Trevor Bailey and defensive batting
mu
luded first test, and hearing Trevor Bailey's
voice, I was reminded of his immortal innings along
with Willie Watson at Lords' in 1953 against Australia.
England were in a similar situation with their backs
to the wall, fighting to save the match. With three or
four wickets down, Watson and Bailey batted nearly the
whole of the last day to secure a draw. England went
on to win the last test at the Oval, and thus regain
the Ashes. Bailey was involved in other such rear-
guard actions for England in tests.
He was more than a useful bowler too, opening the
bowling with Bedser initially, and then as a backup
to Tyson and Statham. However, history will probably
remember him as a stonewaller of a high calibre.:-)
Here's how Neville Cardus described his batting:
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EXTRACT from the essay "Cricket of Vintage"
FULL SCORE, by Neville Cardus (Cassell, London 1970)
...I am rather at a loss to account for Trevor Bailey's
100 wickets taken in a season in which he scored 2011
runs, in 1959; because he spent so much time compiling,
or secreting, his runs as batsman. One day he stationed
himself at the batting crease for several hours engaged
in acquiring 50 odd runs. In my report of this somnam-
bulistic innings, I wrote to the following effect:
'Before he gathered together 20 runs, a newly-married
couple could have left Heathrow and arrived in Lisbon,
there to enjoy a honeymoon. By the time Bailey had
congealed 50, this happily wedded pair could easily
have settled down in a semi-detached house in Surbiton;
and by the time his innings had gone to its close they
conceivably might have been divorced.'
Nonetheless, Bailey was a character, not an adding-
machine. He stonewalled passionately, inveterately;
and where human passion in in action, there can be no
evaporation of dull, anaesthetic air...
=======================================================
Murari Venkataraman
ven...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Ananth Krishnan
All the rest deleted.
>machine. He stonewalled passionately, inveterately;
>and where human passion in in action, there can be no
>evaporation of dull, anaesthetic air...
History invariably tends to create heroes out of ordinary men. Notwithstanding
the fact that "stone walling" requires skill and concentration of an
extraordinary degree, one cannot but admit that such tactics CANNOT win
matches. "Stone Walling" when the game is still evenly balanced is one of the
main reasons why 5-day cricket is not as popular as it once was.
This may be a moot point, but somehow I get the impression that more tests seem
to have results nowadays. This probably is because of the fact that more
players are playing a bit faster (batsmen) nowadays.
Peace,
Ananth
mu
>In article <1v50uq$j...@happy.cc.utexas.edu> ven...@happy.cc.utexas.edu (mu) writes:
>
>All the rest deleted.
>
>>machine. He stonewalled passionately, inveterately;
>>and where human passion in in action, there can be no
>>evaporation of dull, anaesthetic air...
>
[Stuff deleted]
Not to be nitpicky, the lines you've included from my original article,
are not my words, but Neville Cardus' and should be ascribed as such.:-)
Cheers,
Murari Venkataraman
ven...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu