Kerala Cricket [India domestic]
Tittu Mathew
As most of you know from my name I come from
the small southern-most state in India known as
Kerala. Even-though Kerala has contributed a lot to
Indian sports as such, it's contribution to Indian
cricket is none. Kerala could produce athletes of
the caliber of P.T.Usha or M.D.Valsamma, but it couldn't
produce a test cricketer. In a state where cricket
is not a mainstream game till recently, the would-be
pitchs where turned into soccer fields or volleyball
courts. But, with the advent of television and the high
profile of cricketers, cricket has made its impact in this
small beautiful state too. These days a trip through
the country side will see the soccer fields and
volleyball courts being invaded by a new breed of
budding crickets weilding cricket bats made of madal
[the bottom part of the coconut leaf] and wickets
made of kappa kamp'e [the tapioca stem].
My memory of kerala cricket starts from the late
'70s. Trivandrum and Cochin where the meccas of
Kerala cricket during those days. Me being brought-up
in Trivandrum has more exposure to cricket in and
around that area. Kerala Ranji team during the '70s
was nothing but a push-over. Almost all the matchs
which involved Kerala would be over on the 2nd day,
a rare exception will be a Kerala-Andhra tie. During
the late '70 the entire Kerala team revolved around
one man, by name Ramesh Sampath. He was one of the
best players Kerala has ever produced. Many a times
he was selected to the south-zone 16 member team but
never played in the XI. He was an elegant right
hand batsmen, but those where the days when south had
batsmen of the caliber of Vishy, Patel, Sudhakar Rao etc.
Then toward the early '80s Kerala had the Godwin brothers,
Nirmal, Pradeep and Papa. But none where close to what
Sampath was. Nirmal Godwin was better known because of the
strange names of his sons [Gordon Greenidge and
Garry Gilmore]. Pradeep Godwin was a good friend of mine.
He used to fill us on with first-hand informations. He
used to come-up with stories about Prasanna making a
mockery out of the Kerala batsmen and Kirmani developing
a sudden thirst for the opposite sex during their stay
in Calicut. But, whatever he says we used to take it with
a pinch of salt. During that time we had a bowler by
name Mackey who was known as the Salem Durani of Kerala
cricket, because he used to score sixers at will.
The '80 has produced Jayram who was a batsmen of
some talent. He was also included many a times in the
South-zone 16 but never played. By mid '80s Kerala's
stature as a push-over team has changed. Kerala could
give a decent fight even-though we use to loose. It was
during this time the three brothers S.Ramesh, S.Rajesh and
S.Santosh used to play for Kerala. Santosh was more talented
than the other two [hey, I have played some cricket with him
at college level !!!!]. Kerala at that time had a good pacer
known as Ajay Varma. He was pretty nippy. He too was included
many a times in the south-zone 16 but never played. Even
though he way little wayward he could force batsmen to the
backfoot, but a serious knee injury hampered his career
at a very early age. The late '80s saw the advent of
imported players representing the state Ranji side. The
names which comes to mind are Hariharan and his partner
[I don't remember his name]. They both were from Bombay
but formed a good new-ball pair.
The '90s saw Kerala becoming a resonably good team.
A team which can easily handle Andhra and Goa and give
the top teams a run for their money. Now from Kerala
B.Ramprakash has been consistently playing in the
South-zone team and saw the emergence of a brilliant
young right hand leg-spinner Anatha Padmanaban. He has
been rated by many as a top-class leg spinner and I
have read some Sports Star issues praising him a lot.
The problem is south-zone doesn't play him enough. I
can understand when Raju and Kumble plays he doesn't
have much chance, but when they are not there they
play Sunil Subramaniam and Venkataraman. OK, S.Subramaniam
is good but they can play A.Padmanaban instead of
Venkataraman. He bowled pretty well in the President's XI
against England but didn't have a good match in the
Irani trophy. Manjrekar gave him only 4 overs in the first
and 3 overs in the second innings, which I think is totally
unfair. Hope he gets some more chance and give Kumble a
real challenge.
Bye Now
Tittu Mathew
Kalyan Sundhar P125
Ramprakash was a reserve in the TN for a season or two and then
he decided to switch over to Kerala. P.T.Subramanian is one
more of this kind. He was playing I Division league cricket
in Madras before starting to play for Kerala.
Sadiq Yusuf
Tittu Mathew <tma...@cs.uah.edu> wrote:
>Hi Guys:
>
Good stuff, Tittu, v enjoyable.
>names which comes to mind are Hariharan and his partner
>[I don't remember his name]. They both were from Bombay
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>but formed a good new-ball pair.
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^ ????
What do u mean "but" ??? It's *because* they were from BOmbay that
they formed a good new-ball pair !! :-) :-)
> The '90s saw Kerala becoming a resonably good team.
>A team which can easily handle Andhra and Goa and give
>the top teams a run for their money.
