tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11119547082863926712024-03-17T20:41:08.380+13:00My Life in Cricket Scorecards@kentccc1968
Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-77621279023480032242024-02-05T16:25:00.001+13:002024-02-05T16:26:20.557+13:00Skullduggery at the Basin as the North Koreans return<div class="aeH" id=":4"><div class="G-atb D E"></div></div><table cellpadding="0" class="cf gJ"><tbody><tr class="acZ xD"><td colspan="3"><table cellpadding="0" class="cf adz"><tbody><tr><td class="ady"><div aria-haspopup="true" aria-label="Show details" class="ajy" data-tooltip="Show details" id=":1y2" role="button" tabindex="0"><img alt="" class="ajz" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" /></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div id=":1yf"><div class="qQVYZb"></div><div class="utdU2e"></div><div class="lQs8Hd"></div><div class="wl4W9b"></div></div><div class=""><div class="aHl"></div><div id=":1y3" tabindex="-1"></div><div class="ii gt" id=":1yd"><div class="a3s aiL " id=":1ye"><div dir="ltr"><div class="adM">
</div><p dir="ltr" id="m_6323818010822419683gmail-docs-internal-guid-7415fc59-7fff-d3e8-db44-3843f3b6cbfb" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wellington v Central Districts, Basin Reserve, 50 overs, 2 February 2024</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://scoring.nzc.nz/%23ma72031ee-e877-4d1f-acbc-7d4094bd7058&source=gmail&ust=1707189352093000&usg=AOvVaw16UjXayiIq4k3RKbLaiTt8" href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#ma72031ee-e877-4d1f-acbc-7d4094bd7058" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scorecard</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We knew that it would rain. The forecast wes decisive. Yet still we turned up at the Basin. Rain is to cricket people what death is to everybody else. We know that it is inevitable, but we carry on as if it wasn’t there. This game at the Basin showed why we behave in this curious way.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The match was abandoned, as we always expected it to be, with the points shared. But we saw some fine batting and bowling, some terrible batting and bowling, collapse, recovery, and (possibly) skullduggery. A brilliant day.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wellington won the toss and chose to bat, defying the convention that when Duckworth, Lewis and Stern are about you bat last so that they show you their working as you go. Central demonstrated later why that is a good plan. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nor did the top and middle order justify the decision. When the rain first came, after 20 overs, Wellington were 76 for six. There was some good bowling, notably from Basin Reserve anti-hero Blair Tickner who nagged away on an off stump line and conceded only eight from his first four overs. Central skipper Dane Cleaver (cousin of Kane Williamson) maintained attacking fields, thinking that rolling Wellington cheaply would be the best chance of beating the weather. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the first round of matches in the resumed 50-over competition following T20s that started just before Christmas, but the home batters seemed unaware of the change of format, apparently competing in recklessness. There was Severin’s hoick to deep mid-wicket, Kelly’s shovel to deep third, McLachlan’s first-ball waft outside off and Smith’s catching-practice glide to slip (all of which can be viewed via the scorecard link, above).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rain came first after 20 overs, causing an interruption of 70 minutes. As they resumed one of the Basin regulars asked which of us would take 130 as Wellington’s total. I was inclined to accept. Resuming for Wellington were Muhammad Abbas and Logan van Beek. Here, readers need to be aware of a backstory. A week before, Wellington played Canterbury in the elimination final of the T20 competition. With an over to go, Canterbury required 21 for victory. Van Beek was the bowler. He has been Wellington’s death bowler of choice, but the memory of his being hit for 33 off an over at the end of the match against Central a week earlier fluttered at the back of my mind. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first two balls both went for a single, so with 19 wanted off four, Wellington’s place in the final seemed booked. The trouble was that van Beek relied completely on yorkers, but could not quite land them, so it was all low full tosses, two of which Matt Henry hit for six, and as in that disastrous over at the Basin, there were a couple of wides. With just a single from the penultimate ball it was Zac Foulkes who faced the last, needing three to win. Another full toss was sent to mingle with the trees, and Wellington were out. So if redemption was available, van Beek wanted a share. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the T20s, 20-year-old Muhammad Abbas has made a name as a strokeplayer. Here he showed that judgment and the ability to bespeak his game to the occasion is part of his package. Van Beek matched him in restraint; no boundaries were hit, or attempted, in the first seven overs after the resumption. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gradually, they increased the pace. In the 30th over Abbas twice straight drove Small to the boundary. In the 41st, Abbas went down the pitch to hit slow left-armer Lennox for six over long on. Van Beek did the same from the last ball of the over, and hit seven more sixes in the remaining six overs. The Central bowlers, so disciplined and accurate earlier, now became the opposite. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abbas was out for 65 from 77 balls. His seventh-wicket partnership with van Beek was worth 159, beating the previous Wellington record of 130 by Bell and Mather against Northern at Blake Park, Mt Maunganui. I was there for that one, on New Year’s Day in my first summer in New Zealand. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Van Beek was out in the final over, for 136 from 99 balls including 11 fours and eight sixes. It was the second-highest score ever made by a No 8 in List A cricket worldwide, beaten only by an innings in the domestic competition in Bangladesh. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DLS got to work on Wellington’s 281 for eight, and reduced it to a target of 274. Usually an interruption to the innings of the team batting first results in an increased target, but the loss of so many early wickets meant that the algorithm determined that to have fewer overs in which to preserve scarce resources was an advantage. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was clear from the start of the Central reply that there was no chance of the innings lasting its course. It is essential in these circumstances that the players have accurate information about DLS targets; it is with regret, therefore, that I inform you that the North Koreans are once more in control of the Basin Reserve scoreboard. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Long-time readers will recall that for some years the amount of fake news purveyed by the board led me to believe that Kim Jung Un and his mates were using it to undermine the moral fibre of the western world. It has improved more recently, but now they are back.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do we ask of a board? The basics are the team score; who the batters are and what they have; and who is bowling. Only the first is consistently available at the Basin this season. Batters’ scores flash on for six seconds before disappearing; the bowler’s name does the same, except during the second half of the T20 innings when it was not shown at all. A miscellany of other information is there instead, including what had happened earlier in the over, a comparison of progress in each innings (always a useless statistic), even how many balls were left after one over of the 47 had been bowled, and the weather in Pyongyang, all instead of what we actually wanted to know (I made the last one up, but the rest were there). At one point, the number of wickets lost was shown in three places, but the batters’ names nowhere. People who knew anything at all about cricket would not commit these atrocities of misinformation, so the North Koreans it must be.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the circumstances the DLS target, updated every ball, would also have been useful, but this was left to the hand-operated board, and was changed only at the end of each over. With the rain getting ever closer, the Central openers, Boyle and Heaphy, made good use of this information, and made sure that they were ahead as they approached the 20 overs that are the minimum needed to allow a win by one side or the other. This is when the trouble started. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rain was timing its approach as precisely as the Central batters. As the 20th over began we were in the transition from damp to wet. Nathan Smith was bowling from the southern end, into the northerly (I had not mentioned that a gale was blowing at the Basin as regular readers will assume that). Three runs came off the first three balls. The umpires were starting to look at the sky, each other, and the sky again, but were prepared to stay long enough for the bowler to run in three times more to give us a match. The first of these was a legside wide. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith ran in for the second time, only to pull out as he reached the umpire, protesting at the gale, the King Lear of the South. At the next attempt he managed to let go of the ball, landing it mid-pitch, then watched it bounce high and wide to the boundary for five wides. This was enough for the umpires, who called a halt, rightly given the strength of the rain. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Words were exchanged between the teams, with Smith protesting that (and I remove a couple of adverbs here) the wides were not deliberate, and that the last one slipped. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://scoring.nzc.nz/?tab%3Dm_bbb%26video%3Dv2_020_05%23ma72031ee-e877-4d1f-acbc-7d4094bd7058&source=gmail&ust=1707189352093000&usg=AOvVaw1nj12kW-3DHtCvgfBBwZuI" href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/?tab=m_bbb&video=v2_020_05#ma72031ee-e877-4d1f-acbc-7d4094bd7058" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here it is; decide for yourselves</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Had the incident become more widely known, the keyboard protectors of the Spirit of Cricket would, no doubt, have had little sleep over the last few days. Up in the RA Vance Stand we thought it rather clever. Had a Central bowler done the same we would doubtless have been outraged, but so it is with most of these tests of the game’s tenuous morality. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a good day at the cricket.</span></p><div class="yj6qo"></div><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="nH bkK"><div class="nH"><div class="nH ar4 z"><div class="aeI"><div class="AO"><div class="Tm aeJ" id=":3" style="height: 603px;"><div class="aeF" id=":1" style="min-height: 413px;"><div class="nH"><div class="nH" role="main"><div class="nH g id"><div class="nH a98 iY"><div class="nH"><div class="aHU hx"><div role="list"><div aria-expanded="true" class="h7 ie" role="listitem" tabindex="-1"><div class="Bk"><div class="G3 G2"><div><div id=":1yg"><div class="gA gt acV"><div class="gB xu"><div class="ip iq"><div id=":1yc"><table class="cf wS" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="amr"></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-10641108126653709492024-01-31T15:45:00.000+13:002024-01-31T15:45:32.982+13:00The Cricketer. December 1973 and January 1974<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5qQgK4fnI17Fkk9a4HkfV9vj7hdXGz78IKqo7erjfcAMEH5DW5nPBlM-55Lx2KM1QrKNqfc4z-Pgi15fKFHd0G2SfYtUbb_C13H5Y1I_0V5RNENrCR0uT6qyZW_eLhkPaoVvMcOHOrKQi1GpCCIeuclzx8WRYWNRTBB4eaZ8u1pNEOTuOy1wqUXU53fH/s2521/20240131_150146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1836" data-original-width="2521" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5qQgK4fnI17Fkk9a4HkfV9vj7hdXGz78IKqo7erjfcAMEH5DW5nPBlM-55Lx2KM1QrKNqfc4z-Pgi15fKFHd0G2SfYtUbb_C13H5Y1I_0V5RNENrCR0uT6qyZW_eLhkPaoVvMcOHOrKQi1GpCCIeuclzx8WRYWNRTBB4eaZ8u1pNEOTuOy1wqUXU53fH/w505-h368/20240131_150146.jpg" width="505" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These days there is cricket everywhere you look. A few days ago here in New Zealand we could watch great finishes to simultaneous test matches overlapping with the finals of the domestic T20s (we are spared coverage of the franchise competitions in South Africa and UAE). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was not always thus. The Cricketer for December 1973 has virtually no cricket on which to report. The only account of a match is Alan Gibson’s on the final of the inter-diocesan Church Times Cup (triumph for the Gloucester diocese), though John Edrich files from South Africa on the tour of DH Robins’s [sic] XI of which he was a member. This report is notable for the absence of the word “apartheid”, a triumph of omission as striking as Basil Fawlty’s failure to mention the war, or the sabbatical taken by “sandpaper” during the recent canonisation of David Warner as he ended his test career, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The magazine struggles to fill its 32 pages, and the grainy photo of Keith Fletcher is well below the usual standard for covers. The contents page contains promise, but this rarely translates into anything memorable. I was naturally interested in Colin Cowdrey’s piece on Kent’s season, with wins in the 40 and 55-over competitions, but it was no more than an efficient summary that arranged the obvious into a cogent order. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Much the same applies to Gordon Ross’s look at 11 seasons of the Gillette Cup, in which the first person singular shoulders far too much of the burden. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a note from Australia on the waiting lists for membership at the MCG and the SCG, respectively 55,000 and 15,000 at that time. Those numbers have increased in the intervening half century; more than 200,000 now await their MCG member’s pass. A friend of mine had an application form for Melbourne Cricket Club membership filled in on his behalf as an infant, as so many Victorians do. Years passed. When he was 18 his mother rang him, distraught. She had found the application form</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, unposted,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in a draw. This is the saddest story I know. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is poignancy aplenty in this edition. Jack Iverson’s death would feature in David Frith’s </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2020/07/iverson-gimblett-haigh-and-foot.html&source=gmail&ust=1706753605044000&usg=AOvVaw01D7QUm1-i7nQ0Smtdh1sc" href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2020/07/iverson-gimblett-haigh-and-foot.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chronicling of cricketing suicides</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but Frith does not mention cause in his obituary of the ultimate mystery spinner here. Sir Leonard Hutton contributes a coda in which he does not overwhelm Iverson with praise. The key, according to Hutton, was to play Iverson as an off spinner. He says that “most of our batsmen found themselves over-positioned to cope with this type of bowling” so does not appear to have shared this insight with teammates. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Frith interviews Colin Milburn, who had returned to county cricket in 1973, four years after the car crash that cost him an eye. The tone is optimistic, but there are enough portents that there would be no happy endings to the story of Milburn’s cricket, or his life. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in the Northamptonshire middle order, there were a series of 30s and 40s, but not until the final game of the season did Milburn pass 50 for the first time, scraping an average of 20, which was double what he managed in 1974. He told Frith that batting at No 6 made things difficult and that he did better when opening because the shiny new ball was easier to see. In Perth when interviewed, Milburn hoped that the bright Western Australian light would have the same benefit and had hopes of playing in the Sheffield Shield, a fanciful notion even in a place where he was as much a hero as he was in Northampton.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Milburn was part of the BBC TV commentary team in 1969, when he must have still been in some sort of trauma following the accident, but was not asked back (though he was an occasional summariser on BBC Radio in the late 80s). At the time of the interview he was recently engaged, but that came to nothing. The considerable sum for 1973 of £19,000 from his testimonial was in trust: “on his own admission it would have been ‘chaotic’ to have given him the lump sum”, another sign of future troubles. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1988, when I worked occasionally for Cricketcall (I had turned down the Gloucestershire contract, but that’s another story) one of my colleagues had recently worked with Milburn and reported that he gave the impression of having slept rough. He died in a pub car park in 1990, having inspired a love of cricket in so many so saw him play.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The January edition has tributes to Howard Marshall from EW Swanton and Alan Gibson, following a three-paragraph obituary in December. As Gibson says, had Marshall died in 1938 “there would have been a headline about him on the main page of every newspaper”. Marshall was then one of the BBC’s best-known voices, and was the leading commentator on cricket, rugby and ceremonial occasions. He was the first to give extended ball-by-ball commentary, famously on Verity’s match at Lord’s in 1934. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marshall devised the grammar of cricket commentary, and did the same for radio news reporting as the head of the BBC’s war reporting unit. He reported from the Normandy beaches on D-Day. But after the Victory Tests of 1945, and the occasional ceremonial commentary, he gave up broadcasting in favour of a career in commerce. He might have continued for another 25 years. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Howard Marshall deserves a biography; he is important enough as a broadcaster and led an interesting private life. He left his first wife for the film critic Nerina Shute, who later deserted him with their French maid. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The January edition is richer in content than its predecessor, and includes a couple of interesting investigations into cricket history. Gerald Brodribb, whose niche was the evolution of six hitting, questions the veracity of what the <i>Guinness Book of Records</i> and <i>Wisden</i> long accepted as the longest hit with a cricket bat, Walter Fellows’ 175-yard smite during practice at the Christ Church Ground in Oxford in 1856. Brodribb looks for evidence that the hit was measured properly and verified, and finds none.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Frith’s ability to find sad stories in cricket’s past is further illustrated. Here, his subject is Billy Bates of Yorkshire and England. Bates toured Australia with great success. At Melbourne in January 1883 he made 55 at No 9, then took seven wickets in each innings as Australia followed on, taking the first English test hat-trick in the process. His name appears on the Ashes urn, presented to the England captain, Hon Ivo Bligh, after on the tour. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bates’ first four tours of Australia were all successful. It was on the fifth that his life went suddenly wrong. He was hit in the eye in the nets, an injury that ended his career at the top level. There are parallels with Milburn here. The rest of Bates’ life was a struggle. He died at 44. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On <i>Scorecards</i>, we have often talked about the Rest of the World series in England and Australia in this era. The January edition reminds us of a third, consisting of two matches in Pakistan to raise funds after devastating flooding. The World XI was a mix of English and West Indian players, topped up by a couple of locals. The Caribbean contingent were mostly world-class, or something near it, but has an unexpected opening partnership of Mike Brearley and Harry Pilling. Keeping was Keith Goodwin, then Farokh Engineer’s deputy at Lancashire. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were centuries for Brearley, Kallicharran, and Asif Iqbal, and two for Zaheer Abbas, as well as attractive innings from Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai and Colin Cowdrey, though the fact that Cowdrey’s rarely seen leg breaks nabbed two victims suggests that the level of competitiveness waxed and waned. Pakistan won both games.</span></p><div class="yj6qo"></div><br /><p></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-87067530359170637352024-01-21T10:26:00.002+13:002024-01-21T10:26:55.969+13:00Early Adventures in the New Zealand T20<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><a name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Circumstances have proscribed my cricket watching quite severely so far
this season. I missed the first two Plunket Shield matches at the Basin for the
best of reasons: we were in Canada with our new grandson (it was also a much
better timezone for watching the World Cup). My sporting spectating was
restricted to an NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres, a
cacophonous experience that was the precise opposite of first-class cricket at
the Basin Reserve.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Between Christmas and
the New Year I had scheduled two days at the most beautiful ground I know,
Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, but Covid caught up with me and my wife at last,
so my cricket watching in the 2023/24 season thus far has consisted of three domestic
T20 double-headers at the Basin Reserve. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The first of these,
just before Christmas, saw comfortable wins by both the men and women over
Otago. The highlight of the day was 139 by 21-year-old Wellington opener Tim
Robinson, the second highest score in New Zealand T20. Robinson has shown
flashes of great promise, but this was the first time it all came together. For
strokemaking, it evoked Martin Guptill at his best. Like Guptill in his World
Cup quarter-final double hundred, Robinson was dropped before he had scored,
but did not let it worry him. With Rachin Ravindra and Mohammad Abbas, Robinson
comprises a batting trio that could produce sackloads of runs for Wellington
and New Zealand over the next 15 years (and for franchise teams too numerous to
mention, I suppose). </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">On Saturday 13
January, Wellington’s double-header opponents were Central Districts. It was a
day that produced more excitement, statistical landmarks and memories than you
might reasonably expect in a season, or two—</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The
second-best bowling performance in New Zealand women’s T20 cricket<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">A
spectacular opposition collapse, which is always fun<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">A
tie<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The
best catch I have ever seen<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The
most expensive over I have ever seen.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/?tab=m_scorecard#c93206923-beb6-4b95-b7c7-e1b6fe8368cd_m082b4c44-0801-4c3b-a7e6-d9e4e83e1658"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Wellington
Blaze v Central Hinds</span></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Despite their
dominance of the competition, the Blaze have sometimes fallen short when
batting first, usually to be rescued by the bowlers in general and Melie Kerr
in particular. Against Central Districts, 82 for two from 15 overs turned into
109 for seven off 20. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Central were cruising
at 89 for three with five overs left. Perhaps it was disbelief at being on the
brink of overturning the mighty Blaze, or maybe it was simply the sheer quality
of Melie Kerr, but they collapsed as if Liz Truss was suddenly in charge: six
wickets for nine runs. It might be added that a couple of the decisions looked
dubious on the replay (there is no right of referral in domestic games, though
umpires can check some things, as they did later with the catch of the
century).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Kerr took five for
13. It would have been the best ever performance in women’s domestic T20
cricket, had it not been for her five for ten against Canterbury the previous
week. She is the leading wicket taker in the competition this season, and, with
four fifties, the second best runscorer after Suzie Bates. It could be that the
Blaze are over-reliant on her; here she was out for 26. They miss Maddy Green,
who has returned to Auckland, and Sophie Devine, who is not playing in this
tournament.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The ninth wicket fell
from the first ball of the 19th over, bowled by Xara Jetly, who celebrated with
a double cartwheel. Twelve were needed from 11 balls. In came No 11 Claudia
Green, none of whose previous 23 innings in this format had resulted in a double-figure
score. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">From the first ball
she faced, Green was almost caught at backward point, and almost run out as she
hurtled half way down the pitch and back again. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">At which point Green
discovered her inner Wallter Hammond. She danced down the pitch to Jetly’s next
delivery, turning it into a half volley and driving it to the cover boundary.
Down she came to the next ball, driving sweetly to long on for a single. From
the non-striker’s end Green—the same Green who had reacted to the first ball of
the over in the manner of Lance Corporal Jones—now called her partner for a
sharp single when the keeper fumbled a legside wide as if there was ice in her
veins. The transformation in the space of a minute from a player who couldn’t
get away from the strike fast enough to one who demanded it was astonishing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Down the pitch she
danced again, hitting a full toss to the straight boundary to level the scores.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The normal rules that
control the cricketing universe, having popped out for a moment, now returned
and hurried to wipe up the mess. Green charged again, but this time was bowled
and the game was tied. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">There was no super
over. We don’t like them because of…you know.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/?tab=m_scorecard#m3b144318-9331-42ff-8531-b13819b4504a"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">Wellington
Firebirds v Central Stags</span></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">What is the best
catch you have ever seen? If pressed, I have always gone for Alan Ealham to
dismiss Nirmal Nanan of Nottinghamshire in the Sunday League at Canterbury in
1973. <i>The Times</i> thought it worth the headline on its summary of the
day’s games: <i>Ealham’s catch keeps Kent at the top</i>:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Nanan fell to a wonderful catch by
Ealham, who ran nearly 20 yards round the long-on boundary to dive and take the
ball low down, tumbling over and over.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Ealham was stationed
near the lime tree and ran towards the sightscreen at the Nackington Road End.
I’ll bet that he was also responsible for at least one of the run outs on the
Nottinghamshire card that day. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">More recent
contenders took their catches at the Basin Reserve, which is not surprising,
given that is where I have watched the great majority of my cricket for the
past 20 years, an era in which fielding standards have reached new heights.
There was Kane Williamson’s three grasps to dismiss Angelo Mathews in 2015 that
became ESPN’s worldwide play of the day. Trent Boult’s gymnastic removals of
Ramdin and Rahane in 2014 and 2015. Also Logan van Beek’s successive pieces of
invisible tightrope walking to defy the boundary rope in the 2020 T20 final.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Against Central
Districts, Troy Johnson pulled off a catch that was better than any of them,
the best I have seen. I was in the RA Vance Stand, right above where the catch
was taken, a perfect view. In </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnetEDmupzE"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">the video</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> you see the
full-length dive to take the ball coming down over the shoulder and the
contortion necessary to avoid the rope, during which the ball was successfully
delivered to Nick Kelly (who is therefore credited with the catch). What you
don’t see is where Johnson started from—a few metres inside the circle—how much
ground he had to make to reach the ball, and the fast pace at which he was
moving towards the boundary rope. From the stand, there appeared to be no
chance that he would get there until he did. Neither does it show how strong
the wind was, more than enough to introduce an element of randomness into the
flight of the ball as it fell. It was magnificent.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">When Logan van Beek
came on for the 17th over, Central Districts required 33 with six wickets left
to pass Wellington’s below par 147 for eight. They were ahead, but it was still
a contest.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">No 18th over was
needed. All 33 came off van Beek. I am pretty sure that I have not seen as many
runs off one over before, the benchmark being 31 from Graham McKenzie’s
disastrous </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2021/08/mckenzies-over-of-agony-at-folkestone.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">14-ball
over</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> in the Sunday League in 1971.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Van Beek’s was a mere
eight deliveries, starting with a legside wide that went through to the
boundary. The first legal delivery was a single to deep square leg, followed by
another to deep mid-wicket. Continuing the short-ball strategy, van Beek got a
next one wrong and it was called as a high wide. So far there had been eight
from the over, with four to bowl.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The next was a
slower, fuller ball that Doug Bracewell sent bouncing off the toilet block into
the traffic around the Basin. In the time it took to bring out a replacement
ball the umpires agreed that Wellington had had too many fielders outside the
circle, and called no ball. Bracewell duly dispatched the free hit over the
sightscreen. Another wait for a ball. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The remaining 12
required were an administrative detail that Bracewell addressed efficiently
with two legside sixes. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">This was the same
Logan van Beek who had hit 30 off Jason Holder in a World Cup qualifier super
over a few months ago. As far as I can tell, van Beek is the first to score,
and be hit for, 30 or more in an over across first-class, List A and the T20
equivalent. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">All this was
available free-to-air on TVNZ. New Zealand Cricket finds itself in the enviable
position of having pay TV revenue and free-to-air exposure. In 2020 Spark (New
Zealand’s leading telecommunications company) bought the rights to cricket in
New Zealand for six years. However, the company was unable to obtain sufficient
rights across sports, particularly for winter codes, to make its streaming
sports service profitable, and pulled the plug in mid June 2023. Its cricket
rights were divested to its free-to-air partner TVNZ, though Spark continues to
pick up most of the tab. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">There is a black
lining to this silver cloud. TVNZ could never hope to make a serious bid when
the cricket next becomes available, which will leave New Zealand’s Sky TV as
the sole bidder, unless there is an unexpected development in our small market.
