were confined to presentations for seminars and for teaching." After some encouragement by artist and radio host, Katie Walker, Diaper started sketching moments to share on Twitter. Now, he creates close to 500 sketches a year.

"A simple sketch with one person in it takes me about five overs, and this gets longer if there are more people in it. A sketch of a cricket ground and its surroundings, often a view from a drone can take well over an hour, so I often do these in the lunch interval," he reveals. The primary source for the images remains high-quality screen captures from television or the computer. Like a true artist, his eye for detail is sharp and precise. To recreate the right moment of Marnus Labuschagne's stumping in the first India-Australia Test in Nagpur, or Rohit Sharma's pull shot requires skill. "Players with distinctive features make my life much easier when sketching. Those who are bald or shaven -headed, or have distinctive hair styles, for instance, Broad's bandana, Jadeja's ponytail, Kohli's beard or Pujara's nose, and did you notice in the Nagpur Test the Australian débutante Todd Murphy's ears?" he remarks.

A dedicated observer of the red ball game, from India to Pakistan, New Zealand to Bangladesh Diaper prefers Test matches or One-Day cricket over the quickfire format of T20. "What I like is good cricket. I want to see something interesting," he remarks, noting that even when England are playing, he would prefer a good contest, rather than a dull win.

As for the ongoing series, the doctor mentions, "As you can imagine, I was disenchanted by the recent Test between India and Australia which didn't last three days, even though my preference was for an India win. Hopefully, the next one lasts longer," he says as he turns to his next watching session.

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