Meeting Windies cricket legends

RAVI CHATURVEDI

DURING MY life-long romance with cricket, the Caribbean cricketers have enchanted and enticed me. My maiden visual Test match encounter was in 1948, at the Feroz Shah Kotla – the first-ever Test between India and the West Indies.

The batting prowess of Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott left a lasting impression on the mind of a fledgling cricket fan. Destiny so destined that Frank Worrell came to India the next year and his majestic batsmanship left an indelible imprint on my psyche.

In the midst of my 2019 Caribbean mission, I was commentating in Trinidad for Radio 360. Visiting the statue of spin-wizard Sonny Ramadhin and meeting three legends – Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Wes Hall was foremost in my mind. Having seen them in action during the West Indies tours of India, sharing the mike with Sobers as member of the World Tel. Commentary team in 1994 and friendly meetings with Hall as manager of the touring West Indies team in India during 1983 and 1996, kept my contacts alive with them.

It was heartening that Weekes readily agreed to meet me at his Church Gate residence while recouping from heat ailment a month earlier. He was mentally alert, remembering that (Vijay) Hazare and (Polly) Umrigar were very good batsmen while (Dattu) Phadkar was a good fast bowler and (Subash) Gupte, a high-quality spinner.

My meeting with Sobers was scheduled at the Sandy Lane Golf Club in Barbados. He was comfortably seated on a sofa waiting for my arrival. The hiatus of 25 years had taken its toll on this genial giant of cricket, however, mentally I found him alert.

My most awaited query on best spinner faced by him evoked a quick response from Sobers, “Gupte was a clever bowler who bowled three googlies to confuse the batsmen with his guiles. He turned the ball sharply from leg and deceived the batsmen with flippers and googlies”.

He mentioned the mystery Australian spinner Johny Gleeson, another bowler who made things difficult for batsmen. "He kept his middle finger concealed below to flip the ball at the time of delivery,” said Sobers.

In a cricket tete-a-tete, the focal point on fast bowling was also a natural subject of talk with the legendary Sobers. In his opinion, Dennis Lillie was the best fast bowler faced by him. He was ferociously fast, accurate with a surprised bouncer. His aim was attack incessantly.

On other hand, Jeff 'Thommo' Thomson was fast but could be handled. He had good words about Kapil Dev and present Indian captain Virat Kohli.

Sobers was a cricket-centric player. He said, “We played for the team. The focus was team, not self. We were not playing for records.”

Sobers held the world record for the highest individual Test score of 365 not out, against Pakistan, in Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica in 1958, before it was broken by Brian Lara in 1994.

Said Sobers, "The focus in cricket has changed. It was a pride to play for your country. The personal records did not matter for us. The team blazer and cap were so precious. It is no more a priority to play for your country. In West Indies, players are busy playing in professional leagues (and) not available for the West Indies team. Our cricket needs a total reorganisation.”

It will be pertinent to point out that, post retirement, he has been busy playing and promoting golf. Befittingly, he hosts an invitation golf tournament which is played on three golf courses at Sandy Lane, Royal Westmoreland and Barbados Golf Club over three days. In addition, an international school boys cricket tournament is organised in honour of Sobers.

Parting point was my comment on him as the best all-round cricketer ever tagged on him (8,052 runs, 235 wickets, 109 catches) – batted at various numbers, bowled fast medium as well as left-arm spin, and an expert fielder at leg slip. He thanked me profusely for mentioning him as the best all-round cricketer ever with a warm hand shake.

Hall ensured that I meet him at his Cane Garden, St James residence. The pictures of the famed tied Test (against Australia in 1960) and his bowling action revived the nostalgia of the bygone days.

He was happy to see the Indian team with so many good fast bowlers, but (Jasprit) Bumrah impressed him the most.

Hall eulogised Indian skipper Kohli, both for his batting and aggressive captaincy. The dinner dished out by Hall was symbolic of our surviving friendship, forged during the 1983 Windies tour of India.

The next day, while boarding my home-bound flight from the Grantley Adams airport in Barbados, the famous lines of Harry Belafonte’s famous calypso rang loud and clear in my ears, “Sad to say, I’m on my way; Won’t be back for many a day.”

Editor's Note: Ravi Chaturvedi is an Indian sports commentator and author of over 20 books on cricket.