Sky has used this position ruthlessly of late; its recent bid for renewal of
the rights to netball (a significant sport in the pay TV market here) was for
about half the amount it paid for the current contract. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">My third day at the
cricket had more disappointment for the men, who collapsed to 27 for six before
partially recovering to 102 all out, a total that gave no trouble to
bottom-of-the-table Northern Districts. The successive defeats cost Wellington
automatic qualification to the final and the hosting rights that go with
it. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">A seamless unbeaten
73 from Melie Kerr took the women to an easy win. They win the group and go
through to the final, which will be played at Eden Park, Auckland, home of the
men’s group winners.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p><br /></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-61316191884781549402023-12-03T14:42:00.000+13:002023-12-03T14:42:31.147+13:00The Cricketer, November 1973<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbkpKOxKcaMw0eFFG4884MGXTGTFPWu4f5GSfKjl-8vkQRimTjJpN5UGeTHnrRe-mpLbV_rZIBqmtd88XLlUFUtgxn5w-HW6XZKBf9KmAcMcZE_mZgvgvHVKse3lU7gEQZ63XrCamR5JDSWZTjUfDCHlaOXV4ewazxwvbdOefFFHIwHLQutbRCOt6T3W_/s2234/WIN_20231203_14_27_52_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2234" data-original-width="1581" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbkpKOxKcaMw0eFFG4884MGXTGTFPWu4f5GSfKjl-8vkQRimTjJpN5UGeTHnrRe-mpLbV_rZIBqmtd88XLlUFUtgxn5w-HW6XZKBf9KmAcMcZE_mZgvgvHVKse3lU7gEQZ63XrCamR5JDSWZTjUfDCHlaOXV4ewazxwvbdOefFFHIwHLQutbRCOt6T3W_/s320/WIN_20231203_14_27_52_Pro.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-a56f678a-7fff-72f1-0682-fb3e854031b3"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The cover has action shots of two young cricketers who had done well in 1973 and were both off to the Caribbean with MCC and England. For Bob Willis, his home debut in the last test of the summer was an early step on the path to 325 test wickets, the England captaincy and Headingley ‘81. For Frank Hayes, the best was already past. His century on debut at the Oval accounted for almost half his test-career runs, made in nine tests, all against the West Indies. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The November edition of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Winter Annual</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the centrepiece of which was always the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Journal of the Season</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Over the years, this was the work of, among others, John Arlott, Alan Gibson and Tony Lewis. In 1973 it was in the hands of Mike Brearley, in his second year as captain of Middlesex after returning from academia, and not yet the deity that he was to become. The rules for the Journal were its author wrote a weekly reflection on the cricketing events that were then posted to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> so as to prevent the application of hindsight.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Brearley isn’t quite in the class of those other writers as a stylist, but we go to him for insight, of which there is plenty, for example this analysis of Ray Illingworth upon his loss of the England captaincy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He is very open, a lover of argument; he will have a dispute out with anyone, face-to-face. He supports his players, but expects 100% at all times. He is a devoted captain, never losing concentration, confident in his own ways; he has done marvellously at critical moments. He respects hard work in others, having worked hard himself. He has been a symbol for many cricketers and cricket followers in a still class-infected game.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Brearley, along with Peter Walker and Jack Bannister, had negotiated the first disbursement of TV rights money to the Professional Cricketers Association, all of £3,500 per annum for four years. More significantly, they persuaded the TCCB (the predecessor of the ECB) to initiate a non-contributory pension scheme for county cricketers. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They were not afraid to deploy the confrontational approach to industrial relations typical of the seventies. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">,,,it was also decided, after a ballot of all members, that if we did not reach agreement we should take action to prevent televised cricket from being as attractive to the public as it normally is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In this light, we must reassess the career of Geoffrey Boycott. We have clearly been wrong to see him as self-serving accumulator, grimly placing his own average above the interests of team or paying public. In truth, this son of the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire was waging class war with the willow, making the bourgeoisie regret their colour TVs. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Boycott is the recurring theme of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Winter Annual</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Alan Gibson writes, in his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cricketers of the Year</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> piece:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I cannot help wondering whether Boycott will ever make a good captain. He does not seem able to capture and control the inner man.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BI Gunatunga, on the letters page, disagrees, and thinks that Boycott, not Denness, should lead MCC to the Caribbean. Like many another fan of the Fitzwilliam’s finest, he does not go in for shades of grey in his assessment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I consider Boycott to be a much-misunderstood cricketer mainly because he appears to be so different from other players. He is an immensely gifted cricketer, whose constant striving after perfection bespeaks a character well-suited to leadership. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Geoffrey Boycott is the brightest star in the cricket firmament. Is it not, to say the least, a short-sighted act to deny the honour of leading England to a man whose present role in the England team has a classical parallel in that of Aenas in the destiny of Rome?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr Gunatunga wrote from Sri Lanka so may not have had his opinion tempered by the experience of watching Boycott bat too often. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Boycott also turns up in Irving Rosenwater’s survey of 1973’s statistical oddities. During the second test against West Indies, he retired hurt from separate injuries from two successive balls, which Rosenwater thought to be unique. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Back to Gibson, who was summoned for a nightcap with EW Swanton during the Headingley test.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This turned out to be a delightful occasion, though abstemious and informal. I am pleased to report that his theological position is still sound.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gibson’s selections as Cricketers of the Year include a British Rail employee. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…on a crowded train between Bristol and London, I was pleased, but surprised to find myself adopted by one of the buffet car attendants, who plied me with food and drink throughout the journey, when I never stirred a step from my seat. When I thanked him afterwards, he said, ‘Always a pleasure for you, Mr Arlott’.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is an interview with Bishan Bedi, poignant given his recent passing. The tributes presented him as a man of firm views and strong principles, characteristics on full display here. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cricket should be an exciting game with batsmen playing their shots and bowlers trying to get them out. In England, however, too many captains want to keep the game tight. They keep the fielders back to save singles when they should have them up for catches. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bedi would have approved of Bazball.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On Sundays we see bowlers like John Snow bowling without a slip. This is ridiculous. Even I must have a slip. Sunday cricket is rubbish in my view. It is not real cricket. People come to watch it because it is Sunday and they have nothing else to do. It is not attacking cricket at all, but defensive cricket. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No fines then for criticising the product (as he would never have called it). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">David Foot writes about Gloucestershire, focusing not on their Gillette Cup final win against Sussex, but on their Championship game against Glamorgan, a week later. I often finished the season at the County Ground in Bristol, and recognise it from Foot’s description.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was the last afternoon of the season at Bristol, a ground which had been likened to a mausoleum a little too often for comfort, and more recently to the sands at Weston (by Somerset’s captain Brian Close). You don’t expect stirring sport on the final day. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The home team were chasing a target of 267, but when the ninth wicket fell at 210 it seemed that the season’s end was only a few balls away. No 10 John Mortimore was capable enough, but he was now joined by Jack Davey, perhaps the only genuine challenger to Kent’s Norman Graham for the title of worst No 11 in county cricket. Davey’s 13 innings thus far in 1973 had produced 29 runs. Yet he had become something of a cult figure for the locals, particularly in the Jessop Tavern. Alan Gibson would leave the press box to shout “put them to the sword Jack” when Davey approached the crease. How fortunate that Foot was there to immortalise his heroics that day. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The first one he received was right on a length, doing a bit off the seam. He stretched forward and pushed the ball back. The classic defensive forward stroke. Feet and bat positioned exquisitely, elbow up for the gods to see. The MCC coaches could have been inspired to poetry on the spot.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Davey equalled his career best of 17 in a partnership of 57 with Mortimore to take Gloucestershire to victory, and they “returned to an ovation as genuine as anything in the Gillette final”. The win moved Gloucestershire up two places to fifth in the table, but short of the prize of £500 for fourth place. It meant nothing, yet it meant everything and if any of the few that bothered to make their way to the cricket on a dank autumn day are still above ground, they will treasure the memory yet. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The summarised scores of the Indian Schoolboys tour is replete with names that were to become familiar in the decade to come: Briers, Gatting, Hignell, Parker, Slocombe, DM Smith and the great CJ Tavarḗ,What a treat it would have been to be at Bristol to see 150 by VJ Marks. A King’s School batter name of Gower made 50 against visitors from South Africa.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Geoffrey Howard who was about to retire after a quarter of a century of first Lancashire, then Surrey, provides an informed summary of the changes that he had seen and, in some cases, instigated. More than that, he looks forward with some prescience, foreseeing—</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">a sponsored, 16-match County Championship of two divisions (though he doesn’t approve of the latter; for some years he put together the fixture lists and says that this would become “a nightmare”)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">ODIs with every tour</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">world cups in England</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">neutral umpires.</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scyld Berry writes about lob bowling. I don’t recall seeing Berry’s name in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> before this, so it may have been the start of one of cricket journalism’s most distinguished careers. He gives us an entertaining history of the art of lobbing, which he suggests has some science to it, with greater variety than overarm can offer. After running through the options for seam, swing and spin, Berry lists more exotic alternatives. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then there is the second-bounce yorker, and of course the daisy cutter; the full toss straight to the shoulder…and as a first-ball speciality the harmless low full-toss to the off-stump that is tentatively driven to extra-cover.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">GH Simpson-Hayward of Worcestershire took 23 wickets with lobs against South Africa in 1909-10.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With his low trajectory and ample turn off the matting he could not be “lofted” with safety or even driven along the ground with confidence; pushes and pokes were the best means of resistance. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Did not Brearley once turn to lobs on the last afternoon of a county game? I suppose that Trevor Chappell might be regarded as the last international lob bowler if the daisy cutter is in the lobber’s armoury. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What I miss about the seventies is how easy it was to infuriate those who deserved to be infuriated. Here is JF Priestly of Kent on the letters page.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was appalled at the general turn-out of the two teams in the Varsity match at Lord’s. Only one Cambridge player was wearing his coveted light blue cap when fielding…one player had an unruly beard, long hair generally was the vogue, some of the players had not even bothered to clean their boots, flannels were different shades, and the only good thing to say about them was their good bowling and most excellent fielding.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No doubt when Mr Priestly went to the cinema he judged the film by the straightness of the ice cream seller’s tie. </span></p><br /></span></div>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-50431205518188340652023-10-22T10:12:00.000+13:002023-10-22T10:12:24.913+13:00 The Cricketer, September and October 1973<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">September’s edition includes accounts of two games at which I was present. The first was the 55-over final between Kent and Worcestershire. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b10ea74d-7fff-0ec7-9e4c-2d92705e69dc"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have </span><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-lords-finals-1973-1976-and-little.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">written about this game </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">before, and recommend the</span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UvCqYWoIdc&t=1711s" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">YouTube highlights</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, in which the players glisten like ghosts in their pristine white. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I enjoyed watching Leicestershire’s win in the recent 50-over final. Harry Swindells’ century was as good a backs-to-the-wall innings as there has been in a one-day final for fifty years (see below), and the result was too close to call until the final ball. It is good that three provincial counties have won the competition since the final was moved to Trent Bridge, but that is partly because the Undead (as my Blean Correspondent perceptively calls it) has shorn it of its names. Fifty years ago, half of the participants were contemporary internationals, and four—Cowdrey, D’Oliveira, Knott and Underwood—were gods.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the time of the second game to be featured in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the </span><a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/gillette-cup-england-1973-416411/sussex-vs-kent-quarter-final-416432/full-scorecard" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">60-over quarter-final at Hove</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Kent had the Sunday League all but sown up, so we went to Hove expecting something in the nature of a formality, foolishly bandying about the word “treble”. I cannot agree with Gordon Ross’s assessment in his one-day round up that this was a “wonderfully happy day”. In fact, it was one of the more miserable that I have spent at a cricket ground. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These were the days before the Ms 23 and 25, so our East Kent coach took a circuitous route across the North Downs and the Weald before becoming caught up in the transportation spider’s web that was the town of Lewes in those days. Lewes is now renowned for its excessive commemoration of Guy Fawkes, but that one visit to the town made me understand that time spent there would cultivate a proclivity to arson. Busses were to be trouble all day, as it turned out. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We arrived shortly before the first ball was bowled, the only space available being an uncomfortably small area of grass with a limited view in the fifth or sixth row on the boundary at the sea end of the ground, on a sweltering day. It was from here that I watched Richard Elms open the bowling for Kent. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Elms was a left-arm bowler of sharpish pace, and was a reasonable batter, but never attained a regular place in the team, largely because his control was not reliable. He was included here because Norman Graham was ill and Bernard Julien was on tour with the West Indians. It was the biggest game of his career, but he would not recall it fondly. Elms bowled four wides in the first over of the game, at a time when one-day wides were ruled much more leniently than they are now. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The make-up of the Kent team was odd, and is inclined to generate retrospective sympathy for Elms. Now captains expect to have six or seven bowling options, and to use them (New Zealand in the current World Cup are an exception, and that worries me). But, as was the norm then, Kent used only five bowlers. Graham Johnson delivered more than 400 overs of off spin in the Championship in 1973, but Denness preferred to flog Elms even though it was obvious that his confidence was going out with the tide on Hove seafront. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ross’s report highlights John Snow’s pace, but the damage had already been done by the Sussex batters, with Roger Prideaux’s 79 leading the way. Prideaux was one of those players who could look terrific on his day, of which this was one. With a little luck he might have had a test career that stretched beyond three games. Instead, he is mostly remembered as the man who dropped out of the Oval test of 1968 to be replaced by Basil D’Oliveira, thus initiating the series of events that led to the cancellation of MCC’s tour of South Africa.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sussex’s 263 for six was more than any side had successfully chased in the Gillette Cup, which was in its eleventh season. After Tony Buss had Luckhurst caught at slip, Snow, with an irresistible combination of pace and movement, accounted for Denness and Asif Iqbal, and at 14 for three that was about it. The great fast bowler finished with figures of 7-5-8-2. I wouldn’t swear to it, but the runs may have been two edged fours, so impossible did it appear to score off him. The trundling Buss brothers took five between them, three for Tony and two for Mike.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sussex got to Lord’s, and as Gordon Ross reports in the October edition, again removed the top three quickly. But Gloucestershire were Proctershire.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">[Mike Procter’s] technique is such that he needs precious little time to find his bearings and he launched himself immediately, seizing on two short balls from Michael Buss…and thumping them good and proper for six.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He followed his 94 with two for 27 in 11 overs as Sussex fell 40 short. This was after 101 and three for 31 in the semi-final against Worcestershire. It was like having a tornado on the team.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I write this, the collar of my sports shirt is turned up, as has been my habit these fifty-plus years, in perpetual salute to Garry Sobers, who is pictured thus attired on the cover of the September edition</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Sobers played for West Indies in the three-test series on which John Woodcock reports in these editions, though he had passed the captaincy on to Rohan Kanhai. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was present for the first day of the final test. Lord’s had a quality of light all its own on sunny days late in the season, particularly when watching from the grandstand side of the ground as we were that day. The lower sun combined with a bit of extra moisture to give the spectacle the air of a dream sequence, appropriately enough for West Indies, who were 335 for four by the end of the day, “as large a score from the opening day of a Test match in England as there can have been for some long time” according to John Woodcock.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is from his report in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Times</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Strangely, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">gave him only six paragraphs to sum up this excellent game, half the space allocated to each of the two ODIs that followed the tests, not enough to mention Rohan Kanhai’s 157, one of the finest test innings that I have seen in person. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By this time, Kanhai had the statesman’s grey hair but still batted like matinee idol. There was plenty of stylish, aggressive support from his Guyanese colleagues Roy Fredericks (51) and Clive Lloyd (63), and at the end of the day from Sobers, who was 31 not out at the close. The great man went on to150 next day, notoriously having caroused through the night in the interim.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 226px; overflow: hidden; width: 258px;"><img height="226" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Qx6VnXUY2aP3KQnWqGQJ51Sar-FKdAZHBBsxckp6XQsD8Nf1IxsroWLZxDM9VHXJwKdPgBV5VoSD44sykdO3MwDKKdQjneaNHWl9H-u058LnDs0UkSAzkZ_vQx6HlTjulehLd6ZVELlDxW_qU7k9VYo" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="258" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the things I like about John Woodcock’s writing is that you can always tell when he has really enjoyed himself. He is one of us, somebody who loves being entertained by the best players, regardless of who they play for. In the above extract he conveys something of the joyous atmosphere of a West Indian test match in London. The negligence shown by the cricket authorities in squandering this reservoir of knowledge and enthusiasm is one of the worst things that has happened to English cricket in the last half century. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was a match of many landmarks, such as Bob Willis’s debut home test. Woodcock describes the first over of the game as “the fastest over I have seen this season”. This validates the enduring image that I have in my mind of that morning: Willis storming in from the Nursery End through the morning shimmer. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was the game of the Saturday bomb scare with most of the crowd on the field and HD Bird initiating his own legend by perching on the covers on </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Grandstand</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Later that afternoon Geoffrey Boycott was caught on the boundary hooking off the last ball of the day, something that many of us remember whenever he fulminates about the recklessness of modern batting. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This was the last test match to be covered by EM Wellings of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evening News</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and Chris Martin-Jenkins’ first as a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Test Match Special</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> commentator.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was also Ray Illingworth’s last test as England captain. EW Swanton sums up the selectors’ reasoning:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But when some decline in his own form, both as a batsman and bowler, coincided with the second of two shattering Test defeats it was clear that a new leader must be tried.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He reminds us that Illingworth’s selection to replace the injured Colin Cowdrey in 1969 had been a “surprise appointment”. He could have added “inspired”, given that Illingworth was to lead the Ashes-winning side in 1970/71 and hold them at home the following year.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mike Denness was appointed as his replacement, the announcement tactlessly made while Leicestershire were playing Kent at Folkestone, causing, according to Barry Dudleston of the visitors, Illingworth to exit the dressing room via a window and drainpipe to avoid the waiting press. Appointing a captain from outside the team was not unusual; both Tony Lewis and Illingworth himself had recentlybeen given the job in these circumstances. But the selectors ignored two current county captains—Boycott and Greig—to do so. It was a decision that would lead to Boycott’s boycott. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It also rekindled one of cricket writing’s great feuds. EW Swanton, in his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Off the Cuff</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> column, writes of a generally positive press reaction to Denness’s appointment:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…apart from some odious, sneering comment from a predictable quarter. I imagined that most people would at once identify Michael Parkinson, that caricature of a Yorkshireman who is guaranteed to glorify anything and anyone who comes from his own small corner of the world and to denigrate almost all else. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He goes on to say that he does not regard Parkinson as a “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">bona fide</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> cricket writer” before a big finish:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I say, this sort of piffle no longer attracts intelligent readership. But how the great Yorkshiremen, from Hirst and Verity to Leyland and Rhodes must be turning in their graves at this travesty of the true Yorkshire spirit as it has served the county and England so well and for so long.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Parkinson replied in similar vein in his </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday Times</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> column.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Robin Marlar contributes an interesting profile of Derek Underwood. Marlar sees Underwood as a seam bowler playing a spinner’s role, and attributes this down to his father laying a concrete pitch in the garden for the young Underwood to develop his skills upon. Good for seam, not for spin, apparently.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He presents this time, 1973, as a turning point in Underwood’s career. He says that a change in the lbw law, making the bowler pitch in line in all circumstances, had made things more difficult, though this had been reversed in 1972. There were other issues.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Derek Underwood has the action of a medium-pacer. It is a fine action. Rhythmic. Controlled. Plenty of body. It lends itself to accuracy. He also has stamina. He can bowl for hours. But now he knows that this is not enough. To be as great a bowler in cricketing annals and affectations as Wilfred Rhodes or Jim Laker or even Bishan Bedi he has to be able to get wickets all over the world and not primarily in England, the seamer’s paradise. What is he to do? Is he to change his action and become a spinner, pure and simple? Or is he to develop another action and operate in two distinct styles? Who will teach him to spin the ball? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this stage Underwood had taken 144 test wickets. He finished with 297, plus 16 more at 27 in World Series Cricket, which probably cost him anything up to a hundred more in his peak years. Overall, in Australia he took 50 wickets at 31, in India 54 at 26, all without making any apparent changes to his action or style. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The same pattern occurred when uncovered pitches were done away with in 1981. That will sort Underwood out, they said. In the first two seasons under the new rules he took more wickets than anyone other than Malcolm Marshall and Richard Hadlee.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The cover of the October edition has Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge at Southampton. Richards was already acknowledged as a great player. Greenidge was not yet in the West Indies team, but within a few years these two would be opening for a putative World XI. With quicker thinking, England could still have picked him when the photo was taken. Yet at the time the presence of overseas players in the county game was widely decried. It was a golden age for county cricket, though we were slow to recognise it as such. The photo is of its time. Two kids, shirts off, ignorant of skin cancer (but nobody in shorts). The older guy to the right who would have seen Phil Mead play. The younger guy with the bad haircut and shades, who thinks he’s cool though he isn’t. If the photo had been taken at Canterbury that would have been me. Hampshire were county champions in 1973. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNBkChb579-5ky0UjVjJ5IaDHZ7L4syjaejSswJMKiwyWo0kNaYUqEuo0Divmw-MYDbNq5cBD44Xxj9Q2wcDAYRk9YA6Qy8jSz6O8Zjt8keOSC5hG0l1Zmgnzt8Qgq55AwywOUq6pEzH1S3wrrYQ1weCSK-W84Yl2aPONK0-Xb2IU5xBJgdWev-XMxpFl/s2360/Richards%20and%20Greenidge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2360" data-original-width="1616" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNBkChb579-5ky0UjVjJ5IaDHZ7L4syjaejSswJMKiwyWo0kNaYUqEuo0Divmw-MYDbNq5cBD44Xxj9Q2wcDAYRk9YA6Qy8jSz6O8Zjt8keOSC5hG0l1Zmgnzt8Qgq55AwywOUq6pEzH1S3wrrYQ1weCSK-W84Yl2aPONK0-Xb2IU5xBJgdWev-XMxpFl/w357-h522/Richards%20and%20Greenidge.jpg" width="357" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><br /><br />Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-57645656812681513602023-08-12T15:48:00.001+12:002023-08-12T15:48:50.324+12:00The Cricketer, July and August 1973<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57bZi2f2C7l2t72wDGrCeISRu6aV4N_vyaY8NxkajWoVoN2SbckOKMAY9wp_ZVJF7vL0nVjrzdBZgVrMSjliNKu1adG76hKsTowrV86Sel0zNDVLFj8hOVRBFtf60jQ6W09bd6Jt0hw4CQLTtHDhyO4am-sjX9fRCYrawPa9_Me9ODTg5KHIDm1unfYuj/s2426/WIN_20230812_15_23_37_Pro%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2426" data-original-width="1709" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57bZi2f2C7l2t72wDGrCeISRu6aV4N_vyaY8NxkajWoVoN2SbckOKMAY9wp_ZVJF7vL0nVjrzdBZgVrMSjliNKu1adG76hKsTowrV86Sel0zNDVLFj8hOVRBFtf60jQ6W09bd6Jt0hw4CQLTtHDhyO4am-sjX9fRCYrawPa9_Me9ODTg5KHIDm1unfYuj/s320/WIN_20230812_15_23_37_Pro%20(2).jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9sjig1m3FGyW3ddfB5vivMH2Exd2B9vSTsUh8TJ1JtCCyQqiSxUFx5D_R6kutlJMk9xhBb_9lYUrkQ9-B7aaDujYbbkzu4nqgK60KqnrSscWT-sBQ50aLcINo9vmuflnyo3wHILE60KDlHxw9G_r67vCUXrP6UWveXhrA2pY-THJVMrggMXv3rMxnkEY/s2326/WIN_20230812_15_23_29_Pro%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2326" data-original-width="1680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9sjig1m3FGyW3ddfB5vivMH2Exd2B9vSTsUh8TJ1JtCCyQqiSxUFx5D_R6kutlJMk9xhBb_9lYUrkQ9-B7aaDujYbbkzu4nqgK60KqnrSscWT-sBQ50aLcINo9vmuflnyo3wHILE60KDlHxw9G_r67vCUXrP6UWveXhrA2pY-THJVMrggMXv3rMxnkEY/s320/WIN_20230812_15_23_29_Pro%20(2).jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The covers of <i>The Cricketer</i> at this time were often things of
some beauty. Perhaps colour printing on good-quality paper at that time
precluded too much overlay of text on image. Maybe it was the good judgement of
David Frith, from August acknowledged on the masthead as editor. He knew how to
make the most of photographs having put together several compilations of them,
sometimes with Patrick Eagar, who was responsible for both these covers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">What we have here are two character studies, framed and drawing us to
the subject without distraction. West Indies’ captain Rohan Kanhai signs an
autograph, the silver hair of the old campaigner contrasting with the greenness
and heat of the Caribbean setting (Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad, I think). A
few weeks later, Kanhai was to make one of the best hundreds I have seen, at
Lord’s in the third test.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">John Snow, perhaps a little weary, turns at the end of his run up, which
had an aesthetic appeal rivalled in the seventies only by those of Holding and
Lillee. Does this photo look as dated as one of Rhodes or Woolley would have
done to us then? The unadorned whiteness of the kit might make it so. Perhaps
the ersatz patriotism of <i>Jerusalem </i>was not necessary when the crown and
lions had the entire sweater to themselves. Rolling your sleeves up was more
than a metaphor then too. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Snow had just published a book of poetry, his second collection. It
was reviewed in the August edition by cricket’s most renowned poet, John
Arlott, whose reviews were invariably kindly, as evidenced by his annual survey
of cricket books in <i>Wisden</i>. Criticism is sugared.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The argument of these
uneven, almost haphazard pieces is that, one day, John Snow is going to
surprise many people – but not himself – with some highly perceptive writing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Arlott puts Snow’s achievement in its historical context.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">John Snow is the only
Test fast bowler to utter a book of verse. Fred Trueman has been known to
repeat some pungent rhymes but, as a composer, has always tended to a certain
monotony of adjective.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The <i>Captain’s Column</i> had been inherited from the <i>Playfair
Cricket Monthly</i>, and reverted to the original practice of featuring a
different county skipper each month. In these two editions, Tony Greig was
followed by Ray Illingworth. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">They disagreed about the structure of the Championship season. Greig
favoured 16 fixtures (there were 20 in 1973). Illingworth favoured the status
quo.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">To reduce it to 16
would be taking away the chance of eight possible innings for our batsmen and I
feel they get insufficient opportunities of playing natural cricket even today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Both saw these as three-day games, but agreed that the playing day could
be extended by an hour on each of the first two days. In Greig’s words:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">On a full first day
this should produce at least 126 overs. I believe a longer day would bring back
more spin bowling.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">That would have meant that two days’ of Championship cricket would have
seen more balls bowled than three days of tests do now. It is worth noting that
in 1973 ten of the 17 counties had at least half their games finish in
draws. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Another of David Frith’s specialities was interviewing old cricketers.
