The Ninja Cricketer and Scratched

By Valerio L. Meletti

A Northern Irish wicked villain desperately looking for sympathy (Scratched); A Pakistani kid having arguments about Cricket with some Auld British Blokes (The Ninja Cricketer);
A professional Con/Hitman telling (fictional?) episodes from his career (The Marcabru Chronicles).

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467010375

Valerio L. Meletti

Valerio L. Meletti has a degree in Economics and has worked in the music business in Italy & UK for a decade before shifting to journalism: today he is in charge of web, local press and social media monitoring for the main Italian media monitoring agency.

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© 2011 Valerio L. Meletti. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 11/08/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4670-1036-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-1037-5 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

THE NINJA

CRICKETER

SCRATCHED

APPENDIX

THE MARCABRU

CHRONICLES

THE NINJA

CRICKETER

A play by

Valerio L. Meletti

Milan, July 2011

I’ve written The Ninja Cricketer while nursing my mother during her last few weeks of life (January-February 2011): I remember that she was quite happy I was writing it. This is how it worked: every now and then she fell asleep, so I could add a few lines using my iPad. Then she woke up and wanted to play with the iPad, so I handed it to her. This kept going on for a few whole afternoons.

The story is built on my own experience: I enjoyed practicing cricket in Milan with the Kingsgrove Club, a team forged around a bunch of talented and very welcoming lads from South Asia (mainly Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but also a few from India and Bangladesh), trained by legendary coach Kamal Kariyawasam.

The adventure of KID is approximately based on the real life of a Pakistani boy I met thanks to the Kingsgrove training sessions; the tale of persecution in Pakistan, unfortunately, is definitely plausible.

I know Market Deeping and, even better, Barking: they’re both locations where I did stay for a while when I was working in the british music business. One night I did actually see South Asian lads playing cricket in that small precinct in Barking, exactly as I have depicted it: ever since, it’s been like a still picture in my mind.

I also have a direct experience with Alzheimer, as my dear dad is afflicted by this damn illness and I must take care of him (it’s an honour and I’m lucky that at least I can partially repay him for all he’s done for me).

As for the rest of the play, all characters and all dialogues are totally fictional. Well, there’s probably no need to mention it, but even the Ninja Cricketer episode set on day three never took place in real life (that I possibly know).

Valerio L. Meletti

PS should this play ever reach a theatrical stage and should someone dare