Great Cricket Stories Yarns and Quotes

We have all read , heard, witnessed so many great cricket stories, yarns, quotes , breaking news etc
I would like to share some of mine, and looking forward to reading everyone elses

Norman Gordon

The South African pace bowler who played in 5 Test Matches against England in 1938-1939
I will describe aspects leading up to and finishing in his last Test Match in Durban
Normans last match was the famous Timeless Test which started on 3/3/1939 and finished on 14/3/39
There were 2 rest days on the 5th and 12th of March !
On the 11th there was no play [depending where you read this]
SA 530
EG 316
SA 481
EG 5/654

England needed 42 more runs to win an amazing run chase and then it rained heavily
Looked a simple task if the game resumed
However this game was concluded as the English players had to catch a ship from Cape Town !

Norman Gordon leading up to this Test
After 4 Tests his bowling average
19 wickets @ 29.00
But in the Timeless Test he got a Verityable pasting
0/82[37]
1/174 [55.2]
His Test bowling ends up at
20 wickets @40.35
Gordon has the dubious honour of bowling the last ball of that famous Timeless Test

Gordon batting in his last Test Match
0 not out
7 not out
Nothing startling on what might have been a really really flat track
But for Gordon it might have been a real personal triumph
Leading into this Test his innings were
0
0
1
0
Gordon had an average of 0.25 at this stage
The 7 not out batting bolstered his career Test average to a whopping 2.0 !
This ends up being a trade off for his bowling in this match !
That once 0.25 average might have been the lowest or one of the lowest Test averages of all time

But what is about Norman Gordon that makes him a unique cricketer ?
Norman was born 6/8/1911 in Boksburg , Transvaal, South Africa
He is still alive today

Norman Gordon is in fact the only Test Cricketer to make 100
100 years of age

And to show what a great lottery life is, the last two bowlers to dismiss Norman Gordon in test cricket were Kenneth Farnes and Hedley Verity, both of whom sadly lost their lives in World War 2. Thus Norman has outlived those two players by 70 years.

South Australia V NewZealand
November 1937
Adelaide Oval

NZ 151
SA 331
NZ 186
SA 0/7

SA convincingly beat the visiting New Zealand team
Vic Richardson [Ian, Greg, Trevor Chappells Grandfather] played
Clarrie Grimmett played against the country he was born in[Clarrie born Xmas day 1891 in NZ]
And the greatest of them all Don Bradman played in this match

Bradman C Tindill B Cowie 11

The Don was caught by Eric Tindill in the South Australian First innings
Both the Don and Eric end up having something in common
That being 99
The Don averaged 99 in his Test Career
Eric Tindall died aged 99

Eric Tindall
Born 18/12/1910 Nelson , New Zealand
Died 1/8/2010
Aged 99 years and 226 days

Had Eric Tindill lived just over another 4 months he would have been the first Test Cricketer to live to 100 +
Had Don Bradman hit Eric Hollies for 4 runs in his last Test innings, instead of being bowled by Hollies for 0, he would have got to a 100 + as well
And both Erics take part in Don Bradman dismissals ...

West Indies V Australia
First Test
Kingston, Jamaica

AU 7/428 DEC
WI 428
AU 2/260 DEC
Australia batted on the 5th day of this 2nd innings, the game destined for a draw
Keith Stackpole was a hard hitting opening batsman and was punishing the West Indian fast bowler Uton Dowe, particularly when the WI quick bowled short
Stacky made 142 in that dig
Later in the day Uton Dowe was brought back into the attack
A guy in the crowd yelled out to the WI captain Rohan Kanhai
"" Hey Kanhai have you not heard de 11th commandment. Dowe shall not bowl.""

WI were sent in later and made 3/67
The game ended in a draw
Dowe ended up with 1/96 + 0/72
His only wicket was Rod Marsh Hit wicket 97
For Uton Dowe this was his 4th and last and most memorable Test match he played for the West Indies

Australia won the series 2-0
Dennis FOT Lillie had poor returns in this match as well
0/112 + 0/20
This was the test that Lillie did his back in and had an enforced lay off from cricket as a result
It was also the debut game of South Aussie fast bowler Jeff Bomber Hammond

As for Uton in this Test, you could say he didnt Dowell ...