In July it was the Leicestershire all-rounder George Geary. The result is a
fascinating account of cricket between the world wars, and we learn that
players leaving the field to freshen up happened long before Dennis Lillee did
it. In the Adelaide test in 1928/29 Geary, prone to cramp, went off for a
massage. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Then an Australian
official came into the dressing room and said he would not be allowed back on
the field after treatment.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">‘I didn’t know who he
was. I offered to snap him through the bloody window. Later a taller man came
in but I wasn’t afraid. Syd Barnes used to do it. He even went off for a bath
sometimes when he felt like it!’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">In August, JM Kilburn farewelled Bramall Lane in Sheffield as a cricket
venue. A test venue once, in 1902, the ground doubled as Sheffield United’s
home (which it still is), and a stand was about to be built across the square.
Kilburn is nostalgic, presenting its golden age as being the years before and
after the First World War, but the winter game’s encroachment and the decline
in cricket-watching from the 1950s on means that he does not lament its
passing. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">When spectators could
be numbered in tens of thousands they generated a vitality of atmosphere to obliterate
the inconveniences, not to say hardships, of watching. Numbered in tens,
spectators made the cricket look forlorn and its setting grimly uninviting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Kilburn lists his own memories of the ground, as we all might of our
favourite places.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">In my Bramall Lane a
young Herbert Sutcliffe will for ever be racing in front of the pavilion rails
to hold a breathtaking catch for ER Wilson; a perspiring and grinning Maurice
Tate threatens mock strangulation for a downcast wicketkeeper who has just dropped
three catches forced by wonderful new-ball bowling; Cameron of South Africa is
bombarding the pavilion roof with mighty straight drives; Trueman and Peter May
are locked in titanic combat for an hour; Bowes is confusing Bradman; and
AB Sellars is signalling heartbreak with ‘Match Abandoned’.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">John Woodcock reported on the first two tests against New Zealand, the
first an England victory by 38 runs, the second a draw with New Zealand in the
driving seat. Both had featured 170s from Kiwi skipper Bev Congdon, supported
in both cases by centuries from Vic Pollard. At Trent Bridge the visitors
looked as if they were going to chase down an improbable target of 479. Had
they done so, it would have been a record still. At Lord’s the game finished
with England nine down and only 165 ahead. New Zealand’s first win over England
would come five years later at the Basin Reserve; five years after that they
registered the first as tourists, at Headingley. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">In the July edition, Alan Gibson reviewed <i>The Hand That Bowled
Bradman</i> by former Somerset player Bill Andrews, who for many years would
greet people with an invitation to “shake the hand that bowled Bradman”, the
boast uninhibited by the fact that the Australian was on 202 at the time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Andrews had the distinction of having been sacked four times by
Somerset, twice as a player and twice as coach. Gibson knew him well.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">There is no malice or
guile in him, though he is at times capable of a certain low cunning, of a kind
that would not deceive an infant. Despite his ups and downs he has many more
friends than foes. Indeed, anyone who told me that they did not <i>like</i>
Bill would go down in my esteem (though anyone who told me he had never been
irritated by him would go down too, for quite different reasons).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Gibson reports that at the time of writing, Andrews hoped to be
re-employed by Somerset, so that they could sack him for a fifth time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-65209327687898286492023-07-14T18:02:00.002+12:002023-07-14T18:16:08.851+12:00 Early adventures in autograph hunting<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The two Kent junior membership passes pictured both cost a guinea, or a pound and a shilling, or one pound five pence, for which the keen young cricket fan got entry and a seat in the stand at all Kent’s home games bar tourist and Gillette Cup matches, for which ground admission had to be paid. The 1966 pass was my first.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-683af96c-7fff-e497-38e3-6013b8b97526"><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 277px; overflow: hidden; width: 363px;"><img height="277" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RMxCzVQJqDqoDKNTOHNMAQVOmC7bthQbj0IlKDMWZBz-nAGQP8XIfVOy9RUk3_k60XU_leG40kYtugYC2qXul7ElEWwQKAilfJ8oCjSbOoFENwBucbiFh0eq9R3e4nY_h4hnswSioSLI-E7z6TvIYpo" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="363" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They could also be used as impromptu autograph books. Below are the back two pages of the 1966 edition. Clockwise from the left are the signatures of Colin Cowdrey, Garry Sobers, Alan Knott and David Nicholls. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 260px; overflow: hidden; width: 361px;"><img height="260" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fs4Ih7qTRB8xsHFUaEcRaCMkwVT-c2_rOIpRoGwCayb5PEzkunmCIQ0HFjD1xY7wuYzqGsegcUdcpGgc5RlzcfDN1Ead1DmtG1Dju9mkgzoCWgMfnZhNZAyU57gzTBfIKuKMZssxI-upOGCcVZLrf10" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="361" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The first two were collected on Monday 11 July, the second day of the match between Kent and the West Indians. I was there on a school day because I was recuperating from the measles, which dates me pretty effectively. It was a cautious first expedition outside home for a few hours in the afternoon. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was the match in which Sobers took his career-best figures of nine for 49, in slow left-arm mode. One of these was late on that second day, so I assume that I saw a small part of the great man’s best bowling, but I have no memory of doing so. An amnesiac reaction to Sobers will become a theme of this piece, as you will see.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The West Indian captain’s signature must have been secured after the close of play, given that he would have been on the field throughout the afternoon (there was no racing on the TV—I checked). My memory is that Cowdrey signed earlier, on the spot where the Cowdrey Stand was built two decades later. Cowdrey was England captain at that time, having replaced MJK Smith after the first test before handing over to Brian Close for the fifth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of these four names, David Nicholls is the only one that will require introduction to the general reader. Three years previously, as a nineteen-year-old, he had made a double century, a rare thing in the three-day era. But there had not been much since then, and he had become a fringe player. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I assume that Nicholls also signed earlier in the day. If it was at the close it says much for his well-known affability, as he got his second duck of the game shortly before. The following year, he found the role in which he served the county well for the next decade; that of stand-in keeper when Alan Knott was playing for England, which gave him a place in the team for half the season.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I see from the TV listings that England played Uruguay in the opening game of the World Cup that evening. It was a dull nil-nil draw that could not compare watching the West Indians play cricket.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Knott’s autograph was added a few weeks later, on August Bank Holiday Monday. It was a wet day, as public holidays invariably seemed to be when we were young. Kent were hosting Nottinghamshire at St Lawrence. An on-off, interrupted day ended just before tea, by which time most of the spectators had drifted away. My mother and I went to the back of the pavilion to collect a few autographs as we waited for my father to pick us up. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cowdrey came out. Thank you, but I had his autograph (membership card proffered as supporting evidence). Was there anyone else I was waiting for to sign? Alan Knott. Wait there.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cowdrey returned to the dressing room and a minute later a beaming Alan Knott appeared, as if there was nothing he wanted to do more than leave the warmth of the pavilion to stand in the rain signing a raggedy card. Cowdrey was a flawed individual in some ways (see the D’Oliveira affair), and he lumbered us with the ridiculous Spirit of Cricket in the laws but his kindness that day made a big impression on a seven-year-old. It presented cricket as a game with a heart, as a place of safety where you would be looked after. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 309px; overflow: hidden; width: 386px;"><img height="309" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/6grPPkpFg3Zj2e00uPNjL0P34GFJw0z6BN9X8aKBPbrap8IeI4eEXMcJszm2apPi4HJQ8wDNwC_5DzQDVEVPvBT2FzQwoTPhW0eruea89qGUPaHxMh1iuGMJ3OreAvOule9TfChxAOSamKA3xun542M" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="386" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The 1970 signatures were all secured at the Oval on the second day of the fifth and final match in the series between England and the Rest of the World, a replacement for the cancelled tour by white South Africa. In my last piece I bemoaned that the series was retrospectively stripped of test status when the cricket was of a quality rarely equalled and never surpassed in my time. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not that it was all brilliant. On the first day, 115 overs had been bowled, almost a session more than the sedentary over rates of the 21st century. But look at the score: 229 for five—a fraction under two runs scored in each of those extra overs. In </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Times</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, John Woodcock blamed the Kent captain: “What had promised to be a classical innings by Cowdrey was beset by apprehension”. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Things went a little more quickly when we were there on Friday, as they tended to when Alan Knott was making a half-century. But a slow pitch meant that, until tea, great players—Barry Richards, Eddie Barlow, Rohan Kanhai—struggled to be more than mundane. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, something special happened, as Woodcock reports:</span></p><br /><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 823px; overflow: hidden; width: 284px;"><img height="823" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1I3CqHoFpLXHsMNAH5MioUHKM8U6r-GwEG6MzUzjAGs7_MJ8bCvWdJyDaNrADVRq_D3MAmA-ph2Adx_SCEAdMpEKH5f_dzpv6VO1Axc5wmIDOSCIIUp-StDNn_k4oo5mHTizp1qUwdYsNedMtPGwSLo" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="284" /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here were the two great left-handers of the age together and at their best, since equalled, but not surpassed, only by Lara and Sangakkara. More than that, it was a partnership between two men who could not have shared the same railway carriage or used the same bathroom in the homeland of one of them. How Vorster must have choked on his breakfast biltong as he read the reports on the South African papers the following morning. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This should surely make the top ten of my personal cricket-watching list. Trouble is, I can’t remember any of it. I was certainly there, as the autographs in the member’s card testify. It must have been Friday, as that was my mother’s day off from the china-and-glass department. We would not have left before the end. I recall sitting in the Vauxhall Stand, and certain details, such as Don Wilson’s return catch to dismiss Kanhai. But nothing of two great players nearing perfection. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Though too young to provide analysis or useful insight, I have impressions of everything significant that I had watched up to that point—Cowdrey in the 67 Gillette semi-final; the whole course of the final that year; Denness’s painful debut innings against New Zealand. Much that was insignificant too, like slow-left-armer Andy Hooper’s first five overs in first-class cricket being maidens in 1966. So why not this? Maybe Kent players not being involved? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I do remember waiting at the back of the Oval pavilion to collect the autographs shown above. Garry Sobers (my annotation is badly spelt) shows consistency of signature over the years. Deryck Murray uses his initials, as befits a Cambridge man. Dennis Amiss was that year’s victim of Oval-test syndrome, where the selectors based their selection of fringe players for the winter tour just on performance in that match. In the second innings he made 35, but Fletcher scored 63, so got the place on the plane to Australia.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I intercepted EW Swanton as he left the pavilion having delivered his summary of the day’s play on Test Match Special (for those too young to have experienced Swanton’s daily address, it was like the Queen’s Christmas message, but in the summer). Given the fun I have at Swanton’s expense in the monthly cricket magazine pieces, I should report that he was charm itself, saying “happy to oblige a Kent man” with a beaming smile as he returned the card. </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-2195488128018004582023-06-18T21:30:00.002+12:002023-06-18T21:30:46.506+12:00 The Cricketer, June 1973<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Cricketer, June 1973</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-109c365c-7fff-535f-1be4-2b736c3a1c30"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 466px; overflow: hidden; width: 330px;"><img height="466" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/8lrbvi1iQ6Nx7Zb2RxPVL5ITCPZ6cdES3ZUisedHF5V1QQcflKvTFDQ3i6KBSutBaYJc1pJscF22I-mGmnCigVZC1Ij159T2vnYyE3xrIetYvDlLEhv1JuZzWczrBghDu0ALbUUvNWMZfAhi827ygWU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="330" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This month’s edition was likely in my bag when I spent three days at St Lawrence in the late-May half-term holiday for a three-day game between Kent and MCC. Matches between these sides have an interesting history. If I had a cricketing time machine, one of the first places I would head would be </span><a href="https://wisden.com/matches/scorecard/121050/kent-v-gentlemen-of-mcc-at-canterbury" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August 1876</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, to see WG Grace score 344, to this day the highest individual score made at St Lawrence. What’s more, MCC were following on, and WG had bowled 77 overs in Kent’s innings. These were probably, but not certainly, six-ball overs. Six was the norm, but could be varied by agreement of the captains. Over the three days, 398 overs were bowled, 130 or so a day not being excessive for the time.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the seventies, MCC usually only played a county in the season opener against the champions, so this fixture is a curiosity. Apparently, it came about because of concern of lack of first-class cricket early in the season. Kent fielded a full-strength side, lacking only the injured Brian Luckhurst. Led by Intikhab Alam, half MCC’s side might have been contenders for the test side given a good season. Frank Hayes scored a century on debut against West Indies a couple of months later, and Jackman, Stead, Edwards and Harris were among the better county players of the time. Younis Ahmed added some class. Bob Carter of Worcestershire was notable for an idiosyncratic running style, with arms flailing, that attracted the scorn of the younger element of the crowd. Kent topped the team up with Dave Nicholls, and Peter Topley, slow left-armer and brother of Don. Modern players would be horrified that pacemen Stead and Jackman considered 20 Championship games as insufficient opportunity to display their craft, and were keen to bowl another 33 and 39 overs respectively, and that their counties were happy for them to do so.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 399px; overflow: hidden; width: 261px;"><img height="399" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/l4tlkIy300A-3nWB6prLK-n-CM4ZLc7x6BtUxzXZqAa-cyxEGwFYbxVGhaoPCbX50ojHrGVtYEhc25Lj18N4HfsC8J8JYn9OQ5X9Pi_M6S7zuMFF79Ga-y5SlqGlGZIAO8k1vOgfPHEGsA92R9tkCLY" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="261" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The match was played seriously, but just a degree more carefree than a Championship game. I remember it most for Asif Iqbal’s 72-minute hundred on the last morning, all road-runner feet, and laser driving. Of all Kent’s talented, attractive batters, Asif was the most joyous. He was 80 the other day. Happy birthday. The finish, an eight-run win for Kent with nine balls left, was as close as I had seen. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The cover star this month is Glenn Turner, touring with the New Zealanders and on his way to a thousand runs in May, the last to do this except Graeme Hick in 1988. The exiling of the County Championship to the extremities of the season makes this one of the few old records that are more likely to be achieved these days. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">EW Swanton, now editorial director, laments the lack of young talent in the English game. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How many young men of Test potential have come onto the scene in, say, the last five years? The sombre fact is that of those who went with MCC to the East last winter…only Tony Greig and Chris Old might not equally have been representing England in 1968. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Swanton makes a good point. Of the Kent XI that played MCC, only left-arm quick Richard Elms was under 25 and qualified for England. Most counties were the same. This may have been no more than a glitch in the timeline; just three years later Botham, Gooch, Gatting and Gower had all emerged from an unchanged structure. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Swanton identifies other reasons for this dearth of precocious talent.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s impossible for anyone in regular touch with the county to be impressed by the ability of most of the official coaches. One hopes that the calibre improves as the jobs become better paid.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He regrets that counties favour the skills likely to bring success in the one-day game, but chooses an unfortunate example as illustration.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A team of [Keith] Boyces would not, however, have much chance in a five-day test match.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Within three months Boyce was leading wicket-taker and decisive performer in West Indies’ two-nil test series victory over England. The Great Pontificator’s conclusion will still resonate with county cricket’s many supporters with only minor adaptation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…the one institution suited to producing the complete and balanced England XI of the future remains the County Championship. The one-day competitions…do not produce players, they only exercise those who have been brought on by the traditional system.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tony Cozier reports on the final two tests of Australia’s visit to the Caribbean, in which Boyce and his colleagues were less successful than they were to become. The fourth test was lost by ten wickets, despite Clive Lloyd’s hometown 178. The fifth was drawn with Australia a session away from making it three-nil. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cozier will have re-used his description of the defeat in Guyana time and again over the following two decades, substituting the names of the home team and its players. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Indisciplined batting against spirited fast bowling by Hammond and Walker backed by aggressive out-cricket resulted in a comfortable Australian victory…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alan Ross reviews the 1973 <i>Wisden</i>, and reproves editor Norman Preston for including the 1970 series between England and the Rest of the World in the test records after the ICC had declared otherwise. Here, I am on Preston’s side. The cricket in that series was of a quality rarely equalled before or since, and we regarded them as tests at the time. Anyway, why should a governing body determine how data should be sorted? Statisticians should feel free to be creative. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A more recent example is the directive to include all international games in T20 records, which has rendered them meaningless (what is the second highest score in a T20 international?; the Czech Republic’s 278 for four against Turkey in 2019, of course). So the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scorecards</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> database says that Derek Underwood has 304 test wickets, not 297, and will not enter into any correspondence. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Speaking of Underwood, the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">News of the Month</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> records that the great man took eight for nine at Hastings against Sussex, who were skittled out for 54. Not mentioned is that these were not Underwood’s best figures </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">at this ground</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. For those not familiar with the geography of south-east England, Hastings is in Sussex, so it was an away ground on which Underwood would play once a year, if that. In 1964, he took nine for 28, three years later 14 in the match. Fast forward to 1984, when he made his only first-class hundred there, the day after he took six for 12, his best performance in the Sunday League. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It wasn’t just Hastings; Deadly was partial to Sussex grounds in general. In 1977, when they came up with the cunning plan of moving the game to Hove, he took the only hat-trick of his career (</span><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2015/10/hat-tricks-i-have-seen-part-1.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was there</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for that one). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In checking a couple of facts for this piece, I discover that Underwood was the retrospective No 1 ranked test bowler from September 1969 to August 1973. So he must have been selected for the test team in June 1973? He was not, Ray Illingworth’s curious preference for Norman Gifford (none for 142 in the first two tests) triumphed again. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gifford was in charge of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Captain’s Column</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> this month. A topic of the time was the requirement to bowl 18.5 overs an hour (or 111 overs in a six-hour day). Gifford asks for the co-operation of spectators behind the bowler’s arm. He would have loved me. On my headstone will be the inscription “He never moved behind the bowler’s arm”.</span></p><br /><br /></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-61678303673139541582023-05-28T15:42:00.000+12:002023-05-28T15:42:12.783+12:00 The Cricketer, May 1973<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dE588GtxGwcTvRplwUW5SalQshk7F2SQ1WBYiU1kWd4i2McnnI3Eq97gyWuAab_65pGIEAMz6WdwXnyOwfrxe0-X7S7llg1zcp1rq6r-yXdamim_Kx91c7ZG83ExP_LGuFOJrxto8xbA4cyQTtBnBeszYliypc-1r6Wnjo3y8xf-AZU-ETceKQFejA/s2327/WIN_20230528_15_33_43_Scan%20(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2327" data-original-width="1604" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dE588GtxGwcTvRplwUW5SalQshk7F2SQ1WBYiU1kWd4i2McnnI3Eq97gyWuAab_65pGIEAMz6WdwXnyOwfrxe0-X7S7llg1zcp1rq6r-yXdamim_Kx91c7ZG83ExP_LGuFOJrxto8xbA4cyQTtBnBeszYliypc-1r6Wnjo3y8xf-AZU-ETceKQFejA/w262-h380/WIN_20230528_15_33_43_Scan%20(3).jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c5665a7b-7fff-216b-79b2-78af16a85bfc"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dennis Amiss is on the cover of the May 1973 edition of the newly-styled </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer with Cricket Monthly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the title now alone in the cricket magazine market. I noted last month that good performances on MCC’s tour of South Asia had barely registered due to the lack of broadcast coverage. The most acute example is Amiss’s performance in the three-test series in Pakistan.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that he made a century in each of the first two tests and 99 in the third, perhaps the best overseas performance by an England batsman in a shorter series until Harry Brooke went one run better late last year in Pakistan for three hundreds in three games. Amiss is going strong at 80, and was recently interviewed at length on the </span><a href="https://finalwordcricket.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Word</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ken Barrington, with his average of 58, is the most underrated English batsman since the Second World War, but Amiss (46, 51 when opening) is not far behind. His achievement in this series did not convert John Thicknesse to his cause in a piece about the options for England’s selectors. Of Amiss and Fletcher (for whom this was also a breakthrough tour) he says “I hope it’s not uncharitable to say that neither has yet done much more than make people reconsider”. About as uncharitable as buying a poppy with a foreign coin, I’d have thought.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Incidentally, anyone not familiar with the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Word </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should do themselves a favour and check it out. It is a podcast run by Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon, with occasional help from others such as Dan Norcross and Bharat Sundaresan. They usually put out two lengthy shows a week, one on current events and the other on cricket history, with donors sending them amounts based on cricket statistics that they then have to work out. Collins and Lemon are cricket’s most interesting audio journalists and I look forward to SEN’s commentary on this summer’s tests in England with Collins leading the team.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The three tests in Pakistan were all drawn. John Woodcock reports that “in each of these there was a time on the last day when a result was possible” and, of Pakistan captain Majid Khan, “There were two occasions when, with more aggression, he might have forced an issue”. Nevertheless, all three games faded away into draws, an outcome that accounted for 16 of the 24 tests played between the two countries in Pakistan before last December’s series.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the more reason to regard the three-nil victory by Stokes’ team on those same dead pitches as one of the greatest achievements in my time watching cricket, Bazball’s finest moment (so far). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two pieces of trivia from the 72-73 series: as well as Amiss, Majid Khan and Mushtaq Mohammad also made 99, the only test in which three have fallen one short of the ton; also, both sides were led by current county colleagues. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The second and third tests between the West Indies and Australia got considerably more column inches than the series in Asia. Pitches were also a focus for Tony Cozier’s report. That for the second test, in Bridgetown, “offered the bowlers minimal help and simply got progressively slower as the [match] progressed”, rather like those in Pakistan. The strip in Trinidad, however, “readily responded to spin throughout and gave uneven bounce”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were now just a couple of years away from the emergence of the West Indies pace quartet that, like the Rolling Stones, changed its personnel from time without compromising its place at the head of the pack. So who opened the bowling with Keith Boyce in Port of Spain?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was none other than Clive Lloyd, whose dobbly medium pacers could be quite effective in the Sunday League, but whose function here was to remove the shine from the ball as quickly as possible, an action that was to be considered heretical around the Caribbean for at least three decades thereafter. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lance Gibbs “was the pick of all the bowlers and was never handled comfortably” but it was Australia’s trio of leg spinners, O’Keefe, Jenner and, more surprisingly, Stackpole, who led the way to a 44-run win, along with Doug Walters’ “truly great innings” of 112. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are interviews with two Essex players, John Lever, and Brian “Tonker” Taylor, just appointed to the selection panel. The byline for the latter is that of Martin Tyler, still Sky’s lead football commentator 50 years on. Tyler wrote a couple of cricket books and commentated for ITV regions on Roses matches, but his best-known link with the game is that he was Bob Willis’s flatmate when the fast bowler was called up as a replacement for the 1970/71 Ashes tour.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As both football and cricket have expanded into twelve-month assignments, cross-fertilisation between writers and broadcasters on the two sports has almost disappeared, which is a loss. It used to be usual for journalists to cover a winter and a summer sport. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ITV’s Brian Moore was a Kent fan. I sat next to him and an older man (his father, possibly) at a knockout match at St Lawrence in the early 90s. His first appearance on TV was on </span><a href="https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/fec64a1f3a4b4556aeb3954b313fed4e" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday Cricket</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1965 (Desmond Lynam also made his TV debut on </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunday Cricket</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, seven years later). The BBC tried to poach Moore in the 70s, and offered him Peter West’s job as presenter of cricket to sweeten the package, but to no avail. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the radio, Peter Jones and Maurice Edelston were both occasional commentators on county cricket, and Jon Champion, Mark Pougatch, Mark Saggers and Arlo White all made appearances as callers on </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Test Match Special</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The sports pages at the height of summer often featured football writers at leisure, including Jimmy Armfield in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Express</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Best of all was David Lacey’s annual appearance in the cricket pages of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Guardian</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, usually at Hove. I came across a Lacey line new to me the other day. In a report on a drubbing of Manchester United by Barcelona he wrote:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pallister and Bruce appeared to be auditioning for the role of Juliet: “Romario, Romario, wherefore art thou Romario?”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">News of the Month</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has this:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">G Boycott has disclosed that the risk of harm to his health following an operation for the removal of his spleen prompted him to declare himself unavailable for the recent MCC tour of India and Pakistan.