Bollywood actress Nidhhi Agerwal Breaks Her Silence On Dinner Date With KL Rahul

One of the most noteworthy and adorable link-ups in India happens when two of the biggest and most glamorous industries meet. Yes, when cricket and Bollywood meet, it’s all a different but sweet tangent. Firstly, Geeta Basra tied the nuptial knot with Harbhajan Singh, then Hazel Keech with Yuvraj Singh, then Anushka Sharma with Virat

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Requested AB de Villiers to postpone his retirement plans until World Cup 2019: Ottis Gibson

After leaving the fans and cricketing fraternity shell-shocked with his sudden retirement, South African coach Ottis Gibson registered his surprise regarding AB de Villiers’ decision to call it quit at the international level. During a recent interaction, Gibson revealed he requested the Protean star batsman to extend his retirement plans until the impending World Cup

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Photos: KL Rahul dines with Bollywood hottie Nidhhi Agerwal

After Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma, Zaheer Khan-Sagarika Ghatge’s marriage, it looks like Cricket and Bollywood combo has hit an all-time high. Why do we say so? Well, Team India Test opener KL Rahul has recently spotted at the Corniche-At The Water Front in Bandra with Bollywood hottie Nidhhi Agerwal. The duo was seen exiting the restaurant

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Chennai Super Kings players react after winning the IPL 2018 title

Shane Watson smashed an unbeaten 117 as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to win their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title in a spectacular return from a two-year corruption ban. The 36-year-old Australian hit eight sixes and 11 fours in his stunning 57 ball innings as Chennai took just 18.3 overs to

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IPL 2018: Complete list of award winners and the prize money

MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) rode on a brilliant century by Shane Watson to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets in the final to lift the Indian Premier League (IPL) title at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday (May 27). Dhoni’s team bagged their third title after returning to the fold following

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Godders

In the 1930s the best wicketkeepers generally eschewed the spectacular. Some of them could be noisy, the stentorian tones of George Duckworth something I remember being told about many times as a child, but the glovework tended to be neat and unobtrusive. Godfrey Evans was something very different. He threw himself around in a way seldom seen before, and made sure everyone knew he was around.

Born in Finchley in 1920 Evans was qualified to play for Middlesex as well as for Kent, but his family left London for Margate when he was six months old. Sadly his mother died when he was just three years old and, with his father being an engineer who travelled for work, he was brought up largely by his considerably older sister and grandparents. It might have been a difficult upbringing, but there was a large extended family and a decent standard of living so Evans had a happy childhood.

When he took up the game Evans showed great promise as a batsman and perhaps the confidence gained from the runs he scored was, in part at least, the reason for the flamboyance he showed behind the stumps. Les Ames was Evans’ hero from the very start, but those who coached him tended to want him to concentrate on his batting. Evans wanted to keep wicket however, and probably realised early on that however good a batsman he might be he wasn’t ever going to be Ames’ equal.

After a trial with Kent in the summer of 1936 the 16 year old Evans was offered a contract for the following season and he began playing for the club and ground side. The following summer he stepped up to the second eleven. At the same time he signed terms to box professionally as a light welterweight (up to 10 stone). He enjoyed some success in the ring but was told, on turning up at Canterbury one day with a broken nose, that he had to make a choice between the two sports. Not without some hesitation Evans chose cricket. He always maintained that his boxing greatly improved his footwork.

It was in 1939 that Evans made his Championship debut. He played purely as a batsman and was dismissed for 8 in his only innings. He was caught on the fine leg boundary hooking Alf Gover, the fastest bowler he had seen to that date. A week later he played again, and this time did keep wicket. He held just one catch, diving full length to the leg side to catch an inside edge one handed. Ames was at short leg and wrote later that he realised at that moment that Evans had arrived.

Like so many others Evans then lost six seasons to the war, but he had done enough to get noticed and when available was regularly selected for the exhibition matches that took place at Lord’s during the hostilities. After war was declared Evans initially worked for a bakery that was the family business of one of his fellow young professionals at Kent, but in 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, lying about his age in order to do so.

By the end of the first post war summer of 1946 Evans was playing for England, picked for the final Test against India and with a place booked in the party to tour Australia in 1946/47. He was 26 by now, but still the youngest member of an aging England side. He had a bad start in Australia however, dropping Don Bradman twice in a state game.

Left out of the side for the first Test Evans was picked for the second as the first choice, Yorkshireman Paul Gibb, struggled to keep to Evans’ county colleague, Doug Wright, a leg spinner who bowled at a brisk medium pace. Evans kept for 11 hours 40 minutes while Australia piled up 659/8 without conceding a single bye, and indeed in the third Test through another 365. Bill ‘Tiger’ O’Reilly described him as being the equal of Australia’s Don Tallon. Wisden described both men as keeping magnificently. It was during this match that Evans made a technical adjustment to his keeping that was to stay for the rest of his career. The great Australian pre war ‘keeper Bert Oldfield suggested he link his little fingers together.

It is true to say that Evans missed more chances than some of the great keepers, but he also held many that others would not even have seen as chances, and his skill at pulling off leg side stumpings  from the bowling of men like Alec Bedser was second to none. In The Cricketer’s Spring Annual for 1947 a fine Australian writer, Ray Robinson, wrote that his quickness and certainty on the blind side could not be excelled.

Another factor that cannot be underestimated with Evans was his qualities as a team player. He had spent much of his war as a Sergeant, and was therefore used to responsibility and he was always trying to cajole and encourage. As opponent Keith Miller wrote later; there has been nobody like him for lifting tired fieldsmen late on a hot day. His value to England was incalculable.

