My Work
GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 195
March 2019
Caption Competition
1. Ian Botham: When A.B. de Villiers said that he had always wanted to play county cricket, surely, he didn’t mean for Middlesex?
2. Jonathan Agnew: Is it fair that we are resting Ben Stokes for the T20s and get Sam Curran as replacement and the West Indies rest Ashley Nurse and get Andre Russell as replacement?
3. West Indian Batsman injured at the crease: What do you mean you are sending out Chris Gayle as my runner?
4. Trevor Bayliss: What fitness regime do you follow, Chris?
Chris Gayle: I don’t understand what you mean. Can you pass the spliff, please?
5. Adil Rashid: All I have to do now is find a way of avoiding bowling at any of the top order.
Rashid Khan : I’ll take them - none of them can play me.
Out & About with the Professor
It is well known that one of the legacies of imperialism is sport. In exchange for robbing, extorting and enslaving indigenous populations for a couple of hundred years, the imperial powers left them organised games to play. An alternative, of course, was to wipe out the indigenous populations and have your own migrants play the sports they played at home. This second case is called “Australia”.
I was pondering on this last week when I found myself in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. The population of Argentina, following the Spanish invasions, is a melange resulting from the huge 19th century migrations from Europe. A local phrase, so I was told, is that: “The Mexicans are descended from the Aztecs, the Peruvians descended from the Incas, and we are descended from the ships.”
The sports most associated with these various groups are football, of course, rugby (the Welsh émigré influence), polo, tennis and nowadays, the whole menu of competitive international sports. The national sport of Argentina is “Pato”, a sort of handball on horseback, where the ball is thrown through a hoop to score. “Pato” means, apparently, “duck”, and the game was originally played with a live duck as the ball. My guide told me that it was not very popular these days.
But what of cricket? Well the game has been played here since the 19th century. Argentina had a national side in 1860s and are currently the South American champions (maybe not too much competition, but a title is a title). There are MCC tours of course and club cricket as well. The Buenos Aries Cricket Club was, I was told, one of the oldest and most important and so, in my role of Googlies roving reporter, I set off for the ground….and this is it! Or, sadly, this was it. This rather splendid pavilion burnt down in 1948 – then, as now, when an old pavilion burns down fingers are pointed (normally, in this country, at the Secretary and Treasurer – if recently re-insured) and some doubts apparently still linger. It’s a great shame, since not only does it look impressive but also it was right in the heart of the city. The old ground is now buried under a “visitor attraction”: the Galileo Galilei planetarium, no less. They are good at burying things in Argentina. During the Galtieri period some 30,000 people “disappeared”. It is widely believed that very large numbers of bodies are buried under an inner city motorway. Should you be seeking a poignant memorial, it would be hard to better the informal “graveyard” that has been constructed under a flyover, of hundreds of tiny crosses placed there by parents who will never know where their children are buried.
The cricket club, after the conflagration, merged with (and is now rather dominated by) the rugby club and moved out of town to San Fernando. The ground is now a sports “complex” bristling with rugby posts. But I was told that the game was growing in popularity (which may or not be the case) and Argentina challenge some of the “big names” in the Americas ICC competition (ie Canada and the USA). The story I liked best was of a match about ten years’ ago against the Bahamas. Argentina scored a very healthy 333-5 from their 50 overs only to see Bahamas make the same score from 33 overs when they were promptly bowled out. Bahamas tied the game with just the hundred balls left.
I did see what was described as an “impromptu” cricket pitch in Buenos Aires but it looked little more than a patch of mud.
So, difficult to say whether cricket in this part of the world has a future. Perhaps some Googlies readers have been out on a club tour or with the MCC or have worked in the country and have a view. The imperialists planted cricket in more fertile ground in other parts of the world perhaps, but Buenos Aires in the summer would be a lovely place to play cricket.
This and That
Jason Holder’s performance as the West Indian captain over recent years has been exceptional both in terms of his own personal performances and in doing the seemingly impossible of getting the disparate group to perform at test level. He is a meticulous planner which is good but it does extend to extensive inter-over discussion with his players which inevitably leads to a very slow over rate. The paying public are entitled to ninety overs a day and stand no chance of seeing them when Holder is playing. I therefore applaud the ICC for their ban on Holder for the third test but it did lead to a hollow English victory as the West Indians were a different side for this match.
Delays to play is the stuff of modern international cricket and the referral system plays a major part in this. The third umpire has to juggle with four different aspects when there is an appeal either way for an LBW decision. First, a side on camera enables the adjudicator to assess whether the bowler has overstepped the popping crease. Next, a head on view assesses whether the batsman has made any contact with the ball. This process is augmented by Snicko (or equivalent technology) made complicated by the technology failing to differentiate between bat, glove or any other noise it picks up. Finally, he goes to ball tracking which establishes whether the ball has pitched in line with the stumps or otherwise as appropriate to the status of the appeal. After this the system projects whether the ball would go on to hit the stumps. All this can take quite some time even if all goes well. But any delay in the provision of the requested camera angles or rewinding of the technology can render it interminable.
The process goes through a proscribed sequence and it is particularly irritating to the spectator when an eternity is wasted getting to the point when it is established that the ball pitched outside the leg stump when either Broad or Anderson is appealing against left handers. For experienced operatives their judgement is surprisingly flawed.
Strangely, though, the longest delay I have encountered recently is over a run out. There was no question over the dismissal since both batsmen ended up at the same end but the technology was called upon to adjudge whether they had crossed in order to determine which player was out. The third umpire had terrible trouble conveying to the technicians which angles he wanted and they seemed unable to produce anything helpful. Ultimately after an eternity of at least five minutes, Malik was given out but it was anyone’s guess and interest in the proceedings had waned.
