Cricket in our younger days!!

[jaiganes]

1980s and 1990s were exciting times for kids playing cricket in cities and small towns. The exposure was increased by Doordarshan's live coverages and special cricket shows on TV. Added to that were empty maidans available to play all kinds of cricket, right from the rubber ball cricket to cricket ball cricket (for those who can afford). The whole process of accumulating a team, taking the team to the vast maidans in cycles, collecting money for buying bat or balls and the 'friendly' and bet matches played between rivals, was terribly exciting. The day was made more exciting and thrilling if there was a rain and the game was played on skiddy outdoors!!! Also the occasional injury to a team mate due to a reckless throw or a spiteful pitch, we have seen it all in our younger days, haven't we? Let us come up with nostalgia of cricket! A gentleman's game which we played like barbarians!!!

[blahblah]

Jaiganesh,I had a tough time choosing between rubber cork and tennis balls.I have really enjoyed playing with both. :)

[hehehewalrus]

Visit my website on cricket made 6 years ago and too lazy to update. But it has tons of stuff :)

www.angelfire.com/tn/justkool/cricket.html

[hehehewalrus]

played with rubber ball - age 5
switched to cork ball - age 6-11
switched to cricket ball - age 12
left cricket - age 12-14
got scared and moved to rubber ball - age 14
got even more scared and moved to plastic ball(JOYBALL) - age 15
:)

[jaiganes]

I hada nasty experience with the hard ball, which we used to call 'mandai' ball. I had a very nasty experience with that ball. It has good grip, and since it is made of one piece, it does not break off even after roug use for a month. it is heavier than normal 8 ounce cricket ball (hence the name 'mandai' ball) and offspinners like it a lot. Being an off spinner myself, I throughly enjoyed bowling it. Since it is heavier, it comes relatively slower in the air, but due to its imperfections in seam area, grips a lot, thereby getting more bite. Once, my brother was bowling and being a typical tailender, I had the omnious task of scoring some ten runs in that over in a bad light. My brother who bowls medium pace, lost the control over the ball and it came as a beamer. For a split second , i thought the ball went somewhere else and a couple of milliseconds later, BANG it landed on my forehead!! I fell down unconscious for a couple of minutes. My brother was literally in tears!! Luckily I just had a bout of head ache. From then on we decided to just chuck and play defensively when we had to play with mandai ball!! Recently from our previous company, we played some matches in ITPL ground some matches. It was a mat in place of a pitch. We had practised the whole week in a nearby ground. The surprise was that, the cricket ball picks up speed in mat more than a normal pitch. I hope more people can discuss the subtle difference like this and other nostalgia. HHHW! I could not see your site due to stupid network filter policies, I will look at that once I get back home!

[aravindhan]

Rubber ball cricket, beyond a doubt.

I remember that glorious day when I passed Don Bradman's tally of 29 centuries, long before Gavaskar dreamed of doing so. I wanted to immediately write to Wisden and the Guinness' Book to tell them to correct their records, and my parents had the unenviable task of convincing me not to. I don't remember how they managed, but for a couple of years, my relatives had to be careful to give me due credit when cricketing records were being discussed.

[hehehewalrus]

:rotfl:

[jaiganes]

:rotfl:
My be we can ask wisden to add you to maximum winner of rubbers!!!! Anyways tell me more where you used to play and with what kind of teams? your record is not counted if you say that all 29 were against your cousins who were older than you and didn't want to offend you by giving you out. So count out extra gaajis and tell me the truth!!!!

[hehehewalrus]

More important question, what is the size of the boundary? And what is the number of fielders?
In my case, a straight drive that crosses midpitch is a single and anything beyond the bowler is a brace :)

[jaiganes]

Whenever forced with sitations like lack of space and lack of enough players to make up the number, we used to play "One side, One pitch caught " cricket. The shots on one side of the wicket only will be eligible for runs and if a fielder catches the ball on single bounce, then it is considered as a catch and the batsman will be out. We had great fun playing this. In fact it helped us play shots along the ground or shots which were placed well clear of a fielder. So the drive became perfect and the placement skill was also enhanced. For the bowlers, it helped them to pitch short of good length and on one side of the wicket. Has anyone else played such variations of cricket?

[hehehewalrus]

whenever some impatient guys flout these rules and smack the ball outside the playing arena, my response would be to bat for 60 balls without scoring a run!!

