Oracle of Delphi
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Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
Cibbuano
Craig HillWhen the Aussies were rubbish and ghetto blasters were cool
October 5th 2006 22:23
It struck me during last year’s Ashes series that a good portion of Australian cricket fans, say those born after about 1980, had never really experienced a truly rubbish Australian cricket team. The following players were all part of the team during the dark years and despite never enjoying endless success each had their own attractions and as such hold great memories for those of us old enough to remember their struggles.
Greg Ritchie was graceful and at times productive right-handed batsman with an air of the old fashioned about him. His portly figure hid a good measure of talent so often unfulfilled with only 3 centuries from 30 tests. Today the pressure put on Mark Cosgrove, who is of similar stature, at this stage of his career suggests he will play far more than 30 tests with a significantly higher average than Ritchie. In any event these days a shortened test career ought not to lead to former test cricketers streaming onto the field in celebration of a Steve Waugh double hundred or bitter long in the tooth rantings about current coaching and captaincy methods as we have seen from Ritchie recently.
A Shane Warne he was not but all wily grey headed club bowlers will have taken inspiration from Bob ‘Dutchie’ Holland. Holland was the type of bloke you would expect to meet at a once every ten year family reunion, still living with his mother and collating the family history. His bespectacled appearance could not have provided a sharper contrast to the leg spinner in the current side. Playing in his test debut with David Boon in the summer of 1984/5 at the age of nearly forty Dutchie proceeded to immortality in his third test later that summer. He picked up a sterling ten wicket haul and routed the West Indies line up containing the greats of the game including Lloyd, Richardson, Richards, Haynes and Greenidge in the Sydney test of an already long lost series. Despite his great achievements to date one can scarcely remember Shane Warne running through as talented a batting list as that at any stage in his career, let alone when they were at the peak of their career.
For sheer volume of material available to journalists it is hard to go past Kim Hughes as an icon of his era. From the teary farewell’s to the captaincy in December 1984 to the call to arms to tour apartheid South Africa the man was a walking headline. Ricky Ponting can only wonder that his petulance in disputing umpires’ calls and interacting with bouncers has nothing on Hughes’ ability to create a scene. In a tour match in the West Indies Hughes decided that the best strategy in protest at a late declaration was to put together a deliberately combined ten not out in over 2 hours and decline the offer of an early finish.
On a more positive note how can one go past Simon Peter O’Donnell represented the Michael Slater’s and Adama Gilchrists of his era on pure entertainment value. This cricketer was pure Victorian without the Shane Warne, Darren Berry and Bill Lawry over the top state proud histrionics to boot, having chosen his cricketing career over an abundance of Aussie Rules talent. O’Donnell was one of the pioneers of the art of bowling slower balls from the back of the hand at the death of the innings. His ability to deposit bowlers back over their heads for what seemed like an endless stream of boundaries gave him the record for the fastest one day fifty for a period of time. His defeat of cancer and subsequent return to the one day team in 1998/89 was a terrific story and a measure of a man who would go on to become a renowned TV journalist covering both cricket and racing. Michael Slater’s modern day case history suggests a similar path has been trodden although one can’t help but think that providing headline coverage on Melbourne Cup day is preferable to screening a not so scientific study on which foods produce the most flatulence.
I have saved one final thought for the man that played with and captained most of the players referred to above. It is testimony to the difficult times that made up his early captaincy years and the subsequent success that was generated by pure hard work that Australia’s premier cricketing accolade should be named after him. For sheer guts and determination and a spirit that will now live long into the future of Australian cricket, take a bow Allan Border, you deserve it.
For those of you with equally strong memories of cricketers from eras past please do share them on this forum. There is no cricketer too anonymous or too poor a performer for despite the lack of success in the mid eighties it is still a period worth celebrating.
Greg Ritchie was graceful and at times productive right-handed batsman with an air of the old fashioned about him. His portly figure hid a good measure of talent so often unfulfilled with only 3 centuries from 30 tests. Today the pressure put on Mark Cosgrove, who is of similar stature, at this stage of his career suggests he will play far more than 30 tests with a significantly higher average than Ritchie. In any event these days a shortened test career ought not to lead to former test cricketers streaming onto the field in celebration of a Steve Waugh double hundred or bitter long in the tooth rantings about current coaching and captaincy methods as we have seen from Ritchie recently.
A Shane Warne he was not but all wily grey headed club bowlers will have taken inspiration from Bob ‘Dutchie’ Holland. Holland was the type of bloke you would expect to meet at a once every ten year family reunion, still living with his mother and collating the family history. His bespectacled appearance could not have provided a sharper contrast to the leg spinner in the current side. Playing in his test debut with David Boon in the summer of 1984/5 at the age of nearly forty Dutchie proceeded to immortality in his third test later that summer. He picked up a sterling ten wicket haul and routed the West Indies line up containing the greats of the game including Lloyd, Richardson, Richards, Haynes and Greenidge in the Sydney test of an already long lost series. Despite his great achievements to date one can scarcely remember Shane Warne running through as talented a batting list as that at any stage in his career, let alone when they were at the peak of their career.
For sheer volume of material available to journalists it is hard to go past Kim Hughes as an icon of his era. From the teary farewell’s to the captaincy in December 1984 to the call to arms to tour apartheid South Africa the man was a walking headline. Ricky Ponting can only wonder that his petulance in disputing umpires’ calls and interacting with bouncers has nothing on Hughes’ ability to create a scene. In a tour match in the West Indies Hughes decided that the best strategy in protest at a late declaration was to put together a deliberately combined ten not out in over 2 hours and decline the offer of an early finish.
On a more positive note how can one go past Simon Peter O’Donnell represented the Michael Slater’s and Adama Gilchrists of his era on pure entertainment value. This cricketer was pure Victorian without the Shane Warne, Darren Berry and Bill Lawry over the top state proud histrionics to boot, having chosen his cricketing career over an abundance of Aussie Rules talent. O’Donnell was one of the pioneers of the art of bowling slower balls from the back of the hand at the death of the innings. His ability to deposit bowlers back over their heads for what seemed like an endless stream of boundaries gave him the record for the fastest one day fifty for a period of time. His defeat of cancer and subsequent return to the one day team in 1998/89 was a terrific story and a measure of a man who would go on to become a renowned TV journalist covering both cricket and racing. Michael Slater’s modern day case history suggests a similar path has been trodden although one can’t help but think that providing headline coverage on Melbourne Cup day is preferable to screening a not so scientific study on which foods produce the most flatulence.
I have saved one final thought for the man that played with and captained most of the players referred to above. It is testimony to the difficult times that made up his early captaincy years and the subsequent success that was generated by pure hard work that Australia’s premier cricketing accolade should be named after him. For sheer guts and determination and a spirit that will now live long into the future of Australian cricket, take a bow Allan Border, you deserve it.
For those of you with equally strong memories of cricketers from eras past please do share them on this forum. There is no cricketer too anonymous or too poor a performer for despite the lack of success in the mid eighties it is still a period worth celebrating.
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