And then in Grenada they had an extra day to prepare when the third ODI was washed out but before a ball could be bowled in the fourth match a good five minutes was wasted because the sightscreen could not be altered from advertising hoarding to plain blackboard.
I have been fortunate to have seen live on televised cricket a number of exceptional events – Pietersen’s mauling of Stein at Headingley, Broad bowling out the Aussies before lunch at Trent Bridge, Stokes’ 258 in South Africa and I now have a week of Gayle’s big hitting together with an exceptional innings by Joss Butler. The term “out of the ground” has been diminished over recent years as commentators apply it to any six in an attempt to engender excitement in the proceedings. However, their script has had to be re-written this week. The grounds at Barbados and Grenada are not small and the fact that the boundaries were marked inside the playing arena were irrelevant. The ball was regularly hit into the stands and the technology identified the distances between ninety and one hundred yards. This is a long way but when Gayle despatched a couple of deliveries over the stands and out of the ground completely they were adjudged to be hits of over 120 yards. I suppose you could say it was a waste of effort since he still only got six for them.
The hitting styles of Gayle and Buttler couldn’t be more different. Gayle stands still holding his railway sleeper and blocks or lets go most deliveries but once it is short or in the slot he swings down and through the ball and invariably it travels a great distance. Buttler, once he has his eye in, is similar to de Villiers in that he seems to believe that every delivery can be dispatched for six. Like Gayle he will dismiss short or slot balls, but he also takes on Yorkers and low full tosses. He moves around the crease and hits the ball late and with great wrist and bat speed and minimal pick up. In Grenada his most memorable shot for me was a low full toss/Yorker which he flicked his wrists at. The ball seemed to be going nowhere and suddenly we all realised that it had screamed straight back down the ground for six. Buttler took 45 balls in compiling his first 50 and just 32 in making his subsequent 100. The international fastest 100 is 31 balls by de Villiers.
The sad things about Gayle and Buttler’s performances is that they overshadow high quality contributions from Roy, Hales and Morgan. It is truly extraordinary and a tribute to the others that Hales isn’t a first choice for this ODI side. He lost his place after the Stokes’ Bristol incident and it seems that he is paying a greater penalty than Stokes is.
Chris Gayle has featured in all aspects of the game this week. Whilst exhibiting the extraordinary hitting in Barbados he also gave an exhibition of terrible running by refusing simple singles and not even contemplating twos. I couldn’t wait to see how he performed in the field and he didn’t disappoint. He made all of the worst fielders I ever played with look mobile and keen - Peter Huntley, Bertie Joel and even Don Wallis.
The South African spinners Shamsi and Tahir seem to get on well which is a little surprising since as wrist spinners, left and right arm respectively, they are competing for the same spot in the side. However, they have developed a new form of celebrating a wicket. After dismissing a batsman Tahir, having competed his tour of the square arms aloft, removes a shoe and holds it up to his ear as if making a phone call. Shamsi, in the pavilion, will conduct a similar routine and they then spend some seconds “chatting” to each other. All harmless fun and so, I suppose, is Sheldon Cottrell’s march and salute each time he takes a wicket. We can only wait to see what comes next and how it will be encouraged in the T20 and Hundred competitions.
For some time now the big four batters in world cricket have been Kohli, Root, Smith and Williamson although there must be some question mark over Smith’s inclusion in this quartet. The front runner to join this group must be Babar Azam the talented Pakistani.
Both Afghanistan and Ireland are looking to be taken seriously as cricketing nations but it was the former who came out on top of their recent T20 series. Afghanistan set a Twenty20 international record total as they scored 278-3 exceeding the previous record of 263-3 set by Australia against Sri Lanka in 2016. Hazratullah Zazai finished on 162 not out - only five runs short of the T20 international record set by Australia's Aaron Finch against Zimbabwe last year. Zazai's 62-ball knock in Dehradun included an international T20 record of 16 sixes and his century came off only 42 balls. Rashid Khan took four wickets when Ireland batted and then another five in the third game to complete an emphatic demolition of Ireland.
Meanwhile in South Africa the Sri Lankans won the two-match series equally emphatically. In the first game Sri Lanka were 226 for 9 chasing 304 when Vishwa Fernando joined Kumal Perera at the crease. They went on to win by 1 wicket with Perera 153 not out. In the second match the South Africans were dismissed for 128 in their second innings leaving Sri Lanka needing 197 to win which they duly did by eight wickets. Another class act rising star, Oshada Fernando, made 73 not out.
I have not noted many exceptional performances in the Big Bash this season but the Melbourne Stars scored 156 for 8 against the Brisbane Heat. In reply the Heat knocked them off without loss in ten overs. Ben Cutting was 81 not out from 30 balls with 8 sixes.
One of the problems with watching televised soccer is that you rarely get to hear what the crowd is singing or saying. However, during the Sheffield Wednesday cup tie at Stamford Bridge I could clearly hear the visiting fans using the tune of one of the great anthems of our age “Hey ho silver lining” which accommodated their team’s name perfectly.
Some of the stats provided about the performance of professional footballers is apparently provided by satellite hook-up. It is impressive to hear that Kante has covered eleven miles during a ninety-minute outing although I doubt whether Stew Morison would have racked up as much mileage during a game. I am always dubious about the assessment of assists and passes since it must be substantially a judgement call.
Morgan Matters
The GJM gives us another peak into his diary
The Rs beat Pompey 2-0 with goals from Nahki Wells and Matt Smith to progress to the 5th round for the first time in 22 years.
S Law has signed Mujeeb ur Rahman, a 17 year old leggie, for the T20.