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Given the tenor of Boycott’s subsequent commentaries, it is to be wondered if they got it all. </span></p><br /><br /></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-62158437315280323052023-05-07T10:26:00.000+12:002023-05-07T10:26:57.276+12:00 The Cricket Magazines: April 1973<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_LKlchPkk53V_jD2oUdgZjPmiaHJJDa4wAYC_nU2O81K415yY6zEhOFX2j_8_XGy7TLdjHmFqYJS039poW8U4CsU_IhBGn4N3PmRWx2ETiWJPXU990f9HiMB3oQ0thVljwTmZI9hTNAjSqSrizGazMLMC_7t3BMSvqUMsIqa_njQFi9U1i_uX48wJw/s2305/WIN_20230507_10_13_11_Pro%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1616" data-original-width="2305" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_LKlchPkk53V_jD2oUdgZjPmiaHJJDa4wAYC_nU2O81K415yY6zEhOFX2j_8_XGy7TLdjHmFqYJS039poW8U4CsU_IhBGn4N3PmRWx2ETiWJPXU990f9HiMB3oQ0thVljwTmZI9hTNAjSqSrizGazMLMC_7t3BMSvqUMsIqa_njQFi9U1i_uX48wJw/w500-h350/WIN_20230507_10_13_11_Pro%20(2).jpg" width="500" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8f66f7bb-7fff-f73b-c2c6-36fa9fe142ae"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the last edition of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair Cricket Monthly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Founder and editor Gordon Ross was to become executive editor of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer incorporating Cricket Monthly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This is presented as a marriage of equals, a blend of the two titles, but my memory is that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which does not mention the merger, remained much as it was, with the coda to its masthead disappearing fairly soon. The spirit of </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">continued in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer Quarterly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, edited by Ross, a compendium of scores and statistics that filled the gap before the information became available in the following year’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wisden</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The magazine emerged from the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair Cricket Annual</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which started in the forties and which Ross continued to edit until his death in 1985. He passed away at Lord’s at the end of a day’s cricket, a departure that any of us might wish for ourselves. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair Cricket Annual</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> continues; this year’s will arrive in our mailbox yesterday, and it is still the most convenient way of looking up a wide range of information. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A flick through shows why magazine one survived while the other did not. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is attractively laid out with photographs on almost every page. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has great slabs of text and lengthy paragraphs. It appears to be short of advertising.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is plenty of international cricket recorded this month. England’s series in India ended on a flat pitch in Bombay (as it then was), with centuries for Engineer, Vishwanath, Fletcher and Greig, the last two both maidens. India therefore won two-one. A million-and-a-quarter spectators attended the five games. John Woodcock describes it as:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…the series which England should have won; as the one they threw away with some really rather faint-hearted batting in the second and third Test matches.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was not the end of the tour. A victory by MCC against Sri Lanka is reported this month (test status was still nine years away), and then it was off to Pakistan for three more tests. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hosts in that series were recently returned from New Zealand, where they won a three-test series one-nil, as RT Brittenden reports in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What a batting line-up Pakistan had. Zaheer Abbas, Kent’s own Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Wasim Raja and Sadiq and Mushtaq Mohammad. The bowling—Sarfraz Nawaz, Saleem Altaf and Intikhab Alam—was not too bad either. In no country has the mismatch of talent and achievement been so large as Pakistan’s. </span><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/search/label/Wounded%20Tiger" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter Oborne’s excellent history of Pakistan’s cricket</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wounded Tiger</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, explains why this is so. More recently, Wasim Akram’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sultan</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, ghosted by Gideon Haigh, shows how undermining internal division and rivalry could be. This one was a Christmas present from my wife, a convert to the view that there is no such thing as too many cricket books.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pakistan’s victory came at the old Carisbrook ground in Dunedin, built on 201 from Mushtaq and 175 from Asif. But here in New Zealand the series is remembered mostly for the world-record breaking tenth-wicket stand of 151 at Eden Park between Brian Hastings and Dick Collinge. The previous record was held by Wilfred Rhodes and RE Foster during the latter’s famous 287 at Sydney in 1903. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> asked the 96-year-old Rhodes for his memories of a stand that lasted little more than an hour. “I made 40 in that time. I weren’t just defending” said the great man.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tony Cozier reports in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on the first test between West Indies and Australia in Jamaica, a high-scoring draw. I notice that Rod Marsh was out hit wicket for 97, so the air would have been as blue as the sea. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of the five tests featured this month, only one was not drawn. The rest were all a day or so off a definitive result. Such matches are now quite unusual. It is a paradox that now, when test cricket’s existence is under threat, the long form of the game itself is much more entertaining than it was fifty years ago. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both magazines devote several pages to events in South Africa, particularly the recent tour by the DH Robins XI, ostensibly a private affair but bearing a marked resemblance to an England A team, including Bob Willis, John Hampshire, John Lever, Frank Hayes and several other future test players. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You wouldn’t think it possible to devote seven pages to cricket in the Cape in this era without using the word </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apartheid</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but they manage it. The extent of the self-delusion is massive, that cricket can exist in splendid isolation, free of all social and political context, and that the non-white populations should be content with a small amount of money to improve facilities and a few days’ coaching. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gordon Ross reported on his recent visit to the Republic. After two pages of crayfish mayonnaise and trips to the races he eventually addresses the issue, but shamefully so:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We paused for some time at the section reserved for the Coloureds [at Newlands]. How absorbed they were in the cricket; how magnificently behaved they were. I couldn’t help but see in the mind’s eye, a D’Oliveira somewhere among them, and fervently hoped that they might enjoy better facilities than ‘Dolly’ did. I am interested only in cricket and cricketers; not politics, race or colour. I only wish somewhere there was a solution to it all.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was Gordon, yes there was. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alan Gibson reviews four books by the same author, who, having been dead for 57 years, was in no position to rebut; it was WG Grace, or rather, his ghostwriters.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, the books were ‘ghosted’, though that practice was not quite so common in his day as it is in ours, nor so widely accepted by the public. Had WG been exposed on television, his most innocent admirers might have wondered where all those fine phrases came from.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arthur Porritt held the pen for what Gibson considers the best of these books. In his own autobiography, Porritt describes the challenges of this collaboration:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace was choke full of cricketing history, experience and reminiscences, but he was a singularly inarticulate man, and had he been left to write his own cricketing biography it would never have seen the light. …Grace accepted me as collaborator with his utmost heartiness, and, although the task of getting the material from him was almost heartbreaking, I enjoyed the work immensely.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has an account by Mike Brearley on his winter travels, first in India, covering the first three tests for </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Guardian </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Observer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, then in the Caribbean, guesting for Kent, as described in the March editions. He reflects on the challenge of being a current player who turns reporter.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found cricket-watching enhanced by the journalistic duty; my concentration was sharper and I like having to formulate my response to the day’s play…As a colleague of the players I felt faintly inhibited from any harsh words I might have thought, partly by a sense of solidarity in the face of a public which can be unappreciative, partly by the fear that criticism from me might be taken to imply a belief in my own ability to do better.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next time England played in India, Brearley was a member of the team, allowing judgment to be made on this matter. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-2456260780978089272023-04-22T11:38:00.006+12:002023-04-22T11:38:41.097+12:00 The Cricket Magazines: March 1973<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6Stbp8I2Y2SlOMRhFJSd88FFcwHDtxRRVnJO4i1iI7AiBVwrZZzbbD2mX4tn2qoOjToTXt-C0rWRVYJwTWT4S7eZF4U_ERghcBwOeuO3sOgopT9Xvq6CwgHQskrohaPMYUh5o5vwoeE-CEccau5X_LK92emn-cjtqm-vf5Yh3Sf8qba4Y0ZLZfWVaA/s3648/IMG-0327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2717" data-original-width="3648" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6Stbp8I2Y2SlOMRhFJSd88FFcwHDtxRRVnJO4i1iI7AiBVwrZZzbbD2mX4tn2qoOjToTXt-C0rWRVYJwTWT4S7eZF4U_ERghcBwOeuO3sOgopT9Xvq6CwgHQskrohaPMYUh5o5vwoeE-CEccau5X_LK92emn-cjtqm-vf5Yh3Sf8qba4Y0ZLZfWVaA/w425-h316/IMG-0327.jpg" width="425" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-2c63a18e-7fff-cfb4-3a60-2cf1f0e65600"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What a treat to find two articles by Alan Gibson in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The first is a profile of Tony Greig, England’s outstanding player on the tour of South Asia at the time of publication. I maintain that Greig has never been given quite the recognition he deserves for being one of the best of his time, and one of England’s finest all-rounders across the eras.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gibson hints that Greig was undervalued at this early stage of his international career too. After two years in Sussex Seconds while he qualified as an overseas player, Greig was an immediate sensation, with 156 on Championship debut. It should be remembered that he committed to playing for England before South Africa’s exclusion from international cricket, yet it seemed that English cricket, presented with such a gift, was unwilling to unwrap it, fearful that it might be a bit showy or extravagant.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greig eventually made his test debut (or so we then thought) in 1970 against the Rest of the World. Gibson reports:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the second match at Nottingham, which England won (probably the best performance by an England side since the Second World War) he had as much as anyone to do with the victory, taking four wickets in the first innings and three in the second. The batsmen whose wickets he took were Richards (twice), Sobers (twice), Kanhai, Engineer and Barlow. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite topping the bowling averages, and scoring a fifty in the third match, Greig was omitted from the Ashes tour party that winter, and left out throughout the 1971 season, the selectors’ preference being for the more pedestrian Richard Hutton. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both players were selected for the Rest of the World squad that toured Australia the following winter.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No doubt both were chosen in the first place because of Australian determination not to pick a Rest of the World side that approximated to the real strength of the Rest of the World: but it did not turn out to be so pointless a series as was intended, and of the two English all-rounders it was Greig who made his mark.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gibson concludes by reporting the opinion of his colleague at </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Times</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, John Woodcock, to whom he refers by the usual sobriquet.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sage of Longparish is not himself a tall man, and has not always been enthusiastic about Greig in the past. What he really feels is that all the best cricketers are five foot three. A judgement from this quarter is therefore convincing.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gibson’s second piece is titled </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cricket in Fiction</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It is an amiable ramble that touches upon, among others, Richards, de Selincourt, Dickens, Sayers and, of course, Wodehouse. Also JL Carr, whose recently published A Season in Sinji is mentioned in the opening paragraph, and to which Gibson returns near the end.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would have enjoyed it if he had left out the cricket.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He forces his analogies, he strains his language, to show that life is just a game of cricket, which is neither more or less true than that life is just a bowl of cherries, some of them going bad, or a sack of potatoes, or – well, whatever analogy happens to come to you. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr Carr is very strong on breasts and lavatories, which I suppose is mandatory in the modern novel. Just as I was beginning to get interested in the bosoms, there was a piece about cricket; and just as I was beginning to get interested in the cricket, back came the bosoms, and the dirt, and the violence. No doubt life is like that : but since we all have to experience it anyway, I doubt if we have any </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">obligation</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to read about it as well.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair Cricket Monthly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> reported on the third and fourth tests between India and England. The hosts took a two-one lead in the third, but only by four wickets. England could not cope with the most renowned of spin trios, Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna. Fletcher’s unbeaten 97 apart, no England batsman made more than 20 in the first innings, and none more than 21 except Denness’s 76 in the second. These were notable innings by both future England captains, but they went almost unnoticed. Pat Pocock took four wickets as India made hard work of their target of 86. As the Sage writes, “With another 50 runs in the bag [England] would probably have won it”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing that I learned was that Derek Underwood could not play in this game, having awoken with a temperature on the first morning. I had thought that Underwood, round-shouldered smoker that he was, had never missed a test match for fitness reasons, but this was illness, not injury. “If any wicket in India was likely to be suited to Underwood’s many talents it was this one in Madras” said Playfair’s anonymous correspondent, who had probably cobbled the report together from press reports, given that the magazine was now an issue away from oblivion. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the fourth test, England achieved a lead of 40, but India’s first innings occupied the whole of the first two days on a slow pitch that offered bowlers little, so a draw was the outcome. The highlight was captain Lewis’s 125, his sole test century. The Sage:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having said that the time had come to attack the Indian spinners, Lewis, in Kanpur, did something about it. When he came in Bedi had bowled nine overs for eleven runs and England were 48 for two…Lewis at once jumped out to hit him over mid-on for four. He had got 70 against Bedi on a turning pitch in England last season by using his feet, and this is what he did now.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tony Lewis might have been picked for England at any time in the previous decade. The list of batsmen no better than him who were is long. As Woodcock says, the innings showed what Lewis might have achieved “had he had the advantage of playing on better pitches than those in Glamorgan”. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another tour is featured in both magazines, that of Kent, as Sunday League champions, to the West Indies. </span><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2017/02/kent-in-caribbean-1973.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have written about this tour before</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but was unaware that both </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> carried extensive reports on it, by Michael Carey and Howard Booth (of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Mirror</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, if memory serves) respectively.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my original article I called out Wisden’s description of my former skiing instructor Barry Dudleston’s bowling as “chinamen” as wrong, given that the Playfair annual consistently listed him as “SLA”, but it seems that it was indeed wrist spin that he purveyed on this tour.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Booth, Colin Cowdrey “rated him a more effective bowler than Ken Barrington on these pitches”. He got Rohan Kanhai out first ball, although it needed a brilliant catch by Alan Ealham off a full toss.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One promising Antiguan batsman was noticed in both reports. This is Carey’s description:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The locals made an entertaining fight of it, largely due to Vivian Richards, a 23-year-old batsman of sound technique and bold method. Cowdrey felt he would play for the West Indies soon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Cardus laments “the virtual disappearance of the spin bowler”, which was to overstate the case when most counties still went into matches with two slow-bowling options. He tells a story about SF Barnes (and we must remember that in matters of factual accuracy Cardus was the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fox News</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of his day) and a match that celebrated his eightieth birthday. Barnes was to bowl the first ball and was asked what he intended. “I’ll bowl the first ball but I don’t know about a full over. I can’t spin now, my fingers are too old. I suppose I’ll have to fall back on seamers—any fool can bowl ‘em”.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><div><br /></div></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-39144567492439479822023-04-16T17:47:00.002+12:002023-04-16T17:47:45.849+12:00 The Cricket Magazines: February 1973<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2n5WprATVNyUyP1p1MzCQye4kdArfflMj4fzrc27KrHcbSHQdHFxjDuS7FSX5F6oRi2pggT4FEVApjFBBcDPLqKTH3uGIgQocInNgIwAsW4gTgIDWa4DJ6qu1CH56vyTxz1KiWd9UYZ370_QUvBD6uE4JeZwbm-gsHWbWlEK99rDKLigToVmBuq_x8Q/s2364/WIN_20230416_17_31_48_Pro%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1683" data-original-width="2364" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2n5WprATVNyUyP1p1MzCQye4kdArfflMj4fzrc27KrHcbSHQdHFxjDuS7FSX5F6oRi2pggT4FEVApjFBBcDPLqKTH3uGIgQocInNgIwAsW4gTgIDWa4DJ6qu1CH56vyTxz1KiWd9UYZ370_QUvBD6uE4JeZwbm-gsHWbWlEK99rDKLigToVmBuq_x8Q/s320/WIN_20230416_17_31_48_Pro%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p>Both </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair Cricket Monthly</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> featured reports on England’s first two test matches in India. Print media were the way in which we learned what had happened in this series. There are short, grainy highlights packages of the second and third tests on</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k904iaJYShk" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YouTube</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but I do not recall any of it appearing on television in Britain, even on the news. There was no radio commentary. BBC Radio, without a cricket correspondent following the compulsory retirement of Brian Johnston at 60, did not even send a reporter, relying on Crawford White of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily Express</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to phone in reports to </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on Radio 4 and at the close of play.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-44526109-7fff-8a96-f128-83ca6a996c98"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The two tests were terrific contests that followed a similar pattern, with low scores on turning pitches—238 was the highest of eight innings—with England chasing targets of around 200 in both. They succeeded in the first test, but failed in the second.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The absence of sound and pictures meant that some fine performances barely registered at the time and have been forgotten about since, most notably Geoff Arnold’s nine wickets in the first test, in which India’s quicker bowlers (if Abid Ali and Erinath Solkar can be so described) delivered only 12 overs. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At 107 for four chasing 206 and the ball turning like a cornered viper, the match looked to be India’s for the taking, but an unbeaten century partnership by Tony Lewis and Tony Greig took England home. John Woodcock, reporting for </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, called Greig “the outstanding English cricketer”. Like nobody else until Ben Stokes, the future England captain thrived when the odds were stacked high on the side of quality opposition. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lewis was captaining England on test debut, the first to do so since Nigel Howard twenty years before, also on an India tour that the established captain didn’t fancy. None have done so since, for England, at least. Lewis made a duck in the first innings,and came in for the second with the match in the balance, so his unbeaten 70 was quite a performance, unnoticed by most as it was made on Christmas Day, with few papers printing on Boxing Day. England’s victory “was worth all the mistletoe in the world” according to Woodcock, who gives us a sense of how India was consumed by cricket, more specifically test cricket, by describing the aftermath of their win in the second test.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The streets around the hotel where the Indian team was staying had to be closed to traffic; thousands of those inside the ground kissed the turf and performed cartwheels of delight. The result may have been a setback to England, but it was a marvellous thing for cricket in India. Had India lost I would have hated to be Wadekar, so short are people’s memories.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ajit Wadekar had led India to their first test and series win over England fewer than 18 months before, but his house was attacked when his team lost three-nil in 1974, so Woodcock is not being alarmist. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Playfair was now on its last legs, three issues away from oblivion, a pity as there is some fine writing in the February edition. Basil Easterbrook’s piece is entitled </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How a Cricket Writer Can Cope With Wet Days</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can of course dash off a feature article, which might fill in half an hour, or compile your expenses account, which will take all morning.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Easterbrook then embarks on an entertaining survey of some of the public houses near cricket grounds in which he has passed wet days. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neville Cardus was in the final two years of his life and not terribly well but his piece on Sussex is a late glimpse of a craftsman capable yet of top form atthe tail end of his career, like Cowdrey’s winning century for Kent against the Australians in ‘75. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the first paragraph he describes turn-of-the-century Manchester as “a city of begrimed solid dignity” and follows with a word—ratiocinative—that I had to look up, which is always fun. Here it is. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vMdECE90ulPjgOT7x9mpe27CVG63DcjIDFJU8_nbORc2y7ehf-sIohnncdEGg8gPbJnllpSdryrn76Kp9nvUt3Y7zN9b3hG-biXK-T8xDhN9ntlQgkEW9yMqvpPO3iiupvjJ1LxNSvhFRwjspLeIXkNa-u_L374FQuIpV_Jxevr3CjmoaulUXn4uJQ/s2385/WIN_20230416_17_30_57_Pro%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2385" data-original-width="1680" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vMdECE90ulPjgOT7x9mpe27CVG63DcjIDFJU8_nbORc2y7ehf-sIohnncdEGg8gPbJnllpSdryrn76Kp9nvUt3Y7zN9b3hG-biXK-T8xDhN9ntlQgkEW9yMqvpPO3iiupvjJ1LxNSvhFRwjspLeIXkNa-u_L374FQuIpV_Jxevr3CjmoaulUXn4uJQ/w449-h640/WIN_20230416_17_30_57_Pro%20(2).jpg" width="449" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both titles carry pieces by former players on the contemporary game, which always have the potential to become a bog of better-in-my-day self-justification. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cricketer</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> HL “Stork” Hendry, who played 11 tests for Australia in the 1920s, starts with a paragraph that swallow dives into heart of the morass, rescue improbable.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cricket-lovers are disappointed and disturbed that the great game of cricket, hitherto regarded as a character-builder, is losing some of its attraction to the public.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He dismisses the counter-attractions of other sports as a factor, as they had always been around, but concedes that “the craze of young people to own motor cars has been a contributing factor”.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hendry’s explanation is “Averages”, his shorthand for batsmen paying too much attention to their own statistics, and not enough to the needs of the team or the crowds. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Decades ago the goal of the batsman was a century; having attained this they usually proceeded to get out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The introduction to the piece records that Hendry scored 325 not out against the New Zealanders in 1925-26.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In <i>The Cricketer</i> Charles Barnett, whose Gloucestershire career also began in the twenties, is altogether more understanding of the challenges faced by the modern cricketer, with whom he sympathises for having to adapt between different forms of the game and back again over a single weekend. It does seem astonishing that counties would begin a Championship game on a Saturday, play a separate 40-over match on a Sunday (sometimes in a different county), then resume the three-day game on Monday morning. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Barnett puts forward a common proposal of the time, that young batsmen of promise should be omitted from one-day teams in their formative years. He even takes the trouble to suggest that counties make arrangements with golf clubs so that these youthful flowers might be fully occupied on their days off, presumably lest their unoccupied minds strayed to unclean thoughts of reverse sweeps.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Barnett is dismissive of the orthodox view that the influx of overseas players to county cricket is a bad thing, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their very example is now there for every young player to see and if wise try to copy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He also has the good idea that run outs from direct hits should be recorded as ‘thrown out”, with the fielder credited. </span></p><br /></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-88674492394331916312023-03-26T20:46:00.000+13:002023-03-26T20:46:08.653+13:00Williamson and Nicholls Shine at the Basin<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Second Test, Basin Reserve, 17-20 March 2023</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a2203862-7fff-0073-f441-224d657711c7"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/sri-lanka-tour-of-new-zealand-2022-23-1322351/new-zealand-vs-sri-lanka-2nd-test-1322358/full-scorecard" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scorecard</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the 2,500th test match since it all began in Melbourne 146 years ago, and in New Zealand, at least, the format has never been so vibrant or appealing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most remarkable match that any of us have seen was followed just two weeks later in Christchurch by only the second occasion on which test-match victory was obtained off the last possible ball, as Kane Williamson hurled himself ahead of the throw to record the most valuable bye in cricket history.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Ian Smith tailored his bespoke “by the barest of margins” description of the end of the Game of Which We Do Not Care to Speak in 2019, he could not have imagined that it would become an off-the-peg expression for use at home in the following few years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Domestic cricket has been infected by the tension trend; Wellington’s games with Northern Districts this season have been won by one wicket and lost by two runs. Has any other ground staged games with one-wicket and one-run margins in the same season?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This test match was not a classic, but it contained much good cricket, almost all of it played by the home team. It was, even more than most cricket matches, full of statistical oddities. One of these was that it was first time since 1996 that New Zealand had selected a team with no left-armer as part of the attack. Dan Vettori, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner are the three main reasons for the sustained period of ambidextrousness and it was the latter's absence that ended it. Just as he was at the Basin against England, Wagner was crucially involved at the end of the Christchurch game, where he ignored injuries that would have put most of us in a wheelchair to complete the winning bye. He says that his test career is not over, and we all hope that he is right.