History has its truth, and so has Legend.
Legendary truth is of another nature than Historical
truth.
Legendary truth is invention whose result is
reality.
But, History and Legend have the same goal; to
depict eternal man beneath momentary man.
Quatre vingt treize by Victor Hugo
Quatre vingt treize by Victor Hugo
Hi everyone!
Season 2017 should have started with my first Day at the Cricket being on Thursday 30 March for Cambridge
University v Nottinghamshire
A disappointment, partly because it was the one time I was planning to watch Nottinghamshire as part of watching all 18 Counties this Season. Re-planning is underway !
And it was also disappointing as I haven't been to Fenners since 1974.
So many memories of regularly watching cricket there in the early 1970's...
But as
Harold Macmillan (may have) famously said: " Events, dear boy, Events". And it
was one such Event that meant at very short notice I had to be in
Newcastle on business on the 30th.
A disappointment, partly because it was the one time I was planning to watch Nottinghamshire as part of watching all 18 Counties this Season. Re-planning is underway !
And it was also disappointing as I haven't been to Fenners since 1974.
So many memories of regularly watching cricket there in the early 1970's...
A mere 44 years ago & within a couple of weeks of my 21st birthday I was there with
the Young Man – our friendship by then already stretching back over 15 years
& now well over 60 years - sitting
on the grass on the extra cover / midwicket boundary on the Glisson Road side of the ground for all three days of Combined Universities v New Zealand, chatting to & sharing an orange with the NZ bowler Dick Collinge.
The Young Man
remembers EW ‘Jim’ Swanton, Cricket Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph from
1946 to 1975, sitting outside the Pavilion, resting his eyes in the afternoon sun after
a really rather decent lunch !
I’ll be writing a
blog about Jim later in the season.
For now, let me
tell you what former England Captain Ray Illingworth said about Jim:
"Being
such a Snob, Jim doesn't even travel in the same car as his Chauffeur."
As for the game
itself, it was one of the most exciting I’ve ever, ever seen.
NZ scored 250 and the Universities replied with 299.
With NZ getting 259
for 7 declared in their 2nd innings, the Universities were set 211
to win.
By very last ball
on the third & final afternoon the Universities required 4 to win with NZ
needing to take one final wicket.
It ended honours
shared with the Home team finishing on 207 for 9.
The Universities
were well captained by Phillipe-Henri ‘Phil’ Edmonds, who went on to play for
England in over 50 Test matches.
Many a tale to tell
about Phil ...
You might like the
one about the tour to India in 1984/85. England were playing India in Calcutta.
With the hosts playing at a snail's pace towards an inevitable draw, Phil, who
was fielding at square leg, produced a copy of the Daily Telegraph and proceeded to read it!
And, of course, there
are Phil’s then wife Frances’s wonderful, wonderful books about being on tour
with England in the mid 1980’s.
Two of the wittiest, most incisive books ever
written about cricket:
Who can ever forget
what she wrote about - without naming about him - England’s Great All Rounder of
the 1970s and ‘80s?
I have always been physically
afraid of people whose body weight in kilos
is numerically higher than their IQ.
Once he’d had the 'Rithmetic explained to him, the Boy from Bucklers Mead Comprehensive wasn’t very
impressed!
Frances could be
equally acerbic about Phil:
Reputation for being awkward & arrogant,
probably because he is awkward & arrogant.
probably because he is awkward & arrogant.
Works hard at trying to be controversial & iconoclastic,
but basically a pillar of the Establishment.
Editor:
Lord
Ric & Phillipe-Henri share the same educational establishments in The
Skinners’ School, Tunbridge Wells & Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Beyond
that I am unable to comment on what other – if any – characteristics they
share!
But,
notwithstanding Phil’s many & varied talents – including making £20 million
in three days in 2005 from his investment in White Nile - looking back over four decades to the match at
Fenners the Universities player who very much took the eye was the No.4.
He top scored in
the 1st innings with 73 and then again with 88 in the 2nd.
As well as taking 7 for 146 in the match.
Many a blog written
and many a tale told about Sussex Legends, not least two from the 1950’s &
’60’s:
Young Jim & Lord Ted
But today it is
time to speak of a Sussex player from the 1970’s & ‘80’s, a Prince amongst
Men, for the No.4 for the Combined Universities is the Legend who is Imran
Khan.
Legends’ Lane, Hove
Born in 1952 in
Lahore, Pakistan & educated at Worcester RGS & Keble College, Oxford, Imran was a
registered Worcestershire player when I first saw him play. But from 1977 to
1988 he was a Sussex player & it was at Hove where another Sussex Legend,
John Snow, assisted Imran in turning his
left shoulder more towards fine leg, to help achieve the out-swinger &
become a technically competent fast bowler.
Never in doubt that
Imran & Snowy open the bowling in my Sussex All Time Dream XI !
Of course, when it
comes to Sporting Legends everyone has their favourites; and Imran Khan is
right up there for me.
Let me tell you why
…
To be a Legend you
must have Performance.