That was a strange business about S Gabriel slagging somebody off for being gay and Root telling him off for his prejudiced views. Gabriel is now likely to get a suspension, but the question remains: who was it that Gabriel was actually having a go at? My view is that it had to be one of Root's batting partners, which makes it either Denly or Buttler. I think it has to be Buttler because i) Denly has not been on the international circuit for a while (though he has played in Asian T20s and has an IPL gig with Kolkata this year) and the chances are that Gabriel knows little or nothing about him; ii) Buttler has been a regular in the England squad in recent times and has been a prominent player in the hit and giggle competitions (like the IPL) for even longer so the chances are that Gabriel has come up against him fairly often; and iii) Buttler seems to be a secretive type, who wants as little about himself as possible to be made public: for example, his page in the Cricketer's Who's Who (uniquely) reveals absolutely nothing about him, there is a small collection of facts there, but there is nothing personal there and none of it was written by himself. Guilty as charged, your honour?
England's next Test is not until 24/7 v Ire @ Lord's.
Gabriel has now been banned for the next four ODIs.
Al Amarat T20: capt P Stirling made 71 off 51 (A Balbirnie was next best with 34 off 24) but did not give himself a bowl as Ire beat Oman by 15. I read somewhere that Stirling will become an overseas player next year (because Ire now play at the top table) and so may have to leave Mx as it will prevent them acquiring someone better!
Moeen now has 44 wkts at 23 in his last 8 Tests, which takes him to 177 Test wkts, overtaking GAR Lock on the all-time list of English spinners, with only Laker (193), Swann (255) and Underwood (297) ahead of him.
The Rs did well to dominate the first half against Watford, but the visitors sneaked a goal on the stroke of half-time and were determined to hang on to it so it was yet another defeat for Rs to follow 5 consecutive losses in the Championship. A capacity crowd of 17,212 attended. The G gave us a large photo (of the Watford goal) and a long report covering most of a page. I do not follow the footy as closely as I used to, so I was shocked to see that, on the same night, Sunderland drew 2-2 at home to Accrington Stanley in League 1 (the third division to me!)
Ex-Middlesex man P Farbrace is the new Sport Director of Warks.
V Marks says that the four key players who could be crucial to England's chances of winning the Ashes series are: Root, Stokes, Burns and Wood.
Oman Quadrangular T20: ex-Middlesex man Stuart Poynter hit a six off the last ball of the match to earn Ireland a 1 wkt win over Netherlands: Netherlands 182-9, Ire 183-9 (ex-Middlesex man Andy Balbirnie 83, P Stirling 1, S Poynter 8*).
Oman ODI: this was a close one, Oman 24 a/o in 17.1 overs (R Smith 4-7, A Neill also 4-7); Scot 26-0 in 3.2 overs (K Coetzer 16*, M Cross 10*?).
Oman ODI: incredibly, Oman thrashed Scot by 93 runs, a day after being tonked by 10 wickets! Oman 248-8 (K Nawaz 64, S Sharif 3-60... or was it M Nadeem who scored 64, the Beeb website is confused; Scot 155 a/o (R Berrington 37, M Nadeem 3-38).
England’s squad for 3 T20s v WI in early March includes S Billings and D Malan, but missing out are Stokes and Buttler (rested) and Roy (expecting his first child).
C Silverwood is being tipped as the replacement for T Bayliss as England's head coach.
Hundred matters: Surrey seem to be the only county with any sense at all as they are not happy to endorse the daft 100 ball concept and silly ECB chairman C Graves is threatening to ban Surrey from hosting matches... I might have to join Surrey!
AB de Villiers has signed for Mx, but only for T20s: does Law think that T20 is our priority?
Loftus Rd: The Rs ended their run of 7 straight defeats when “the game’s stand out player” Luke Freeman scored the only goal of the match on 49 mins. Leeds would have gone top if they had won, but Rs move 12 points clear of the relegation places.
SA's D Olivier is giving up his international career (permanently?) in order to play as a Kolpak for Yorks.
Stokes, Moeen and Buttler are all going home after Sat's 5th ODI and will be replaced by S Curran! He might be a logical replacement for Stokes, but will he also have to bowl off-spin and keep wicket?
What would Jack Robertson think?
The Professor asks us a question that many of us have been pondering
Every now and again when watching contemporary cricket matches I find myself pondering what players from an earlier age would make of it all. Jack Robertson played for Middlesex and England and for very many years was the coach (possibly Head Coach – I don’t know) at the indoor school at Finchley. He coached myself and a fair few other boys from my school. I would guess that a significant number of Googlies readers would have had coaching from Jack, and many others would know his name.
He was, as I recall, a charming man: gentle, calm and (as he had to be) endlessly patient. He coached, as befitted the times, from the MCC coaching book. We all had high elbows, a foot to the pitch of the ball, and, above all, played straight.
Last week, amid the turmoil of these extraordinary ODIs I watched Ashley Nurse batting towards the end of the fourth match. He was swishing and bludgeoning away – to some good effect – when, for some reason, he decided to play a scoop. Now we all, these days, are familiar with this shot as perfected by Dilshan; you drop to one knee and help the ball over your left (or right) shoulder to the fence. Buttler’s variation includes “helping” the ball with some considerable power from a variety of lengths and directions.
Nurse is not as good at it as these two. At some time (presumably) during the bowler’s run up (may have been Woakes or Plunkett) he decided to scoop. He jumped round through 90 degrees so he was face-on to the bowler, stood bolt upright, turned the bat face flat in his hand so it resembled a paddle, and tried to hit an 80mph ball with a two handed shovel shot back over his own head.
He missed.
The full shovel swing of the bat carried it back behind him and the ball hit him plumb in the chest. In what I know is a crowded field, it could be a decent entry into the “ugliest shot in cricket” competition.
He didn’t seem phased in any way, and simply went back to swishing and bludgeoning.
But…what would Jack Robertson have thought?