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doug Bracewell, cousin of Michael, son of Brendon, nephew of John, replaced Wagner, his first test appearance since 2016. There are a number of reasons for the long sabbatical, one being the unprecedented strength of New Zealand’s pace bowling in this period, another a run of injuries, some sustained in the early hours. A deceased cockatoo was also complicit.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bracewell D also became the sixth player in the team with a double L in his name, but this may be mining the seam of statistical obscurity a little too deep.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Basin Reserve pitch has sometimes been described in these columns as an early celebration of St Patrick’s Day, so, with the test match starting on that day, it was no surprise that something with the hue of an algae-covered pond was revealed when the covers were removed. We should all have learned by now that green pitches in New Zealand are fierce-looking dogs that roll over to have their tummies rubbed at the first opportunity. Sri Lanka learned this the hard way. An attack that had looked capable in Christchurch appeared to take the view that winning the toss had handed them a fistful of chips that could be cashed in simply by turning their arms over; in fact, great precision was required to extract any help that the pitch held within it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rajitha and Fernando were erratic in length; Kumara was more consistent, but only inasmuch as he was always far too short. There was also the wind, which Devon Conway described as the strongest he had experienced in his six years at the Basin. The quicker bowlers from the southern end will have felt as if they were marking time as they ran in, while for the spinners controlling flight was akin to taming an eagle. Later in the match Michael Bracewell tossed one up only for the gale to take it from its line on the stumps past the return crease for a wide.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neither of New Zealand’s openers could blame the pitch for their fall. Tom Latham, on 21, pulled a catch straight to the only deep fielder.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conway was in top form, his driving through the offside a thing of beauty, accounting for a good proportion of the 13 fours that contributed to his 78. Just when he looked booked in for a big score, Conway came down the pitch to off spinner Dhananjaya de Silva, but didn’t quite get there. The bowler took an athletic return catch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls were now together. At the start of the test season there was criticism of Williamson with foolish phrases such as “if he can be bothered to turn up” bandied about. Now free of the elbow injury that weighed him down for a while, he has produced scores of 132, 121 and, here, 215 in successive test matches, each of which were the foundation of a New Zealand victory. His average in winning test matches is higher than any except Bradman’s (which is almost 50 higher, of course). Already New Zealand’s leading test runscorer, Williamson passed 8,000 runs at the Basin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conversation turned to whether he, or Martin Crowe, is our greatest batsman (acknowledging that Bert Sutcliffe and Martin Donnelly both have their advocates). Crowe, for all his technical correctness, was part nature and part art, while Williamson is more science and engineering. Let us not forget that engineers also produce things of beauty, as Williamson did here, playing with the ease and smoothness of Sinatra crooning a classic. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Henry Nicholls is not the Last Chance Saloon’s best customer. That must be Zak Crawley. But he has been there so often that they know his tipple and have it waiting for him as he walks through the door. With Young and Phillips both challenging his place, Nicholls joined Williamson aware that he had to produce something notable to ensure that this was not his last test match.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was dropped by debutant keeper Madushka on six, a chance similar to the critical miss of Williamson in Christchurch that brought about Dickwella’s exclusion here. Nicholls was also dropped on 92, a return catch to Jayasuriya, but had already restored his reputation by then. Dropped chances are outside a batter’s control, but they are a test of resilience under the sort of pressure that Nicholls found himself, and he passed emphatically. He was harsh on the short bowling that Sri Lanka persisted with, and accelerated as New Zealand pushed towards a declaration. He reached 200 from 240 balls, the first time that two New Zealanders had made double hundreds in the same innings. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The third-wicket partnership was worth 363, two fewer than Williamson’s world-record sixth wicket stand with BJ Watling against the same opponents at the Basin in 2015, and 11 more than the one they beat: Watling and McCullum’s against India here the previous year. The New Zealand record for the third wicket remains 467 by Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones, again against Sri Lanka at the Basin, in 1991. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That was the world record until surpassed by Sangakkara and Jayawardene’ 624 against South Africa in 2006. How Sri Lanka could have done with those two great players now. Even so, with Karunaratne, Mathews and Chandimal all with test averages around or above 40, we expected getting them out for under the follow on of 381 would be tricky.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two wickets were lost in the 17 overs left on the second day after the declaration. Matt Henry showed how the new ball was best used on this pitch with a probing line and length to induce an edge from Fernando, then Conway took a spectacular catch at point to dismiss Mendis, Doug Bracewell’s first test wicket for six years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first session of the third day saw two quick wickets rewarding proficient opening spells from Southee and Henry, though Mathews could have left the one that he edged to Blundell. For the rest of the morning Karunaratne and de Silva demonstrated that serenity could arise from the application of a little technique and patience, and there seemed no reason why Sri Lanka should not work steadily towards at least batting for long enough to make the enforcement of the follow on out of the question.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the common sense that had characterised the morning was swept away with the lunchtime leftovers, starting with Chandimal giving Michael Bracewell the charge, and Blundell an easy stumping, In Bracewell’s next over, de Silva also ventured down the pitch only to chip an easy catch to Southee close in at mid wicket. The inevitable foolish run out was added to the mix, a desperate Karunaratne holed out at long on as he ran out of partners and soon enough Sri Lanka had lost their last six wickets for 65 since lunch. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michael Bracewell became, somewhat improbably for one who was only an occasional bowler three years ago, the first New Zealand spinner to take three wickets in the first innings of a home test since Bruce Martin took four in successive games against England in 2013.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With a six-man attack, the first innings done in 67 overs and rain predicted for the fifth day, Tim Southee enforced the follow on. Had Sri Lanka’s second innings been their first, they might well have come out with a draw. The control and discipline, which had been largely absent apart from the Karunaratne/Chandimal partnership,now spread across the order.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was too late for there to be tension, however, particularly after the forecast improved and a fifth day was guaranteed. For the spectators the rest of the game was like watching one of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lord of the Rings</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> movies that are put together just over the hill from the Basin. We knew how it would end, but it took an interminable time to do so. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again, two wickets fell before the close. Fernando flicked a loose catch to square leg. Karunaratne reached his second half century of the day before becoming the first of five successive Sri Lankans to fall for the fatal allure of the short-pitched delivery, Conway taking a very good catch on the square legside boundary as it came to him out of the sun. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mendis and Mathews both went tamely in the first quarter of an hour of day four, and we started making plans for an afternoon at leisure. However, Chandimal (again) and de Silva batted with excellent judgement and considerable flair before the former top edged to fine leg just before lunch. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Madushka was resolute in a sixth-wicket partnership of 76, and appeared to have shepherded his partner to a deserved century, but de Silva, two short of a tenth test hundred, toe-ended a lap-sweep to give short leg an easy catch. He was bereft, but got a standing ovation anyway. Crowds are generous when they know that a win is in the bag. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last three wickets resisted for an admirable yet irritating 35 overs, showing grit and technique. The short ball had worked well for New Zealand, but a few more at the stumps in this period might have hastened the end as the Sri Lankan tail was better at the leave than their brethren higher up the order. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If Tim Southee is to remain New Zealand’s captain, the ICC will have to consider including Google Earth into the DRS system to ensure that the ball is in the same picture as the bat. He blew his reviews on some notable non-events, the worst of which was for a caught behind that the unsighted leg slip appealed for, supported by neither the bowler nor the keeper. He is one for 23 in terms of successful appeals. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was also the wind, which freshened to the extent of the camera operators having to abandon their positions on the scaffolding at the southern end of the ground, returning us to 1970s one-end coverage. I half-expected Jim Laker’s voice on the highlights, telling us what a thrillin’ innin’s we were watching. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two slip catches completed the game as we went into the extra eight overs. New Zealand have now gone six years without losing a home series, and recent performances against Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka have restored our faith to some extent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That concludes my cricket season 2022-23. A great test match and a good one will be treasured in the memory. I hope that the fixture list offers more opportunities to watch for domestic first-class and 50-over matches next season, when we have Australia and South Africa visiting for test matches. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-10285183981460601322023-03-04T21:36:00.000+13:002023-03-04T21:36:32.164+13:00A Great Test Match: New Zealand v England, 2nd Test, Basin Reserve, 24-28 February 2023<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-new-zealand-2022-23-1322349/new-zealand-vs-england-2nd-test-1322356/full-scorecard" target="_blank">Scorecard</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">As Richie Benaud would have said, “Blundell; Tucker;
Anderson the man to go”.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus ended the finest test match that most of us have
seen, a contest that joins Sydney 1894, Headingley 1981 and Kolkota 2001 as the
only test matches to be won by a team following on; and Adelaide 1993 in being
won by one run. One match on two of cricket’s most exclusive lists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was there (the three best words that anyone can write
about a great sporting fixture), for the whole match, but let us focus on the
extraordinary fifth day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It began with England needing 210 more for victory with
nine wickets standing, a situation that we New Zealanders would have grabbed
thankfully had it been offered a day in advance, but which had become
disappointing after the home team lost its last five wickets for 28. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The man out at the end of the fourth day was Zak Crawley,
bowled through a gap big enough for a basketball. As a man of Kent I am naturally
pleased to see the old club have a presence in the England team, but supporters
of every county can propose a player or two who would have averaged more than
27 had they been given 33 tests. I’ll start: Darren Stevens. “James Hildreth”
sings out from the Quantocks and the Mendips, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ollie Robinson is in the great tradition of Sussex
nightwatchmen inspired by Robin Marlar, apocryphally out second ball for six.
Robinson took a single off the first ball of the penultimate over of the fourth
day, so exposing Duckett, then attempted to put the ball over the Museum Stand before
the scheduled close. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was therefore no surprise when, early on the final
day, Robinson scythed one in the air, finding Michael Bracewell under it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bracewell had been from triumph to disaster and was now
making the return journey. On the first day he took the best slip catch that
the Basin has seen in a long time, stretched full length parallel to the
ground, collecting the ball in his left hand at the second attempt to dismiss Duckett.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But on the fourth day, Bracewell became a national
villain when he was run out after omitting the most basic of cricketing protocols:
grounding his bat when completing a run. Only five more were added to the total
before New Zealand were all out, which left Bracewell’s face on the wanted
poster seeking the man responsible for England’s target being fifty or so fewer
than it might have been. What is more, he knew that, as the only spinner in the
team, he was carrying a nation’s expectations, despite having been a serious
bowler for only a couple of years. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Michael Bracewell had a good day, in the end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was when Ben Duckett was out six runs later,
flashing at one outside the off stump off Henry, that we took the first
tentative shuffle towards the edge of our seats. These days, whenever an
English batter gets out to a shot that has not been in the MCC Coaching Book
since Gladstone was prime minister, cynics are inclined to point to the moral failings
of what, for convenience, we will call Bazball. This despite McCullum being
responsible for reviving England’s test team from the frightened, failed state
it was in less than a year ago. In fact, England’s approach to the chase was
pretty conventional. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tom Blundell took the catch. Second-highest scorer in
both innings here, he has conducted more rescue operations in the past year
than the average lifeboat crew. For once, he came in with what appeared to be a
decent score on the board, 297 for five, but take the deficit into account and
it was 71 for five, so it was carry on as normal. In England’s second innings,
Blundell stood up to the quick bowlers more than I have seen any keeper do, and
he did it superbly, like Godfrey Evans standing up to Alec Bedser. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blundell put on 158 with Kane Williamson. For much of
his career, you looked at the scoreboard 45 minutes after Williamson has come
in and saw that he had 35, but couldn’t remember how he got them. For the time
being he has lost this ability to accumulate by stealth, and here it was more
of a battle, but the longer it went on the more fluent he became on his way to
132. The memories that this match gave us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On the boundary, Neil Wagner waited. He may have been
wondering if this was his last day as a test cricketer. England’s new,
aggressive mindset had cost him 311 runs from just 50 overs, the trademark
Wagner short-pitched delivery more of a threat to spectators on the boundary
than it was to the batters. He had lost a few kph, just enough to take the aces
out of the pack that he used to perform his trick that kidded his victims that
he was genuinely quick. He had become Boxer, the carthorse from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Farm</i>, whose “work harder”
solution to every problem could no longer defy the advancing years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wagner came on first change. Ollie Pope swotted his
third ball to mid-wicket boundary, and it seemed we would have to look
elsewhere for our hero today. Confidence buttressed, Pope saw four more runs
coming from the last ball of the over and shaped to cut, but Wagner was telling
the old joke again. It was on Pope a tad quicker and a smidgen straighter than
he anticipated. Latham took a good catch at second slip. Eighty for four.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Joe Root and Harry Brook were now together, the most
reliable Yorkshire combo since Aunt Betty and puddings. Their first-innings
partnership of 302 for the fourth wicket was the best batting that any of us
had seen for a long time. Brook made 186 from 176 balls with a low level of
risk and a near-perfect match of shot to delivery. The perfection of his
placement suggested that he could earn a living threading needles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In comparison to Brook, anything that might be said
about Root’s innings is at risk of damning him with faint praise. At any other
time in England’s test cricket history we would say that four an over, mostly
on the first day, was a remarkable rate of scoring. It was a perfectly judged
innings, and had New Zealand lost on the third or fourth day, as many of us
expected, we would have treasured the memory of this test match for the batting
of Root and Brook alone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Root nudged the ball towards the gap between third slip
and gully and seemed to set off. Maybe he had forgotten that Blundell was standing
up to Southee, ready to collect Bracewell’s throw. It was Brook’s call, but it
must be hard to tell your hero “no”. He didn’t face a ball. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With 173 to get and five wickets standing, the game had
become New Zealand’s to win, but the combination of Root at his best and
Stokes, who loves a cocktail of tension and pressure, was as good as the cricket
world could offer in this situation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A contact who spent time in the press box told us that
the English writers are calling Stokes “Brearley”, and not in a nice way. If
this is so they should be ashamed, so much has Stokes done for cricket in
general and England’s cricket in particular. One of the many narratives of the epic
story of this test match was that both Stokes (knee) and Henry (back) were
struggling with injuries and pain that should properly have seen them in the
dressing room attached to a small iceberg. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The tension and bottled-up emotion of the next three
hours was worthy of Le Carré at his best. Every ball came wrapped in hope and
fear, the balance for the home supporters ebbing away from the former until it seemed
all gone. Root, his judgement making Solomon look a dabbler in the art, took on
the role of run chaser and proceeded at close to a run a ball. He was harsh on
Bracewell in particular. Stokes, cast against type, was putting the emphasis on
defence, ready to take over the guns if Root went down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Southee was most effective in keeping the scoring rate
down, and his effervescent first-innings 73 was critical in reducing the lead.
It will seem a surprising observation to say that a knock of 49 balls that
contained five fours and six sixes shows us (and ideally Southee himself) what
a dusting of contemplation can do. His shot selection was more spot-on than at
any time since his debut 77 in a lost cause at Napier in 2008, for which I was
also present. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I wanted Wagner back on earlier. Root and Stokes had
been reasonably respectful of him at the start of their partnership, as if they
had heard a particularly apposite sermon on the dangers of temptation. Bracewell
bowled admirably, but was always dependent on a batter’s error to take a
wicket, which did not succeed in doing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We didn’t see Wagner in the attack again until the
target was below 60, and it seemed that our chance had gone. So depressed was
the general mood that some people who had left their city-centre offices at 80
for five were sufficiently desperate as to contemplate returning to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps the gloomy miasma reached and infected Stokes. He
took the fourth ball of Wagner’s first over back to be an invitation to disrupt
the traffic to the Mt Victoria tunnel, but, from somewhere, Wagner summoned
that extra bit of pace and up in the air it went, landing safely in the hands
of Latham at backward-square leg. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Astonishingly, Root fell for the same old trick in
Wagner’s next over, except that this one did not get up as much. Had the shot
gone as planned it would have broken the Museum Stand clock and Root would have
had his second hundred of the match, but instead it lobbed gently to Bracewell
at mid on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With 55 needed and three wickets left, the arrival of
Stuart Broad at the crease was more likely to comfort the home, rather than the
visiting, supporters. I recently re-read my unflattering view of Broad’s
batting in the World Cup match between these teams in 2015, and thought it
harsh (I compared his thinking to that of the local ovine population, to their
benefit). Yet here he approached his task just as New Zealand were expecting
and wanting, the only surprise being that it took him as long as nine balls to
shovel a catch to deep third where, inevitably, Wagner was waiting. It needs to
be said that it was a privilege to watch Broad and Anderson bowling together
one last time in New Zealand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Foakes and Leach were together with 43 needed and only
Anderson to follow. Much of what happened in the remaining overs mystified me.
I have never understood why, with two wickets left to win the game, a team
would stop trying to get one of the incumbents out by conventional means,
instead setting fielders on the boundary and relying on the batter making a
mistake. But this, of all matches, is not in need of over-analysing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ben Foakes approached his task courageously and came so
close to winning the game, yet amateur selectors continue to contemplate an
England team without him. At the other end Jack Leach summoned the spirit of
Headingley ’19 to give resolute support. The closer the target got, the bolder
Foakes became. A pull to the mid-wicket boundary would have been caught by
Bracewell, had he been on three metres further out. There was a no ball for
three fielders behind square on the onside. Then were two successive fours off
Wagner, the first of which might have decapitated umpire Tucker. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On and off the field, New Zealanders were struggling to
hold their nerve as we counted the target down. Again, it appeared that all
hope was lost. We were Tom Hanks, waiting to die on the raft in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Castaway</i>, all hope gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the third time within the hour an English batter became
over ambitious. With seven needed Foakes went for the big shot off Southee only
to find the top edge. One of the best moments of spectating is when you follow
a ball through the air and work out where it is going to fall. From my position
high in the RA Vance Stand I could see that it would land about five metres
inside the rope at fine leg, but that part of the boundary was obscured by
television camera scaffolding, so I only at the last moment did I see Neil
Wagner emerge, and throw himself towards the ball to take the catch. No
possibility of drama on this day was omitted from its narrative. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In came Jimmy Anderson. Of course. That would be the
story here, Anderson hitting the winning run. His clubbed four through mid on off
Wagner to put England a single away from a tie supported this interpretation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The next seven deliveries each encompassed the torment,
guilt and despair of its own deadly sin. The fifth ball of Southee’s over was
especially taxing as Leach made his only attempt to score in the over, stopped<sub>
</sub>– just – by a diving Henry at mid on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Then: Blundell; Tucker; Anderson the man to go, and it
was done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My Brooklyn correspondent, a man only a little younger
than me, hurdled two chairs in the Long Room at the moment of victory. I myself
leapt high in the air, several times, an expression of joy from which I had
assumed myself to have retired in the late 1980s, but we all lost thirty years
for a minute or two. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Strangers embraced, linked forever in a moment. One of
the Basin regulars said that we would remember this day for the rest of our
lives, and so we will. Given the choice between recalling this day and my own
name, I will choose the former, with no hesitation at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of all my days at the cricket, this was the best.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-43930818603247619512023-02-19T10:08:00.000+13:002023-02-19T10:08:31.746+13:00The Cricket Magazines: January 1973<p><i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMffwrEgi-vbkUpMJoG5W4_6gfy8GCkTkDSH6EZsqEpi3jN1hfymw-YOdFRdiFzSRAqzxAmXFVcTF-N1jC-aXa00qKLcW8vhp0s-VFBiR9TtpgP2F7ufZOGBVblmLS1kh7UIiDsqTWSTmxymbwJ8GFV3PnHawlq8dLSfHi7Hw1JsaaXsuVRmNsyN1ZnQ/s2223/Mags%20Jan%2073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1625" data-original-width="2223" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMffwrEgi-vbkUpMJoG5W4_6gfy8GCkTkDSH6EZsqEpi3jN1hfymw-YOdFRdiFzSRAqzxAmXFVcTF-N1jC-aXa00qKLcW8vhp0s-VFBiR9TtpgP2F7ufZOGBVblmLS1kh7UIiDsqTWSTmxymbwJ8GFV3PnHawlq8dLSfHi7Hw1JsaaXsuVRmNsyN1ZnQ/w363-h265/Mags%20Jan%2073.jpg" width="363" /></a></i></div><i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><p><i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></p>Playfair
Cricket Monthly</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> was now only four editions away from
oblivion. The January 1973 cover gives us some idea of why this was. It
features, in black-and-white, five blokes in suits standing about. True, one
was the current England captain, another one of the greatest of all
off-spinners (revealed to have a shocking taste in shirts), but this was not a
presentation that would leap off the shelves of WH Smith into the hands of the
discerning cricket reader.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In contrast, the cover of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> is in colour, and captures the bowling action of
Bishan Bedi, a thing of beauty in itself. In mid-winter, this would have been a
promise of sunshine that was irresistible (I think that umpire is David Evans,
but I’m not certain).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Spin bowling is something of an undeclared theme in
this edition. There is a conversation between Jim Swanton and the Essex
leg-spinner Robin Hobbs. It was compulsory in cricket magazines at this time
for there to be at least one article presaging the death of leg-spin. You want
to take them aside and say “it’s ok, there’s this three-year-old in Melbourne…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chris Martin-Jenkins interviews Derek Underwood, who is
interesting on the question of the pace of his bowling. Critics were fixated on
the need for him to slow it down and toss it up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If I tried to learn the
art of tossing the ball up temptingly it would take me five years…Those five
years would probably see me out of the England side for good.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Underwood reports that there were two thoughtful
dissenters from the consensus on this matter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“[Ray Illingworth] told me
that if I’d got a thousand wickets by the age of 26, there couldn’t be much
wrong with my basic style.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Knottie [sic] is always
on at me to push it through quicker, the complete opposite of my critics.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is also a profile of BS Chandrasekhar and
reflections of the recent Australian tour of the UK by their off-spinner Ashley
Mallett, in which he does not mention the Headingley pitch. Mallett, who was to
become one of Australia’s best writers on the game, criticises England’s
selectors for undermining the confidence of Keith Fletcher and Dennis Amiss. Of
the young bowlers, he rates Chris Old highest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Irving Rosenwater, BBC TV scorer for many years, gives
us something different. The writer Daniel Farson had recently named Montague Druitt
as Jack the Ripper. Rosenwater does not tell us why, but Google suggests that
this was based on little more than Druitt’s frequent presence in Whitechapel
and that the murders stopped after he committed suicide in 1889. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Druitt was a regular for a number of amateur teams of
the team, such as Incogniti and Gentlemen of Dorset, as well as his local club
Blackheath, whose Rectory Field ground was a regular venue for Kent for many
years. Rosenwater traces Druitt’s movements during the cricket season of 1888 using
the scorebooks of the time. He finds some correlation between Druitt’s
whereabouts and the location of the murders, but he lived in the general area,
so that comes as no surprise. There is no undiscovered alibi of a match away
from London at the time of a murder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cricketer</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> had Alan Ross as book reviewer and we find him in a
grumpy mood. John Arlott had compiled a book on the recent Ashes series based
upon his reports in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guardian</i>. For
Ross, the master of the tour book, this is not enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Arlott has written too
many potboilers for his own good, which is a pity, because particular gifts and
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ashes 1972</i> none of them are
realised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As a freelancer almost throughout his writing and
broadcasting career, it was precisely for his own good that Arlott kept the
books coming. He had a family and a large cellar to support, so literary
excellence had to be compromised from time to time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Arlott’s treatment was like a couple of gentle on
drives compared to Ross’s bazballing of RS Whitington’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Captains Outrageous</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have the illusion Whitington
wrote quite decently at one time, but his style now is quite abominable –
cheap in its effect, falsely pepped up and without dignity or decency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It may seem not worth the
space dealing with such an indifferent book, but the fact is that bad cricket
books damage good ones, for they devalue the whole <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">genre</i>, and a market flooded with shoddy goods is no use to anyone.