In time Evans would record a couple of Test match centuries, and he scored almost 15,000 First Class runs at 21.22, generally at a brisk rate. In 1946/47 he scored only 90 runs in his eight innings with a high score of just 29, but in the fourth Test he did get into the record books. England were 2-0 down already and with 45 minutes of the penultimate day left Evans went out to join Denis Compton. England were 228 in front with eight wickets down. Skipper Wally Hammond implored Evans to get his head down. Evans took the entreaty quite literally, and was still there at the close, yet to get off the mark.

Next morning Evans and Compton went on and on, Compton to his second century of the match, and Evans to a new record of 95 minutes without scoring. When the declaration came he had spent two and a half hours over 10.

Now established as England’s first choice Evans was ever present at home against South Africa in 1947, in the Caribbean the following winter and against Bradman’s ‘Invincibles’ in 1948. He maintained a consistently high standard behind the stumps although his batting remained fragile. The only real disappointment would have been his performance on the final day of the Headingley Test in 1948 when the Invincibles chased down 404 for victory at a canter. Arthur Morris and Bradman put on 301 for the second wicket. Evans was not the only man to let himself down in the field, but a missed catch from Bradman and stumping from Morris were not too difficult.

From the second Test in 1946/47 Evans played 22 consecutive matches for England before losing his place in the side in South Africa in 1948/49. There was no loss of form however, a disciplinary transgression being the cause of his omission. There were two incidents. The first came in a match against Rhodesia when, the Englishmen feeling they were on the wrong end of some seriously biased umpiring, Evans produced an unnecessarily loud and protracted appeal to the embarrassment of his captain. Later, in taking offence at some criticism that was levelled at him, he poured a drink over the head of the tour manager, Brigadier Green. He missed both of the last two Tests.

By the time the 1949 New Zealanders arrived Evans had served his penance and played in all four Tests and he kept his place against West Indies in 1950. After breaking his thumb he missed the last Test of the tourists’ unexpected 3-1 win, but he at last showed what he could do with the bat.

The Test England won was the first, and they won it comfortably enough in the end but without Evans England’s first ‘blackwash’ may have come more than thirty years before it eventually did. On a strange Old Trafford wicket Evans joined Trevor Bailey at 88-5 with Hutton retired hurt. The pair put on 161 together, 104 of them from Evans in ten minutes less than his 10 took him in 46/47. He hit seventeen boundaries and changed the course of the game. Another good innings, 63, came in the third Test, although that was a case of too little too late.

The thumb was nicely healed by the time Evans set off for Australia for the 1950/51 Ashes. Amidst a 4-1 defeat Evans enhanced his reputation considerably but the following summer was a disappointment. Evans felt jaded, played in the first Test whilst injured and did not perform with his usual panache behind the stumps or with the bat. He gave way to Yorkshire’s Don Brennan for the last two Tests against the South Africans and chose to stay at home and not make himself available for the 1951/52 tour of the sub-continent.

Back to his best in 1952 Evans had his best ever season with the bat, scoring more than 1,600 runs. He recorded two centuries, one of them in the second Test against India. He almost got a century in the morning session, getting to 98 before going on to 104. There were two more fifties in the Tests, and another five for Kent.

At the peak of his career Evans performed splendidly against the Australians in 1953, when the Ashes were finally wrested back for the first time since ‘Bodyline’, some twenty years previously, and although an assortment of injuries conspired to mean Evans had to miss one of the Tests in the Caribbean in early 1954 he kept well there too.

In 1954 England failed to give Pakistan enough respect on their first tour and the visitors recorded a fine win at the Oval to square the series, but after that Frank Tyson, who Evans was for once happy to stand back to, helped England to beat Australia 3-1 in 1954/55. After that with one exception England won every series they contested for the next four years. Only in South Africa in 1956/57 did they fail, allowing the home side to come back from 2-0 down to square the series. Evans missed just two Tests in that time, both against South Africa in 1955. The circumstances are a vivid illustration of Evans’ courage.

England won the first two Tests of the series so led 2-0 going to Old Trafford. Peter May won the toss and batted. England were all out for 284 thanks almost entirely to 158 from Compton, his final Test century. On the third day, with South Africa looking for a substantial lead, Evans suffered a knock on his little finger. He knew he had done some damage but played on despite, when he checked the damage at the fall of the next wicket, finding his finger bent, swollen and jet black. Despite May’s suggestion that he leave the field Evans stayed on. Later it was discovered he had broken the finger in two places and, thanks to playing on, the marrow had been squeezed through the joints.

The hand went straight into plaster over the rest day. On the Monday South Africa batted on and were all out with a lead of 237. At the close England were 13 in front with four wickets down. Next day the ninth wicket fell with the England lead just 96, nowhere near enough. With an improvised glove protecting the cast not only did Evans agree to bat but he scored 36 in a last wicket partnership of 48 with Bailey. He almost saved the game. South Africa got home with three minutes to spare and seven wickets down. Unsurprisingly, by then the injury was so severe as to cause Evans to miss the rest of the season.

Fit and firing again for the 1956 Ashes Evans played a full part in the retention of the Ashes in a series which will always be remembered for Jim Laker’s 19-90 at Old Trafford. That winter Evans had turned 36 but was at his very best in South Africa where he played in all five Tests and attracted lavish praise from EW ‘Jim’ Swanton. To the extent that a ‘keeper’s performance can be measured by the catches and stumpings he makes this was Evans best series. He held 18 catches and made two stumpings. The 15 victims he had amongst the 1957 West Indians was his third best haul for a full series.