Harry Rose
I received the following from Bob Fisher
I was sorry to read about the passing of Harry Rose. Our experience of him at Ealing and maybe that of other clubs were his total reluctance to give anybody out lbw. We used to laugh about it with him in the bar after the game but it got to the stage when almost to ensure that this reputation was not lost, that he never gave us an lbw decision, that might be an exaggeration but that is how I seem to remember it. I know that Akan Price always used to insist that he did not bowl from Harry's end.
One of our past captains, Mark Brew passed away very recently at the age of 84. He joined Ealing in 1958 and very quickly won a First Team place, opening the batting with Brian Stevens, a partnership that remained until 1967 when he retired. His regular opening spot then being taken up by Brian Puddephatt. Mark was the perfect foil to Stevo, an accomplished player, very quick between the wickets and happy to watch Stevens hitting it to all parts at the other end. He captained the club from 1964 to 1967. He was an excellent squash player, leading the Ealing Squash Club to two Cumberland Cup wins in the 1960's and he won their Club Championship for ten successive seasons.
I received the following from John Williams
So sorry to hear of the passing of Harry. He was a well known and respected character on the Harrow cricket circuit. He was the official scorer when Harrow AMCC toured Barbados in 1975. Brian Hall - Stanmore and Worcestershire - was working for RCA in those days and they had just brought out a record called "Harry" which he circulated to all tourists on their return from Barbados with these words "he emerged as a very good tourist, but failed to fiddle the score sheets to give us a win." Harry was somewhat eccentric but a lovely fellow and excellent company. On that Tour I was vice captain and my opposite number in the game against YMPC was a little known , at the time, Bajan called Collis King.
Another local cricketer who passed away recently was Mel Bellamy, 85, the Harrow St Mary's President .Apart from a couple of seasons in mid 60's when he played at Harrow Tow Mel had been a stalwart of St Mary's all his life. He was a fine opening bowler and a stylish middle order batsman. In later years even into his eighties he was a competitive golfer at Sandy Lodge. At the wake in the St Marys clubhouse there was a picture of the teams who played in the match between St Mary's and Harrow School in 1926. In the back row were a tall Harrow schoolboy, T. M. Rattigan, and W. H. Wignall of St Mary's who went on to play for Middlesex 1934-1936. What a shame Mel will miss the 1st appearance by St Mary's in County League top division on May 11th v. Hampstead. I bumped into one St Mary's stalwart who is determined not to miss this momentous occasion. And of course they will have the services of coach, Ravi Patel.
Ron Hooker
I heard this week that Ron Hooker had died. I will welcome all notes and reminiscences and include them in next month’s edition.
The Franklin Scale
This was introduced last month and prompted Steve Thompson to join the reminiscences
Your drink-driving references relating to Jim Franklin brought back similar memories for me. In that context you of course had the good fortune to live within staggering distance of the club and could disembark and carry. I on the other hand lived not half a mile from Jim’s home in Chiswick. Jim would inevitably be one of the last to leave the pavilion and would give reassurances that his car ‘drove itself’. Ironically, Jim’s laid back, one hand on the wheel - one hand clutching his pipe, driving style was strangely reassuring accompanied as it was by a Bing Crosby-like humming and a rhythmic clearance of the throat. I must have been chauffeured in this way more times than I now dare to remember.
Some of your readers will no doubt be familiar with the story of David Jukes who once scored three hundreds in a day. The first when playing for the Bush in an away fixture, the second ton was on the motorway on his return journey from said match and the third as a direct consequence of the second and the intervention of the local constabulary.
George had been copied in on Steve’s email and he responded:
Well Steve, that’s a truly excellent double: well done! I can see Jimmy now with that pipe in, half smile… and I can hear the hum and the throat clear. Would I also be right in saying that the car had a column gear shift so that not much energy was needed for that either?
Steve responded
I think that gear shift mechanism probably was there although my technical knowledge was about as far advanced in those days as the lovely Reg Fardon’s who I also recall whilst on the 100 JF Scale insisted on attempting to ram his kit into the boot of his newly acquired VW Beatle. It took him some time and a range of expletives to identify it was a rear-engine model. Great memories of halcyon days.
Rangers Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this piece by Giles Coren
I took my five-year-old son Sam to Loftus Road on Friday night to watch Queens Park Rangers play Watford in the fifth round of the FA Cup. To keep him real. Sam is a football nut and an Arsenal fan, a situation I engineered because after 45 years of heartache, boredom and irrelevance supporting QPR, I felt I owed him the chance to follow a team that has lots of other supporters, a handful of famous players, a massive modern stadium and occasionally wins things.
But when Rangers beat Portsmouth to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 22 years, making it pretty much our biggest game for a quarter of a century, I thought Sam might as well get a glimpse of his dad’s ropey old first love, from poky folding seats where even he would struggle for leg room, in a rusty old sardine tin of a ground, just to get a bit of perspective.
On the way, I explained that, no, we have never won a major trophy. Except a League Cup once upon a time, when dinosaurs walked the Earth. This year, in the league, we haven’t even won a match. On the night, in typical fashion, we played better than Watford but went a goal down just before half time to their first attack of the match and were knocked out of the cup. Season over.
One detail I’d forgotten about Loftus Road was the terrible sightlines created by thee stanchions holding up thehe roof. From where we sat, one goal was completely obscured so that as playy moved, the crowd around us swayed from side to side, like the front row on Top of the Pops, trying to get a better view. Next to me was an old season-ticket holder who has watched QPR from the same spot for the past 43 years.
“But it’s a terrible seat,” I said. “You can’t see a thing. Why have you never moved?”
“Can’t move,” he replied. “It’s my lucky seat.”
“Lucky?” I laughed. “We’ve had the worst 43 years of any club in world football!”
“That’s not my fault,” he replied glumly. “It’s all these other bleeders sitting in the unlucky seats.”
Occupational Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this job opportunity for Googlies’ readers:
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
www.googliesandchinamen.com
Googlies and Chinamen
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James Sharp
Broad Lee House
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 195
March 2019
Caption Competition
1. Ian Botham: When A.B. de Villiers said that he had always wanted to play county cricket, surely, he didn’t mean for Middlesex?