Sheffield Shield match
South Australia V Victoria 2004
Adelaide Oval

Got down to this game with a couple of mates
This is how the state of the game was after 3 days of play
VI 343
SA 262
VI 272
SA 2/75

SA needed to make 354 in total to win to win this match, with Boof and Blewy the not out batsman , there was some optimism of a local win and a great days play
SA collapsed on the 4th morning and were about 8/140ish, much to our disappointment
Darren Berry decided to come up to the stumps to one of the VI pace bowlers
My mate JM yelled out "' Hey Berry you better not let any byes through mate.""
Berry responded, but I had better not post his reply !
Sure enough Berry let through some byes shortly after
My mate sledged Darren for his kerfuffle
Berry responded by saying "' Look at the scoreboard d....d.""
I then responded by saying, "' I can see the scoreboard Berry 0 and 1""

First Innings
Berry C Manou B Tait 0
Second inning
Berry C Boof b Davison 1


Me and my mates had a laugh
Darren had the last laugh when SA was dismissed for 156 , and VI won outright
Ive been a bit of a fan of Darrens , enjoyed his feistiveness as a player

I was never a big fan of his personality, but he was a genuine, natural wicketkeeper with much more skill with the gloves than just about any others at the time.

Ashley 'Rowdy' Mallett


In his early days of cricket he opened the batting for his Club team Mt Lawley in a game against Perth
Drinks were taken after the first hours play with Rowdy an impressive 53 not out
Rowdy at the break took his customary salt tablet , which cricketers used to take to stop cramping
His innings went flat as Rowdy made 14 in the next 90 minutes
On the brink of tea Rowdy was dismissed for 67 by a young tearaway fast bowler called Dennis Lillie
His team mates had a go at Rowdys innings after a fast start
Rowdy said he felt drowsy after taking the salt tablet in the drinks break
Rowdy found out the reason when he checked the bottle in his bag , they were sleeping pills !


No surprise, he was usually a very sedate batsman ...

Oh dear, I guess his protege in later years might have been a South Australian leg spinner called Peter ...

England V West Indies
2ND Test at Lords 1966

WI 269
EG 355
WI 5/369
EG 4/197
Match drawn

The West Indies had 2 lightning fast bowlers in Daryl Griffith and Wes Hall
England had Basil Dolly D'Oliveira playing for them
This game was being called by that superb English Commentator John Arlott

Basil D'Oliveira faced Wes Hall and got hit in the balls
Dolly went down for the count, and needed about 2 minutes to recover
Dolly was facing the next delivery form Hall

John Arlott made this comment
"" Yes, D'Oliveira ready to face Hall , ...one ball remaining.""


EG led by 86 runs after the first innings of both teams
WI in their 2nd dig were in all sorts of strife at 5/95 , a lead of only 9 runs
Gary Sobers was joined by David Holford [the rest of the batting to follow a bit on the flimsy side]
Sobers and Holford put on a staggering unbroken partnership of 274
This allowed the Windies to eventually declare
Sobers 163 not out
Holford 105 not out

You could say, relatively speaking , whadda partnership by Gary Sobers and David Holford
The quirkiness of this unison is that Gary Sobers and David Holford are cousins

John Arlott was a wonderful commentator.

14/9/1985
Speaking of great commentators, on this day 27 years ago Alan McGilvray hung up the boots as a ABC commentator
His radio career spanned over a half a century

Alan McGilvray born 1909 was a pioneer radio man of sorts
In the early 1930s the broadcasts of the Cricket was done via Telegrams from the grounds
Alan and his cohorts would then call the game as if it was live, with studio sound effects

Alan also played cricket for New South Wales as a left hand batsman, and right arm medium pacer
In the season of 1933-1934 Alan captained New South Wales in his 3rd match for his state

Alan would have remembered his first game for New south Wales in 1933
VI 382
NS 355
VI 200
NS 1/144

Batting at 5 Alan came in at 3/199
He was involved in a 32 run partnership
Alan made 11 of that 32, and batted with this 25 year old bloke called Donald Bradman
Thats a partnership Im tipping he would have vividly remembered

McGilvray finished on debut with
0/65[21]
11
1/51 [23]
DNB

He opened the bowling and his first wicket was that of opposition wicket keeper Ben Barnett

That other player Don Bradman had a fair game
187 not out
77 not out
scoring 264 runs without being dismissed of the 11/499 amassed by New South Wales in the drawn game

And why have I especially picked out his debut game ?
In the Victorian second innings innings, Alan took his first SS wicket
It might have been a unpopular wicket !
VI 200
McGilvray 1/51
Oreilly 9/50

The great spinning superstar Bill Tiger Oreilly was denied all 10 wickets because of Alan David McGilvray

Allan Border
AB was a prefect at the Mosman School
There were 4 prefects in total
2 of the others were
Tom Burlinson[actor]
Rob Hirst [became a drummer with Midnight Oil]