After a gentle workout against a weak New Zealand side in 1958 Evans embarked on his final tour, to Australia and New Zealand. On paper it was an immensely strong England side, but the years were passing and morale was not what it had been in the past. Evans wasn’t directly involved in any of the real problems but he thrived on a strong team spirit , something that was sadly lacking in a series that England lost 4-0 amidst much anger at the manner in which certain of the Australian pace attack bowled.

From a purely personal point of view the series was unsatisfactory for Evans as well. In the second Test he had to dive whilst batting in order to regain his ground and chipped the little finger of his left hand. As already demonstrated Evans wasn’t a man to take any notice of a bit of pain so he played on, but he still missed the third Test. Back in the side for the fourth match there was another broken finger, this one sustained whilst behind the stumps and diving to try to take a Tyson delivery. This one was rather more serious, and Evans’ tour was over. In summing up the trip Wisden described him as another stalwart who gave evidence of a decline in power.

How long could Evans hang on? He began the 1959 series against India with 89 caps and he must have harboured thoughts of getting to the, in those days unapproached, figure of one hundred. In the second Test however he had what Wisden described as a bad quarter of an hour, and that was that. When the side for the third Test was announced there was no Evans, Roy Swetman of Surrey replacing him in a move the selectors described as being in the interests of team building.

Returning to that second Test the match was won by England by eight wickets, and Evans did not concede a single bye in either Indian innings. It can’t have helped his cause that he was dismissed for a duck, but the real problem was as many as four stumping chances that were missed in that fifteen minute period. The unlucky bowler was the Lancashire leg spinner Tommy Greenhough. Two of the deliveries were googlies, which took off as they passed between bat and pad, and the other two kept low on the leg side. None were easy opportunities but for a man who had kept so well to Wright for so many years it was compelling evidence of a decline.

After the second Test Evans spoke to Peter May and was always adamant that May had told him to stay fit, a clear hint, so believed Evans, that he was to be taken to the Caribbean that winter. When the party was announced in July however the two ‘keepers were Swetman and Evans’ long time England deputy Keith Andrew. Always the bridesmaid Andrew won just two Test caps, almost a decade apart. He was an outstanding ‘keeper, but had few pretensions as a batsman.

The omission from the West Indies party greatly upset Evans, who then came under pressure at Kent. It may well have been a case of jumping before he was pushed, but he announced his retirement after the last match of the summer. He had passed a significant milestone, 1,000 dismissals (he was the eleventh man to achieve that record) and his deputy at Kent, Tony Catt, had been waiting in the wings for five years and the county were keen to keep him.

Retirement from Kent did not however take Evans away from the game and indeed it was to be another ten years before he played his final First Class match. He had a long association with the International Cavaliers, a wandering side not unlike Lashings of the present day, who attracted many big names from the ranks of the recently retired and overseas Test squads and played matches, generally but not always one day fixtures, up and down the country.

Evans’ final First Class fixture was for a Cavaliers side against Barbados and was played at Scarborough in 1969. Two years before that, a matter of days before his 47^th birthday, he had answered an SOS from Les Ames to turn out for Kent. Alan Knott was making his Test debut and with no regular understudy Evans got the call. The opponents were the toughest there were, reigning champions Yorkshire. The champions triumphed by 7 wickets but Evans did very well. He scored 10 and 6, conceded just eight byes and held two catches. The consensus seemed to be he had lost little over the years.

Journalism called Evans after he left the game, as did broadcasting. In 1961 he published one of the more interesting cricketing autobiographies of the period. He was critical of May; He seemed to have no humour in him, not entirely convinced by Len Hutton; He didn’t handle people very well, and not entirely complimentary about Colin Cowdrey; sometimes he didn’t look like a very good batsman at all.

Best known of Evans’ post cricket occupations was a consultant to Ladbrokes to assist them in fixing odds for cricket, and he became a familiar sight in the company’s tents, sporting a hugely impressive set of mutton chop sideburns. He wasn’t necessarily the best at what he did though, he being responsible for setting odds of 500-1 at the famous Headingley Test in 1981. Whilst his employers most certainly caught a cold with that one and lost a good deal of money, the publicity generated by Dennis Lillee’s admission that he had trousered a goodly part of the loss turned out to be the best value advertising the company had ever had and Evans’ job was safe.

A born gambler like Evans tried his hand at a few business ventures, none of which made his fortune. The most enduring was an interest in a jewellery business established with an old college friend in 1949. The relationship lasted for a number of years before it ended acrimoniously, Evans somewhat cryptically accusing his former partner of being almost as big a scoundrel as myself. One definite benefit from the business was that the knowledge he gained enabled Evans to win £1,000 on a game show, Double Your Money, answering questions about jewellery. The equivalent amount today would be more than £20,000. Evans gave half the money to a charity of which his old England teammate David Sheppard was patron.

An investment in a chicken farm failed when many of the chickens managed to regain their freedom. A pitch drier Evans backed was not a success, managing to scorch the practice wickets at Canterbury, and a dice game in which he sank some money did not attract enough other interest to get off the ground. The most spectacular failure of all was his contribution to the purchase of some land at Walton on the Naze on the Essex coast. The project was an ambitious one, to construct a 500 chalet holiday site. The problem was the land was bought without the benefit of planning consent, which was refused, rendering the land all but worthless.