2. Jonathan Agnew: Is it fair that we are resting Ben Stokes for the T20s and get Sam Curran as replacement and the West Indies rest Ashley Nurse and get Andre Russell as replacement?
3. West Indian Batsman injured at the crease: What do you mean you are sending out Chris Gayle as my runner?
4. Trevor Bayliss: What fitness regime do you follow, Chris?
Chris Gayle: I don’t understand what you mean. Can you pass the spliff, please?
5. Adil Rashid: All I have to do now is find a way of avoiding bowling at any of the top order.
Rashid Khan : I’ll take them - none of them can play me.
Out & About with the Professor
It is well known that one of the legacies of imperialism is sport. In exchange for robbing, extorting and enslaving indigenous populations for a couple of hundred years, the imperial powers left them organised games to play. An alternative, of course, was to wipe out the indigenous populations and have your own migrants play the sports they played at home. This second case is called “Australia”.
I was pondering on this last week when I found myself in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. The population of Argentina, following the Spanish invasions, is a melange resulting from the huge 19th century migrations from Europe. A local phrase, so I was told, is that: “The Mexicans are descended from the Aztecs, the Peruvians descended from the Incas, and we are descended from the ships.”
The sports most associated with these various groups are football, of course, rugby (the Welsh émigré influence), polo, tennis and nowadays, the whole menu of competitive international sports. The national sport of Argentina is “Pato”, a sort of handball on horseback, where the ball is thrown through a hoop to score. “Pato” means, apparently, “duck”, and the game was originally played with a live duck as the ball. My guide told me that it was not very popular these days.
But what of cricket? Well the game has been played here since the 19th century. Argentina had a national side in 1860s and are currently the South American champions (maybe not too much competition, but a title is a title). There are MCC tours of course and club cricket as well. The Buenos Aries Cricket Club was, I was told, one of the oldest and most important and so, in my role of Googlies roving reporter, I set off for the ground….and this is it! Or, sadly, this was it. This rather splendid pavilion burnt down in 1948 – then, as now, when an old pavilion burns down fingers are pointed (normally, in this country, at the Secretary and Treasurer – if recently re-insured) and some doubts apparently still linger. It’s a great shame, since not only does it look impressive but also it was right in the heart of the city. The old ground is now buried under a “visitor attraction”: the Galileo Galilei planetarium, no less. They are good at burying things in Argentina. During the Galtieri period some 30,000 people “disappeared”. It is widely believed that very large numbers of bodies are buried under an inner city motorway. Should you be seeking a poignant memorial, it would be hard to better the informal “graveyard” that has been constructed under a flyover, of hundreds of tiny crosses placed there by parents who will never know where their children are buried.
The cricket club, after the conflagration, merged with (and is now rather dominated by) the rugby club and moved out of town to San Fernando. The ground is now a sports “complex” bristling with rugby posts. But I was told that the game was growing in popularity (which may or not be the case) and Argentina challenge some of the “big names” in the Americas ICC competition (ie Canada and the USA). The story I liked best was of a match about ten years’ ago against the Bahamas. Argentina scored a very healthy 333-5 from their 50 overs only to see Bahamas make the same score from 33 overs when they were promptly bowled out. Bahamas tied the game with just the hundred balls left.
I did see what was described as an “impromptu” cricket pitch in Buenos Aires but it looked little more than a patch of mud.
So, difficult to say whether cricket in this part of the world has a future. Perhaps some Googlies readers have been out on a club tour or with the MCC or have worked in the country and have a view. The imperialists planted cricket in more fertile ground in other parts of the world perhaps, but Buenos Aires in the summer would be a lovely place to play cricket.
This and That
Jason Holder’s performance as the West Indian captain over recent years has been exceptional both in terms of his own personal performances and in doing the seemingly impossible of getting the disparate group to perform at test level. He is a meticulous planner which is good but it does extend to extensive inter-over discussion with his players which inevitably leads to a very slow over rate. The paying public are entitled to ninety overs a day and stand no chance of seeing them when Holder is playing. I therefore applaud the ICC for their ban on Holder for the third test but it did lead to a hollow English victory as the West Indians were a different side for this match.
Delays to play is the stuff of modern international cricket and the referral system plays a major part in this. The third umpire has to juggle with four different aspects when there is an appeal either way for an LBW decision. First, a side on camera enables the adjudicator to assess whether the bowler has overstepped the popping crease. Next, a head on view assesses whether the batsman has made any contact with the ball. This process is augmented by Snicko (or equivalent technology) made complicated by the technology failing to differentiate between bat, glove or any other noise it picks up. Finally, he goes to ball tracking which establishes whether the ball has pitched in line with the stumps or otherwise as appropriate to the status of the appeal. After this the system projects whether the ball would go on to hit the stumps. All this can take quite some time even if all goes well. But any delay in the provision of the requested camera angles or rewinding of the technology can render it interminable.
The process goes through a proscribed sequence and it is particularly irritating to the spectator when an eternity is wasted getting to the point when it is established that the ball pitched outside the leg stump when either Broad or Anderson is appealing against left handers. For experienced operatives their judgement is surprisingly flawed.
Strangely, though, the longest delay I have encountered recently is over a run out. There was no question over the dismissal since both batsmen ended up at the same end but the technology was called upon to adjudge whether they had crossed in order to determine which player was out. The third umpire had terrible trouble conveying to the technicians which angles he wanted and they seemed unable to produce anything helpful. Ultimately after an eternity of at least five minutes, Malik was given out but it was anyone’s guess and interest in the proceedings had waned.
And then in Grenada they had an extra day to prepare when the third ODI was washed out but before a ball could be bowled in the fourth match a good five minutes was wasted because the sightscreen could not be altered from advertising hoarding to plain blackboard.
