Oval - Dying moments of a great series ......!

 

"Fast bowling is a bloody affair and the fast bowler is like the slaughter man in the abattoir" - Duncan Hamilton

 Jeff Thompson and Michael Holding going for the throat of the batsman! 

"Over the years, I've hit a lot of people with the ball. More often than once, I thought I had actually killed a man, and that always turned me sick to the stomach. But I never let it show, or the Trueman image would have collapsed for ever. If you are labelled a bastard, you have to keep it up." - Fred Trueman

Hamilton wrote in his wonderful biography on Harold Larwood, "A few overs of Larwood at his fastest were like a public stoning. He would frighten batsman out. It might look like exaggeration - but only a slight one - to say that Larwood could turn a stump to sawdust. When Larwood bowled, the ground staff always made sure there were three sets of spare stumps: Larwood was certain to break, splinter or shave at least one one of them, possibly two. He could turn a batsman to pulp too."

The three Indian bowlers need such an attitude today in the first half an hour - match would finish either way by then. The final hour of this great series which is fiercely fought over a month and half, needs such an effort from the three Indian fast bowlers - a burst of few overs going for the jugular of the remaining four English batters to earn a well deserved 2-2 

Forget about heavy rollers, forget about the sun beating down the strip, forget about the fading colour of the grass, just steam in as if this is the last hour in your life, steam-in from your bowling mark like a hurricane and hurl that red cherry at the batsman - crushing his toes and if it misses the toes, pulverising the stumps! No half measures! Make 35 look like 350!

Come on India! Finish'em off! Proverbially, it boils down to just three to four deliveries ...!

Lords - Ind vs Eng 2025: A historic venue and a mouthwatering Test in the offing! - by G.Srikanth

 

Cricket is a game played by 11 fools and watched by 11,000 fools - George Bernard Shaw

Sorry George, if that is the case, we love to remain as fools for our lifetime..... and moreover, you got the count wrong by "yards"; there are 22 and at times 120,000 in the ground and 60 crores over television!! 

It's Toss time in Lords!

and it has come down as Tails up!! 

India indeed have come with their tails up and wagging, after that smashing win in the second test at Leeds!

Bumrah is back after rest for India and Joffra is back after a long lay off for England - they both hit the dick.... oh did I really say that..... what I meant was deck! 

Reminds me of that famous incident that happened in 1969 summer at Lords! In the words of Brian Johnston, "It was England vs New Zealand at Lords in 1969. Ward is bowling very fast from the Pavilion end to Glenn Turner. Off the fifth ball of one of his overs, he hit Turner a terrible blow in the box. Turner collapses, bat going one way, his gloves another. TV camera pans in. I have to pretend he's been hit everywhere except where he has been! Turner writhes in pain in the crease for a minute or so, then slowly gets to his feet. Someone hands him his bat, someone else his gloves. I say, "Turner looks a bit shaky and unsteady, but I think he's going to bat on - one ball left!"

Test matches ideally should be dominated by bowlers - fast and furious for 2 half days; slow but lethal turners for 2 half days; and rest of it for batting! 

It's a sight to watch the speedsters steaming in towards the popping crease from the top of their bowling mark.... and.....

......hurl that cherry at the batsman, who, these days, decked up themselves as if they are going to space!

Those days, they didn't care much about their top or any part of their body, except the essential one which Glenn failed to cover well!

...... and the bowler or the close in fielders and even the umpires perhaps wondered "what a tough nut to crack.... that guy is" in awe as they look up how high the ball went after hitting the batters skull with only the hairs to cover it!

Most of the fast bowlers of that era seemed to have had great "killer instincts" literally!! 

.......and the result......

......delible marks on their body (indelible in their psyche!), kissed by the red cherry dearly!

What a lovely sight! The batsman, is literally cordoned off on all sides! A rare sight these days!

Despite these, Cricket was a gentleman game after all! In Oval test 1964, Frederick Trueman grabbed the ball from his Captain Dexter's hands and bowled a lovely spell before lunch and had Ian Redpath and Graham McKenzie in his kitty and was on hattrick - which will be his 300th wicket - first bowler in the history of the game to reach there! After lunch, Neil Hawke, the Australian allrounder, came in and though avoided the hat trick, nicked one to slips into the hands of Colin Cowdrey to give Fred his 300th! 

As Hawke stated walking, he went to Fred to shake his hands before his long walk to pavilion! The only occasion when a Batsman who got out, went and shook hands with the bowler!

Coming to Lords! Let us time travel a bit to probably half a century and back!

Lords looks as if perched inside a forest! 

                    

The commentary box and the scoreboard in Lords those days!

The scoreboard looked very different those days! Manual and everything was numbers..... not just the runs and wickets!!

A familiar scene in the stands as someone walks in..... enquiring the state of match or if a wicket had fallen on the way….with "W"s and "H"!

Here is David Gower having some tap in the nets in Lords with Botham and Geoffrey discussing a few strategies perhaps! And....

....the splendid left-hander takes it on the bowlers! The most exquisite batsman to watch in the history of the game!

Back to 2025 July 10th! 

It's just a few hours from now to watch either Bumrah or Joffra steaming in from their top of the bowling mark..... and what a delightful test awaits us with the series level so far!

Being an Indian and an incorrigible cricket fanatic (or fool in the parlance of Bernard Shaw).......

....I wish it is an Indian player who scores the winning run or taking the final English Wicket and run to the pavilion taking the wickets in his hands!!

{Photos courtesy some greats old books on Cricket, published in England}

I remain