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Champions
The World's Greatest Cricketers Speak
By Mike Coward Allen & Unwin
Copyright © 2013 Mike Coward and the Bradman Museum
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-74343-280-8
CHAPTER 1
Hail to the Hall of Fame
The Bradman International Cricket Hall of Fame at Bowral in the alluring southern highlands of New South Wales bears Sir Donald Bradman's name because he has been Australia's only universal cricketer.
Twelve years after his death at 92 in 2001 the legend of Bradman continues to thrive and while he railed against being perceived as a saintly figure, each year thousands of people visit the Hall of Fame to pay him homage and immerse themselves in the ancient and modern history of cricket.
As with the antecedent Bradman Museum, the Hall of Fame was inspired by Bradman's vision and continues to fulfil his wish that the game be 'honoured and strengthened' in his name.
While fate decreed his remarkable career as the greatest batsman was confined to Australia and England his time as an influential administrator and legislator saw the game grow exponentially beyond traditional boundaries.
Pre-eminent Australian and unabashed Anglophile, Bradman lived to see the game of Empire outlive the Empire and as both an emissary for the governors of the game in Australia and as a letter-writer nonpareil, he was in constant contact with cricket officials and devotees throughout the world.
The Hall of Fame was conceived in 2008 to mark the centenary of his birth and to recognise and celebrate the game's constant and dramatic evolution.
As with the Museum the international cricket hall exists to collect, preserve and exhibit the game's heritage and proudly trumpet its diversity of cultures and myriad languages. Furthermore, with the use of sophisticated technologies and the goodwill of the game's greatest cricketers, it provides the visitor with a memorable and entertaining interactive experience and a research resource without parallel.
In his introduction to The Bradman Albums in 1987, Bradman wrote:
Inevitably the face of cricket changes with the passage of time. The game must adapt to the social era in which people live. Nobody, fifty years ago, could have foreshadowed night cricket, coloured clothing, white balls and so on, but I do not resile from such happenings provided we are able to preserve the underlying character-building edifice upon which the game was founded. This responsibility must be shouldered with care and foresight by contemporary players and administrators because they are now the custodians of a valued trust for future generations.
Bradman had unwavering belief in the spirit of cricket and challenged every cricket person to take responsibility for the welfare of the game and so safeguard its future. As a player he witnessed first-hand its welfare dangerously jeopardised during the white-hot Bodyline summer of 1932–33 and as an administrator saw the spirit imperilled at the height of the throwing controversies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. And as a trustee of the South Australian Cricket Association he was one of its delegates to the then Australian Cricket Board throughout the World Series Cricket schism from 1977 to 1979.
Financially supported by the Australian and New South Wales governments and built within metres of Bradman Oval and a renowned statue of the peerless batsman, the International Cricket Hall of Fame is the only exhibition of its kind in the burgeoning cricket world.
Notably it also provides the only formal presentation of the players inducted to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Hall of Fame, which was established in 2009 in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations to celebrate the centenary of the ICC.
And nearby spectacular silhouettes of the international hall's own 20 Greats of the Game invariably spark animated discussion. This elite group was chosen by a selection panel headed by Richie Benaud, the patron of the Bradman Foundation.
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The Bradman Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust, was established in 1987 with Bradman's wholehearted support. Its first initiatives were the establishment of the Museum and the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year Award in 1989. Former Australian captain and International Cricket Hall of Fame ambassador Ricky Ponting is among a host of internationals who have won the award. Explosive opening batsman David Warner was honoured in 2012 and exciting Queenslander Joe Burns in 2013.
The Foundation is committed to youth development through cricket and each year organises coaching camps, hosts exhibition matches and events and offers university scholarships in Bradman's name.
The International Cricket Hall of Fame has brought a new and thrilling dimension to the Bradman precinct and the opening of the World Series Cricket exhibition during the 2012–13 season attracted widespread interest from visitors throughout Australia and overseas.
Recollections of World Series Cricket is the latest of the themed exhibitions which take the visitor from the rustic origins of the game by way of the extensive Bradman gallery to a high-tech presentation of today's vibrant and disparate cricket world.
The irony of Benaud serving as patron for an organisation bearing Bradman's name and loudly celebrating the World Series Cricket (WSC) revolution will not be lost on students of cricket history.
Arguably the two most progressive and influential thinkers in the annals of Australian cricket, they held strongly opposing views on World Series Cricket and did not speak for the two years the schism polarised the cricket community.
Benaud, Australia's 28th Test captain, was, with his wife and business partner Daphne, the leading cricket consultant to Kerry Packer throughout the tumultuous period.