I have been fortunate to have seen live on televised cricket a number of exceptional events – Pietersen’s mauling of Stein at Headingley, Broad bowling out the Aussies before lunch at Trent Bridge, Stokes’ 258 in South Africa and I now have a week of Gayle’s big hitting together with an exceptional innings by Joss Butler. The term “out of the ground” has been diminished over recent years as commentators apply it to any six in an attempt to engender excitement in the proceedings. However, their script has had to be re-written this week. The grounds at Barbados and Grenada are not small and the fact that the boundaries were marked inside the playing arena were irrelevant. The ball was regularly hit into the stands and the technology identified the distances between ninety and one hundred yards. This is a long way but when Gayle despatched a couple of deliveries over the stands and out of the ground completely they were adjudged to be hits of over 120 yards. I suppose you could say it was a waste of effort since he still only got six for them.
The hitting styles of Gayle and Buttler couldn’t be more different. Gayle stands still holding his railway sleeper and blocks or lets go most deliveries but once it is short or in the slot he swings down and through the ball and invariably it travels a great distance. Buttler, once he has his eye in, is similar to de Villiers in that he seems to believe that every delivery can be dispatched for six. Like Gayle he will dismiss short or slot balls, but he also takes on Yorkers and low full tosses. He moves around the crease and hits the ball late and with great wrist and bat speed and minimal pick up. In Grenada his most memorable shot for me was a low full toss/Yorker which he flicked his wrists at. The ball seemed to be going nowhere and suddenly we all realised that it had screamed straight back down the ground for six. Buttler took 45 balls in compiling his first 50 and just 32 in making his subsequent 100. The international fastest 100 is 31 balls by de Villiers.
The sad things about Gayle and Buttler’s performances is that they overshadow high quality contributions from Roy, Hales and Morgan. It is truly extraordinary and a tribute to the others that Hales isn’t a first choice for this ODI side. He lost his place after the Stokes’ Bristol incident and it seems that he is paying a greater penalty than Stokes is.
Chris Gayle has featured in all aspects of the game this week. Whilst exhibiting the extraordinary hitting in Barbados he also gave an exhibition of terrible running by refusing simple singles and not even contemplating twos. I couldn’t wait to see how he performed in the field and he didn’t disappoint. He made all of the worst fielders I ever played with look mobile and keen - Peter Huntley, Bertie Joel and even Don Wallis.
The South African spinners Shamsi and Tahir seem to get on well which is a little surprising since as wrist spinners, left and right arm respectively, they are competing for the same spot in the side. However, they have developed a new form of celebrating a wicket. After dismissing a batsman Tahir, having competed his tour of the square arms aloft, removes a shoe and holds it up to his ear as if making a phone call. Shamsi, in the pavilion, will conduct a similar routine and they then spend some seconds “chatting” to each other. All harmless fun and so, I suppose, is Sheldon Cottrell’s march and salute each time he takes a wicket. We can only wait to see what comes next and how it will be encouraged in the T20 and Hundred competitions.
For some time now the big four batters in world cricket have been Kohli, Root, Smith and Williamson although there must be some question mark over Smith’s inclusion in this quartet. The front runner to join this group must be Babar Azam the talented Pakistani.
Both Afghanistan and Ireland are looking to be taken seriously as cricketing nations but it was the former who came out on top of their recent T20 series. Afghanistan set a Twenty20 international record total as they scored 278-3 exceeding the previous record of 263-3 set by Australia against Sri Lanka in 2016. Hazratullah Zazai finished on 162 not out - only five runs short of the T20 international record set by Australia's Aaron Finch against Zimbabwe last year. Zazai's 62-ball knock in Dehradun included an international T20 record of 16 sixes and his century came off only 42 balls. Rashid Khan took four wickets when Ireland batted and then another five in the third game to complete an emphatic demolition of Ireland.
Meanwhile in South Africa the Sri Lankans won the two-match series equally emphatically. In the first game Sri Lanka were 226 for 9 chasing 304 when Vishwa Fernando joined Kumal Perera at the crease. They went on to win by 1 wicket with Perera 153 not out. In the second match the South Africans were dismissed for 128 in their second innings leaving Sri Lanka needing 197 to win which they duly did by eight wickets. Another class act rising star, Oshada Fernando, made 73 not out.
I have not noted many exceptional performances in the Big Bash this season but the Melbourne Stars scored 156 for 8 against the Brisbane Heat. In reply the Heat knocked them off without loss in ten overs. Ben Cutting was 81 not out from 30 balls with 8 sixes.
One of the problems with watching televised soccer is that you rarely get to hear what the crowd is singing or saying. However, during the Sheffield Wednesday cup tie at Stamford Bridge I could clearly hear the visiting fans using the tune of one of the great anthems of our age “Hey ho silver lining” which accommodated their team’s name perfectly.
Some of the stats provided about the performance of professional footballers is apparently provided by satellite hook-up. It is impressive to hear that Kante has covered eleven miles during a ninety-minute outing although I doubt whether Stew Morison would have racked up as much mileage during a game. I am always dubious about the assessment of assists and passes since it must be substantially a judgement call.
Morgan Matters
The GJM gives us another peak into his diary
The Rs beat Pompey 2-0 with goals from Nahki Wells and Matt Smith to progress to the 5th round for the first time in 22 years.
S Law has signed Mujeeb ur Rahman, a 17 year old leggie, for the T20.
