In 1992 Yorkshire County Cricket Club were slowly dragging themselves into the 20th Century. Decades of decline from the great team of the 60′s meant that finally they were prepared to break with tradition and come to terms with hiring an overseas cricketer. Well, most of them were. That curmudgeonly old xenophobe Fred Trueman described the decision to appoint a foreigner as “a bleedin’ disgrace!” Notwithstanding that, the club went on to recruit the Aussie fast bowler, Craig McDermott, who unfortunately pulled out injured the week before he was due to arrive in Leeds.
If Trueman and his ilk were offended by an Australian, you don’t need much of an imagination to guess what he might have thought about the young Indian lad who was recruited to replace him. He was a youngster who at the age of 18 had already scored three Test Match centuries, and although he didn’t set the world on fire for Yorkshire (finishing near the bottom of the County Championship again) the young Sachin Tendukar was a joy to behold with a bat in his hand.
Not that the publicity gurus of Yorkshire CCC thought that was his most important asset as they sent him out to meet the media holding a bat and a pint of Tetley’s Yorkshire Bitter. The poor lad looked totally bemused and must have wondered what on earth had hit him.
I only saw Sachin bat once that year, at the Cheltenham Gollege Ground against Gloucestershire, and he scored 40-odd runs before being caught behind (by Jack Russell, I think) in a delightful cameo innings. Although Yorkshire’s opening bat, and current coach Martyn Moxon made nearly 200 runs on that day, Sachin’s class was evident for everyone to see.
Anyway, the little master is making what may be his final Test appearance at Lords this afternoon, and is currently poised on 99 Test Match centuries. Whilst I want England to win, I could honestly be just as pleased to accept the draw if this supreme cricketer and wonderful man could bat the day out and get his name on the honours board at Lords. So, whilst cricket has had some murky publicity over the last year or so, best of luck wee man, you’re a credit to the sport and your country, and one of the best batsmen the world has ever clapped eyes on.
Bob; At the moment of writing you are possibly posting something about the terrible, tragic events in Oslo at the weekend, and I can quite understand a lighthearted post as a kind of diversion from that grotesque tragedy. My apologies if there is something coming up as I am posting this. May I recommend George Galloways comments on the tragedy on the Daily Records website, as usual George is bang on with his article.Can’t really comment on the article about Tenduka, apart from the mention of Fred Truman, great cricketer, inso far as I know anything about the game, but Truman,away from cricket was a dyed in the wool Tory, but his background was from a solid Labour mining village called Maltby near Rotherham, and naturally was revered in the village, but Maltby in the miners strike of 1984/85 was one of the most solid of all the mining areas in the dispute(and it had an honourable record in 1926) I don’t think Freddy ever went back to tell the miners in Maltby to go back to work or of his support for Thatcher. Like I said, never had much of an interest in cricket, but if ever I had any problem trying to sleep I always found that watching a bit of cricket solved the problem, half an hours viewing and bump, straight into the Land Of Nod, a bit like watching Birminghams 2nd football team in Europe, btw football started in Scotland this weekend, Birminghams 1st teams managers former team showed how crap they really are, lucky to get away with a draw, whereas the best team in Scotland got away with a flying start against Edinburgh’s finest the Hibbees.
I’m really not surprised you don’t get cricket, Gerald. Anyone who appreciates the tripe served up by the gangster Revie’s thugs and their hopeless, hapless successors who float around the lower leagues as sporting journeymen, is hardly likely to grasp the intricacies of a game which requires a bit of subtlety and a variety of skills.
Got to agree Bob, what a day’s cricket today has been. Any one of three (four?) results could have happened today. A wonderful afternoon at work surreptitiously accessing the BBC Test Match Special live blog and being quietly grateful for the joys of the internet as tweets, emails and comments from the TMS team to the ordinary Joe made the working day as pleasurable as can be.
I’ve got a feeling Tendulkar’s 100th 100 will arrive before the current series has finished. A wonderful sportsman.