| Gavaskar had decided to relinquish his opening position and come in at no 4 for that test. But, Malcolm Marshall fired out Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0/2. And he thought there would be less pressure! "Man, it doesn't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero." - Viv Richards to Sunil Gavaskar at Madras 1983. Greg Thomas was bowling to Viv Richards in a county game. Viv missed a superb outswinger, and Thomas said "It's red, round and weighs about 5 1/2 ounces." Next ball Viv hits Greg Thomas out of the ground for 6 and replies, " Greg, you know what it looks like. Go ahead and find it!" Australia fighting for a win nearing the end of a Test Match, Fred Trueman at the crease. The Aus captain has plenty of close in fielders, whose shadows fall on the wicket. Fredie finds this objectionable, "Ere, if you lads don't back off, I'll appeal for bad light!" Tom Goddard, of Gloucestershire, once bowled 42 consecutive overs under heat wave conditions. Finally, he complained about his unthinking captain, "Why the hell! doesn't the bloody bugger take me off?` raved Goddard. At that moment it was gently pointed out to him, by amused team-mates, that skipper Basil Allen had left the field hours earlier. Allen had in fact asked a colleague to lead the side in his absence, the colleague being Goddard himself!! The best of the best (Incident described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird) "Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Glocuestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, they used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing and equally inept runner; "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!" Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton: "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors....... both got injured. Both opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had all four running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES"... "NO"..., eventually, all of them ran to the same end. Note at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them, "One of you buggers is out . I don't know which. You decide and inform the bloody scorers!" |