Just as bad first-class cricket makes for bad habits in the young, so do
crudely contrived and presented books blunt the sensitivities of young readers.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">An altogether more enthusiastic review could be found in
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>, where Neville Cardus
devoted his column to JM Kilburn’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thanks
to Cricket</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kilburn writes admirable
English, never overwriting in the recurrently lavish way which occasionally
embarrasses me whenever I return to the early works of Cardus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He and Kilburn had humble origins in common. Kilburn
writes “Many of the books on our household shelves were marked with a
second-hand price representing lunch foregone or tram-fares patiently saved by
walking to work”. Cardus adds “I could easily have written that sentence myself”.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The forthcoming demise of Playfair Cricket Monthly
meant that this was one of Cardus’s last published pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are plenty of reminders of how much has changed
between then and now. Dr M Ijaz writes to The Cricketer to note that all the
test-playing nations of the time, numbering six, would be playing in the 1972-3
season. He asks if this is a first. Now, it might be unusual to find a month in
which any did not play in one form or another.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cricketer</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> has summaries of the pre-test matches played by
Pakistan in Australia and MCC in India, proper first-class games against strong
opposition. Dennis Lillee was taking it seriously; he took six for 30 as
Western Australia beat Pakistan by eight wickets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Playfair</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
lists all first-class and what we now call List A fixtures for the forthcoming
season. On a rough count, there are 45 grounds that will not feature in the
2023 list, the great majority in towns that no longer see county cricket.
Particularly evocative for me are the <a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2011/11/in-search-of-crabble.html">Crabble
Ground in Dover</a>, Folkestone’s Cheriton Road, <a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2014/12/mote-park-maidstone.html">Mote
Park in Maidstone</a>, and the <a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2011/12/cricket-grounds-in-winter-recreation.html">Recreation
Ground, Bath</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-16000637106237224022023-01-29T15:20:00.001+13:002023-01-29T15:20:34.327+13:00The Cricket Magazines: December 1972<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVcvxunveIZBlRzZrXHIidXVQ7hjcBwk3KBfTKBc4ogVKca1rvk8MsarcirSkUgKVEeyUIr8cwIFCj6EoRCbijcxwVcG306TXbnKLRE75fx7-ShfYCsR728fo_5vi-BRNHTrgaconES1pBbuAT_o808EWcTFJv7825dan5_0knchPZokeKssJwUNwAQ/s2272/Mags%20Dec%2072%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1675" data-original-width="2272" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVcvxunveIZBlRzZrXHIidXVQ7hjcBwk3KBfTKBc4ogVKca1rvk8MsarcirSkUgKVEeyUIr8cwIFCj6EoRCbijcxwVcG306TXbnKLRE75fx7-ShfYCsR728fo_5vi-BRNHTrgaconES1pBbuAT_o808EWcTFJv7825dan5_0knchPZokeKssJwUNwAQ/s320/Mags%20Dec%2072%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The first four pages of </span><i style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Playfair </i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">are, mystifyingly, devoted to a preview of the domestic
season in South Africa, to be contested exclusively by white players, though
the political context is referred to only obliquely. More commendably, </span><i style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Cricketer</i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> had a correspondent on
non-European cricket in South Africa, A Akhalwaya. He reports on the reaction
to the end of Basil D’Oliveira’s test-match career in his homeland, reminding
us how much it meant to the non-white population to have one of their own
playing at the highest level.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here in South Africa we
found ourselves unabashedly supporting England. Whenever England played no more
did we ask: ‘What is the score?’ Instead, it became ‘What did D’Oliveira
score?’ or ‘How many wickets did he take?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…One wonders which country
the schoolboys will now support.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cricketer</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> has a review of the season by Tony Pawson that in
structure is strikingly similar to Tony Lewis’s Journal of the Season in
November’s issue. Could there have been a miscommunication that led Pawson to
think that he was i/c the Journal in 1972? If so, it was a felicitous error, as
Pawson was always worth reading. Occasionally, his path crossed with mine, for
example in May:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Knott’s bewildering range
of quick-footed shots brought him a century in each innings at Maidstone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was there for the second of these centuries. It was
my first visit to Mote Park, a ground that became a favourite, the English
venue that was most like our parkland grass bowls here in New Zealand. Pawson’s
own batting for Kent, a generation earlier, was by all accounts similar to
Knott’s in its fleetness of foot and scurrying between the wickets. Pawson also
contributes portraits of Colin Cowdrey and Donald Carr. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Another day of fond memory is pictured, 10 September
when Kent won the Sunday League by beating Worcestershire at St Lawrence. Guardian
of the telephone in the Canterbury press box, Dudley Moore (who must have got
tired of being asked where Peter Cook was) summed up Kent’s route to the title,
culminating in chasing 190, the biggest target they faced all season. A century
partnership between Luckhurst and Nicholls took them home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">David Frith made an early impression as Deputy Editor
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> by conducting an
airmail interview with Clarrie Grimmett, the New Zealander who took 216 wickets
with his leg spin for Australia. It’s fascinating. Grimmett says that his
greatest regret was that he was not selected for the 1938 tour to England.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I had hoped to continue my
great association with Bill O’Reilly; this breaking of our partnership was a
terrific blow to both of us…The only reason I can think of for my omission is
that I was thought to be too old.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As Grimmett was 46 at that time, he probably had a
point. Though born in Dunedin, the leg-spinner learned his cricket at the Basin
Reserve in Wellington, for whom he made his debut in the Plunket Shield when he
was 17, leaving for Australia when he was 22. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Grimmett received an early lesson in the realities of
Sheffield Shield cricket from New South Wales skipper Monty Noble, who berated
him for getting through his overs too quickly (a six-ball over in a
minute-and-a-half!) so not allowing the quickies a rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He nominates Stan McCabe as the greatest strokemaker he
saw. Grimmett’s choice of the major batsman that he had a strong chance of
dismissing is a surprise: Bradman.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I always
felt he was uncomfortable against good-length spin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On modern cricket, he deplores short-pitched bowling,
but blames the batsmen for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If they learnt correct
footwork instead of ducking (and getting hit in the process) short bowling
would die a natural death.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Both publications carry articles concerning
Warwickshire’s Championship-winning captain AC Smith (the Edgbaston Smiths AC
and MJK were known by their initials). Richard Eaton interviews him in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>, while <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> piece carries Smith’s byline. Given his notorious statement
to the media years later as CE of the TCCB: “no comment, but don’t quote me”,
it is no surprise that Eaton’s is the more illuminating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Warwickshire’s trip of brilliant West Indians, Gibbs,
Kanhai and Kallicharran was supplemented mid-season by Deryck Murray who took
AC’s place as wicketkeeper. Naturally, Smith turned to bowling instead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am a liquorice allsorts
bowler. I think I can bowl cutters when the wicket is soft or broken, but I
like to get the ball shone a bit and swing it on a good wicket,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He does not attempt to describe his bowling action,
which was as chaotic as any I have seen, and accompanied by a pantomime
villain’s grin at the point of release. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mike Denness, in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Captain’s Column</i> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>,
bemoans the travel demands made on county cricketers. One weekend began with a
journey…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…from Folkestone on a
Friday night to play Somerset at Glastonbury. On the Saturday night we motored
up to Derby, returning on Sunday night to Somerset. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On the Tuesday evening we
headed north to play Yorkshire at Bradford.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They played cricket on all these days, and the motorway
network was nowhere near as developed as it became. It is surprising that there
were not more injuries or deaths. As crowded as the fixture<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>list now remains, it is much more reasonable
than it was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is the best edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i> that I have come across so far. There is also Cardus on
Ranji, Stephen Green on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Treasures of
Lord’s</i> and an interesting interview with the Glamorgan player Tony Cordle
by Basil Easterbrook. Cordle was then about halfway through a county career
that saw him take almost a thousand wickets, often in bowling partnership with
Malcolm Nash. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He was one of the Windrush generation of immigrants from
the Caribbean, and suffered many of the indignities of that community when he
arrived in London. Relatives whisked him off to Cardiff, where, most
fortuitously for Glamorgan, a job interview happened to be held overlooking the
Cardiff Arms Park cricket ground. He decided to join the Cardiff club, despite,
unusually for a Bajan, never having played in an organised game. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is an interesting video on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">YouTube</i> of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34JlCKuc7oM&t=3018s">recent interview
with Cordle</a> by Glamorgan historian Andrew Hignell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-9751445523792102912023-01-11T16:38:00.002+13:002023-01-11T16:38:18.953+13:00The Magazines: November 1972<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2DseStasHp55yfpH8sar1fs3fddfFpseLijN650DuWfQb83zzECFrfRSmqgeGqNAUVcyFCMJjiN0tiTsQzezrckEu5wmTgpKm0Vg3cinq2pWZqOpjaq77xhz9w6hcXymHEi1DytVfFef-NcZq6c_yZGMO3mNPtqUBlSxb58EPRbvBbqWhswf5GY_1Q/s2367/Nov%20mags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1836" data-original-width="2367" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2DseStasHp55yfpH8sar1fs3fddfFpseLijN650DuWfQb83zzECFrfRSmqgeGqNAUVcyFCMJjiN0tiTsQzezrckEu5wmTgpKm0Vg3cinq2pWZqOpjaq77xhz9w6hcXymHEi1DytVfFef-NcZq6c_yZGMO3mNPtqUBlSxb58EPRbvBbqWhswf5GY_1Q/w372-h288/Nov%20mags.jpg" width="372" /></a></i></div><i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Cricketer’s</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> November edition was always the Winter
Annual in these years, a double-sized volume (though about 20 fewer pages than
a standard copy these days) at the cost of 50p, or, as our grandmothers would
have said at the time, ten shillings (the normal price was 20p). It is worth
every p or d, with plenty of fine writing.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The centrepiece of the Winter Annual was always the
Journal of the Season. A prominent figure would write a weekly summary of
events, posting it to the offices of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i> so as to avoid augmentation with hindsight. In 1972 it was in the
hands of Tony Lewis, captain of Glamorgan but starting the transition into his
subsequent career of commentating and writing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lewis followed the Ashes on television, declaring that
he had become “a fan of Benaud, Laker and Dexter”, fortunately given that he
was to spend almost 20 years in the professional company of the former. He had
the distinction of recording his own appointment as captain of MCC and England on
the winter tour of South Asia. Already, he had a pleasing turn of phrase.
Dennis Lillee running in to bowl was “like a Welsh wing three-quarter in full
flight”, high praise from a man of Neath. With the moustache in common, he must
have had Gerald Davies in mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some of the issues that Lewis discusses remind us of
how much has changed. He describes seeing Ken Higgs playing for Leicestershire,
and Bob Cottam for Northamptonshire as an “unreal” experience. Now, players
shifting counties happens routinely from week-to-week. Both Cottam and Bob
Willis (who had gone to Warwickshire from Surrey) had to miss the first couple
of months or so of the 1972 season as their moves were contrary to the wishes
of their former counties, a ruling that deprived the England selectors of two
possible options for the Ashes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I had forgotten that Fred Trueman turned out for
Derbyshire in the Sunday League that year. If memory serves, he was joined by
Fred Rumsey in a partnership that was redolent of the era of round-arm bowling.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The best Journals of the Season came in the late
seventies when they were in the hands of Alan Gibson, who is given a page to
reflect on the season in this edition. Gibson aficionados will be pleased to
find that the first paragraph is devoted not to the cricket, but to his
travails in getting to and from the cricket. Train strikes are not a new thing
in Britain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On several occasions I had
the alarming experience of having to drive a car, something I do about as
readily as riding a buffalo. At Pontypridd, I spent an hour and a half trying
to find the ground. When I did get there, there was no play, and on departing I
took a quite spectacularly wrong turn, and found myself some while later
climbing a precipitous Welsh mountain…The following day, after triumphantly
driving from Bristol to Swansea and back, I took a wrong turning within a
quarter of an hour’s walk from home, and managed to cover another twenty miles
before I arrived. The God in the machine is too strong for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Much of the article is a defence of three-day
Championship cricket. A four-day Championship was being mooted, though it was
not until the late 80s that it became more than talk. Gibson uses the
Championship cricket he saw in 1972 to mount a case. I am a sucker for a Wilf
Wooller anecdote and he refers to one of the best, Wooller’s offer over the PA
system at Swansea (as Secretary of Glamorgan) to refund spectators their
admission money as Somerset under Brian Close were being so boring. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The problems with three-day cricket were evident in
1972, and I think that its abandonment was correct, but we would all throw our
hats in the air in celebration of Gibson’s final paragraph:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I do not get too depressed
about the future of the championship, because however they pitch it, it has
already shown itself to be a nine-lived sort of cat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cricketer</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> maintained an extensive network of international
correspondents, the only source of news of overseas domestic cricket in the
pre-internet age. RT Brittenden was their man in New Zealand. Later, it was
Dave Crowe, father of Martin and Jeff. When he passed away suddenly soon after
I moved to New Zealand, I emailed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i> offering my services. They replied saying that they were
wondering why they had not received his copy, and appointed Bryan Waddle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In November 1972, Brittenden’s column was a profile of
all-rounder Bruce Taylor. Hindsight can make fools of us all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Taylor dearly loves a
little flutter on the horses. When he takes a bet, the other runners might as
well stay in their stalls. If there is a team sweepstake, Taylor will win it.
In a mild sort of way, he has a Midas touch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That may have been Taylor’s own view. Some years later
he served a prison sentence for fraud as he attempted to service his gambling
debts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Indian correspondent, KN Prabhu, has some advice
for Lewis and his tourists that remains good today: “it is good to remember that
what is funny in Coventry may not be as funny in Calcutta”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The appointment of David Frith as Deputy Editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> was announced. Fifty years
on, Frith described the circumstances of that appointment in the most recent
edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Nightwatchman</i>. It was
partially due to Richard Nixon. <a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-cricketer-may-1972.html">A
few months previously</a>, Frith had written about tracking down the old
Australian pace bowler Jack Gregory, who he located in Narooma, 100 miles south
of Sydney. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gregory was suspicious of journalists, having been stitched
up years before. He was about to go fishing when Frith cold called, but was
watching live TV coverage of Nixon’s visit to China, which gave Frith the
chance to stay and interview Gregory without the subject being quite aware of
it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Arlott secured Frith an interview/audience with EW
Swanton, held behind the broadcasting boxes at the Oval during the final test. It
turned out that Gregory was a boyhood hero of Swanton’s, and when the penny
dropped that Frith was the man who had found him, the matter was settled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Frith was the most significant figure in the world of
cricket magazines for the next generation. He soon became editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i>, and later founded the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wisden Cricket Monthly. </i>I particularly
enjoyed his book reviews, in which he would hunt down factual errors like a dog
sniffing out truffles. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tracking down fast bowlers was his speciality in 1972. In
this edition it is Eddie Gilbert, the indigenous fast bowler who played for
Queensland in the 1930s, but not Australia, despite being described by Bradman
as the fastest bowler he ever faced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This time, Frith thought that he was undertaking
historical research; he visited a psychiatric hospital in Brisbane in the hope
of settling the date of Gilbert’s death. Instead, he was astonished to be told
that the bowler was still alive, and resident at the facility, to which he had
been committed because of mental illness that was the consequence of
alcoholism. This was a common fate among people who were treated deplorably by
the Australian Government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This was not a nostalgic meeting like that with
Gregory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He shuffled into the room,
head to one side, eyes averted, impossible to meet…Five feet eight with long
arms: the devastating catapult machine he must once have been was apparent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Shake hands Eddie,’ his
attendant urged kindly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The hand that had
propelled the ball that had smashed so many stumps was raised slowly; it was as
limp as a dislodged bail. He was muttering, huskily and incoherently, gently
rocking his head from side to side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is plenty more good writing in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winter Annual</i>. Alan Ross carries off the
tricky job of reviewing the editor’s autobiography, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sort of a Cricket Person</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>with
balanced aplomb. The farceur Ben Travers recalled his friendship with Vic
Richardson, Australian captain and grandfather of the Chappells. Humphrey Brooke
analysed Hammond’s tactics in the Oval test of 1938 (what distant history that
seems, but the same in time terms as a feature on the 1988 summer of the four
captains would be today). Chris Martin-Jenkins profiled David Steele, three years
before he became the bank clerk who went to war and defied Lillee and Thomson.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sir John Masterman, academic, spymaster and novelist,
contributed a piece entitled “To walk or not to walk”. After a page of entertaining
reminiscence of appalling umpiring, Masterman’s refreshing conclusion is that it
should be left to the umpires. He calls walking “mistaken chivalry”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Playfair</span></i><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
now only five issues from extinction, is thin by comparison, in both size and
quality, though it does have Neville Cardus, who writes about cricket
reporters, past and present. Cardus, somewhat improbably, claims to have been assiduous
in recording the facts, making notes after each delivery, until…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was observed by Samuel
Langford, senior music critic of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Manchester
Guardian</i>, a Falstaffian man, unkempt, ripe with humour, and indifferent to
the fact that frequently his flies were not buttoned. He saw me taking notes
every ball. ‘What’s all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that </i>for?’ he
asked. ‘Tear it up. Watch the game looking for character’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This was advice that Cardus embraced with a convert’s
enthusiasm. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Myself, I never once used
the words ‘seamer’ or ‘cutter’ in all my Press Box years, writing 8,000 words
every week, from May to late August. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-12759962885530667472022-12-30T14:36:00.000+13:002022-12-30T14:36:56.956+13:00The Cricket Magazines: October 1972<p><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
have fallen behind in my surveys of the cricket magazines of half-a-century
ago. My summer holiday task is to catch up, starting with the October editions.</span></i></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYZNqitKVmuhod3gC22QrMFsT_SjxbTtG9Y0Or4KfNbz7vf6snzDyzNXLJi-cUXTI1y9AR_Cz6HiQYPCLi5VXSW3_qRWCLgGDaDWHa8L6hOt-l5RbgEqgw_JPZ-7vZuwljo9zq-1vHJJPLWNrRg9szIZR1UBhVTmeswJK9u1zy2Lhuxps307bjMAR6Q/s3264/Oct%2072%20covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYZNqitKVmuhod3gC22QrMFsT_SjxbTtG9Y0Or4KfNbz7vf6snzDyzNXLJi-cUXTI1y9AR_Cz6HiQYPCLi5VXSW3_qRWCLgGDaDWHa8L6hOt-l5RbgEqgw_JPZ-7vZuwljo9zq-1vHJJPLWNrRg9szIZR1UBhVTmeswJK9u1zy2Lhuxps307bjMAR6Q/s320/Oct%2072%20covers.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The focus of both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair Cricket
Monthly</i> was the fifth test at the Oval that concluded the best Ashes series
in England since the Second World War. It was decided on the sixth day, the last
test in England to have such a provision until the final of the World Test
Championship in 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Centuries by both Chappells gave Australia a first-innings
advantage of 115, but debutant Barry Wood’s 90 led a strong response to set a target
of 242, a cinch in the era of Bazball but quite a challenge in 1972. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">England were handicapped by the depletion of their attack
through the second innings: D’Oliveira had a bad back, Illingworth turned his
ankle and Snow had the flu, “sick and shaking” as he managed a single over with
the second new ball.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At 171 for five, Jack Fingleton, according to Basil Easterbrook,
“groaned and said ‘It’s too many for us now’ ”, but Paul Sheahan and Rod Marsh
took them home without further loss. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">England’s top scorer in the match was Alan Knott, with 92
and 63. The other day one of the Australian TV commentators said that Adam
Gilchrist had re-written the book on how wicketkeepers batted in test matches.
Gilchrist, brilliant as he was, merely added a chapter to Knott’s draft. This match
was one of many on which Knott had a critical influence with the bat, and in a
way that ignored cricket’s geometry. He would have broken the bank in an IPL
auction. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Both titles agree that Australia deserved to (at least)
draw the series. Easterbrook’s summary put it in historical context.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Australia won both their
victories after losing the toss. They had the series outstanding bowler in
Lillee, the best supporting bowler in Massie and their batsmen produced five
centuries, whereas the best England could manage were three innings in the 90s.
If Australia, who were beaten in vile weather in Manchester and on an unworthy
pitch at Leeds, did not have the luck this time it perhaps went some way to
compensate for the period between 1961 and 1968 when three Australian sides in
no way superior to England…undeservedly held on to The Ashes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Woodcock agreed that Lillee had a decisive influence,
which he expressed in the language of the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He runs a tediously long way;
yet to see him pounding in to bowl, and to put oneself in the batsman’s shoes,
is to know one is watching a man’s game. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not quite how I would put it, but Lillee running in, shirt
billowing, with a Dick Dastardly scowl, was one of the great sights of cricket.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Clive Lloyd made one of the finest Lord’s-final centuries
in the first World Cup in 1975. Three years earlier he made another as Lancashire
won the Gillette Cup for the third successive year (Jack Bond, Lancashire skipper, is pictured with the trophy on the cover of <i>Playfair</i>). It was the centrepiece of
the reports by Michael Melford for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i> and Gordon Ross for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>.