In the 1960s Evans also spent time as mein host at a pub in New Milton in Hampshire before moving on to the Drovers Arms in Petersfield. In this endeavour Evans was moderately successful although sadly his tenure saw the demise of his first marriage. He married again in 1973 and had a daughter, to add to his son from his first marriage. A 1990 biography reports that that marriage also ended in separation, although it would seem there must have been a reconciliation at some point. Evans died in 1999 at the age of 78, and his obituarists spoke of his second wife as being his widow.

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Twitter Reactions: Shane Watson powers Chennai Super Kings to third IPL title

Shane Watson could not score a single run off the first 10 balls he faced in the match. After that, there was no looking back. He broke the shackles with a four and then it started raining boundaries at the Wankhede stadium. Even then, the damage done by that lean run in the powerplay was

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Shane Warne reveals his best XI of IPL 2018 and predicts winner

Former Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain, Shane Warne, who lifted the first trophy of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, has revealed his best XI of the 11th season. Ahead of the IPL 2018 final clash between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Warne has named some interesting names in his XI and also left some

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IPL 2018: Indian fans ask Sushma Swaraj to grant Rashid Khan Indian Citizenship; she gives witty response

Afghanistan’s young sensation Rashid Khan single-handedly took his team, Sunrisers Hyderabad, to the finals of the IPL 2018 by his all-around performance against Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier played at the Eden Gardens on Friday night. Rashid is undoubtedly the most popular Afghanistan cricketer in the world and one of the biggest ambassadors

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Shibani Dandekar bids farewell to AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers, South Africa’s master batsman, described himself as having “run out of gas” after making the surprise decision to call time on his international career. The 34-year-old right-hander, considered among the greatest of all time by his peers, bows out 14 years on from his debut in 2004, having struck 22 centuries in

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Virat Kohli finally comes up with a tweet for ‘brother’ AB de Villiers’ retirement after three days

AB de Villiers announced his retirement on May 23 and shocked the world. The news was hard to digest for fans all around the world. His retirement was the top trend on Twitter, current and former cricketers expressed their emotions on ABD’s retirement on their respective social media accounts. As fans, it took time for

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IPL 2018: Danielle Wyatt comes up with a quirky tweet for Hardik Pandya, Suresh Raina & others

England women cricketer Danielle Wyatt has been active on Twitter whether it is about posting a message or trying to troll someone. The ‘break the beard’ challenge has been a trend among players during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. Many prominent cricketers have attempted it in the ongoing season. Wyatt has posted a video of

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Alexandra Hartley makes a hilarious comment after neck injury rules Virat Kohli out of County stint

It looks like not only the fans but also women cricketers from England are disappointed after it got confirmed that Virat Kohli would not play for Surrey in June. Earlier this month, the India skipper signed a deal with the county outfit to represent them this season. Kohli did so in order to prepare for

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Bollywood celebrities reacts to AB de Villiers’ shocking retirement, see tweets

The world was in a state of shock after the most sought out South African star batsman AB de Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket. The way he was giving a hard time to the opposite team on the field, no one could have guessed that the ace cricketer is about to drop a

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Bollywood actress Saiyami Kher gets emotional on AB de Villiers’ sudden retirement

Still at the top of his game, star South African batsman AB de Villiers announced his surprise retirement on Wednesday. Although ABD’ batting, which dazzled audiences across the world over a 14-year international career, was still as good as it ever was, the demands of international cricket were too much. “It is time for others

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Anushka Sharma posts an emotional tweet on AB de Villiers’ retirement from international cricket

Bollywood actress and Virat Kohli’s wife, Anushka Sharma has posted an emotional tweet to convey her wishes to South African star batsman AB de Villiers who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket with immediate effect. Anushka, who is currently shooting for ‘Zero’ opposite Shah Rukh Khan, took to her official Twitter handle hours

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KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and others left gasping as AB de Villiers calls time on international career

South Africa’s star batsman AB de Villiers on Wednesday announced he was retiring from all international cricket after a 14-year career. “I have decided to retire from all international cricket with immediate effect,” he said in a statement. “After 114 Test matches, 228 ODI’s and 78 T20 Internationals, it is time for others to take

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Cricket fraternity in shock and grief post AB de Villiers’ sudden retirement from international cricket

AB de Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. He announced the same through a video that he posted on his social media account. Mr 360° has played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is, scored over 20,000 international runs and has decided to retire on a high after the Test series

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AB de Villiers announces sudden retirement from all forms of international cricket

South African star batsman AB de Villiers has retired from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect. The 34-year-old, on Wednesday, posted a video message on his Twitter handle, informing about the same to his fans across the world. De Villiers’ shocking retirement has come after his IPL side, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB),

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Cricket fraternity reacts to Faf du Plessis’ brilliant innings handing CSK a berth in the IPL 2018 final

After a brilliant display of bowling by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), their in-form batsmen failed to show up in the first qualifier of the ongoing IPL season against Sunrisers Hyderabad. But opening batsman Faf du Plessis rose to the occasion and showed that experience matters in games like these and also the cricket fraternity praised

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IPL 2018: Preity Zinta explains why she was ‘happy to see Mumbai Indians lose’

Bollywood actress and Kings XI Punjab co-owner, Preity Zinta, was put in a spot when a video of her allegedly saying that she was ‘happy to see Mumbai Indians lose’ on the final day of the IPL league stages went viral on social media. Playing against the Delhi Daredevils, Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians went down

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A beginner’s guide to betting on Cricket

A beginner’s guide to betting on Cricket

Cricket is often regarded as one of the most strategic and complex sports that’s played, however betting on the game is far more straightforward. Due to this, more general betting punters have started to take a greater interest in cricket. If you’re unsure where to start, below we’ll take you through some cricket betting tips.

One site that offers regular tips and suggested bets for cricket matches is TeamFA. Through their popular website, which covers all sports, they offer free tips on a variety of cricket games as well as preview and reviews for the biggest games.

From its beginnings with the lengthy Test matches, which then streamlined to become One-day and now we have the fast-paced Twenty-20 games. These shorter matches have helped to increase the popularity and watch-ability of the sport for a modern audience, and therefore the number of people betting on the sport has likewise increased.

Who to bet with?

The surge in online betting has resulted in a wealth of bookmakers vying for your attention. This is often of benefit to the punter, with each bookie keen to differentiate themselves by offering you something different. This ranges from free bets upon joining or specific price boosts and enhancements on individual games. And so, if you’re planning to bet on cricket then we recommended shopping around to find yourself a bookmaker that will benefit your cricket bets.

Most popular markets?

Like any sport, there’s normal outright Win/Draw markets. But there’s also plenty of cricket-specific markets that are popular, such as the following:

• Number of Boundaries
• Series/Test winner
• Leading Wicket Taker
• Man of the match
• Leading Run-scorer
• Highest opening partnership

Of course, no bet or tip is ever certain, and should always be approached as such. We always encourage responsible gambling and betting only what you can afford. So long as betting is done in this way then there’s no reason why it won’t further enhance your enjoyment of the sport.

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Women’s T20 Challenge 2018: Complete squads, Broadcasting channel & Timings

The stage is set for a historical IPL exhibition match between Trailblazers led by Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (22nd May) and players believe it would be a stepping stone for the launch of a women’s T20 league in India. Leading women players like Kiwi Suzie Bates, Aussies

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Twitter Reactions: Rajasthan Royals knocks Royal Challengers Bangalore out of IPL 2018

No Ben Stokes, no Buttler so what? Rajasthan Royals (RR) didn’t have any problem as they knocked out Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) out of the IPL 2018. The win has also ensured RR to stay alive in the tournament and they will now have to see the results of the remaining games of the season

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This Twitter conversation between Danielle Wyatt and Shubman Gill ahead of Women’s T20 challenge is pure gold

England’s women cricketer Danielle Wyatt will be flying to India for the Women’s T20 Challenge Match which is set to be played at the Wankhede Stadium on 22nd May ahead of the IPL 2018 Qualifier 1. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning for Women’s IPL and as part of the

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The Four Day Follow On

For only the second time in 47 years, a team was asked to follow on in a Test match despite trailing by less than 200 runs on first innings.

Pakistan after declaring on 310 for 9, dismissed hosts Ireland for 130 on the third day of the Test match at Malahide, Ireland’s maiden Test match which they eventually lost by five wickets on Tuesday.

With a lead of 180 Ireland were asked to bat again by Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed as the first day’s play had been washed out on Friday, reducing this effectively to a four-day Test match where as per the laws the team trailing by a minimum 150 runs can be forced to follow on. In a five-day Test the target is a minimum of 200 runs.

The last time this happened was at Kingston, Jamaica in the first Test between India and West Indies (Feb. 18-23, 1971) when the opening day’s play was washed out.

It was Indian skipper Ajit Wadekar’s first Test as captain and the first time India had forced their formidable opponents to follow on.

Thanks to 212 by Dilip Sardesai—the first double century by an Indian batsman on foreign soil—India totaled 387 in their first innings. They then dismissed the home side for 217 with off spinner EAS Prasanna claiming 4 for 65 including the prized wicket of skipper Garry Sobers for 44.

Following on 170 runs behind, Windies saved the Test with veteran Rohan Kanhai remaining not out on 158 as they ended the Test on 385 for five.

The circumstances surrounding the follow on were certainly dramatic as narrated by Wadekar in his 1973 autobiography My Cricketing Years. “There was a stunned silence in the West Indies dressing room when I asked them to follow on.” For the mighty Caribbeans it was utter humiliation as India were then considered one of international cricket’s lightweights.

It transpired that Sobers was unaware of the rules regarding the follow-on when there is no play on the first day and initially challenged Wadekar’s decision. It was only after consulting the two umpires that he realized the Indian captain was right after all and had no choice but to comply.  The trauma of following on left a deep scar on the psyche of Sobers and his team and there were even calls for his sacking after the Kingston Test.

Wadekar was aware of this effect, as narrated in his book, and had overruled his teammates who felt it was better to utilize the time left in the Test for batting practice.

This played a large part in India winning the second Test at Port of Spain, Trinidad, the first time they had beaten West Indies and that too on their own soil. India hung onto the 1-0 lead, drawing the next three Test matches to record their maiden series victory against Windies and only the second abroad since beating New Zealand 3-1 in 1967-68 under the captaincy of Tiger Pataudi.

That same year India also beat England for the first time in England, claiming the series 1-0 after sensationally winning the third and final Test at the Oval.

But Kingston and that follow-on decision was what set the ball rolling for the year that changed the history of Indian cricket.