Bradman, who was thought by many critics of the day to be conspicuously reluctant to speak publicly about the radical movement, at least privately remained steadfastly aligned with the game's traditional governors in vehement opposition to what they disparagingly called a 'circus'.
Benaud reflected on a long life in cricket and his role at the front line of the WSC uprising in his contribution to the Hall of Fame's interview archive. More than 130 of the game's foremost players, officials, writers, broadcasters and eminent enthusiasts from around the world have generously given their time to the project since it was commissioned in 2009.
I was delighted when Rina Hore, the executive director of the Foundation, charged me with the responsibility of coordinating the establishment of the archive.
After 40 years of writing about the game for various newspapers and magazines in Australia and overseas, it was a privilege to sit with the greatest players and officials of the past 70 years — a good number of whom I had known for many summers — to prompt their memories and reminiscences and seek their views on the major issues within the game.
With Sean Mulcahy, an outstanding cameraman with complementary audio, lighting and editing skills, I undertook the vast majority of the interviews and I will always be grateful for the spontaneity and honesty of the interviewees. The world's elite male and female cricketers readily acknowledged the need for a definitive archive and were deeply engaged in what will be an ongoing process.
The importance of conducting an interview when the opportunity arises was sombrely borne out between April 2010 and January 2013 with the death of five key figures whose memories had been recorded, transcribed and archived.
While Englishman Sir Alec Bedser was 91 and Australian Sam Loxton 90, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the aristocratic former Indian captain was 70, English writer and broadcaster and former Marylebone Cricket Club president Christopher Martin-Jenkins, 67 and the South African-born internationalist, Tony Greig, 66. Martin-Jenkins left an exceptional body of work, and Greig, principally because of his decisive role in the World Series Cricket movement, will always be remembered as one of the most significant figures in the history of the game.
The interviews were conducted the length and breadth of Australia, in the Indian cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore, at Potchefstroom in the North West Province of South Africa and Bridgetown, Barbados in the West Indies and in London, the home counties and midlands of England.
Such an extensive undertaking provided many logistical challenges and it was our good fortune that irrepressible Carlton Saldanha, a former first-class cricketer with Karnataka, used his considerable liaison and organisational skills to ease our brisk passage through India in 2010. The scorer of seven hundreds in a career which spanned 14 seasons and netted him 4066 runs at a healthy average of 45.68 before he turned his attention to operations and stadia rights acquisition for the Frontiers Group, his keenness and persuasiveness was as telling as his list of contacts.
He was on hand to ensure Sachin Tendulkar found his way from a meeting with sponsors to the interview in a sprawling function room at the palatial Taj Lands End Hotel at Bandra in Mumbai and ensured Kapil Dev could be intercepted during a business trip from Delhi to Mumbai.
Memories abound from this journey. Characteristically, Rahul Dravid honoured his commitment despite the pain of a jaw cracked in a hooking mishap during a Test match in Bangladesh a few days earlier, while Gundappa Viswanath, Erapalli Prasanna and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar prepared for their interview over chai and dosa on the clubhouse lawns of the Chinaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
On cue, charismatic Bishan Bedi vented his spleen on contentious bowling actions before providing a fascinating insight into the arcane art of spin bowling and much more while holding court in a hotel basement in Delhi. Also in the nation's capital, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, in his elegant drawing room brimful of exquisite traditional and contemporary art and artefacts, in one of his last interviews spoke candidly of the unique challenges that face an Indian captain.
The journey to England and the West Indies the following year also was undertaken at pace and was particularly rewarding as news of the metamorphosis of the Bradman Museum and the establishment of the archive had preceded us.
We were based in a townhouse in Randolph Avenue, Maida Vale, which, with some imagination and a little help from the local florist, could be converted to a suitable space for filming. Ten of the 21 interviewees slated for England welcomed the convenient location in London, some happily taking a constitutional stroll from nearby Lord's cricket ground to fulfil their commitment.
There were, too, journeys to the country to capture some of the quarry. Certainly it was something of a coup to ambush former England captain Ted Dexter at his beloved Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire during a visit from his home in Nice on the French Riviera. Kept off the course by a recurring back complaint, he reflected and reminisced in a sumptuous lounge of the clubhouse, its walls lined with photographs of peerless golfers.
John Snow, one of the greatest of all fast bowlers, was so preoccupied with preparations for a daughter's wedding he momentarily forgot the arrangement at the Sussex County ground at Hove. However, he soon recovered ground and characteristically, if metaphorically, pushed off his long run.