[jaiganes]

Ayya HHW!
For keeping "Gaaji" as a goal and a "dont care if team wins or not" attitude, you have just overtaken Sunil Manohar Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri as the "Gaaji mannan". One distict disadvantage of lack of facilities like dressing room in maidaan is, whenever a "Gaaji mannan" plays more than two overs immediately the players following him do a pitch invasion and "forcefully" retire him hurt so that equal opportunity of "gaaji" is achieved. I was blessed to have team mates who believed in communism for batsmen. There were other kinds of "Gaaji kings" who would run their partners out without hesitation if there was a threat of "farming the strike " arises!!! As for intra team rivalry is concerned, any run out is enough to get the game cancelled for the day. Whoever was losing, would make such a big ruckus over the runout to come out unscathed, with a game added to the "match abandoned" columnin their prestigious record!!!

ps: I am planning to start playing tennis ball cricket in BTM layout in Bangalore. Anyone care to join ? you walrus? are u upto it?

[geno]

"gaaji" adikkarathulathAN ellA payalkalum kuRiyA iruppAnunga! :D

Hey dudes! you guys have left out another type of "cricket ball"!!!

"Balls" made out of cycle tyre tube!! :lol: :lol:

We used to buy cycle tyre tube - and cut a part of it into pieces of rubber "rings".

Then we would roll up balls of paper to sufficient "size" and "strength"! and then tie those small rings of rubber - around this paper of ball! until it becomes completely covered with no paper seen thru!

Then we would compress it unti we are satisfied about the "ball"!! then lo!!

Gay abandon with half a day of cricket play with that tyre tube cricket ball!!

:lol:

[hehehewalrus]

Geno,
what is the contour of the ball? How will it bounce unless it is properly spherical? :)

Even Supertone/Regal was good for backyard cricket. In addition to the prodigious swing, the other advantage is that if you are too tired, one hefty whack will send the contraption buzzing out of the compound!

JG,
About Gaaji hoarding, I was not referring to team cricket. In team cricket though, I am a genuine Bevan - keep the nonstriker on his toes, by pushing towards the Nehras and Inzamams in the field, and pinching ones and twos. It is a given that after 2-3 dot balls, my next one would be a single/run out :)

During 10 overs a side cricket, if I am not opening, my best bet to get a decent bat is to stand close in and field like a tiger. MY top order will ultimately collapse :)

JG, i am no longer in blore.

[hehehewalrus]

JG,
are you the same BTM Layout Jaiganesh who is a fan of poetry and learnt classical violin?

Adapaavi, I think I have talked to you 2 years before! :D

confirm your identity pls. Let me make sure if you are already in my yahoo messenger :)

[geno]

walrus :D

>> what is the contour of the ball? How will it bounce unless it is properly spherical? >>

We would "thattify" and "amukkify" that tube ball until we are satisfied that it is "spherical" enough!!! :lol: :lol:

It would last a few hours and then - the rings of tubes would be torn and fall-off!

Then we would prepare a brand new tube ball!

This we resorted to - if we slammed too many of the rubber or rubber cork balls out of the compund into an open sewer - which was there!!! :lol:

I hated 10 overs-a-side game! all periya pasanga bullied us and "gaaji" themselves - leaving us to run after balls in felding! :lol"

[jaiganes]

Walrus ayya!
Nyaan avarillai!! I live in Banashankari 3rd stage and there is no proper ground for cricket there, so that is why BTM layout le shift. As far as geno's mentio of rubber tube balls are concerned, I do remember having played with such balls a couple of times. The problem with that was the lifetime for such a high speed particle was significantly less and the knitting process required much more deftness and skill which we brash kids never had in our life!!! What I do remember is having played with cloth and seed stuffed ball made by a friend in chengal pattu. I remember vividly how he painstakingly made a ball from rubber rings, some Jack fruit seeds, remnants of a torn rubber ball and a lot of cotton with some road tar. The molten tar would harden around the rubber rings and the jack fruit seeds and then he would wound yarns of the "janapari naar" Jute twines around it. The next layer would by some rags of cotton, followed by sponge cotton (or surgical cotton), final rag tightly strewn around the seam. The ball was a little heavy and the bounce was low, so a lot of running had to be done. This guy who made the ball was from an under preivileged family laying roads. But all these things never registered in our minds when the goal was to play cricket!! Truly what a sport!!! Apart from just cricket, the whole process of preparing for a game in once back from school was exciting. Imagine cycling against heavy traffic in Papermills road in an Avon cycle!!! If at all my mom had known what way I was taking to the ground to play cricket, sh would have never allowed me!! :lol:

[hehehewalrus]

How can you all play with such balls, which afford no swing or spin? Best was the Joy ball which takes tremendous swing and spin.
After 1992 world cup, when Walsh and Aquib Javed made the slower ball famous, it was a godsend for the Venkatesh Prasad-like trundlers in our colony to dismiss the batting giants. A well disguised slower ball would be enough to dismiss a dasher already halfway through his shot.

