Cricket for over 100 years has thrown up several interesting,
quirky, some aggressive, some likeable and some fascinating characters. Being a
team sport comprising of about 15 players
( including the reserves ). All the
teams are filled with a mix of characters who apart from their on field antics also keep the dressing room in
splits. It is indeed very difficult to choose a handful of enjoyable and fun
filled characters, but in this first
part of a 2 part article i have tried to bring to light two of the interesting characters.
Frederick Trueman – Frederick Trueman fondly known as Fred Trueman or fiery Fred was
one of the greatest fast bowlers to have played for England. Fred Trueman was
the first bowler to take 300 wickets. He opened the bowling with Ian bothom on
many occasions, but he had many a showdowns with the cricket establishment
criticising the board for its snobbishness and hypocrisy. He was known for his
rudimentary sense of humour, prodigious memory and forthright views on the
game. During the 1953-54 tour of the west indies, he had a very indifferent
tour with some controversial incidents on and off the field. Under instructions
from skipper Len hutton, Trueman had devised a strategy of bowling some
nasty and short stuff to the Carribean
batsmen and apparently did not show any sympathy for the batsmen who were
victims of his hostile stuff. He was not
very popular for this behaviour with the usually sports loving west Indian
crowds. He was apparently called ‘ The Bumper Man’ by the west Indian crowds.
He was also involved in a controversy along with Tony Lock and was reprimanded
but in reality it was Dennis Compton who
had been the culprit. After breaking the
barrier of 300 wickets, when asked whether anybody could break his record,
typically of fred “ Aiye anybody who
breaks the record will be mighty tired “. There have been numerous incidents
when Fred Trueman has exhibited his dry sense of humour and forthrightness
1} in a county circuit match, when dismissed by Fred Trueman, the batsman exclaimed “ that
was a very good ball Fred”. To this Trueman retorted “ Aiye it was wasted on you.
2} During the ashes test in 1960, the great bowler was
fielding on the boundary when a young batsman was coming out to bat and he
returned to close the gate to which Fred chirped “ don’t bother son you wont be there for long “.
3} in another ashes
test the Aussie team was pressing for victory and some Aussie fielders had
crowded fred trueman who was batting at one end . feeling nervous he exclaimed “ if you lads don’t back off, i
will appeal for bad light.
4} in a county match
for Yorkshire, when he induced an edge from the batsmen but only to be undone
by Raman Subba Row who was fielding at slips who failed to grasp the catch.
After the end of the over, Subba row sheepishly apologized to trueman for dropping the catch by saying that he
should have kept his legs close to each other to which trueman in his typical style said “
so should your mother “.
Sir Vivian Richards - The
west Indian team of the 70’s and 80’s
was full of great cricketers who were all colourful and likeable characters on
and off the field. Vivian Richards was
one of the greatest players to have
graced the cricketing field. In addition
to the immense talent which he possessed with bat, what stood out for him was
his unmistakable swagger while he was batting. Vivian Richards was a complete
package of a man possessed with the trademark swagger, his chewing of the gum
and his manner of taking off his proud west Indian maroon cap. He was the only
batsman of his era whom bowlers dreaded facing and even the great Pakistani all rounder Imran Khan also
admitted to having nightmares facing Richards. Imran said that Richards was the
only batsman whom he feared bowling to and even jokingly said that one needed a
helmet when bowling to Richards.
Viv Richards belonged
to Antigua and in the west indies he was known as king viv for his attitude and
body language which could intimidate any bowler. He was a very proud west Indian and wore his heart on his sleeve.
Right from his manner of walking confidently to his incessant chewing of the
gum and his swagger sent a clear signal to the opponents that he was coming out
to get them and they better be prepared. Viv Richards played hard and fair on
the field but when it came to off the field activities, he was a very chilled
out guy who would always go to the opposition dressing room and was never shy
of sharing a drink or two with the opposition players. The following incidents
amply demonstrate the kind of character
Viv Richards was.
1) Apparently in a
county game between Somerset and Glamorgan, Richards playing for Somerset was
facing a bowler called Greg Thomas. The bowler
Thomas was steaming in and bowled a
delivery three quarters short of length
and beat Richards and chirped “ you know what its round in shape and red in
colour , cant you see it”.
The next delivery was
an action replay of the previous one and
again Richards was all at sea and Thomas said “ its round in shape, red
in colour and weighs four and a half ounces of leather, cant you see it.
By now Richards had
heard enough and he strolled down the
wicket did some gardening and adjusted
his maroon cap in customary style and as the next ball was right in his slot, Richards
just wacked the ball out of the ground into the river flowing nearby the ground
. by the time the bowler had almost died seeing it go out of the park and Richards
retorted” you know how it looks like now go fetch it”.
2) in a match between Australia
and the West Indies, apparently Merve Hughes was bowling very briskly and kept
staring at Richards . viv was not amused and said “ man this is my land and my culture and in my
culture we just bowl. After dismissing Richards,
Merve Hughes just said “ in our culture
we just say f......k off.
3) in order to relieve
himself of the pressure of opening the batting and to gain some respite, Sunil
Gavaskar demoted himself down the order at no 4. To his utter dismay, Malcolm Marshall
dismissed Anshuman Gaikwad and Dilip Vengsarkar quickly without a run on the board and Gavaskar
walked in at no 4 with the score at 0/2 and Viv in his typical style said “ man
it does not matter where you bat the score is still zero.
Viv Richards once had come to the county match in a
helicopter wearing pads and with a
willow in his hand. Richards always played to win and once during a
presentation ceremony he was given the runner up trophy and he shocked one and
all by destroying the trophy saying that he did not keep any memories of
defeats.
With the presense of
such enjoyable and playful characters the game of cricket makes for an even
more enjoyable experience and the viewer
also feels all the more attached with the sport be it on the field or on
television.
No comments:
Post a Comment