More than 3 decades ago in Dec 1984, a
38 year old, an Engineering surveyor, debuted against a strong touring
side - this man went on to play only 11
tests taking 34 wickets but did considerable damage in two of them. That was David Boon’s Test debut and turned
out to be Kim Hughes’ last as Australian captain, an eight-wicket defeat
prompting his resignation after Test cricket’s 999th match. Identify this bowler ?
He bowled in only one innings, taking
2-97 off 27 overs as the West Indians, with Richie Richardson cracking 138 and
Clive Lloyd 114, reached 424. He had to
face Garner, Marshall, Holding and
Walsh, batting at No. 10, ahead of Rodney Hogg, survived 22 deliveries in the
first dig before flashing at and edging a Garner short ball. He had time to
turn and watch Dujon, standing about 20m back, glove a spectacular catch. His
second innings was brief: knocked over first ball by Marshall.
Today at Chepauk (everyone knows that
it would rain in Sept in Chennai ~ why have a match then ??) - India recovered brilliantly from 12/3 to 87/5 to finish at 281/7 in 50
overs; it rained and D/L came in to play – now Aussies need 164 in 21 overs and
at the time of posting this are 29/2 in 6.3 overs requiring 135 in 87 balls
Chepauk was set ablaze by sensational
six hitting of Hardik Pandya. Long long
ago, in a Ranji match, I saw Kirti Azad clobber Venkat, the ball hitting the
hard roof slab near the score board above A stand and thudded down ~ today saw
two similar shots by Hardik – one of Zampa and another of Stonis ? Hardik and MS Dhoni
carried on the good work sharing a good partnership to take India to 281 for 7, a challenging
total ! - The
innings had everything: early wickets to extra bounce, a superb catch to send
Virat Kohli back, the Pandya counterattack, the Dhoni solidarity.
The leggie Adam Zampa knows Indian
conditions with his games for MI in IPL – but ran into Hardik who found the
perfect length to hit. In 8 overs Zampa
had bowled well, but in his 9th
the second ball was struck with a
straight bat hit over straightish long off for a maximum; next was struck over long on high and high above the fielder and 4th
was a short arm jab with bottom hand, over straightish long for another. Finally when Zampa had him, he had made 83 runs off 66 balls
Back home in Australia, Bob Holland,
the legspinner who in 1984 became Australia's third-oldest Test debutant of all
time, has died at the age of 70. Holland had been diagnosed with an aggressive
form of brain cancer in March this year. He died on Sunday after suffering a
brain bleed while in a Newcastle hospital, where he was being treated for
broken ribs suffered in a fall last week. On Friday night, Holland had attended
a function in his honour, hosted by former Test captain Mark Taylor.
A latecomer to first-class cricket,
Holland made his debut for New South Wales at the age of 32, but still managed
to accumulate 316 first-class wickets at 31.19. His Test debut came at the age
of 38, against West Indies at the Gabba in 1984; the only Australians to make
their Test debuts older than Holland were 46-year-olds Don Blackie and Bert
Ironmonger in 1928.
It is Bob Holland mentioned in the starting
para - who after his 38th birthday debuted.
At Sydney, it was to be the farewell test for Big Clive Lloyd – Alan Border was
the new Captain, Aussies batted first. Kepler Wessel’s 173 hoisted them
to 471/9, Holland not required to bat and WI pacers Marshall, Holding and
Walsh going for more than 100 runs. The powerful lineup of
Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson, Gomes, Richards, Lloyd, Dujon was bundled out
for 163 – with Bob Holland taking 6/54 and Murray Bennet taking 2.
Border enforced the follow-on and the wicket continued to turn. This time,
Bennett got Richards. Holland made use of the conditions, bowling with
control and variation, to take 4-90, giving him 10 wickets in the match.
The Australians won by an
innings and 55 runs. He toured England the following winter, playing in
four of the six Tests. He took 5-68 at Lord's. In Sydney the following summer,
he bowled Australia to victory over New Zealand with another 10-wicket haul, in
the series won by the Kiwis 2-1.
He played last in January,
1986, against the Indians at the SCG. Gavaskar, Srikkanth and Armanath made centuries
and the leg-spinner had 1-113 off 21 overs. The flamboyant Krishnamachari
Srikkanth went after him, hitting 20 in a single over – which in those days was
too much. That match in Jan 1986 ended in a draw. Sunil Gavaskar and
Krish Srikkanth had a partnership of 191 and the next wicket fell at 415 only.
Aussies were all out for 396 with runrate of 2.20 per over; followed on and
saved the match with score at 119/6 in 77 overs. Srikkanth who made 116
off 117 balls was the man of the match.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
17th Sept. 2017.
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