WATCHING Boyd Hicklin’s feature directorial debut telling about the 2001 tour of India by the Abbottsford Anglers Cricket Club, I was acutely aware of its release so close on the heels of India’s drubbing of the Australian test side at Chennai, a promotional coup if ever there was one.

“Save Your Legs” covers a broad spectrum of men’s business topics with a generous layer of humour, sprinkled with affectionate references to the weekend cricket that many play for love of the game.

Teddy (Stephen Curry) leads a team to India in the hope of meeting the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar during a three-match tour. Actor Brendan Cowell’s screenplay may take artistic licence conveying the feel of that tour, but the process is joyously undemanding.

As much as anything, “Save Your Legs” is about mateship under stress, not of battle where life is at risk but of competition in which ego and self esteem are under attack no less from team mates than from the other team. And, it is necessary to relate, from the Delhi belly that besets Teddy.

The film offers travelogue passages conveying a refreshing feeling of India off the beaten tourism pathways. It observes the cultural and social foibles of both countries through fond but fair eyes especially in depicting Indian hubris for cricket prowess and the ockerism that seems to overwhelm Aussies travelling in single-purpose groups among people of other nations.

Being a cricket tragic is not a prerequisite for enjoying “Save Your Legs”.

At Palace, Hoyts, Dendy and Limelight