Naatla Jaiganeshgal-oda thollai jaasthi ayiruchu :D

[jaiganes]

Joy ball definitely turns and swings like bananas in headingley for sure! But the problem is it is effective only indoors or within the compound wall boundaries of home. So ideal to play with in case of family functions and you are confined for a good whole day. As far as Jaiganesh's are concerned, am yet to encounter one apart from occasional bold glances inthe mirror!!! Legends have it that people of the point to point bus from Chengalpattu to Chennai in early eighties were haunted by a kid who chatted their sleep away with non stop nonsense!!! :lol: Coming back to cricket, the slide cricket is more ensoyable!! After N.E.Monsoon, grounds not having fully drainied (didn't have money to bring in super soppers!!), any cricket in the wet outfields provided some of the most exciting experiences in fielding . Recently finished reading a book on Sir Gary Sobers by Trevor Bailey!! interesting read that!!

[Hemant Trived1]

As a legacy of Raj Cricket , having been broughtup in Gujarat near Rajkot, we were introduced to cricket ball and complete cricket gear from a very young age.
Till I was 12, I too had my sharte of Tennis ball and what Mr. Geno said about cycle tube ball.
Cycle tube ball had funny bounce and its rubber rings used to fly when pitched or a shot was hit.
I recollect a very funny incident.
Our village team had one policeman (Only policeman of the village) called DILUBHA.
He used to keep wickets as he thought that running behind the ball was too much beneath his dignity.
He had a funny methodology of keeping wickets.
He would crouch behing stups with wide spread legs and keep the wicket when slow bowlers were to ball.
When fast bowlers were bowling, he would stand three or four paces behind the stumps.

One day it so happened that he forgot to ask the visiting team about the bowler's speed.
One particular bowler who had a slow three or four pace run up, bowled very fast !!
But this we knew after he bowled.
After the slow bowler had completed his over, the next bowler came to bowl and as usual, Dilubha squatted behing the stumps with his wide spread legs with knees resting on ground. (He was fairly tall)
The ball came so fast and low due to loose earth that it missed his lazy action of collecting and banged him on his ball**s.
No need to say that Dilubha fainted after a lion like roar and was rushed to the the village doctor as he could not breath due to impact and pain.
He was bed ridden for about a month and walked gingerly for about another couple of months.
No need to say that he never played cricket after that.!!

[Hemant Trived1]

I am talking of 1961/62 era.

[hehehewalrus]

Trivediji,
Probably the brave policeman inspired an entire bunch of keepers to come from Gujarat - More, Mongia and now Patel :)

[hehehewalrus]

JG,
I have another book A History of Cricket by Trevor Bailey. I think Bailey was one of the BBC commentators in India's 83 World Cup win. A useful allrounder but modest, he surprised himself when he took a 7fer against WI in a test in the 50s.

In A History of Cricket, there is a pic of Bailey bowling to Bradman in 1948. The caption below reads "One of life's less rewarding occupations, bowling to Don Bradman for Essex v Australians in 1948. The Australians batted steadily without seeming to explode at any stage, but still made 721 in a day" :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

[hehehewalrus]

here is the detail :D
http://usa.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/MAY/153199_WCM-ARCHIVE_24MAY2004.html

[Hemant Trived1]

I have been a witness to fiery bowling by Wesly Hall, who used to start his runup from the boundry and the batsmen including great stalwarts like Patudi were powerless . You can literally see some of the batsmen's legs shake. Never have I seen nine people standing in slips to silly point area except during Hall's bowling.I have seen Charles Griffith bowling fiery pace,and also witnessed Ken Barrington flying kite in Madras corporation (Nehru) stadium on Pongal day.Budhi kundaran hitting almost a double century and Chandu Borde and Bapu Nadkarni and Rusi Surti would make you go to sleep with hours of dull bowling resulting in long stretches of maiden overs.

After the Chepauk stadium was opened, one of the first teams to play there was having a player from England called Lever.

