DigIn - A Brief History

 Dig In

It is now used almost exclusively to urge on a batsman to refrain from any type of risk taking. To play attritionally. To eliminate all shots other than the block. Protect your wicket at all costs. To shut up shop. To grind out a long, low scoring, innings. To meticulously play as if your life depended on the survival of every ball. To protect your average.
But the DigIn reference has a rich history outside of cricket.



The Sermon on the Mount.  

The most famous of all DigIn speeches.

The sermon was a DigIn in itself. 

Jesus uses the phrase many times during the sermon:

''Blessed are those who DigIn,
     for they will inherit longevity''.

''If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them and DigIn''.

''Enter through the narrow gate and DigIn. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to Sloggin''.



Custer 

''I would be willing, yes glad, to see a battle, and DigIn, every day during my life''.

''Come on Lads you're not Diggin In''






Stonewall Jackson


''To move swiftly, DigIn, and secure all the fruits of victory, is the secret of successful war''.

Stonewall Jackson - Master Tactician

''Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible manoeuvring you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible. Above all one must be able to DigIn''.

Churchill  (A Master of the Digin)

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall DigIn on the beaches, we shall DigIn on the landing grounds, we shall DigIn in the fields and in the streets, we shall DigIn in the hills; we shall never surrender.

''Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue to DigIn that counts''.


''Never in the field of human DigIn was so much owed by so many to so few''.


''This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and DigIn''.


''I have been brought up and trained to have the utmost contempt for people who get drunk and fail to DigIn''.




Admiral Nelson 

Admiral Nelson

''England expects that every man will DigIn''.



''No captain can do very wrong if he Digs In and places his ship alongside that of the enemy''.

J.F.Kennedy 

Kennedy presided over one of histories greatest ever Digin's with his handling of the Cuban missile crisis.

Kennedy Digs In

''Those who dare, fail miserably only those that DigIn can achieve greatly''.


''A Digin has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan''.


''I'll show them Ruskies how we DigIn in the USA''.



The Life of Pi

''Get your house in order and DigIn for the battle to survive''


Let the DigIn philosophy be with you. Live long and DigIn