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IPL 2018: Top 10 Memes On AB de Villiers’ ‘Superman’ Catch To Dismiss Alex Hales

Royal Challengers Bangalore star player AB de Villiers grabbed an unbelievable one-handed catch at the boundary against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday night. Fielding at deep mid-wicket, the South African sent back the dangerous Alex Hales by leaping in the air and extending his right hand

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IPL 2018: Shikhar Dhawan hilariously trolls MI skipper Rohit Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener Shikhar Dhawan recently took a hilarious dig at Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma on photo sharing website, Instagram. Rohit, on Wednesday, posted a picture of him along with his former IPL teammate Pragyan Ojha on Instagram. The duo played together for Deccan Chargers long back and then moved to MI

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Photos: Bollywood actress Sunny Leone watches an IPL game at the Wankhede

The thrilling encounter between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday went down to the wire with the defending champions winning the game by three runs, keeping their hopes alive to qualify for the play-offs in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. But amidst all the action and high-drama, there was one surprise awaiting Bollywood

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IPL 2018: Hardik Pandya leaves a heart winning message after exchanging jersey with KL Rahul

The IPL encounter between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab turned out to be a high-scoring thriller with the hosts emerging victorious at the Wankhede stadium, keeping their hopes alive for the playoffs. Kings XI Punjab largely dominated the game with both bat and ball, thanks to one-sided contributions from KL Rahul and Andrew Tye.

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Twitter lashes out at Ravichandran Ashwin for demoting Yuvraj Singh in the batting order against MI

Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians went on to register a thrilling win over Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede stadium on Wednesday night. The game had a lot of twists and turns but the hosts managed to have the last laugh. With this win, MI’s hopes of making it to the playoffs are still alive as

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Twitter erupts as KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya exchange jerseys after MI’s thrilling win over KXIP

Kings XI Punjab’s opening batsman KL Rahul set the Wankhede Stadium on fire with a blistering 94 off 60 balls against Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 match on Wednesday night. Despite his brilliant knock, Ravichandran Ashwin-led Punjab team suffered a three-run defeat in a thrilling contest at the hands of Mumbai

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Fred Bakewell; A Rough Diamond

More years have passed than I care to remember since I bought ‘Crusoe’ Robertson-Glasgow’s two collections of pen portraits, Cricket Prints and More Cricket Prints. Both are well read, but still dipped into from time to time. Some years ago my interest was piqued by the essay on the pre-war Northamptonshire batsman Fred Bakewell, and more particularly the comment when his mind and his fortunes were warm, he could have batted with Bradman on not uneven terms. It is a remarkable comparison for a man so little known, so who was Bakewell?

There are parallels to be drawn between Bakewell and a later Northants opening batsman, Colin Milburn. Both bristled with aggression at the crease and had decent records in the few Tests they were able to play. More poignantly both saw their careers taken away from them at the age of 27 as a result of injuries sustained in road traffic accidents.

Born in Walsall in 1908 Bakewell was the youngest of seven children, one of whom died in infancy. His father was a ‘leather maker’, a trade which most of Bakewell’s siblings seem to have entered. As for Bakewell himself he ended up as a teenager in an approved school in Oxford. That he was there was as a result of a brush with the criminal justice system as a 15 year old, convicted of six allegations of theft. Such schools were modelled on the lines of traditional boarding schools, so were not fully secure. In any event Bakewell seems to have done well enough and it was during his time there that his cricket developed apace. On leaving he settled in Northampton, and quickly came to the attention of the County club.

Northamptonshire were not a strong side, but they were led by a fine all-rounder, Vallance Jupp, and in EW ‘Nobby’ Clark had a fiery left arm fast bowler, both of whom made Test appearances for England. Bakewell became the side’s third top class player, but the rest of the team were generally very weak and Northants were the County Championship’s whipping boys throughout Bakewell’s career.

In his first summer, that of 1928, Bakewell batted down the order, but he soon converted to being an opener. The purists disapproved of his wide two eyed stance, so unorthodox that his right foot pointed towards mid on. No one liked his grip on the bat, one hand right at the top of the handle, and the other at the bottom. The expectation would be that that would give a limited range of strokes, but the coaches never tried to change Bakewell. In truth the strange stance seems to have been nothing more than an idiosyncrasy, his footwork being excellent and swiftly putting him in a much more orthodox position by the time the ball reached him. He was also an excellent close fielder, described by Robertson-Glasgow as three short legs in one. In his first season he took eight catches in one match against Essex. Had he played in a stronger bowling side he would certainly have held many more catches than the 225 in 250 matches that he ended up with.

By 1931, despite playing for such an unfashionable county, Bakewell had created sufficient interest and scored enough runs to become the fourth Northants player to be chosen for England. The opponents were New Zealand, touring as a Test nation for the first time. Bakewell’s opening partner was another debutant, Johnny Arnold. There was a sensational start to the England innings as Ian Cromb took three quick wickets to reduce the strong England side to 31-3. Bakewell was one of the three, pinned in front of the stumps by an inswinger so perhaps for once that stance did let him down. That he scored nine, more than Arnold or the mighty Walter Hammond would have been scant consolation. He did better in the second innings, scoring 27 before cutting Cromb to gully.

The New Zealanders gained a creditable draw in the first Test, but were overwhelmed in the second. This time Bakewell opened with Herbert Sutcliffe and the pair added 84 before, with Bakewell on 40, Sutcliffe called for a run that wasn’t there. Bakewell had the choice of sending Sutcliffe back to oblivion or sacrificing himself. He chose the latter. He wasn’t in the side for the third Test, replaced by another debutant, Lancastrian Eddie Paynter. The general view was that he had done enough, and that the selectors were seeking to have a look at Paynter rather than dropping Bakewell.

