For all its unbridled beauty cricket has always been susceptible to changes in the weather. The first hint of rain would have groundsmen scrambling to cover the wicket. In a bygone era something called bad light might also stop play. Although frustrating for the players it meant fans could adjourn to the bar that much earlier. This unpredictability would often reduce the length of games but inadvertently laid the basic foundation of the one day game. Whilst an intemperate climate might have...
With India scheduled to play five Tests in England next month, here is my recollection of Rahul Dravid’s 148 in the Headingley Test of 2002. In August 2002, as a Chennai lad living in a musty-smelling hostel in Bengaluru (then Bangalore), I had taken to wandering the old streets of the city, hoping somehow to find a slice of home that would, if only temporarily, press the ‘snooze button’ on my growing homesickness. During one of those walks, I stopped almost automatically in front...
Today I’m delighted to welcome Harry Turnbull to TFT. He recalls the day that he saw the greatest sportsman that ever drew breath in the flesh … Dad picked me up every Saturday when I was a kid. We would rumble off in the Ford Anglia with its gleaming white bonnet and black tail wings, invariably headed for the indoor bowling centre where he played every week. I would watch him curling bowls down the artificial turf whilst nursing a Dandelion & Burdock and contemplating what...
As we grow, our parents assume hero status in an exciting and challenging new life. But how does that dynamic change when our parents are also sporting heroes known to millions across the globe? Cricket has a steady stream of sons who have matched their fathers at test level. Many have exceeded their achievements in the test arena. But what forces are at play here; is it simply a repeating genetic pattern or the hothouse environment stimulated by a talented role model? The nature versus nurture...
It was the summer of Franklin Rose and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. It was the summer of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s snail-paced 201 at Port of Spain. It was the summer during which an Indian batting line-up which boasted the likes of Mohammad Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar failed to chase down 120 on an up-and-down turf in Barbados, putting the West Indies on the right side of the one outright result in a series where all the other matches ended in draws. It was...
It must be tough to be a sibling, in the same line of work (professional sport for instance) and yet be overshadowed by an older or younger brother or sister (or cousin for that matter). Iain Greig was a solid county all-rounder – but few casual fans would be able to tell you that he played two tests in 1982 as England floundered even with Botham for a period of time. More recently Billy Root has showed signs of developing into a solid county batsman at Glamorgan, yet will always suffer...