Melford noted the power of Lloyd’s drives: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…most of them, off fast
bowling, went at such a pace that the bowler, deep mid-on and deep mid-off
scarcely moved before the ball was past them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For Ross, it was the cross-bat shots:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Three times he cleared the
boundary ropes with massive pulls, and it made no difference whatsoever who was
bowling; this was utter domination of the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bryon Butler’s press review in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> collected more acclaim for the Guyanan, from Arlott,
Swanton, Marlar, and from Dennis Compton, who got quite carried away in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sunday Express</i>: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This was the greatest innings
I have ever seen at Lord’s at any level. I have seen and played against Sir
Donald Bradman, Walter Hammond, Stan McCabe, Sir Frank Worrell, Clive [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sic</i>] Walcott, Everton Weekes and many
other great players in full flow: but I have never seen an attack torn to
pieces like this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The October editions cover the first ODIs—or one-day tests
as they were referred to—played in England, the first anywhere except for the hastily
arranged inaugural at Melbourne the previous year. England won an entertaining
series two-one. In the first game, Dennis Amiss became the first century-maker in
this form of the international game. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It will surprise many to see that, in the absence of the
injured Illingworth, England were captained by Brian Close. A more obvious
choice might have been Tony Lewis, already named as captain of MCC’s tour of
India, Pakistan and Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known). Illingworth, along
with Boycott and Snow, had made himself unavailable for a gruelling schedule that
included eight test matches over more than four months. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">EW Swanton’s editorial in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> once again deployed the royal pronoun in critiquing
the tour party:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We must admit to
disappointment that the promising new material among the 21-25 brigade has been
overlooked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The only player under 25 was Chris Old. The India correspondent
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i>, KN Prabhu, reported
on an underwhelmed response to the selection. The editor of a sports magazine
demanded that the tour be called off if England were to be represented by a
second XI. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Indian Express</i> was
barely less damning, saying that the team<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…might be well balanced in
that the standard of its batsmanships [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sic</i>]
and bowling are likely to balance each other in mediocrity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Prabhu himself was not so quick to write off the tourists,
noting the success of various members of the party as members of an
International XI some years before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">England won the first test in India before losing the next
two narrowly, by 28 runs and four wickets. The final two matches in the series
were drawn, as were all three in Pakistan, a reminder of how historically
difficult it has been to attain a positive result on those pitches. The
achievement of the McCullum/Stokes team in winning three-nil in similar
conditions is one of the great achievements of the intervening half century. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-67279326341575219062022-12-28T17:47:00.000+13:002022-12-28T17:47:04.030+13:00Christmas Eve at the Cricket<p><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Wellington v Otago</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#m7fa038ad-140f-402d-a655-8033a489c53b">Women</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#m198de95b-c0c3-4d4d-ae6a-07a08a2712ca">Men</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-dG1a7lF9jCPWKfxk-FGMW9oMyHrhM_JWUrYKzewl27W1BDn3ewW8GKdVVwdl2kTj3-pbXys4HgJbsjvHfjPa4oZHE7y2fcomHjXwoul6H9LlM5ael4imeg2aDMmPdZklUUN0X6JBHfSjW4EJF1MM5wN_zOrIvsXWknMUzHcb5cbffmOtHyb7pq1eA/s640/IMG_0287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-dG1a7lF9jCPWKfxk-FGMW9oMyHrhM_JWUrYKzewl27W1BDn3ewW8GKdVVwdl2kTj3-pbXys4HgJbsjvHfjPa4oZHE7y2fcomHjXwoul6H9LlM5ael4imeg2aDMmPdZklUUN0X6JBHfSjW4EJF1MM5wN_zOrIvsXWknMUzHcb5cbffmOtHyb7pq1eA/w454-h255/IMG_0287.JPG" width="454" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Until the 1970s, provincial cricket was played on
Christmas Day in New Zealand. There would be a late start to allow for the
hasty opening of presents and the bolting down of some turkey, but the afternoon
could be spent on the bank at the Basin, Lancaster Park or Carisbrook. Perhaps
it is as well that the practice was abandoned; the ensuing negotiations would
be tricky in many households.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Wellington we have the pleasing new tradition (this
is its third year, so “tradition” passes, just) of Christmas Eve cricket, a T20
double-header, to be precise. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All fixtures in New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition—not merely the “Smash” but the “Super Smash”—pair a women’s game with that of the
same men’s teams, the women usually (but not always) playing first. All games are
shown on television, with 18 of the men’s games and 15 of the women’s
free-to-air (with the imminent closure of rights-holders Spark Sport, from next
season all domestic and international cricket in New Zealand will be free-to-air
for three seasons). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Basin is at its best at this time of year. The cricket-ball
red flowers of the puhutukawa trees bloom for Christmas, draping a crimson
ribbon round the ground and up the hill to Government House. The bank was
near-full, with an increasing number of spectators arriving in time to take in
most of the women’s game. Despite the presence of Billy Bowden, Rain-deviner-in-chief,
the sun was out, and all was right with the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Otago will look back at both games with the ruefulness
of a child who wakes up on Christmas Day to find that Santa has stolen their
presents from under the tree. They could and should have won them both.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When both Kerr sisters were out with the score on 110
in the 17th over it seemed that Wellington would be some way short of setting a
challenging target, but Maddy Green and Leigh Kasperek took 31 from the final
two overs to finish the innings on 146 for five, very attainable with Suzie
Bates opening for Otago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With Ebrahim, Bates put on 49 for the third wicket, but
five was the most scored from any over between the third and the ninth, which
left an asking rate of almost ten an over, unsustainable against an attack of
the quality of Wellington’s. The innings subsided like a sherry-filled grandma
into an armchair after the Christmas pudding. Wellington won by 19 runs.
Kasperek was the best bowler with three for 16. Her omission from New Zealand’s
World Cup squad last year remains mystifying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the men, Adam Milne made his Wellington debut,
after 12 years with Central Districts. As Kent fans know, Milne is a quality bowler
who offers a desirable combination of pace and smarts, so the Basin faithful
were pleased to hear that he was coming to the capital. However, some of us
were sceptical that we would ever see him in a Wellington shirt on the field of
play, given that he is a regular in the white-ball national squad, in demand
from the franchises, and more prone to breakage than a Chinese vase in a situation
comedy. Yet here he was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The match followed the pattern of that of the women.
Wellington batted first and reached an underwhelming 152. It was only thanks to
Rachin Ravindra that it was that many. Regular readers may be rather bored by
my regular extolling of Ravindra’s qualities and class, but I can merely report
what I see. Here, once more, time appeared to move more slowly when he was at
the crease, such was the facility of his shots. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A team chasing a modest total and that is 80 for one
after 12 overs, as Otago were, should not lose. But they blew it. Run rates
that were unimaginable twenty years ago are now commonplace. Ten an over is the
new six an over. But this is not an entitlement, as Otago demonstrated here. They
were complacent, expecting to go up through the gears as they wanted. When 29
came from overs 17 and 18 they would have considered themselves on track, but
no further boundaries ensued and they lost by eight runs. They had the chance
to secure the game earlier and should have taken it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Open Sans",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-989970770469482162022-11-19T11:38:00.000+13:002022-11-19T11:38:30.041+13:00A Restful Time at the Basin Reserve<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wellington v Auckland, Plunket Shield, Basin Reserve, 5 –
7 November 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#m6328d85e-98bf-45ef-8979-fee56e18fd3b">Scorecard</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Restful would be as good a description of this game as any.
The scoring rate clung to two an over like lion cubs fearful of straying too
far from their mother. I was there for the first two days. The Basin was a
picture in the sunshine, but the southerly kept me in the Long Room where the
main topic of conversation was whether the pies are as good as last year’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wellington were put in. With spring moving into early
summer, the pitch was not such a radical shade of green, official rather than
provisional, if you will. The movement it provided was not extravagant, but was
constant. I have not, for a long time, seen the ball pass the outside edge as
often as it did on the first day. It was this that explains the slow scoring,
provoking the batsmen into an abundance of caution. The pitch was not
particularly slow, with good carry through to the keeper. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Auckland’s left-arm opening bowler Ben Lister was unlucky
to take only the wicket of Georgeson. On another day he could have had five or
six, but might his response to constantly beating the bat without finding the
edge have been to pitch it up a fraction more? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tom Blundell was, yet again, top scorer. He came in at 102
for four, not a crisis, but the innings was in need of taking more exercise and
being put on a better diet. Troy Johnson, with 42, was the only other
Wellington batter to get more than 20. Somebody said that Johnson had scratched
about and looked out of form, but it takes a decent player to scratch about for
three hours. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The wickets were shared around the Auckland attack,
including two for off-spinner Will Somerville, who is the Flying Dutchman of
New Zealand cricket, doomed to sail the Seven Seas forever and never see home,
as a test player at least. All six of his test appearances have been in the
heat and dust, and he may get the call to go to Pakistan over the New Year.
Look at Somerville and the way the selectors have treated Jeetan and Ajaz Patel
over the years and you might conclude that in New Zealand we treat dogs better
than we do spinners. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Auckland’s first innings was, in many respects, a copy of
Wellington’s. Solia was the dogged presence at the top of the order, and Ben
Horne the keeper who bolstered the innings at No 6. But the chorus was more
vocal for the visitors, with 44 from George Worker (a member of the Aptly-named
XI, along with Boycott and PJ Hacker of Notts, among others) and a tenth-wicket
partnership of 55, so though it looked much the same, a lead of 124 was the
outcome. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The pace was just as stately. It was as if Derek
Shackleton was bowling at one end and Tom Cartwright at the other. It was 1969
all over again, cricket with Nixon in the White House and Harold Wilson in
Downing Street. I found it calming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There was a short flurry of excitement when, after 96
overs Auckland found themselves 44 short of the second bonus point, available
for the first 110 overs of the first innings. Horne was provoked into a temporary
abandonment of pacifism and 250 was reached in just eight overs, after which tranquillity
was restored, with just nine from the next seven overs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In my absence on the third day, Wellington were shot out
for 132, leaving Auckland with just seven for victory. Lister was more
successful in locating the edge of the bat, with four wickets, and Somerville
took three more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And that is it for me and the Plunket Shield for this
season. Yes, in the equivalent of early May I have seen all the domestic
first-class cricket available to me in 2022/23. With two tests at the Basin
when the competition resumes next year, Wellington’s home fixtures are all
scheduled before Christmas. In fact, with India using the ground for practice
ahead of a T20 at the Cake Tin, the fourth (and final) “home” game was in
Palmerston North, two-and-a-half hours away and not in Wellington at all. Yet
Fitzherbert Park is an appropriate alternative to the Basin in that it is the
only other ground I know of on which the prevailing weather is a gale sufficiently
strong to gather up small dogs and children and deposit them in neighbouring
streets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Shorter forms of the game dominate the fixture list for
the next couple of months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-11601813141543402082022-11-05T06:50:00.004+13:002022-11-05T08:37:12.761+13:00Early Adventures in the Plunket Shield 2022<p><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#m2c4fd477-20f2-48d2-a99d-b7563d5b6522" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Wellington
v Northern Districts, Basin Reserve, 18-21 October 2022</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://scoring.nzc.nz/#m3812e71a-ef2f-495f-a0c9-df3b1031bca3">Wellington
v Canterbury, Basin Reserve, 26-28 October 2022</a></span></span><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The early-season blogger faces a perennial challenge when
reporting the first games at the Basin Reserve: how to convey the sheer
greenness of the pitch. Peter Jackson’s movie studios are nearby. Having
limbered up on Tolkien, are they applying their CGI artifice to
Wellington’s cricket blocks, producing a verdance that nature cannot match?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">As we have established before, a surface of that hue is
not necessarily as pernicious as it would be in England. Northern Districts
made 225 batting first in the season opener, and that was the lowest total of
the match. The case for the pitch’s defence became more shaky for the second
game, in which Wellington’s aggregate total was their lowest in 116 years of
the Plunket Shield. However, their innings were punctuated by Canterbury’s 338
for eight declared, with a century for Tom Latham and a fifty from Henry
Nicholls. Throw in Matt Henry’s seven for 44 in the match and it becomes clear
that this was a pitch that sorted the wheat from the chaff with considerable
efficiency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I was able to be present for only one session of each
match. For the Northern Districts game it was pre-lunch on the fourth day. ND
started the day 225 ahead with six wickets remaining, apparently heading for a declaration
close to lunchtime, but seamers McPeake and Sneddon expunged all six for just
23, leaving Wellington with a target of 250. It was one of those collapses that
give the team that suffers it a greater chance of victory, closing the innings
earlier than a more cautious declaration would have dared. This was a whisker
from being the case here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The highlight of both my mornings at the cricket was the
batting of Rachin Ravindra. He puts me in mind of the young Ramprakash (though
our man is left-handed) for the precocity and fluidity of his shots. Of course,
that comparison raises questions about whether the class will translate to the
top level. I hope that the national team management desists in using him as a
No 7 who can bowl a bit of spin, and waits until he can be given a decent run
in the top four. On this morning he hit several sumptuous cover drives before
getting out to a legside strangle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">When I left at luncheon (as John Woodcock would say) Wellington
were 77 for four, so ND would have considered themselves to be ahead. I caught
up with the live stream (a more basic affair than in the UK, with just a single
static camera) when Wellington were about 20 short with eight down. That they
were this close was down to Tom Blundell, who performed an innings resurrection
like those he undertook with Daryl Mitchell during the recent tests in England.
Adam Leonard went in a manner similar to Ravindra with six left to get, and it
was last man Hartshorn who secured an inside edge to the fine-leg boundary for
the winning runs. This was four-day cricket at its best. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There was no such tension when I got to the Basin for the
third morning of the match against Canterbury. The weather forecast was for
rain in the late afternoon and for much of the following day, so the visitors
had declared on the previous evening, setting Wellington a target of 378. They
started the day on nine for two.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, Ravindra’s batting was worth the trouble of going
to the Basin. He hit three offside fours off the otherwise near-unplayable
Henry that were Goweresque in their languidity. This time it took a good one to
get him, a ball from O’Rourke that rose a little and left him on off stump.
With nightwatchman McPeake in support, that wicket did not fall until we were
into the second hour, but thereafter only Blundell and the agricultural Newton
made double figures. It was all over in time for lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Despite the crushing defeat, Wellington have the same
points as Canterbury and the two teams lead the Plunket Shield table after two
of the eight games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-20038000898686720502022-10-15T16:36:00.005+13:002022-10-15T16:37:16.803+13:00The Cricketer & Playfair Cricket Monthly September 1972<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielEUaf5OAry9_hKe8xZUScjnoUvODeWRYuKPonNBYi6zJhGuk_RffwhAplVxEB5QvdHA-FWpNrRy9w8jOSvCMQJ8xGsK180MpzlkvcYx43OPLrENUTmH3_kmQ7Y7VqxKRSSsnPHxQPl4TfPySTDhvGalJ-OLEMuGRMemoigC_iSXnz0Oi81ckMXvefQ/s2873/20221015_154950%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2237" data-original-width="2873" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEielEUaf5OAry9_hKe8xZUScjnoUvODeWRYuKPonNBYi6zJhGuk_RffwhAplVxEB5QvdHA-FWpNrRy9w8jOSvCMQJ8xGsK180MpzlkvcYx43OPLrENUTmH3_kmQ7Y7VqxKRSSsnPHxQPl4TfPySTDhvGalJ-OLEMuGRMemoigC_iSXnz0Oi81ckMXvefQ/s320/20221015_154950%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Excavations in the cupboards of Scorecards Towers have
unearthed a second magazine to provide an insight into the cricket of half a
century ago: the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair Cricket Monthly</i>.
The April 1966 edition of this publication was the first cricket magazine that I
owned; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> did not become a
regular fixture until five years later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i> magazine
complemented the annual of the same imprimatur. Both were edited by Gordon
Ross. The annual remains a must-have for the serious cricket watcher in the UK
to this day, but by September 1972 the magazine was in its final months. It was
swallowed up by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i> in
1973. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i> concentrated almost
exclusively on the international and first-class game, while its senior rival
encompassed cricket at all levels. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The September editions of both focussed on the third and
fourth tests of what was becoming one of the finest Ashes series since the
Second World War. John Woodcock reported for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer</i>, while Basil Easterbrook<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>was there for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Easterbrook’s name will ring a bell with those who have
Wisdens of the 1970s on their shelves, as he has a feature in almost all of
them, on subjects ranging from ducks (“the dreaded cypher”) to county cricket’s
workhorses, the Mohammad family and Compton’s summer of ’47.<a href="file://psvmfs06/MyDocs$/hoarep/Desktop/Personal/Cricket%20writing/SEPTEMBER%2072%20CRICKET%20MAGAZINES.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> He was cricket
correspondent for the Kemsley regional newspapers, so his byline rarely
appeared in the national press, which was their loss; he writes lightly and
perceptively. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here is an extract from Derek Hodgson’s obituary of Basil
Easterbrook in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Independent</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Like most of his
generation, he was unenthusiastic about the advance of commercialism but he was
once put in charge of the Press Box hospitality at Worcester by a new and
happily naive sponsor. The hacks were duly impressed on the first lunchtime
when a bottle of Chablis arrived at each seat. Easterbrook beamed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The next day more
wine arrived accompanied by a fly-past from the Red Arrows. Challenged to top
this, on the last day, Easterbrook smiled and pointed out of the window to
where, under the shadow of the cathedral, the groundsman's hut had gone up in
flames.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">He was a small,
bright, perky man who could be waspish with fools and angered by injustice. He
always had a new humorous story. We had not seen him in the box since 1983 but
we still miss him. He spent his later days watching Torquay United, not always
happily, but he was always keen to tell you of the latest developments with the
Gulls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">England and Australia went to Trent Bridge for the third test
at one-all. Ray Illingworth astonished the cognoscenti by putting Australia in.
This seems nothing nowadays; at the Basin Reserve there would be widespread
swooning if the skipper winning the toss did not insert, but this was the era
of uncovered pitches, rest days, and unreliable weather forecasts. A captain
giving the opposition first use of the pitch on Thursday morning was gambling
on there being no rain from Saturday on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Losing such a wager was to be the downfall of Mike Denness
at Edgbaston three years later. Illingworth got away with it here, though the
pitch gave little of the expected help to England’s seamers, though there were
a succession of dropped catches on the first day. Things got worse in this
regard. Woodcock says that England’s fielding in the second innings was “the
worst anyone could remember from an England side”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Keith Stackpole’s century headed Australia’s 315. England
replied with only 189, and an unbeaten 170 from Ross Edwards left a target of
451. Brian Luckhurst led the rear guard with 96 over five-and-a-half hours. It
was England’s top score in the series, which made it all galling for we Kent
people that he was dropped after Headingley. England lost only three wickets on
the last day, on a pitch Easterbrook calls “this gentle featherbed”. In these
days of Bazball England would have had a go at scoring 340 in the day, but in
those more timid times it was out of the question, particularly as a draw meant
that Australia would have to win the next two tests to win the series. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">It is easy to throw
around emotive words like ‘disgrace’ and ‘scandal’ as labels for the pitch on
which England won the fourth Test by nine wickets with two days and ninety
minutes to spare, but rather more difficult to justify them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So begins Easterbrook’s report in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playfair</i>. Mention this game to an Australian fifty years on, and
those words will be the least of the vocabulary that is offered in response.
That the match saw the return of DL Underwood to the England XI fuels the
conspiracy theory. He took ten for 82 in the match and, as Woodcock wrote,
“Whichever side Underwood had been playing for would almost certainly have
won”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bryon Butler’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
the Press</i> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cricketer </i>quoted
two distinguished Aussies who started as their compatriots have gone on. Ray
Lindwall in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sun</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Call me an Aussie
squealer if you like [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OK, we will-Ed</i>]
but I am angry and disappointed that we should lose the Ashes this way. These
spinners’ pitches have cropped up too often in England for me to shake them off
and say ‘Hard luck, isn’t it?’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jack Fingleton in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sunday
Times </i>interviewed the groundsman in the presence of Joe Lister, the
Yorkshire secretary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">When I mentioned
the abnormal spin, Mr Lister intervened to say “Well wait and we will see how
the Englishmen handle this pitch.” I replied “But we have no Underwood or
Illingworth.” Mr Lister said he didn’t like the inference<a href="file://psvmfs06/MyDocs$/hoarep/Desktop/Personal/Cricket%20writing/SEPTEMBER%2072%20CRICKET%20MAGAZINES.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. I told him I would reply
to him later. It was the pitch I was interested in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Twelve of the other 21 wickets also fell to spinners. The
two reporters have contrasting explanations for the spin-friendly nature of the
pitch. Easterbrook blames a thunderstorm three days before the game that
flooded the field and hampered pitch preparation. Woodcock says that the
groundsman, alarmed by a hand injury inflicted by Willis on Boycott in a Gillette
Cup game a couple of weeks before, took too much grass off the pitch. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">On the afternoon
before the Test it was obvious for all to see that the pitch was to be a burial
ground for fast bowlers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stackpole’s 52 apart, none of the Australians contributed
more than 26 in the first innings, though Easterbrook cites Inverarity and
Mallett’s eighth-wicket partnership of 47 in defence of the pitch. I recall
watching on TV (we got our first colour TV that year, from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Radio Rentals</i>) as Underwood tied them up in an afternoon session in
which Australia lost six for 40 (though coverage was interrupted by racing from
Goodwood; the deprivations we suffered in the seventies). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That England secured a lead of 117 was largely down to the
104 that Illingworth and Snow put on for the eighth wicket. I have written
often enough that Illingworth is as good an example as Brearley of a captain
picked for his leadership rather than his runs and wickets, but he was most
likely to come up with a gritty fifty when the top order had not delivered.