That was a strange business about S Gabriel slagging somebody off for being gay and Root telling him off for his prejudiced views. Gabriel is now likely to get a suspension, but the question remains: who was it that Gabriel was actually having a go at? My view is that it had to be one of Root's batting partners, which makes it either Denly or Buttler. I think it has to be Buttler because i) Denly has not been on the international circuit for a while (though he has played in Asian T20s and has an IPL gig with Kolkata this year) and the chances are that Gabriel knows little or nothing about him; ii) Buttler has been a regular in the England squad in recent times and has been a prominent player in the hit and giggle competitions (like the IPL) for even longer so the chances are that Gabriel has come up against him fairly often; and iii) Buttler seems to be a secretive type, who wants as little about himself as possible to be made public: for example, his page in the Cricketer's Who's Who (uniquely) reveals absolutely nothing about him, there is a small collection of facts there, but there is nothing personal there and none of it was written by himself. Guilty as charged, your honour?
England's next Test is not until 24/7 v Ire @ Lord's.
Gabriel has now been banned for the next four ODIs.
Al Amarat T20: capt P Stirling made 71 off 51 (A Balbirnie was next best with 34 off 24) but did not give himself a bowl as Ire beat Oman by 15. I read somewhere that Stirling will become an overseas player next year (because Ire now play at the top table) and so may have to leave Mx as it will prevent them acquiring someone better!
Moeen now has 44 wkts at 23 in his last 8 Tests, which takes him to 177 Test wkts, overtaking GAR Lock on the all-time list of English spinners, with only Laker (193), Swann (255) and Underwood (297) ahead of him.
The Rs did well to dominate the first half against Watford, but the visitors sneaked a goal on the stroke of half-time and were determined to hang on to it so it was yet another defeat for Rs to follow 5 consecutive losses in the Championship. A capacity crowd of 17,212 attended. The G gave us a large photo (of the Watford goal) and a long report covering most of a page. I do not follow the footy as closely as I used to, so I was shocked to see that, on the same night, Sunderland drew 2-2 at home to Accrington Stanley in League 1 (the third division to me!)
Ex-Middlesex man P Farbrace is the new Sport Director of Warks.
V Marks says that the four key players who could be crucial to England's chances of winning the Ashes series are: Root, Stokes, Burns and Wood.
Oman Quadrangular T20: ex-Middlesex man Stuart Poynter hit a six off the last ball of the match to earn Ireland a 1 wkt win over Netherlands: Netherlands 182-9, Ire 183-9 (ex-Middlesex man Andy Balbirnie 83, P Stirling 1, S Poynter 8*).
Oman ODI: this was a close one, Oman 24 a/o in 17.1 overs (R Smith 4-7, A Neill also 4-7); Scot 26-0 in 3.2 overs (K Coetzer 16*, M Cross 10*?).
Oman ODI: incredibly, Oman thrashed Scot by 93 runs, a day after being tonked by 10 wickets! Oman 248-8 (K Nawaz 64, S Sharif 3-60... or was it M Nadeem who scored 64, the Beeb website is confused; Scot 155 a/o (R Berrington 37, M Nadeem 3-38).
England’s squad for 3 T20s v WI in early March includes S Billings and D Malan, but missing out are Stokes and Buttler (rested) and Roy (expecting his first child).
C Silverwood is being tipped as the replacement for T Bayliss as England's head coach.
Hundred matters: Surrey seem to be the only county with any sense at all as they are not happy to endorse the daft 100 ball concept and silly ECB chairman C Graves is threatening to ban Surrey from hosting matches... I might have to join Surrey!
AB de Villiers has signed for Mx, but only for T20s: does Law think that T20 is our priority?
Loftus Rd: The Rs ended their run of 7 straight defeats when “the game’s stand out player” Luke Freeman scored the only goal of the match on 49 mins. Leeds would have gone top if they had won, but Rs move 12 points clear of the relegation places.
SA's D Olivier is giving up his international career (permanently?) in order to play as a Kolpak for Yorks.
Stokes, Moeen and Buttler are all going home after Sat's 5th ODI and will be replaced by S Curran! He might be a logical replacement for Stokes, but will he also have to bowl off-spin and keep wicket?
What would Jack Robertson think?
The Professor asks us a question that many of us have been pondering
Every now and again when watching contemporary cricket matches I find myself pondering what players from an earlier age would make of it all. Jack Robertson played for Middlesex and England and for very many years was the coach (possibly Head Coach – I don’t know) at the indoor school at Finchley. He coached myself and a fair few other boys from my school. I would guess that a significant number of Googlies readers would have had coaching from Jack, and many others would know his name.
He was, as I recall, a charming man: gentle, calm and (as he had to be) endlessly patient. He coached, as befitted the times, from the MCC coaching book. We all had high elbows, a foot to the pitch of the ball, and, above all, played straight.
Last week, amid the turmoil of these extraordinary ODIs I watched Ashley Nurse batting towards the end of the fourth match. He was swishing and bludgeoning away – to some good effect – when, for some reason, he decided to play a scoop. Now we all, these days, are familiar with this shot as perfected by Dilshan; you drop to one knee and help the ball over your left (or right) shoulder to the fence. Buttler’s variation includes “helping” the ball with some considerable power from a variety of lengths and directions.
Nurse is not as good at it as these two. At some time (presumably) during the bowler’s run up (may have been Woakes or Plunkett) he decided to scoop. He jumped round through 90 degrees so he was face-on to the bowler, stood bolt upright, turned the bat face flat in his hand so it resembled a paddle, and tried to hit an 80mph ball with a two handed shovel shot back over his own head.
He missed.
The full shovel swing of the bat carried it back behind him and the ball hit him plumb in the chest. In what I know is a crowded field, it could be a decent entry into the “ugliest shot in cricket” competition.
He didn’t seem phased in any way, and simply went back to swishing and bludgeoning.
But…what would Jack Robertson have thought?
Harry Rose
I received the following from Bob Fisher
I was sorry to read about the passing of Harry Rose. Our experience of him at Ealing and maybe that of other clubs were his total reluctance to give anybody out lbw. We used to laugh about it with him in the bar after the game but it got to the stage when almost to ensure that this reputation was not lost, that he never gave us an lbw decision, that might be an exaggeration but that is how I seem to remember it. I know that Akan Price always used to insist that he did not bowl from Harry's end.