He was caught applying grease on the ball which he had cleverly applied to his eyebrows.
It made big headlines in The Hindu.
I sent a telegram to English side (They were staying at Hotel Connemara to the best of my knowledge) which read as follows,
"For best performance on any wicket, please use Lever brand Grease"
-Hemant
I do not know if they showed any reaction but I was personally satisfied.
Later on I used to play with a very good team called Blue Bird's eleven till I reached my college.
After that I left cricket for good.

[jaiganes]

I felt so sorry for the unlucky wicket keeper! As a fellow male, I can empathize with what must have gone through the poor guy! Coming back to Aussie dominance of Braman era and comparing that with the Windies dominance much later, one has to concede that it is exciting to watch the windies march compared to the Aussie hop. Main reason would be that even the perfect Windies batting would collapse often from a position of 390 for 2 to 500 all out or something thereabouts, so the game overall lived on through their antics. The Aussies on the other hand played safely and put the match beyond their opposition. Not to mention, that would have made watching cricket in those times a dull time pass!! Recently read, Keith miller was one all conquering aussie who would throw his wicket away to facilitate a fair game. Another tidbit about the most gentlemanly cricketer of all times, Sir Frank Worrell who would set easy fields for a batsman in his nineties!!! Who would do that now?? And as far as our tough and rough cricket, wicket by any means is a WICKET and runs by any means are RUNS, real followers of Miandad's brand of cut throat cricket!!

[hehehewalrus]

JG,
are you talking about the Windies team of the 80s? Bowlingwise they are better than current aussies, but batting no way pal. They had very acute weaknesses against spin which they managed to cover. Just that there wasnt a single good spinner in the 80s, other than Qadir(who was decent, not great). They struggled against Maninder in 87-88(lets discount Hirwani the fluke). They lost 2 sydney tests in the 80s to spinners like Bennett and Border.

[hehehewalrus]

Trivediji,
Thanks for sharing, would love to see you contribute more of nostalgia here.

I personally believe the Indian lineups of 1955-65 were all time best, battingwise(only other additions would be Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Amarnath).

Sardesai, Borde, Umrigar, Manjrekar, Pataudi were much more confident against pace than recent Indian teams. Phadkar, Ramchand, Mankad is one vastly underrated trio of courageous allrounders. Desai and Gupte added will make a mega-strong bowling line up.

I am really surprised why a side like this could not achieve more victories.

Did you think Charlie Griffith was a chucker? Was it very obvious?

Barrington was not very attractive to watch I heard, though he had an average of 58 or so.

My friend's father used to narrate his college days when he listened to commentary of Indian attack with Surendranath and Ramakant Desai.

Have you seen V.V.Kumar?

[Hemant Trived1]

hehewalrus,
I personally think that v.v kumar was not utilised properly at all.
I saw him in Ranji Trophy matches.

Sobers was one of the most talented batsman and a cricketer of highest order.
Griffith in action never looked as if he was chucking the ball.
When he ran up to bowl, he looked like a steam engine rushing on the wickets.

He was a huge man.
Very opposite was Joel Garner who was tall ,lanky and had a funny style of bowling.

I have seen Polly Umarigar, Nari contactor and company playing gentleman's cricket.
Salim Durani was a good left hander.

But master blaster was F.M Engineer.
I loved his way of batting.

Where are those happy players ? They seem so hard to come by any more.

[jaiganes]

I was watching a ranji game excerpt in ESPN in 1996, I guess. There was a young Rajasthan batsman Abbas Ali. the commentator was remarking that he was grandson of ex India played Abid Ali (I do not remember the name correctly). The commentator went on to say that the older Ali used to hit huge sixes and fours and was one of the original master blasters. My father also agreed to that comment. Can anyone throw more light into this? HHW I was remarking about the Windies of late 1950's. I have a tour diary of 1964 - 65 windies tour to England. There was an amazing tit for tat in that series where Truman demolished Windies batting single handedly in Headingley. Also covered are the endearing antiques of Gary and Rohan Kanhai. Giving it a reread.

[hehehewalrus]

JG,
Abid Ali was a medium pacer in the 70s. Guess what, he has a unerasable place in cricket history - honour of bowling the first ball in World cup history. He was an ok allrounder(lower order bat). You can compare him perfectly to Agarkar - sometimes good, sometimes ordinary. He and Solkar used to open the bowling for India in 70s. They were the "shine removers" - get the dazzle of the newball for a few overs before the spin attack comes in :)

[hehehewalrus]

Dear Trivediji,
I am delighted beyond words to see your posts. I hope you will post regularly giving firsthand accounts of those days.

