New Zealand Listener – June 08, 2019

JUNE 8 2019 LISTENER 45

T

he 1975 Cricket World Cup

featured what might well be

the strangest innings ever

played in international cricket.

In a pool game against India at

Lords, hosts England rattled up

334 for 4. In their 60 overs, India

made 132 for 3 with opener

Sunil Gavaskar crawling to 36 off

174 balls – a strike rate of 20.6. To

put this in perspective, Gavaskar

was the first player to reach

10,000 runs in test cricket and

broke Don Bradman’s 36-year-

old record for the most test

centuries.

There were various attempts

to explain the inexplicable.

Some within the camp sug-

gested Gavaskar simply didn’t

think the target was achiev-

able and therefore decided

to get some batting practice;

journalists hinted it was an

expression of discontent with

India’s selection policy and/

or captain Srinivas Venkatara-

ghavan. Spurning sophistry and

psychoanalysis, team manager

GS Ramchand, a former Indian

captain, labelled it “one of the

most disgraceful and selfish per-

formances I have ever seen”.

Years later, the man himself

said he’d got in a mental rut: “I

couldn’t force the pace and I

couldn’t get out.”

Actions have consequences;

inaction doesn’t necessarily.

Gavaskar wasn’t dropped or

officially reprimanded

and went on to take

part in another three

World Cups, including

in 1983, when India

upset the West Indies

in the final at the same

venue. On that occa-

sion, he managed 2

off 12 balls, a

strike rate

of 16.6.

In a rut

When Sunil

Gavaskar couldn’t

get out, India

got routed.

GE

TT

Y

IM

AG

ES

were no short-form specialists: Aus-

tralia’s squad for the Ashes series that

followed immediately afterwards –

and loomed far larger in the sporting

landscape – was exactly the same as

their World Cup squad.

T

he first final was a transform-

ational game that gave

limited-overs cricket credibility

and showed the potential of the

Former coach Mike

Hesson believes

England and India

should be joint

favourites with

the West Indies

as dark horses.

tournament format. The West Indies made 291 for

8 in their 60 overs – ODIs are now 50-over games

• an imposing total in those days. Australia fell 17
  runs short, but a 41-run last-wicket stand kept the
  game alive and the many West Indian fans among
  the Lords crowd on the edge of their seats.
  Max Walker, Australia’s most expensive bowler,
  conceded 5.91 runs an over; in 2019, anything
  under 6 will be a stellar performance. And Australia
  lost half their wickets to run-outs, proof that aggres-
  sive running between wickets was in its infancy.
  Although West Indian captain Clive Lloyd was
  one of the most powerful strikers of his era, he
  hit only two sixes in his century. There were only
  three in the game, none in the Australian innings.
  Fast forward to the 2003 final between Australia
  and India in Johannesburg: as Australia charged
  to 359 for 2, captain Ricky Ponting hit eight sixes
  in his century, a feat matched by teammate Adam
  Gilchrist in the 2007 final against Sri Lanka in
  Barbados.
  What are the Black Caps’ prospects? The current
  International Cricket Council rankings would
  suggest they’re pretty good: New Zealand is the
  fourth-ranked ODI team and the only side with
  three representatives among the top 12 batsmen:
  Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson.
  What’s more, Trent Boult is the second-ranked
  bowler and Mitchell Santner the fifth-ranked
  all-rounder.
  But there are lies, damned lies and rankings.
  For instance, none of the four power hitters in
  England’s formidable batting line-up – Jonny
  Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Eion Morgan and Jason Roy


• is ranked among the top 12 batsmen. Two of
  the top three all-rounders are Afghanis and the
  25th-best all-rounder in the world, supposedly, is
  the aforementioned Boult, an out-and-out tail-
  ender whose displays with the willow are filed
  under “eccentric” rather than “accomplished”.
  India’s dynamic Hardik Pandya, a genuine
  all-rounder who could stamp his mark on this
  tournament, is ranked 20th.
  The Black Caps’ recent struggles against the
  heavyweight teams is cause for concern that their
  ranking is unrealistically high. Former coach Mike
  Hesson believes England and India should be joint
  favourites with the West Indies as dark horses.
  And with Australia’s recent performance
  curve trending upwards and key
  batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner
  back in the fold after serving bans for
  ball-tampering, it’s worth remembering
  that our neighbours have won four of
  the past five tournaments. l

Go slow: Sunil Gavaskar

distinguished himself

with a low strike rate.