Visits to renowned writers John Woodcock at Longparish in Hampshire and David Frith at Guildford in Surrey were followed by splendid lunches at homely village pubs before thoughts turned to more hours at the wheel to reach Ray Illingworth and Rohan Kanhai in the north of the country.
Illingworth, who famously regained the Ashes for England in Australia in 1970–71, was regaining strength at his home in Farnley, Yorkshire, after a long hospitalisation following a heart attack. But it was evident soon enough he had lost none of his toughness and, as ever, did not mince his words.
Kanhai, the former West Indian captain who so boldly took the Wisden Trophy from Illingworth in a three-Test series in England in 1973, has long lived at Poulton in Lancashire and he too was finding his strength after a worrying bronchial illness. The opportunity to relive the halcyon days of West Indian cricket under Frank Worrell soon brought a smile to his face and a lilt to his voice.
The stimulating time with Kanhai whetted the appetite for the trip to Barbados for a clutch of interviews and a pilgrimage to the grave of Worrell at the Barbados campus of the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, a few minutes' drive north of Bridgetown.
And not even the challenges posed by extensive renovations undertaken at the Coral Mist resort during filming took the gloss from the exercise. The learned and loved voice of West Indian cricket, Tony Cozier, along with peerless Wes Hall and champions from the 1980s, provided a special perspective of the game that unites the disparate sovereign nations of the vast Caribbean Archipelago.
While some interviews within Australia were coordinated at the International Hall of Fame, the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence in Brisbane and at various Test match venues, others were conducted privately.
That so many of the game's most recognisable identities so willingly opened the doors of their homes was indicative of the importance all subjects placed on the faithful recollection of the past to inform and benefit future generations. For many it was a priceless and perhaps final opportunity to make a telling, defining or clarifying observation for posterity.
The following pages contain extracts from some of the interviews distilled into categories that historically resonated with Bradman: leadership, courage, philosophy, the spirit of the game and humour and hubris.
CHAPTER 2
The cast
The cast of 58 cricketers assembled for Champions is beyond compare.
Testament to the stature of the men and women who enliven the following pages in such an eloquent and entertaining manner is that 37 of them captained their country in Test matches.
That there are five knights and a baroness among them adds further lustre.
These gifted and giving denizens of the cricket world, aged from 32 to 91, hail from 14 countries — including Italy and Zambia — and with disarming honesty share their deepest thoughts on the glorious game.
JONATHAN AGNEW
born Macclesfield, Cheshire, England 4 April 1960
'Aggers', as he is known to his myriad admirers, is the cricket correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation and has also written on the game. Renowned for his affability and sense of fun, he is philosophical that many of his worldwide audience are oblivious to the fact he had a fine career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire and played three Test matches for England in the mid 1980s. He took 666 first-class wickets at 29.25 between 1978 and 1990. 'Aggers' fell in love with cricket commentary as a boy on the family farm, and as a broadcaster was guided by the doyen, Richie Benaud.
WASIM AKRAM
born Lahore, Pakistan 3 June 1966
Akram is considered by many pundits to be the greatest left-arm fast bowler of all time. Mentored by the legendary Javed Miandad and Imran Khan, whose photographs adorned his bedroom wall as a youth, Akram was an artist who mastered every aspect of fast seam and swing bowling. The very best batsmen of his era believe he made the ball talk. Also an explosive if under-achieving batsman at Test level, his reputation lost some lustre during the match-fixing controversies of the 1990s. He captured 414 Test wickets at 23.62 in 102 Test matches and 502 wickets at 23.52 in limited-over internationals and captained Pakistan in 25 Tests between 1993 and 1999.
MIKE ATHERTON
born Manchester, Lancashire, England 23 March 1968
Courageous and unbending, Atherton always displayed the stoicism for which the English cricketer is traditionally renowned. A self-disciplined and highly motivated opening batsman, he possessed exceptional patience and powers of concentration. This was never more evident than in Johannesburg in 1996 when he defied a South African attack headed by Alan Donald and Shaun Pollock for 10 hours and 43 minutes for a defining unconquered 185 to save England from defeat. Critics pondered whether it was the finest match-saving innings by an England captain. Given the leadership at the age of 25 when stocks were low and victory elusive he enjoyed series successes against South Africa and the West Indies. He famously struggled against Australia or, more pointedly, Glenn McGrath, who dismissed him on a world-record 19 occasions.
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Excerpted from Champions by Mike Coward. Copyright © 2013 Mike Coward and the Bradman Museum. Excerpted by permission of Allen & Unwin.
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