Where all places have you stayed in? please let us know the different matches you have seen and followed.

VV Kumar had a great debut capturing 5 wickets v Pak in his first Test. But his entry was stopped since it came at the end of Gupte's career and beginning of Bedi/Chandra/Prasanna. While Chandra had 417 wickets in Ranji, Kumar had 402.

About Sobers, the story is told of a test in India(either 1967-68 or 74-75) when he ran all the way back from first slip and took a diving catch, having run upto third-man position! You probably may be aware of it.

How were Pataudi and Contractor? How much did the disabilities affect their attacking batting skills?

Sixer Durrani was a big entertainer and a crowd puller. I think there was some strike or riots in Calcutta when he was omitted for a test.

Any information on Engineer's Brylcreem ad? :)

Then there was this India-WI test in 1960-61 when India chasing 363 in the 4th innings had reached 355-8 when the umpires cheated them and walked off.

There was an India-NZ test at Hyderabad I think...the underrated NZ team fought superbly and got India to 76-7 chasing a low total of 145 or something. Unfortunately there was heavy rain on the last day. The crowd angered by India's pathetic display poured into the pitch and ground and tried to clean up the water in order to help NZ win :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

Any info on the radio commentators of that time - Raju Bharatan, Suresh Saraiya, AFS TalyarKhan, Vijay Merchant?

[Hemant Trived1]

Dear hehewalrus,

A small note on commentators of the days of yore.
You forgot the name of "Vizi", the drawling , long winded tone and a language only he would understand Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagaram.
I literally used to fall asleep or go away when he took the mike.

An interesting story about A.F.S Talyarkhan alias "Bobby Talyarkhan". I heard him only a few times (If I recollect clearly) in fifties end when only thing I could understand in a commentry was very little.
My brother used to say that Bobby wanted to give commentry all by himself and was reluctant to share the mike with others the whole day so he was not allowed by the people of those days who looked after test cricket.
But I did not miss his sports page in "BLITZ" which was published from Bombay.
BLITZ had another attraction. Last page photograph of damsels was one which had a great following.

Salim Sixer Durrani was from Jamnagar which is very near my village. He was from Afghan stock. He worked for some time in Madras Spencers when we had business dealings with Spencers . I saw him there.He produced sixers on demand.

Nari Contractor was a good batsman and so was Polly Umarigar.
But Nari failed after being injured in head. Pataudi could have been a great batsman had his eye injury not happened.
He was very stylish. Especially his cover drives and streight drives were great to watch. He is on of the few batsman who rested on one knee and made a stroke.

[jaiganes]

Please visit my blog (http://silencerocks.blogspot.com) for an updated post regarding the firts tied test match . When I started this thread, it was in a hope of finding how people used to play cricket in their younger days, and what influence it had on their life. I am totally amazed at the varied experience this game provides even for spectators, let alone players. Personally cricket has been a calming influence and a concentration booster on me. An interesting cricket game is something like a game of chess where all pieces intelligently are making a calculated move simultaneously against two opposition pieces. A classic "Vyuha" or strategy game, with an equally tiring physical activity to match the mental one. Please do come forward with your personal experiences as participants in this game as well.

[jaiganes]

Last friday, purchased cricket kit for tennis ball cricket and on saturday successfully got a team together for a couple of 8 overs 4 a side cricket games. It was great, felt so very relaxed after the games! Next weekend, the saga will continue!!! The team was constituted by members of software fraternity of Bangalore. Members belonged to IBM, Infosys, Siemens and Accenture and we surprised ourselves with our effort and enthusiasm!!! The success story set to continue next weekend as well, in the ground behind Udipi Gardens restaurant, BTM layout, Bangalore!!!!

[Cinefan]

jaiganesh,
Are you mentioning about the ground which is adjoining the small lane running next to the Udupi Garden restaurant?BTW,that small lane has now become a default road for people wanting to avoid the main road.Just 4 to 5 years back that entire area was so peaceful&look at its 'haalath' now. :(

[jaiganes]

Cinefan wrote:



Are you mentioning about the ground which is adjoining the small lane running next to the Udupi Garden restaurant?


Yes . it is the ground on the road, which is first left after udipi gardens restaurant. Cinefan, if you wanna play or your friends are interested, ask them to come over there saturday morning 7-30 to 8.