In 1932 there was only one Test match, the inaugural game with India. For Bakewell the season proved to be a step backwards. He comfortably achieved his thousand runs for the season but his average was down and he was not selected for England, the MCC or the Players, and he was not in the frame for selection for the Bodyline series. In its summary of the season Wisden referred to a need for Bakewell to tighten his defences early on in his innings, advice he was to take on board the following summer with great success.

As the inquest on Jardine’s tactics began Bakewell had his best ever year. He scored more than 2,000 runs and averaged 46 with seven centuries including two big doubles. First of all he set a new record score for Northants by scoring 246 against Nottinghamshire, and then in the very next game raised it to 257 against Glamorgan at Swansea. The tourists that summer were West Indies and at the start of their tour Northants beat them by an innings, Bakewell failing to trouble the scorers. It is unlikely he was considered for the first Test, which England won easily, nor the second. That was the famous game at Old Trafford for which the tourists were able to persuade Nelson to release Learie Constantine. The West Indians were much sterner opposition with their talismanic all-rounder who, with Manny Martindale, subjected England’s batsmen to a Bodyline attack. With one exception the home batsmen were clearly troubled to be on the receiving end, that exception unsurprisingly being skipper Douglas Jardine, who gave an object lesson in how such bowling could be played, and recorded his only Test century.

After the lacklustre performance at Old Trafford the selectors made changes for the final Test. In came Bakewell to open the innings with the Worcestershire amateur Cyril Walters, who was making his Test debut. The West Indian batsmen let their side down and were bowled out cheaply twice, so Bakewell’s 107 does not look as crucial as it was. Had he not held the England top order together the eventual total of 312 would not have been approached, and the outcome of the match might have been very different. He was the only man in the top six to score more than 22.

That century earned Bakewell his place with the MCC party that toured India under Jardine in 1933/34. On a personal level however it was not a particularly successful trip for Bakewell. He was the first tourist to be out for a duck on the tour, and struggled for most of it. Finally he came good before the third and final Test and scored 158 against Madras and that was enough to get him in the Test side where an innings of 85 in the first innings confirmed that he had eventually run into form. An essentially modest man when interviewed many years later by David Frith Bakewell described conditions as perfect, although that doesn’t really help very much as he seems to have similar recollections of every wicket he made a big score on.

By his own standards Bakewell had a poor season in 1934 and so was never in contention for a place against Australia. In fact he wasn’t even Northamptonshire’s leading batsman, Jack Timms just bettering Bakewell’s average of 32.30. In terms of runs scored the pair were well ahead of anyone else, and as the season wore on Bakewell’s form certainly improved. Wisden’s view was that the exhausting tour of India was the reason for the early season malaise. Despite his problems there was one remarkable statistical highlight of the season for Bakewell to share in. It came in the game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The home side batted first and spent the first day compiling 429-9 before declaring. For Northants Bakewell and a 21 year old amateur, Alex Snowden, then put on 119 for the first wicket. Bakewell scored 60, but after the pair were parted the remaining nine wickets could add only 45 more and the follow on was enforced. This time they added 121 before Snowden was out, thus sharing in two century partnerships on the same day. Bakewell went on to score 132, but no one else scored very many and the match was lost by nine wickets.

In 1935 Northants fortunes briefly looked like they might change as they started their Championship campaign with a win at Taunton, but it proved to be a false dawn and they failed to win again all summer. The reliance on Bakewell to give the batting any semblance of respectability can be illustrated by three matches in the second half of the season. The first game saw Worcestershire come to Kettering. On a damp wicket the visitors collapsed to 93 all out and although Bakewell was, for once, dismissed without scoring the home side managed to get a modest lead of 78. In much better batting conditions Worcester put in a sterner effort second time round but the home side’s first innings lead still meant Northants needed what appeared to be a relatively modest 230 to win.

Bakewell atoned for his mistake in the first innings in style. He made a chanceless 141 in three hours that Wisden described as magnificent. Unfortunately however his teammates could manage only 44 between them, so with 14 extras Northants still lost by 30 runs. No doubt influenced by that performance when Yorkshireman Arthur ‘Ticker’ Mitchell had to withdraw through injury the England selectors decided to recall Bakewell for the last two Tests against South Africa, thus causing him to miss two Championship fixtures. One was lost by and innings and 213 and the other by ten wickets. In the four completed innings in the two games Northants highest total was just 156. Losing by ten wickets to eventual runners up Derbyshire was no disgrace, but the hammering from Hampshire, who lost only three wickets in the match and finished just a solitary place above Northants in the table, must have been a source of embarrassment. Only one of his teammates managed to get even half way towards Bakewell’s season’s average of 42.32, and then only just.

In what were to prove his final two Test appearances Bakewell did not let himself down. In the fourth Test he was given a couple of early lives, but went on to score 63 in the first innings and added 54 in the second. The South Africans were 1-0 up in the series and in a match limited to three days comfortably held England off. In the final Test, also of three days, England skipper Bob Wyatt gambled on putting the South Africans in. The Springboks proceeded to spend the whole of the first day and most of the first session of the second piling up an impregnable total. England did manage a first innings lead but there was far too little time left in the game. Bakewell, charging out of the blocks at the start of the innings, managed just 20 before trying one square cut too many and being caught by the wicketkeeper.