South Australia V Victoria
1891
Adelaide Oval
Timeless First Class Match

SA 562
VI 235
VI 163

SA won this match by an innings and 164 runs
They may as well have made this match George Giffen V Victoria
Giffens match stats
271 [his highest score in first class cricket]
9/96[50.1]
7/70 [25.5]
This must rank as one of the greatest ever allround performances

There was another Giffen who participated in this match
Walter Giffen who did end up playing briefly for Australia

In the first innings the 2 Giffens were in a partnership
SA got to a very imposing 4/441
This is an extract of Georges description of the partnership :
* I drove a ball straight back with all the force I could put behind the bat, and,before he could get out the way [Walter Giffen] the ball struck the fingers of his right hand which were clasping the handle of the bat, so crushing them that he was unable to continue his innings.*

So George plays a blinder in this match
And little brother Walter. oh the pain the pain of it all, had to retire hurt for 65

Findon Hotel all those years ago
A cricket career almost ended

Walking out of the disco one night with some notable Woodville cricketers
Rodney Hogg gets into a animated discussion with a rather vociferous person
It becomes heated, the vociferous man pulls a knife and threatens Mr Hogg
Mr Hogg shapes up
And guess who was stuck in the middle
Me
Fortunately the vociferous one was restrained by others and it tempered out
And yes a cricket career almost ended, mine ...

Where did the cricket career go on from that incident in 1970s?

Dogwatcher and smac have a lovely cricket site, called 'wicket to wicket"

Here's a sample, written by 'backstop"



There are certain truths about being a wicketkeeper. The fact that you’re special is a given. Although regarded as laughable by the rest of the team, deep down you also know that with a bit of time at training and given the chance, your ‘offies’ would result in the opposition being routed.

You’re also the undisputed expert on each ball bowled, especially for appeals. “No, just missing leg”, you say wisely and it’s accepted immediately.

You’re always cheerful and the only thing (apart from a disallowed appeal) that really annoys you is when the deck is keeping low and an ignorant fielder who’s never donned the gloves shouts out to you:

“Stand up a yard” (They didn’t say ‘metres then and I presume they still don’t).

It’s worse if you’re an accountant and a ‘keeper, like me. Over 25 years behind the stumps, say an average of 70 overs a game, say 12 games a season and you’ve gone into a crouch about 125,000 times.

Not counting training.

It’s also worse if you’re long retired. You bemoan the arrival of the ‘wicketkeeper-batsman’, a misnomer if ever there was one. Not that you’re a grumpy old sod, but it’s usually a ‘batsman-wicketkeeper’, not the other way around. You watch a current ‘batsman-wicketkeeper’ (BW from now on) taking a one-handed ‘speccie’ and remember ‘keepers who moved their feet and took those as regulation, in both gloves, upright.

OK, perhaps I am a grumpy old sod.

You have regrets, though. Keepers’ gloves used to be just that, a glove. None of that fancy webbing between the thumb and finger. You used to have to actually catch the ball. The webbing came in towards the end of my playing days and that’s when I took some ‘speccies’ I was sure I’d dropped. I heard the appeals and accepted the plaudits of my team-mates, after looking at my glove and seeing the ball stuck in the webbing. Perhaps progress isn’t all bad, I thought.

I remember my last game. I was ‘filling in’, as you do, and came in to bat immediately after the first ten. I have to admit I was slightly older than the other players. Well, about a generation older, actually. I also have to admit that I’d been ‘in a good paddock’. Well, a very, very, good paddock, actually. And I was sporting a very stylish (IMHO) beard at the time. Before I go on, I have to say that I was rarely sledged and rarely, if ever, found it necessary to sledge others. This was to be an unfortunate exception, however.

I took block (rather unnecessarily at this stage of my career) and looked around the field. The opposition captain had recklessly decided that several close-in fielders were appropriate. Disrespectful in my opinion, but there you are. Not as disrespectful as the silly mid-on, a child of about 6, by the look of him.

He greeted me with these words “Hello: Dr W G Grace, I presume”. I just grinned.

Three things need to be said about this. One, I didn’t acknowledge it at the time, but even I thought it was funny. Two, I think it was about 11 the next morning when I realised I should have said “I presume you’re talking about my ability, not my age and weight”.

Third, at least I had the last laugh. As it turned out, those close-in fielders were totally unnecessary.

I edged to the ‘keeper first ball.

Don’t you just love cricket.

Great story.