[Cinefan]

Sure jaiganesh.If me or anyone else wants to play what are the requirements?I mean do we just walk in&play or do you want us to come with kits etc. Also 7.30 to 8 on a Saturday is tooooooo early :)

[jaiganes]

I am sorry for the timings, We can have a couple of games before the heat catches up and couple of guys have some work to do like paying bills, so it is better in this timing. We already have requisite kits (for tenniss balls we have couple of light bats, 3 stumps and 3 balls).

[Cinefan]

I was just joking about the timings.Actually it's the best time to play as the summer is settling in&it gets very hot after 9.And yes there are personal works to catch up on but i will have to make an effort to actually get up early.Anyways let me see if can make it but don't expect an expert to walk in,My cricket can be very embarassing. :(

[jaiganes]

Cinefan wrote:


My cricket can be very embarassing.
Mine is no better than yours pal. Just come to the ground jump a little and bat a little. We are all software engineers who are playing the game after a long time, so nothing spectacular is happening there. We are all there for the love of the game and thas all.
Pull in as many people as you can, it will be fun.

[Cinefan]

OK,let me see if can pull some more people other than myself.

BTW,I just scored a century 8)

[jaiganes]

congrats pal!
beginning of many more to come! :clap:

[Cinefan]

Thank you.I take a bow

[hehehewalrus]

Dear hehewalrus,

A small note on commentators of the days of yore.
You forgot the name of "Vizi", the drawling , long winded tone and a language only he would understand Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagaram. I literally used to fall asleep or go away when he took the mike.


Is this the same Vizzy who did a Musharraf in the 1936 tour and made himself the captain without knowing how to bat or bowl and to add insult to injury, booted out Lala Amarnath back to India? :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:



My brother used to say that Bobby wanted to give commentry all by himself and was reluctant to share the mike with others the whole day so he was not allowed by the people of those days who looked after test cricket.
Great recollection. But Bobby is still revered as a legend.
Hemant Saab, did Melville De Mellow do cricket commentary? I think his coverage of Mahatma Gandhi's funeral is legendary...By the way, any idea if the flag hoisting on Aug 15 morning was broadcast and the commentator(During Nehru's Tryst with Destiny speech)??

Was it true that Narottam Puri was around in the 70s? An elderly friend told me he recollects Ravi Chaturvedi, Anupam Ghulati, Kishore Bhimani in the late 70s. I first saw Narottam live in the famous lunch break of 1983 world cup final.



BLITZ had another attraction. Last page photograph of damsels was one which had a great following.
In the 70s is understandable but in the 60s, who?? Besides Asha Parekh and Sharmila towards the end of the decade, our damsels were quite coy!



Salim Sixer Durrani was from Jamnagar which is very near my village. He was from Afghan stock. He worked for some time in Madras Spencers when we had business dealings with Spencers . I saw him there.He produced sixers on demand.

Oh well then you must have lived close to Jadeja then! But there was one Gujju we terribly missed last year - Jasu Patel! Instead of the Kanpur Test hero, we had a villainous Patel dropping sitters behind the stumps and the series was gone :cry: :cry:



Nari Contractor was a good batsman and so was Polly Umarigar.
But Nari failed after being injured in head.
There was a fantastic 99 from Nari against Pakistan before the Griffith chucked bouncer finished his career. Would have been a great opener. Was Nari a Parsee, just like Engineer?



Pataudi could have been a great batsman had his eye injury not happened. He was very stylish. Especially his cover drives and streight drives were great to watch. He is on of the few batsman who rested on one knee and made a stroke.

Absolutely, 2793 runs at a solid average of 35 despite the loss of one eye!! Its a pity we dont have videos of his scintillating 148 in the 1967 Headingly test in the second innings, when India made 500+(The same test in which Boycott made 246 and got dropped!).

Do you have any first hand recollections of the Duleep tournaments? Pataudi/Jaisimha/Visvanath attacking Bedi's spin was a great sight I heard.
Then there is another story of Asif Iqbal, the nephew of Ghulam Ahmed playing for Hyderabad colleges in the late 50s...and then moving to Pakistan.

What are your views on Ashok Mankad, the Ranji dada who was a confirmed mouse in Test cricket? :lol2: :lol2:

Trivediji, this thread is much more fun than the jokes thread...Please stay here and enlighten us for just a year - before you leave for Michigan, start an Indian restaurant and become a millionaire with your super selling recipes!! :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

[hehehewalrus]

The England-Ind and Aus-Ind series of the 60s and 70s were the best, as from 60-78, Ind and Pakistan stopped cricketing ties. While the English complained and cheated for decades, the Aussies were excellent and worked hard to overcome their deficiencies on the spinning pitches. The 69-70 series was a thriller all the way - Prasanna was having a scorching run with over 50 wickets in 8 Tests, winning the Test series in New Zealand. Chandra was out with a scooter accident and Venkat had wrecked the Kiwis in India. However Ian Chappell gave a thrilling exhibition of attacking batting, frequently dancing out to combat the spin. I think Ian made 131 in Bombay and 99 in Calcutta, taking Australia to victory both times. There was one Test which India won - a devilish turner where Aus were bowled out for 107, Lawry fighting for hours to score 49 not out.