Snow had considerable ability with the bat, when he could be bothered. He
finished his career opening the batting for Warwickshire in the Sunday League.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Paul Sheahan’s unbeaten 41 was the best Australia could
manage in the second innings, and Luckhurst hit the winning run before the end
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grandstand. </i>Five of the England
team turned out for their counties in the Sunday League the following day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Playfair
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">featured
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Captain’s Column</i>. In past years a
different captain had contributed each month, but in 1972 it was the sole
preserve of Kent’s Mike Denness. How things have changed over half a century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">…two of my own
county’s Test cricketers, Alan Knott and Brian Luckhurst, battled through a
five-day Test against Australia and were faced with an eight-day break before
the next Test.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">…as a county
captain I have found the greatest difficulty this year I keeping the players at
their peak with long breaks between games.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">…we have found in
Kent that we have had no cricket on two Saturdays. I would have thought that
Saturday is the one day we must play cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Both titles reported on the first Benson and Hedges Cup
final. John Arlott was there for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i>. It was as unmemorable as a final could be, with Leicestershire
taking 47 overs to overtake Yorkshire’s 136, though it was Leicestershire’s
first trophy in any competition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Arlott found one aspect of the day distasteful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">The mass singing
which accompanied the prize-giving was a stern indication of the difficulties
cricket speech-makers are likely to encounter in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I generally found the B&H final to be more raucous
than the 60-over equivalent, presumably because it was outside the football
season. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here is more on Basil Easterbrook from <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://questingvole.blogspot.com/2012/05/basil-easterbrook-forgotten-legend.html">The
Questing Vole</a></span> (aka Patrick Kidd).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file://psvmfs06/MyDocs$/hoarep/Desktop/Personal/Cricket%20writing/SEPTEMBER%2072%20CRICKET%20MAGAZINES.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In
researching Easterbrook’s writing I have discovered that my 1971 Wisden is
missing pp149-152. Is it too late to return it for a refund? <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="file://psvmfs06/MyDocs$/hoarep/Desktop/Personal/Cricket%20writing/SEPTEMBER%2072%20CRICKET%20MAGAZINES.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It must have been the pressure of the
moment that caused Mr Lister to confuse “inference” with “implication”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-18580250607735163452022-09-04T10:13:00.000+12:002022-09-04T10:13:17.264+12:00The Cricketer August 1972<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8F44IkRhqxcevHBLZbmrc6QyPW9Vb1KUKSunEw7qK-8P6O9PN0QQ9xwtuonwn66JbpbjD_0Wj88OXJm5zgH9iSl-xISMkVMv2UZViDqOyrRpVkKeHrLyD7jWr0d5oVtZW7rLuABnISOQOCrG0NGiQesbMvXa-QwjMsCBg5zQ8Up3k0Ub_9HjkZxyEg/s3264/Cric%20August%2072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8F44IkRhqxcevHBLZbmrc6QyPW9Vb1KUKSunEw7qK-8P6O9PN0QQ9xwtuonwn66JbpbjD_0Wj88OXJm5zgH9iSl-xISMkVMv2UZViDqOyrRpVkKeHrLyD7jWr0d5oVtZW7rLuABnISOQOCrG0NGiQesbMvXa-QwjMsCBg5zQ8Up3k0Ub_9HjkZxyEg/s320/Cric%20August%2072.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Ashes of 1972 was one of the best: four positive
results out of five (there had been just nine in the previous 26 Ashes tests),
some fine cricket directed by a couple of great captains, and, best of all, a
couple of conspiracy theories that provoke anger and resentment to this day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mention Headingley ’72 to an Australian and watch their
brow furrow and the phrase “doctored pitch” form on their lips. England fans of
that era will reply with a question: from where did a bowler from the dry air
of Perth summon a degree of swing of which Sinatra would be proud to take 16
wickets in his debut test? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bob Massie was the bowler and it earned him a place on the
cover of the August edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Cricketer</i>. John Woodcock, reporting from Lord’s on the second test, supplied
various explanations. The atmosphere was “heavy and humid” for the first three
days; Massie “confounding England’s batsmen by bowling round the wicket at
them” (the bounder); England replaced an unfit Geoff Arnold with JSE Price, a paceman,
instead of Tom Cartwright, or another bowler better suited to the conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But for Woodcock the main reason was a failure of batting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And at no time did England’s
batsmen bat as England batsmen are meant to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He lists the most recent individual scores of England’s
top three, Boycott, Edrich and Luckhurst, all Ashes winners 16 months
previously, and finds only one century and three half centuries in 34 visits to
the crease. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was possible to bat on the Lord’s pitch. Greg Chappell
did so sublimely, making 131 in what he rated his finest test innings. For
Woodcock:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was a superbly judged
piece of batting, and technically of the very highest quality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Richie Benaud profiled Massie in August’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cricketer</i>. Benaud is renowned as
cricket’s finest commentator, but this piece reminds us that his profession was
not leg spin, but journalism. It makes us regret that his writing was mostly
limited to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">News of the World</i>. It
is superb, the best thing in the magazine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Benaud does not share Woodcock’s critical view of the
English batting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I derived some amusement that
day from the people who besieged, perhaps attacked is a better word, me, with
advice as to how the England batsmen should have countered Massie’s bowling.
Had that advice been conveyed to them and had they acted on it, we would have
watched a wonderful spectacle: batsmen allowing the outswinger to pass and
hitting the inswinger, or allowing the inswinger to pass and smashing the
outswinger over cover point. In addition, they would have had to take block
outside the leg stump, and on the leg, middle and off stumps; kept side-on in
the stroke and opened their stance à la Barrington when the bowler operated
around the wicket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Massie’s 16 wickets at Lord’s constituted just over half
the total of his whole test career. His star shot across the sky but, without
the heat and humidity of Lord’s to keep it flying, it fell to Earth once more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some parts of the 1972 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cricketer</i>
could be inserted into the 2022 magazine with minimal alteration. Here is the
opening of Jim Swanton’s editorial, headlined, with a topicality undimmed by
the years, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of County Cricket</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To say that everyone in
county cricket is exercised about finding the best programme formula for the
future may be stating the obvious; but it seems worth stressing, seeing how
many people are dissatisfied with the fixture list à la 1972, with the Benson
and Hedges Cup now brought in to make a fourth competition, and the average
follower much muddled as to who is playing whom in what, and for how many
overs. Ideally there should not be four competitions, but – but ideally county
cricket should pay for itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With Swanton involved, the August edition was indeed
august. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am pleased to report that the great CJ Tavaré continued
to score runs with abandon, with an unbeaten 152 for Sevenoaks. Other
successful schoolboys who would later make cricket their career were Jeremy
Lloyds (eight for 13 for Blundell’s) and Alistair Hignell (a century for
Denstone). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gillette
Cup quarter-final Essex v Kent<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This edition of the magazine is a touch more weathered than
the others that have featured in earlier pieces. I think that is down to it
being well-travelled. It would have been in my bag when I went to Leyton for
the <a href="http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1972/ENG_LOCAL/GLTE/ESSEX_KENT_GLTE_02AUG1972.html">Gillette
Cup quarter-final</a>. There’s a sentence that sounds as if it comes from the Old
Testament. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Essex was still an itinerant club in those days, pitching
up somewhere for a week, then moving on. The caravan, including the scoreboard
on the side of a truck, happened to be at Leyton when Essex were drawn at home against
Kent, so that’s where the match was played, in the first week of August. It
seems odd that, at the stage of the season when many counties headed for the
seaside, Essex took themselves into London. The Hundred has adopted this
counter-intuitive scheduling half a century later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Leyton hasn’t seen any county cricket since 1977, but
Google Maps still calls it the County Cricket Ground, and it has featured on
cricket Twitter this very week, with the Cricket Writers taking on an ECB XI
there. As an unusual 13-year-old who knew a surprising amount of cricket history,
I was aware that it was the site of Holmes and Sutcliffe’s partnership of 555 for
Yorkshire in 1932, and of the run that was lost, then found again to ensure
that they had the record. It was Jim Swanton’s failure to meet his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Evening Standard</i> deadline to report the
record that lost him the trip to cover what became the Bodyline Tour, thus
removing a key peacemaker from the scene. According to Swanton, at least.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cricketer</span></i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and I actually went to Leyton twice, by East Kent coach;
it rained on the first day, and Wednesday’s soaking no doubt influenced what
occurred on Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 110 overs the two teams scored 264 runs between them, a
substantially slower scoring rate than most test matches now produce. For the
greater part of the game, defeat for Kent appeared inevitable. But just a few
weeks before, I had been at Folkestone for <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-sunday-league-catastrophe.html">the
Sunday League game</a></span> in which Kent’s last four wickets fell for no runs
when two were needed for victory, so I knew that hope and despair should be
kept close right to the last ball. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That Kent got as many as 137 was largely due to Asif
Iqbal, who played the most out-of-character innings of his career, 52 in 39
overs. He was well supported by Woolmer and Shepherd. The margin of victory was
the same as the tenth-wicket partnership between Underwood and Graham. The
latter made four, in which I suspect that the edge of the bat played a critical
role.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In those days, if you had 60 overs to chase a total it was
considered proper to use most of them up. People would have fallen over in a
faint had Bazball been explained to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this spirit, openers Edmeades and Wallace put on 55 in
25 overs. There was method behind this caution. Derek Underwood, just back from
taking ten wickets in the fourth test, came on as first change and the
intention was to see him off. This was achieved. He conceded only 12 runs from
11 overs, but did not take a wicket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was John Shepherd who prised Essex open. His first five
overs were all maidens, during which he took four wickets, all to catches at
slip or behind. The last of these was that of Keith Boyce who had come from
Barbados with Shepherd seven years before. Les Ames and Trevor Bailey had spotted
the pair on a Cavaliers tour. Both became beloved by the supporters of their
counties. Boyce, the pacier bowler, had a more successful international career
with 21 tests against Shepherd’s five. Their post-cricket lives were
contrasting. Boyce died of cirrhosis at 53, while Shepherd is still hitting
golf balls 50 yards further down the fairways of north Kent than might be
expected of a man in his late seventies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Five wickets fell for 14 runs, but 69 at two an over with
five left was not hopeless. Nowadays, there would be an attempt to hit bowlers
off their line on the basis that the fewer balls that were faced the fewer
their opportunities were to take wickets. In those more deferential times
bowlers could maintain an undisrupted line and length and let the pitch do the
rest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The report in the 1973 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kent
Annual</i> says that “Asif was one of several outstanding Kent fieldsmen, urged
on and inspired by Denness to rare brilliance”. This was one of the many
attractions of being a Kent fan at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From the fall of Boyce on, we felt the game to be in Kent’s
hands but the later Essex order were determined, and a last-wicket stand of 19
between East and Lever had us holding our breaths once more. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ever since those two games, at Folkestone and Leyton, I
have regarded low-scoring one-day games, with runs had to mined rather than
gathered where they fell, to be the best of the genre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Canterbury
Cricket Week<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Regular readers of Scorecards will know that I am not
sentimental about three-day cricket. As the years went on it became more-and-more
two days of going through the motions with a contrived run chase on the third.
But it could be wonderful, and the August 1972 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cricketer </i>would have been with me at St Lawrence for a week of
three-day cricket as good as you could wish for. It was the first time since
1938 that Kent won both matches at Canterbury Week. The opponents here were <a href="http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1972/ENG_LOCAL/CC/KENT_GLAM_CC_05-08AUG1972.html">Glamorgan</a>
and <a href="http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1972/ENG_LOCAL/CC/KENT_SUSSEX_CC_09-11AUG1972.html">Sussex</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was Bob Woolmer’s week. He is remembered as a
ground-breaking coach and a classy batter, but for Kent in 1972 his main role
was as a medium-pace bowler, a designation that he never carried out more
effectively than here, with 19 wickets in the week. Nine of these were bowled
or lbw, five caught behind, three in the slips, so he was clearly dropping it
on a sixpence. There was some assistance from a drying pitch in the Glamorgan
game, always helpful in moving a game on, but both Alan Jones and Mike Denness
made 150s, so it was not treacherous. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Both games followed a similar pattern. The visitors batted
first, Glamorgan more effectively than Sussex. Kent replied with a score over
300, before dismissing the opposition cheaply, leaving a chase on the final
afternoon. As well as the centuries there were fifties from Colin Cowdrey,
Majid Khan, Asif Iqbal, Brian Luckhurst, Graham Johnson and Malcolm Nash.
Underwood took five wickets against the Welsh (most of them were Welsh unlike
the ersatz version in the Hundred), and Alan Knott kept wicket sublimely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What a place, what a time, to learn to love cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-26388562219938791212022-07-24T12:48:00.000+12:002022-07-24T12:48:26.665+12:00The Cricketer: July 1972<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-5L-ixStTFka0bYuyek9AyQ5Uav46DLeToTyBpMVhkAITJ_OGEjc4TchatUIqyUYn00NQJCju2iFLd73Cw9MoTGCrowS9nKjUpBV6A0HEmgPIUvQMhK2CYHZyKlbgvXGsSE0ep5BrpWD9hZlhsUzVY-lJxZd1_b6GJLCRpgYEwtpPDba8hPss4zJ2A/s3264/Cric%20July%2072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-5L-ixStTFka0bYuyek9AyQ5Uav46DLeToTyBpMVhkAITJ_OGEjc4TchatUIqyUYn00NQJCju2iFLd73Cw9MoTGCrowS9nKjUpBV6A0HEmgPIUvQMhK2CYHZyKlbgvXGsSE0ep5BrpWD9hZlhsUzVY-lJxZd1_b6GJLCRpgYEwtpPDba8hPss4zJ2A/s320/Cric%20July%2072.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Ashes were the main attraction of 1972 and </span><i style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Cricketer</i><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> was fortunate to have John
Woodcock as its test match reporter. The July edition carried his account of
the first test, played at Old Trafford in early June.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">England won a seam-dominated match by 89 runs. John Snow
took eight wickets, backed up by Geoff Arnold and Tony Greig with five each.
Greig was making his test debut, though this would have come as a surprise to
him, given that he had appeared four times for England against the Rest of the
World in 1970, contests that were regarded as test matches at that time. He was
also ever present in the Rest of the World team that had played in Australia
the previous winter, matches that were never categorised by the Australians as
tests, though, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://mylifeincricketscorecards.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-cricketer-april-1972.html">as
discussed here previously</a></span>, they were manifestly of test quality.
Greig also made two half centuries at Manchester.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anybody who has read much of this blog will know of my
admiration for John Woodcock, but he did have a blind spot when it came to the
nationality qualifications of England cricketers in general, and of Tony Greig
in particular. It will be remembered that he wrote that one of things that
explained the Packer schism was that Greig was “not a proper Englishman”. His
report here develops this theme.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The ideal England team would
be composed of Englishmen, pure and simple. One might have said the same when
Ranji, Duleep or Pataudi were playing, or when D’Oliveira was first picked. If
I were an Australian I might wonder about the fairness of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But then I might count up the number of Aborigines in the
Australian team, find that there were none, and reflect that my team consisted
entirely of players who were, in the great scheme of things, recent immigrants
themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Woodcock reports that only 36,000 attended the test, which
lasted well into the fifth day. That is less than a third of those who went
through the gates of Old Trafford for the equivalent fixture in 2019, a comparison
that those who argue that test cricket is on permanent decline should note.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Alex Bannister, long-serving Cricket Correspondent of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Mail</i> (and no relation of Jack
Bannister, as far as I know) had a series running featuring a different county
each month. In July it was Worcestershire. The article ranges between the past
and the present in a pleasing way. I learned several things, including that
county secretary Mike Vockins was an agricultural biochemist (which might have
come in useful when the Severn made one its regular visits to the Worcester
outfield), and that the Nawab of Pataudi senior (the same as cited by Woodcock,
above) became a Worcestershire player only after having been turned down by
Kent. This would have been around the time that Lord Harris insisted that
Walter Hammond had to serve a two-year qualification for Gloucestershire
because he had been born in Dover while his soldier father was stationed there,
so perhaps embracing Pataudi would have been a double standard too far, even
for that scion of the aristocracy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bannister rated the 25-year-old Glenn Turner highly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are two Turners – one
intent on crease occupation; the other a magnificent strokemaker. In either
mood – and I prefer the latter – he is one of the world’s leading batsmen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Another New Zealander, John Parker, was on the
Worcestershire staff in 1972. Years later, when I was writing for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CricInfo</i>, Turner and Parker joined us in
the press box at Seddon Park in Hamilton and reminisced about their New Road
days. The conversation turned to the use of statistical analysis in modern
coaching. One or other of them said something along the lines of:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We had a computer that gave
feedback based on the study of the available data. It was called Norman Gifford
and it used to stand at short leg giving insightful readouts such as “what the
eff are you bowling that effing crap for?”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am writing on T20 Blast finals weekend, against which
the ECB have scheduled an ODI against India, thus depriving the participating
counties of their international players. A similar issue half a century ago saw
the boot on the other foot. Surrey and Sussex both refused to release their
players to appear for MCC against the Australians in the traditional pre-tests
fixture, preferring to retain their services for the Benson and Hedges Cup. I
generally avoid a romantic view of cricket in those days, but a time when
counties could tell Lord’s to stuff it was a great one in which to be alive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Denis Compton and John Snow both defended the decision,
but the majority of the cricketing establishment was outraged. Crawford White
of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Express</i> wrote that “as a
member of Surrey for 20 years and more, I think that this is a disgraceful
decision”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MCC Secretary Billy Griffith
called it “absolutely deplorable”, while EW Swanton, as Bryon Butler put it in
his monthly press review, “drew his sword”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">History of a most regrettable
sort has been made…It never occurred to me for a moment that this fixture would
not be held sacrosanct…In football, one hears, England suffers from the
selfishness of clubs. That is football’s affair. It is cricket’s affair to put
country first rather than the short-term financial advantage of a sponsored
competition, however good in itself…cricket has been done a grave disservice,
which is sure to have strong repercussions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is vintage Swanton. “Football” and “sponsored” become
terms of abuse. MCC is awarded dominion status. We see in our mind’s eye the
oafish member of the lower classes to whom he slips sixpence for furtive news
of the association game. And he gets it completely wrong. By the way, that
whirring noise is Swanton turning like a rotisserie chicken at the news that the
Varsity match has been exiled from Lord’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John Arlott profiles Peter Lever. His opening paragraph
will move any of us who treasure county cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The heart of English cricket
is the county game; and the essence of county cricket is not the Test star who
dominates it but the ordinary county cricketer who is there every day and gives
it his constant and fullest effort. He does not, like the representative
players, miss a dozen county games a year to play for his country. He is a man
for all seasons; county cricket is for him an achieved peak and a fulfilment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But the highlight of the July edition comes in the School
Review. It is the historic first appearance in the press of the great CJ Tavaré.
Then captain of Severnoaks School, he made 116 including 12 fours and—wait for
it—ten sixes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4Vues63KkevEhZ-QHuO-Risk6RvSFvj9ydaggVzCGzz8VbqAmPMnUnlyp7PTdefVWJ6EmDQwXziOhBNgkKDaBjTb1NknmewufsYf7MSte_7l2Ilzcm0aVj4sARaPdKOd5PzSnuH1-bLJUMWMqWHmUKm28biwt7hwRzIm7BVzz-rqaAHycUX8MLx_AA/s1168/Screenshot%202022-07-17%20190810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="742" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4Vues63KkevEhZ-QHuO-Risk6RvSFvj9ydaggVzCGzz8VbqAmPMnUnlyp7PTdefVWJ6EmDQwXziOhBNgkKDaBjTb1NknmewufsYf7MSte_7l2Ilzcm0aVj4sARaPdKOd5PzSnuH1-bLJUMWMqWHmUKm28biwt7hwRzIm7BVzz-rqaAHycUX8MLx_AA/s320/Screenshot%202022-07-17%20190810.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No doubt this news will provoke ill-judged and distasteful
remarks from the class of person who in earlier times would have earned a crust
by slipping news of Aston Villa’s away form to Swanton, and who know Tav only
as the obdurate fellow who was the tax manual of England’s batting in the early
eighties. But it will come as no surprise to those of us who knew the Sunday
Tavaré, the man who would dismantle any attack in the country over 40 overs. Three
of the Australians at Old Trafford would still be around in 1982/3 to play tests
against Tavaré.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1111954708286392671.post-6944369569527216542022-07-03T13:56:00.005+12:002022-07-03T14:37:48.444+12:00The Cricketer: June 1972<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRZGkHKN4MD12wS8RE9pNKqXCaDCZYBGSE1kj8ewEl836h2db3fBGhMStOSHxZfZl77KrDmNuvjVYzp8OOFNvWm1dzuhIze4jRAdsQK44nQUFBZ5Ams5DZHEIVGB7J7k-XgqPGsIo1cd-vw7ZUJcRtACZ1fSmOeg1r_57u_vS1St94Gsg7Nle5LedWg/s3264/June72.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRZGkHKN4MD12wS8RE9pNKqXCaDCZYBGSE1kj8ewEl836h2db3fBGhMStOSHxZfZl77KrDmNuvjVYzp8OOFNvWm1dzuhIze4jRAdsQK44nQUFBZ5Ams5DZHEIVGB7J7k-XgqPGsIo1cd-vw7ZUJcRtACZ1fSmOeg1r_57u_vS1St94Gsg7Nle5LedWg/s320/June72.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Tahoma, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">The touring Australian batter Doug Walters appears on the cover of the June 72 edition
of </span><i style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Cricketer, </i><span face="Tahoma, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">right knee almost
grounded, bat above his head on the follow through, ball presumably clattering
over the boundary at Worcester even as Patrick Eager’s shutter clicked. It was
a shot seen only on county grounds that summer; in the tests he scored just 57
in seven innings. On his four tours to Britain, Walters never made a test
century, an astonishing omission for a man who averaged almost 50 in that form
of the game.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Henry Blofeld reported from the Caribbean on the final
test of New Zealand’s first tour to that part of the world. It was drawn, as
were the previous four games in the series. It was only New Zealand’s third
five-test series. With none in the half century since, we can safely say it was
our last.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The West Indies were in transition between the great side
of the early and mid-sixties and that of the mid-to-late seventies. In the
featured game, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, the bowling was
opened by Vanburn Holder and Garry Sobers, now 35, who went for only 67 from 40
overs across the two innings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The run rate for the match was well short of
two-and-a-half an over. What a contrast to the turbo-charged series just
completed fifty years on. Readers of these pieces over the years will be aware
of my admiration for Brendon McCullum. We all have our XIs of favourite
cricketers; McCullum is captain of mine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">But the most dedicated of his fans could not have
anticipated the extent and speed of the change that he has brought to the
England team, transforming them from the frightened, risk-and-esteem-free unit
that we saw in Australia and the Caribbean into the warp-speed daredevils now before
us. What he has done is make them forget that they are English.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">At this rate, if he stays in post for the full four years
he could change the entire fabric of British society. People will start talking
to strangers on public transport. Beer will be drunk only if refrigerated. Café
patrons will refuse to accept bad coffee. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">For us in the South Pacific, it has all been a bit much. We
feel a certain nostalgia for the days when you could block for a draw for five
days, five times in a row. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Blofeld identifies four New Zealanders as “world-class”.
Glenn Turner hit his peak and averaged 96. Like Turner, Bevan Congdon made two
centuries in the series. The following year, Congdon was to score another pair
of hundreds (both170s) in a losing cause; Daryl Mitchell has gone one better.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Another to reach a career peak in the sun was Bruce
Taylor, whose fast-medium took 27 wickets at 17. More surprisingly, Blofeld’s
quartet is completed by slow left-armer Hedley Howarth, whose contribution was
“a much bigger one than his figures suggest”. You might hope so, given that
those figures were 14 wickets at 50, At least Howarth was picked; Ajaz Patel
has bowled all of two overs for the national team since he took all ten in
Mumbai at the end of last year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The most interesting piece in the June edition was
Christopher Martin-Jenkins’ profile of Alan Knott. These days, it would be
entirely unremarkable for a cricketer to speak of yoga (taught to him first by
Bishen Bedi), training with a soccer team (Charlton FC) for better fitness, or
pursuing perfection through continuous improvement. Knott, frequently mocked by
away crowds for his stretching regime during play, was way ahead of his time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">CMJ reminds us that, earlier in 1972, a selection panel of
Arlott, Cardus and Johnston had picked Knott ahead of Godfrey Evans as keeper
in England’s greatest post-war XI for a computer Ashes test (featured nightly
across a week on Radio 4 as I recall). It is gratifying to find that his genius
was recognised by his contemporaries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">There is also a profile of Warwickshire skipper Alan
Smith, better known as AC to differentiate him from MJK Smith, also of that
parish. Those familiar with AC as a keeper-batsman good enough to play six
tests will be surprised to see him pictured in mid bowl, deploying a
Procter-like chest-on action. There is a piece to be written on keeper-bowlers.
Something in the air at Edgbaston made custodians cast off the pads and grab
the leather. Geoff Humpage was wont to have eight overs of a Sunday in the
eighties. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">With Deryck Murray now in the team, Smith was free to bowl
more often, and did so with some effect in 1972, taking a five-for in both the
Championship and the Sunday League. He was a frightening sight, ball in hand.
His run up was that of a man charging a locked door, the teeth, bared in a
clown’s smile, only accentuating the aggression. The ball emerged from a
confusion of limbs, apparently an afterthought. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">AC Smith later became one of English cricket’s leading
administrators, famously (if Martin Johnson is to be believed) responding to a
journalist’s enquiry with “no comment, but don’t quote me on that”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter Hoarehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787338137200532386noreply@blogger.com0