One of our past captains, Mark Brew passed away very recently at the age of 84. He joined Ealing in 1958 and very quickly won a First Team place, opening the batting with Brian Stevens, a partnership that remained until 1967 when he retired. His regular opening spot then being taken up by Brian Puddephatt. Mark was the perfect foil to Stevo, an accomplished player, very quick between the wickets and happy to watch Stevens hitting it to all parts at the other end. He captained the club from 1964 to 1967. He was an excellent squash player, leading the Ealing Squash Club to two Cumberland Cup wins in the 1960's and he won their Club Championship for ten successive seasons.
I received the following from John Williams
So sorry to hear of the passing of Harry. He was a well known and respected character on the Harrow cricket circuit. He was the official scorer when Harrow AMCC toured Barbados in 1975. Brian Hall - Stanmore and Worcestershire - was working for RCA in those days and they had just brought out a record called "Harry" which he circulated to all tourists on their return from Barbados with these words "he emerged as a very good tourist, but failed to fiddle the score sheets to give us a win." Harry was somewhat eccentric but a lovely fellow and excellent company. On that Tour I was vice captain and my opposite number in the game against YMPC was a little known , at the time, Bajan called Collis King.
Another local cricketer who passed away recently was Mel Bellamy, 85, the Harrow St Mary's President .Apart from a couple of seasons in mid 60's when he played at Harrow Tow Mel had been a stalwart of St Mary's all his life. He was a fine opening bowler and a stylish middle order batsman. In later years even into his eighties he was a competitive golfer at Sandy Lodge. At the wake in the St Marys clubhouse there was a picture of the teams who played in the match between St Mary's and Harrow School in 1926. In the back row were a tall Harrow schoolboy, T. M. Rattigan, and W. H. Wignall of St Mary's who went on to play for Middlesex 1934-1936. What a shame Mel will miss the 1st appearance by St Mary's in County League top division on May 11th v. Hampstead. I bumped into one St Mary's stalwart who is determined not to miss this momentous occasion. And of course they will have the services of coach, Ravi Patel.
Ron Hooker
I heard this week that Ron Hooker had died. I will welcome all notes and reminiscences and include them in next month’s edition.
The Franklin Scale
This was introduced last month and prompted Steve Thompson to join the reminiscences
Your drink-driving references relating to Jim Franklin brought back similar memories for me. In that context you of course had the good fortune to live within staggering distance of the club and could disembark and carry. I on the other hand lived not half a mile from Jim’s home in Chiswick. Jim would inevitably be one of the last to leave the pavilion and would give reassurances that his car ‘drove itself’. Ironically, Jim’s laid back, one hand on the wheel - one hand clutching his pipe, driving style was strangely reassuring accompanied as it was by a Bing Crosby-like humming and a rhythmic clearance of the throat. I must have been chauffeured in this way more times than I now dare to remember.
Some of your readers will no doubt be familiar with the story of David Jukes who once scored three hundreds in a day. The first when playing for the Bush in an away fixture, the second ton was on the motorway on his return journey from said match and the third as a direct consequence of the second and the intervention of the local constabulary.
George had been copied in on Steve’s email and he responded:
Well Steve, that’s a truly excellent double: well done! I can see Jimmy now with that pipe in, half smile… and I can hear the hum and the throat clear. Would I also be right in saying that the car had a column gear shift so that not much energy was needed for that either?
Steve responded
I think that gear shift mechanism probably was there although my technical knowledge was about as far advanced in those days as the lovely Reg Fardon’s who I also recall whilst on the 100 JF Scale insisted on attempting to ram his kit into the boot of his newly acquired VW Beatle. It took him some time and a range of expletives to identify it was a rear-engine model. Great memories of halcyon days.
Rangers Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this piece by Giles Coren
I took my five-year-old son Sam to Loftus Road on Friday night to watch Queens Park Rangers play Watford in the fifth round of the FA Cup. To keep him real. Sam is a football nut and an Arsenal fan, a situation I engineered because after 45 years of heartache, boredom and irrelevance supporting QPR, I felt I owed him the chance to follow a team that has lots of other supporters, a handful of famous players, a massive modern stadium and occasionally wins things.
But when Rangers beat Portsmouth to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 22 years, making it pretty much our biggest game for a quarter of a century, I thought Sam might as well get a glimpse of his dad’s ropey old first love, from poky folding seats where even he would struggle for leg room, in a rusty old sardine tin of a ground, just to get a bit of perspective.
On the way, I explained that, no, we have never won a major trophy. Except a League Cup once upon a time, when dinosaurs walked the Earth. This year, in the league, we haven’t even won a match. On the night, in typical fashion, we played better than Watford but went a goal down just before half time to their first attack of the match and were knocked out of the cup. Season over.
One detail I’d forgotten about Loftus Road was the terrible sightlines created by thee stanchions holding up thehe roof. From where we sat, one goal was completely obscured so that as playy moved, the crowd around us swayed from side to side, like the front row on Top of the Pops, trying to get a better view. Next to me was an old season-ticket holder who has watched QPR from the same spot for the past 43 years.
“But it’s a terrible seat,” I said. “You can’t see a thing. Why have you never moved?”
“Can’t move,” he replied. “It’s my lucky seat.”
“Lucky?” I laughed. “We’ve had the worst 43 years of any club in world football!”
“That’s not my fault,” he replied glumly. “It’s all these other bleeders sitting in the unlucky seats.”
Occupational Matters
Ken Molloy sent me this job opportunity for Googlies’ readers:
Googlies Website
All the back editions of Googlies can be found on the G&C website. There are also many photographs most of which have never appeared in Googlies.
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