When the game of cricket could be what it should
View(s):In 1977, when the Centenary Test match was played between Australia and England in Melbourne, to commemorate the first-ever Test match at the same venue, the result was a win for the former by 45 runs. Nothing bizarre or abnormal for a game to end in this manner. One may say. The point, however, which makes this result so uncanny is that, the first game, 100 years earlier, also ended identically, viz: a win for Australia by 45 runs.
No wonder, whether it be a Test match or a T20 game, or not to mention a tennis ball game played by kids in short pants, with their own rules, which would make members of the MCC shudder, there’s always a needle in such games. Of course, though old members of the staid MCC may shudder, the current President, Kumar Sangakkara, having participated in such games- e.g. as “last man no chance” or, if a batsman hits a ball over the fence to a neighbour’s house, it is “six and out”- will bring back pleasant memories, because he’s been through this himself.
True, there’s been much fun and joy when the game was played in the past, when this noble game was conducted without money creeping into the sport and making it an industry, and its attendant corruption. Match-fixing, spot-fixing, and with the bookies, possibly taking the lion’s share, makes one wonder, whenever a game ends in a bizarre manner, was this fixed? No wonder, recently, a former President of Sri Lanka Cricket was banned both internationally (by the ICC) and by the local Minister of Sport as well.
When the first Test match and the next game played 100 years later, between the same contestants, ended similarly, no questions were asked, because there weren’t any bookies around!
However, the game can be cruel too. When the greatest ever batsman needed a mere 4 runs to end his career with a batting average of 100 runs, The Don was dismissed second ball for a ‘duck’, by a little-known English leg-spinner, Eric Hollies, thus his batting average ended, perched at 99.94, from 80 Test innings. Recently, and even a bit earlier, many an outstanding batsman has been compared to Bradman’s figures, when journalists try to grab the headlines by quoting Bradman. The difference is as follows: Not only did The Don play on uncovered pitches, and unlike modern players who travel by air (Business class!) and occupy 5-star hotels when on tour, Bradman and his contemporaries voyaged by boat, and even internal travel used to be made (Melbourne-Sydney-Perth, for instance) by train powered by steam engines. When England or Australian teams travelled for an Ashes tour, the teams were out of home for over 6 months. And the remuneration the players received was nothing to write home about.
History was made when the famous Grace brothers of England, Dr.W.G., E.M. and G.F. played together in a Test match at the Oval in 1880. A memorable feat indeed. Perhaps, did Dr.W.G. have a hand in the selection of his brothers? It would have been interesting to have accompanied a fly on the wall! In 1969-70, the 3 Mohammed brothers from Pakistan, Hanif, Musthaq and Sadiq did the same against New Zealand at Karachi.
Then, take the instance when a former Royal College left-arm leg-spinner made his Test debut against New Zealand at Asgiriya, in March 1984. , Going into bat at No.11, he top-scored with 34 runs. This was the first occasion when a No.11 batsman, on his Test debut, top-scored the innings. 35 years later, yet another left-arm spinner, an Australian in this instance, Ashton Agar, going into bat at No.11, not only top-scored the innings (98), but also went onto establish a last-wicket wicket Test batting partnership record as well. Isn’t it strange that both Jayantha Amerasinghe and Ashton Agar were left-arm spinners, and the latter’s mother was a Sri Lankan?
Recently, India’s head coach, Ravi Shastri was photographed whilst having a cat nap in the dressing room! However, one must remember that, in a Ranji Trophy match in the 1984-85 season, whilst playing for Bombay against Baroda, he equaled the feat by Garfield Sobers of hitting 6 sixes in an over, off the bowling of left-armer Malcolm Nash (normally a paceman), but was experimenting with spinners. Amazingly, there is a common factor amongst the 4 players. The two batsmen and the two bowlers involved in the two separate occasions, when 6 sixes were hit in an over, during a first-class match. Batsmen, Gary Sobers, Ravi Shastri, and bowlers Malcolm Nash and Tilak Raj, all bowled left-arm spin! Of course Sobers could bowl pace too.
Yet another cricket quirk that happened in our own backyard was, when Sri Lanka, in its maiden Test against England, in February 1982, totaled a modest 218. Ranjan Madugalle (65) top-scored, while Arjuna Ranatunga (54) made their maiden half-centuries. Three years later, Sri Lanka hosted India at the SSC grounds and totaled 347 runs. The same duo of Madugalle (111) and Arjuna Ranatunga (103) scored their maiden centuries. This is the first occasion in the history of Test cricket when 2 players, from the same side, registered their maiden half-centuries and their respective centuries in the same innings. This is not all. When the two Sri Lankans made their half-centuries, in the first-ever Test, the home side totaled 218. However, when the duo made their centuries, 3 years later, it was India who was wrapped up for an identical total of 218 runs!
During the 1979-80 series, though not for the Ashes, the first Test was played in Perth. Legendary Australian paceman, incidentally, who once failed to introduce aluminium cricket bat into Test cricket, was on strike against England paceman Graham Dilley, the latter was making his debut. Dilley dismissed Lillee for 19 runs, indeed the only wicket he captured in the innings. And, the all iterative scorecard recorded: “Lillee ct. Willey b. Dilley 19”, but the scorecard could not record that Lillee was caught in the gulley! That certainly would have been the icing on the cake!