Lance Cairns

Lance Cairns was a beefy allrounder for New Zealand
Bowled these massive inswingers , and was a big hitting lower order slogger

Often named Cairnsy, Springers and Lancer , Cairns had a peculiarity
Cairns could not hear the snicks off his bowling
In fact he could hear himself talk during his cricketing career
He has been deaf like this since his teenage days

Happy birthday Ian Chappell today
The great man turns 69
What a family
Ians brothers Greg and Trevor played for Australia
Ians Grandfather, Victor Richardson did as well


Big brother of Greg and Trevor had this to say in 1981
This was in 'relation' to Greg instructing Trevor to bowl THAT underarm delivery in an ODI against New Zealand

Ian made this comment
" Fair dinkum Greg, how much pride do you sacrifice to win $35,000?''

THAT delivery was a major controversy of the times
And there was a little known other controversy I will raise
THAT delivery should have been called a no ball
Does anyone know why ?

To deliver underarm, the delivery style (underarm) needed to have been agreed upon prior to the commencement of the match.

Could also have been ruled a no-ball under the "roll along the ground before reaching striker's end" rule.

This is a version of how the last over of the game went
15 needed off the last over
New Zealand 6/221
An over bowled by Trevor Chappell


1 Sir Richard Hadlee on drives a 4
2 Sir Richard Hadlee LBW , a shocking decision, TV replays show it pitching outside leg
3 Ian Smith hits 2 runs
4 Ian Smith hits 2 runs
5 Ian Smith run out

Last ball
New Zealand need 7 to win, but a zac will result in a tie
The incoming batsman was Brian McKechnie, who had never hit a zac in his First Class career
The non striker was Bruce Edgar who watched the last over stuck on 102

Why Greg summoned the underarm is beyond me
I watched this game live in disbelief when it happened
Greg should have been on an emotional high
He scored 90 and had taken 3/43[10] , so you could hardly blame him if McKechnie fluked hitting a six
Fair dinkum it was probably odds of about a million to one
If it was 2-4 runs to win, the logic might have been right

So it happened
It was a legitimate delivery by TC, but the laws on underarm changed after this match


But it was in fact a NO BALL
This is an account of what happened by arguably New Zealands greatest ever cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee

"" Perhaps I would have teed up the ball by letting it hit my boot and then tried to slog it out of the park-the ball was dead straight so I would have been out LBW anyway
TV replays showed that in fact it was a NO BALL because Lillie was positioned outside the circle,
At least 4 fielders had to be positioned inside the circle at the moment of the delivery but Lillie was outside it .""

So Umpires Weser and Cronin , it appears, made a boo boo
It should have been called a NO BALL, McKechnie was denied an opportunity to score a run or runs on top of the 1 run awarded for the NO BALL
Had McKechnie scored a run the equation would have been
5 to win
4 to tie
And Bruce Edgar on strike to add to his 102 not out

Question is would Greg have instructed Trevor to do it again ....

Merv Hughes

Swervin Mervin suffered a back injury in the mid eighties
This gave Merv a chance to travel around Australia with his mate for a few months
Merv got lazy and decided not to shave on his tour
On returning home he went to a lady hairdresser
The hairdresser shaved off his beard , and his goatie
She stopped and asked Merv if he wanted to keep THAT Mo
He did, the rest is history

Jesse Hide

Started his cricket career with Sussex in 1876
Came to South Australia and had a stint here until 1883
Hide was a fast bowler and a useful batsman

Back in those days the Adelaide Oval,would you believe, had the reputation of being a bad batting pitch

Enter Jessie Hide the Sussex player who arrived in Adelaide in the late 1870s
The SACA employed Hide as a curator , as well as using his services as a player, and a coach
He brought great expertise to the team on bowling accuracy , and set the example of watchful batting standards to his colleagues
Hide played in a friendly game for South Australia v Australia in late 1878 , and played on the the Adelaide Oval deck for perhaps the first time

SA 115
AU 88
SA 59
AU 66

The Australian team included the batting talents of both Bannermans, Billy Murdoch and Horan , and were dismissed cheaply by todays standards

This low scoring match may have been the determination for Hide to improve the Adelaide Oval deck
SA was allowed to bat 18 players against the AU eleven !
So in fact 54 wickets fell in this match for 338 runs

Hide was known to have set himself the task of improving the Adelaide Oval decks
He brought some techniques from playing on English pitches
Perhaps the early curating of Jessie Hide was the forerunner towards the Adelaide Oval batting paradise as we know it these days

Heres a snippet on how the Adelaide Oval pitches were to become in the later 19th century :
Adelaide Oval pitches were to be shaved just prior to games with a scythe , then was soaked , dried, and was then rolled and rolled until the grass was pressed into the soil
Upon drying the pitch resembled a stretch of asphalte , and appeared glazed and polished
So much so that English player Alfred Shaw once asked George Ulyett to have a bowl on it
George Ulyett asked Shaw that he wanted to know what was the use of asking him to bowl on glass !!!