In his 88 Tests for
Pakistan over the 21 years between 1971 & 1992 Imran scored 3,807 runs at
an average of 38 with 362 wickets at 23. He is one of only 8 Test players ever
to make 3,000 runs & take 300 wickets and the 2nd fastest to get
there after the Boy from Bucklers Mead Comprehensive, Sir Ian Botham.
Imran captained
Pakistan to win the 1992 Cricket World cup, taking the last wicket himself.
Yes, Imran had Performance.
But to be a Legend,
Performance on its own won’t be enough; you must also have Panache.
The dictionary
defines Panache as: flamboyant confidence
of style or manner.
Never more was
this characteristic demonstrated than in the Sussex v Middlesex match at Hove
over the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1981.
Phil Edmonds,
acting captain for Mike "Degree in People" Brearley, won the toss and
batted. Middlesex made just 154, with Imran taking 4 for 41 and Garth Le Roux 3
for 32.
With Middlesex’s fastest bowler Wayne Daniel picking up an injury,
it was Simon Hughes – these days known as The Analyst and the current editor of
The Cricketer magazine - who led the attack.
Sussex made
steady progress, passing Middlesex’s total for the loss of only 5 wickets.
Hughes was loathe to bowl any bouncers for in Imran & Le Roux
for Sussex had two ferocious fast bowlers in their ranks.
On one of those boiling hot days you just occasionally get on the South
Coast, when Hughes ended a long spell, Imran asked the Middlesex Captain: “May I take my helmet off, now?” Edmonds agreed, and on came the
sunhat.
Hard to even begin know why, but Phil decided to irritate Imran.
He told Hughes to have just one more over with a couple of Bouncers. Imran was
unready for such a ball & he could only fend the ball to gully for an easy
catch.
Whilst Hughes took 5 for 94 in his 34 overs, Sussex ended with
252, a lead of 98.
When Middlesex came out in bat, Imran was fired up from the very
first ball, taking 6 for 52 in Middlesex’s 157 all out.
Captain Barclay and fellow opener Mendis opened for Sussex, who won easily by 10
wickets.
And the moral of the story?
So, you too want to
be a Legend ?
You have
Performance and you also have Panache.
So just the one
thing left to do: Have you read the Greatest book ever written on Management?
As The Postman always says: It’s all about Delivery !
Can you Deliver when it really, really matters?
Let me finish this
blog with the story of Sydney University v North Sydney in 1984.
Whilst
in Sydney Imran was staying at The Connaught, overlooking Hyde Park and would drive
around town in a red sports car.
Imran’s
team Sydney University were defending just 180, with North Sydney making easy
work of the run chase.
During
the lunch interval Imran left the ground with a Blonde in the red sports car
and drove back to The Connaught.
The Connaught, Sydney
The Special on the lunch menu is highly recommended !!
No sign of Imran as the lunch interval ended and so Sydney University had to take to the field with only with 10 men.
At
130 for 3 North Sydney were strolling to victory.
20
minutes into the afternoon session, Imran Khan and the Blonde returned.
Imran
ambled on to the field, taking his place down at fine-leg.
As
a wicket fell, leaving North Sydney to get a further 30 runs with four wickets
remaining, Imran Khan walked up to his captain Mick O’Sullivan, offered no
explanation as to why he had been late back from lunch, simply stating: “I will
bowl now”.
The
match report records:
The long struggle on the second
day saw us restricting the run rate but finding it difficult to obtain wickets.
That is until at 2.10pm after a
slightly longer than scheduled lunch (for who knows what) Imran’s wonderful
words, “Captain, I will bowl now” were uttered.
After a big Imran off cutter hit
Graham Spring’s stumps, Greedy Grimble chipped in with Trevor Chappell’s
wicket. Two more Imran off cutters for LBWs saw the game turn our way.
Good pressure was maintained and
we scraped home by 9 runs.
Imran’s 4-25 from 23 overs was a high point.
As
team member Kerry O’Keeffe’s famously said:
Once Imran got those Balls
swinging, he was impossible to play!
I
did tell you that Imran Khan was a Legend !!
------
TBH, I can’t promise you
that Lunchtime with Lord Ric on the deckchairs at the Cromwell Road end will be
anywhere near as exciting as Lunchtime with Imran would have been at The Connaught ...
But anyway, why not get a date or three in your diary to watch some cricket with me in Season 2017?
But anyway, why not get a date or three in your diary to watch some cricket with me in Season 2017?
After
all ….
Why read a Lord Ric Cricket Blog, when you can be in one. ©
See you soon!!
Lord Ric of Beckley Furnace
Follow me on Twitter: LordRic52
PS
Can it be that this
October Imran will turn 65?
As I edge - with some sense of trepidation - towards my own 65th birthday on 21st June, I’d
like to end with another quote from Victor Hugo:
Whenever a man's friends begin to
compliment him about looking young,
he may be sure that they think he
is growing old!
Keep the compliments coming
!!