The English team of 1972-73 was among the most ill-tempered teams to visit India. The Chennai Test of that series saw a major surprise in Gavaskar opening - not just the batting but the bowling too!

[jaiganes]

For secon week in a row, successfully played , this time for a longer duration. Again, had only 5 people who turned up, but managed to do a successful merger with another group of software professionals from Infosys and as a result, had an enjoyably game. Next week, hope that Cinefan would be able to make it. My thighs and calf muscle are still tight after rigorous running between the wickets!! Marked Sunny's 'Idols' for a read. Next week will borrow it from the book exhibition. That book has delightful pictures of legends of the game. Some pictures like 'Rohan Kanhai in action' and Venkat's off spin in action in the book are quite rare and a treat indeed.

[Cinefan]

The fact that your muscles are tight means that you had a real good game :D ,let me see how much I will suffer next week :D :D

[hehehewalrus]

Idols is excellent and you get to know the other side of many of the game's giants.
My most enjoyable chapters from Idols are John Snow, Ian Chappell, Botham and Boycott.

[jaiganes]

Cinefan wrote:


let me see how much I will suffer next week

Pretty much !! I guess.

Hey walrus, haven't seen you for a while in "recollecting old TV serials" section? If you have read Idols, why don't you post a review/post on the same?

[hehehewalrus]

JG, I dont think you need a review since you already have the book. It is unputdownable and you will finish it in no time :D

The thing I like is SMG has unabashedly praised his idols, even those whose batting methods are different from his :lol2:

It is more like a paean on 20 cricketers and therefore you wont find veiled attacks on other cricketers. In Kapil's By God's decree, a chapter is devoted to Kapil's cribs on SMG(most of them valid).

SMG covers lot of funny incidents in Idols and they are enjoyable to read :

1. John Snow colliding with SMG and sending him sprawling - Snow was suspended
2. Snow was warned by umpire for bouncing a tailender - he responded with another bouncer and pointed out "This is a real bouncer, the previous one wasnt" :lol2:
2. ITB keeping SMG locked inside a phone booth by calling a stray dog.
3. Ian Chappell having a fight with Botham in a bar and unsuccessfully chasing him into the street - it was the only fight Chappelli lost in a bar.
4. Chappelli's disagreements with Glenn Turner
5. Chappelli's debut when he walked after a fielder claimed a catch - the last time he ever walked
6. Hilton Ackermann the south african and an aussie were in Oz for Rest of the World v Aus 1970-71 series. They were drunk and were received at the airport by an aussie gentleman. They made fun of him and enquired if he'd played any serious cricket of his own. The gentleman gave his name later - Bradman.
(I think Incident #6 was not in Idols)..

Have read SMG's all books - Sunny Days was the first and best. Runs n Ruins and One Day Wonder are smaller books featuring specific series in mid 80s. ODW is specific to WCC and Sharjah 1985.

Dilip Doshi's Spin Punch is a scathing attack on SMG - and Doshi has very good reasons. The guy's career stats is as good as Bedi, only half as many tests.

[jaiganes]

Ian Chappell having a fight with Botham in a bar and unsuccessfully chasing him into the stre
I would think 10 times before even attempting to do that...
I also found a book on India's world cup wins by Ayaz Memon! Think you would be interested in that!!

[hehehewalrus]

Did you get the books from Blossoms, 46 church street on St marks road?
they have a pretty decent collection but rates are not too cheap.
I have Ayaz's book on sachin and 99 world cup.

bangalore is short of good sports book stores unlike bombay/chennai.

[jaiganes]

Nope there is a book exhibition cum sale at Jayanagar. They have a collection of all vintage books, right from Sir Walter scott's novels to State of Fear by M.Crichton. If you sift through the rubble, you may find interesting old books on cricket. Reading charges vary from 5 Rs to 40 Rs.(just read and return in 7 days.

[Cinefan]

Jai,
Where is the Exhibition going on?I seem to missed it!