Here is a comparism of the Adelaide Oval pitch compared to the Sydney pitch of the times
Such Adelaide oval wickets made it almost impossible for bowlers to make the ball bite and making run getting easy.
SA batsman nutured on these decks are disadvantaged when they play on the Sydney pitch
The Sydney pitch covered in short grass finds the ball nipping back from the pitch
South Australian batsman were at a disadvantage and more than once has a strong SA eleven ''curled up'' on the Sydney Ground

That description was made over 100 years ago , and aptly applies to this day about how difficult it can be for South Australian batsmen to cope with pitches in the Eastern states

Jessie Hide returned back to England a after a few years in South Australia
He had a part on greatly improving the Adelaide Oval deck
He certainly made and left an impact on South Australian cricket

1880
Heres a description of 19th century travelling arrangements
South Australian cricketers travelling to Victoria

* We had to proceed to Melbourne,and, most of us never having being to sea before, a lively time we had of it in the coasting steamer, some of the party not moving from their cabins from the time of departure until we reached the comparatively smooth water of Hobsons Bay
The warmth of the Victorian welcome, however, made us forget the discomforts of the journey.
In those days the arrival of an Intercolonial cricket team in Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide , was quite a public event
Large crowds , headed by a reception committee , would meet the visitors, drags would be in the readiness, and after a drive through the principal streets the guests would be landed on the Town Hall, where the Mayor would formally welcome them*

It appears that cricketers were revered back in those days

Details of that match from that trip
VI V SA
East Melbourne Cricket ground

VI 329
Horan 113
Hide 1/45
Bullough 3/54

SA 77
Hide 10
Bullough 26 not out

SA 314
Slight 70
Giffen 63
Hide 48

VI 3/64
Bullough 2/18

Walter Bullough had a good game , he only ever played 2 games of Intercolonial cricket
Jessie Hide made some runs

Ian Chappell

The Australians were on tour in the West Indies and playing a one day game. Not sure the exact date, but possibly mid-late 70s.

The crowd had swelled to huge proportions, at least for a smallish ground. The stands were overflowing, the mounds chockers and no small number of people hanging from various structures, trees and the like.

Chappelli, as always, was standing at first slip and happened to notice a patron swinging from the top of one of the light towers with a bottle of rum in his hand.

Every other over, when he was facing that way he noticed the level in the rum bottle ever diminishing. Eventually the bottle was empty and it was remarkable that this fellow had not plummeted to his doom.

However, even more remarkable was that he continued to hang on one-handed, still cradling the empty bottle.

Chappelli, eventually came to query why he hadn't ditched the bottle a long time earlier.

A few overs later, the answer came to him..........the bottle was full again......and not with rum!

A resourceful lot are the West Indians.

England v Australia
Kennington Oval 1882
Test Match

AU 63
Barlow 5/19 [31]
Blackham 17

EG 101
Demon Spofforth 7/46[36.3]
Boyle 2/24 [19]
Ulyett 26

AU 122
Peate 4/40[21]
Massie 55

England needed 84 runs to win this Test

EG 77
Spofforth 7/44[28]
Boyle 3/19[20]
WG Grace 32

Australia win by 7 runs

This was Australias first Test win against England in England
This is the famous match from which the Ashes was created
The Sporting Times paper published that English cricket had died , that the body be cremated and sent to Australia
Thus the tradition of the Ashes had started , and still going after 130 years


Something else happened during this match at the former market garden of 1844 , Kennington Oval in 1882
It involved Henry Boyle the round arm medium pace bowler
Here is a description of Boyle from this match
* Boyleys great nerve not only served him when bowling, but in the field also, for he created a new position, ''short silly mid on"", as it is colloquially known , a place where few men have the pluck to stand in these days when the wickets are so true.
Throughout his English tours he stood there unflinchingly, notwithstanding repeated threats from EM Grace and others that he would be killed, but I believe he has been hit only once, although he has had some narrow escapes
Many a wonderful catch,however,compensated him for the risk he took.*

Hence this appears to be the birth of a new fielding position in Test matches at least , silly mid on
May I add, I have fielded in this position , without doubt silly mid on and silly mid off are the worst positions to field in