Yup, Kerala is a much improved team over the last couple of years.
They're probably still not quite good enough to reach the knock-outs this
season, what with the internationals being back in the other sides. But had
the internationals been missing (as is usually the case), I remember
thinking Kerala might have a shot at squeezing into the 3rd spot of a weak
South Zone. ( Weak cos TN has problems with a pace attack and its batting
relies heavily on WVR, Karnataka has major problems with its batting and
has lost Saldhana, Bhat and probably Kiri after a few more games, and
Hyderabad is almost a one-man bowling attack - Ayub and little else, an
aging Rajesh Yadav and so far non-performing Kanwaljeet Singh )
Now from Kerala
>B.Ramprakash has been consistently playing in the
>South-zone team
Yup, Ramprakash has been doing v well in the Ranjis especially.
More than fair all-round performances from him. Tho, isnt he originally
from TN ?? A friend claims he used to play with him as a junior in TN - I
guess he moved to Kerala as its unlikely that a spinner could get a break
in the TN side (which is, or was, as overloaded with spinners as any side
in memory). He also mentioned another couple of guys from the Kerala squad
as being familiar, as probable TN juniors.
and saw the emergence of a brilliant
>young right hand leg-spinner Anatha Padmanaban. He has
>been rated by many as a top-class leg spinner and I
>have read some Sports Star issues praising him a lot.
>The problem is south-zone doesn't play him enough. I
>can understand when Raju and Kumble plays he doesn't
>have much chance, but when they are not there they
>play Sunil Subramaniam and Venkataraman. OK, S.Subramaniam
>is good but they can play A.Padmanaban instead of
>Venkataraman.
I agree with you that Ananthapadmanabhan is a heck of a prospect.
He's also been taking a few wickets at Ranji level, and seems to be someone
to watch for the future. I've been trying to follow his performances in the
domestics, cos its always interesting to watch a leggie develop, and most
reports say he's a decent one.
However, Iam not so sure about playing him ahead of Venkatramana. I
mean, I can see the selectors pov here - they probably wanted the balance
that Venkatramana provides with his off-spin. Also, Venkatramana had a
terrific season last year - he had 35 wickets in 238.1 overs in the Ranjis
at an average of 19.49, including taking 5 wickets in an inning 3 times. It
was as good a performance as by any other offie in the country - he's
probably recieving recognition for that.
He bowled pretty well in the President's XI
>against England but didn't have a good match in the
>Irani trophy. Manjrekar gave him only 4 overs in the first
>and 3 overs in the second innings, which I think is totally
>unfair. Hope he gets some more chance and give Kumble a
>real challenge.
>
Huh. I remember he played the Pres XI game vs England, but cant
recall anything about his performance in that game. Do you happen to have
it on you, BTW ? I would be v interested in taking a look at them again.
Also, about the Irani game. I read a report on it, they said it was
a seaming wicket ideal for the pacers (at Chandigarh, I believe). With
Prasad and Vaidya etc present, I guess Iam not totally surprised that
Manjrekar game them the ball most of the time. Was very hard on AP tho, of
course.
Also, BTW, another decent prospect might be M Suresh Kumar. He's a
left arm orthodox spinner from Kerala, played U 19 for South Zone and
India. Did fairly well too. Unfortunately I dont have stats from last years
Ranjis, so I dont know how he did. But I remember a game vs TN the year
before that, his debut season I guess, when he did pretty well. He cant be
much more than 20 now, has a lot of time I guess.
Sadiq [ looking out for LA spinners :-) ] Yusuf
>Bye Now
>Tittu Mathew
>
Murali Iyer, Quad/Graphics
>In article <1993Dec21....@cs.uah.edu>,
>Tittu Mathew <tma...@cs.uah.edu> wrote:
>>Hi Guys:
>>
> Good stuff, Tittu, v enjoyable.
>
>>names which comes to mind are Hariharan and his partner
>>[I don't remember his name]. They both were from Bombay
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>but formed a good new-ball pair.
>>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>^^^^^ ????
>
> What do u mean "but" ??? It's *because* they were from BOmbay that
>they formed a good new-ball pair !! :-) :-)
>
Sorry to burst your bubble, Sadiq bhai. :-)
Hariharan was from Bangalore. Played in the Karnataka league, and may have
played for Karnataka/been in reserves senior/junior teams. I am not sure about
the details, but am pretty sure he used to be from Bangalore. Then he migrated
to Kerala and gave a good fight against his former teammates, too. I remember
being happy for him that he made it good in Kerala, because given Karnataka's
team makeup, it might have been difficult for him to get a steady chance to
play.
Or maybe he was from Bombay before he ventured to Bangalore and further south
...........?
> Sadiq [ looking out for LA spinners :-) ] Yusuf
>
>>Bye Now
>>Tittu Mathew
-Murali