[jaiganes]

It isn't an exhibition perse. In Jayanagar 4th block, a few metres from Archies shop in the road leading to 3rd block, there is a basement shop where there is a bookshop cum library. They have collected huge volumes of used and new books and put them up at discount rates. It is quite extensive. Only problem is that it isn't indexed , whcih means you have to do a lot of searching and sifting.

[Cinefan]

Thanks Jai,I think I got a fair idea of which place you are referring to,let me check out today.

[mandangi]

In my childhood days i used to play cricket well. Now i am not much intrested on cricket.

[Cinefan]

http://sify.com/sports/cricket/fullstory.php?id=13677871

John wright may quit as coach after the Pak series.

[jaiganes]

It was on cards for a long time.
Lets see who replaces him. I would be delighted if Steve Waugh becomes the coach. The first thing he might do is to bring Parthiv Patel back as keeper, just to keep some friendly banter going on in the field!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[jaiganes]

Cine fan! You are coming tomorrow for the game right?
Sandeep! You are also in Bangalore right? can u join us. treat it as a punishment for driving on the wrong side. :lol:

Street cricket is also an interesting phenomenon in India. Though I prefer no tto play this brand of cricket, I was forced to play in the streets for most part. Whatever be the drawbacks of this game, I enjoyed one aspect of it. The boundary is by default straight one. So I played more in the 'V' . So much so that these days, the only shot with which I am more comfortable is the straight drive and whenever I play it, team mates exclaim! Only I know why that stroke comes easily to me.

[Cinefan]

Street cricket is the most popular game in India simply because of the lack of grounds though surprisingly I see more of them now than before. :? My cricket has always been on the streets&in the verandahs :)whether it is Bangalore or Chennai.The only time I have played in a ground was when I took cricket as a sport in P.T. for a couple of years in school.Playing on the street imposes severe restrictions on shot selection.Add to that 'one pitch catch out',it's a nightmare&extreme care has to be taken.But we have all enjoyed those things, will the future generations get the same joy?

[jaiganes]

Cinefan wrote:

But we have all enjoyed those things, will the future generations get the same joy?
There are other games that youngsters play these days in streets like MG Road. How abt cricket on MG Road??? sure the rabbit will join us. :lol: :lol:

[Cinefan]

There are other games that youngsters play these days in streets like MG Road. How abt cricket on MG Road??? sure the rabbit will join us. :lol: :lol:

ode pada pore. :D

[jaiganes]

I was referring to Chinnaswamy stadium which is adjoining MG road!! :wink: :lol: :lol:
Otherwise nothing intended.... he heh heee he

[Cinefan]

I was referring to Chinnaswamy stadium which is adjoining MG road!! :wink: :lol: :lol:
Otherwise nothing intended.... he heh heee he

kadele poo? :D

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/feb/25cinter.htm
An interview with Rahul Dravid.

Digression:

Aishwarya Rai will present an Oscar. :o :shock:

[mandangi]

I stopped playing cricket in my childhood days but i did not stop watching cricket. Physical problems is also one of the reasons for me for loosing intrest on cricket. I believe that cricket is best of all the games.

[NOV]

test

[Nerd]

Nice thread :clap:
The Trichy-Ponmalai team (cricket ball) I was part of was called Red devils. I was also part of the subramaniapuram (trichy) team - tennis ball, which did not have a name. Also was part of the University team here - tape ball, will write more later :P

[jaiganes]

nice to know that this thread has been moved to a more appropriate section.
It is a special feeling - playing in the dusty uneven corporation grounds and waterlogged plots with tennis ball and falling and getting bruised -- all for playing cricket!!!

[karthik_sa2]

sooooper topic :P we used to play most of the times in terrace....one pitch catch out...ball velila pochunaa out..but fulltoss pota no ball<i brought up this rule :lol: )....yaaru adikuraangalo avanga dhaan ball'a poi eduthu varanum...aen evalo kashtapatu terrace aadinaenu kaekureengala...kizha ellar vittu kannadiyum odaichachu...adhu ennamo theriyala kannadi udainja udanae oda dhaan thonum...not even once we have replaced... :lol:
rhomba restricted shots dhaan aada mudiyum...force'lam calculate panni adikannum......sachin vandha kooda paaavam rhomba kashtapattu dhaan poirpaar..adhula paatheengana underarms'la mendis maadhiri poduvoem avalo variation...

then at the age of 13-14 staryted plaing with cricket ball in school ground..nekst possssstla continue