By his own standards Bakewell did not have a particularly good season in 1936, no doubt a factor uppermost in his county’s failure to win even a single match that summer. There were some good scores amongst the bad, but at the start of the last match of the campaign, against Champions Derbyshire on their home patch at Chesterfield, he was barely averaging 30. When in the first innings Alf Pope bowled both Bakewell and opening partner Reggie Northway for just four between them no one on the ground was surprised. The rest of the Northants batting got them to 144, and the bowlers did well to restrict Derbyshire to a lead of 65. It should still have been plain sailing for the champions but in their second innings Northants turned the game on its head. Bakewell batted for six hours for an unbeaten 241 and with support from the middle order he gave his captain a rare opportunity to set a target. Half the Derbyshire side went for 54 and defeat seemed inevitable until sadly, in the way champions do, the lower order dug in and saved the day. Wisden described the innings as one of the finest of Bakewell’s career, and reported he was scarcely guilty of one risky stroke.     

Northway owned a two seater sports car and after the match he set off with Bakewell at around 11pm to return home. Just before midnight, near Kibworth in Leicestershire, the car went over a humpback bridge, narrowly missed a telegraph pole and then swerved. It crossed the road and mounted the verge on the other side before crashing into some kerbstones, turning on its side and finally ending up with its radiator in a hedge. Both men were flung from the car. Northway’s body was found in a nearby ditch. He died instantly. Bakewell was on the road, unconscious with a fractured skull, facial paralysis, a serious injury to his right wrist and most of the flesh stripped from his hands. He too would have died had teammate Jack Timms, driving ahead of Northway and concerned when his headlights disappeared, not turned back. As it was Bakewell was on the critical list for several days and had to undergo surgery. In the end his strength got him through it, but the effect of the arm injury meant he never played again.

How did the accident happen? One suspects that there was a celebration after the match that would have involved the imbibing of at least some alcohol, although more than forty years later Bakewell told David Frith that Northway was an excellent driver and had had just a half pint of beer, and hadn’t even drunk all of that. Bakewell’s view was that his friend fell asleep at the wheel, but he himself was asleep at the time, so that can only be speculation. Bakewell added, without a trace of bitterness over what the accident had cost him, that ordinarily he would have been in Timms’ car, and not Northway’s.

The 1937 edition of Wisden felt able to describe Bakewell’s recovery as complete, notwithstanding the fact that the surgery he had undergone included bone grafts in that right arm. In truth he hadn’t made a full recovery at all, and never was able to fully bend his right arm again. Perhaps understandably however despite knowing in his own mind that his career was over he kept telling people he hoped to be back, and from time to time the local press became excited about the prospect of his playing again.

On 20 May 1938 Bakewell found himself in court, facing the local magistrates for failing to make adequate financial provision for his wife and daughter. The court ordered him to pay 17/6 a week, equivalent to around £55 today. He clearly did not much care for the decision, his wife’s solicitor at the next hearing rather euphemistically stating that after the decision was announced Bakewell had unfortunately made known certain views that led them to think he did not intend to comply with the order. So Bakewell found himself back before the bench three weeks later, predictably having paid nothing.

It would seem that Bakewell was more respectful on this occasion, if not contrite. He explained he had earned nothing in the time since his last appearance, but that he was due to start a coaching job, four days a week and weather permitting, the following week. He confirmed he derived no income from the County Club and that the compensation he had received following his accident was all gone. In that respect he must have been very poorly advised. As a passenger in Northway’s vehicle there can have been no issue as to liability, and the severity of his injuries should have led, even in the 1930s, to rather more compensation that could have been frittered away in a matter of months. Certainly in the report of the second hearing it is stated that Bakewell’s arm was in plaster, although given Wisden’s observation one suspects that may have been tactical.

Asked in court whether he realised he had a duty towards his wife and eight year old daughter Bakewell somewhat cryptically replied; I realise also that she has a duty towards me. Either the local journalist chose not to report anything further or, perhaps more likely, Mrs Bakewell’s solicitor decided he had got all he wanted. It emerged later that although Bakewell was seeing another woman, and that adultery was the basis on which Mrs Bakewell was granted a decree of Divorce in October 1939, that it was in fact she who left Bakewell, so doubtless there was more to the story. In any event in June 1938 the result of the second hearing was a 14 day prison sentence suspended on terms that the original order was paid as well as 2/6 a week from the arrears, so £1 per week.

It seems unlikely, despite there being no report of the sentence being activated, that Bakewell would not have complied with it for any longer than the three week period referred to during the Divorce hearing. What seems more likely to have happened is that he took the bench’s advice and went back for a variation of the order. Certainly at the beginning of the 1939 season it was reported that Bakewell had finally abandoned all hopes of a comeback to the First Class game, and that his struggles during the previous winter had been such that the Northants scorer had been organising an appeal for funds for him. One suspects he would have continued to lead his former wife a merry dance for a number of years, but it seems to have done her no harm. In due course she married again and had another child and outlived her errant first husband by many years, passing away as recently as 2009, at the grand old age of 101.

In 1940 Bakewell, still only 31 of course, looked to join the Army. He was rejected because of his injuries and that consequent loss of the opportunity to lose his life on military service is one of the reasons he gave Frith in 1980 for his phlegmatic attitude towards his career ending injury. Whatever he did instead cannot however have brought in much in the way of money as by 1943 he was clearly in desperate straits as he resorted to a particularly mean type of theft, that of cricketers’ wallets from pavilion changing rooms. It was reported in June of 1943 that he had pleaded guilty before Peterborough Magistrates to two charges. He had initially denied the allegations but realising the hopelessness of trying to explain why he was in possession of another man’s wallet said; I’m sorry it happened. I don’t know what made me do it.

Bakewell also admitted an allegation of the theft of two diamond cutters from his then place of work. It is not clear from the contemporary reports how that came to light, although presumably it was a result of a search of his home address following his initial arrest,  According to the press report the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire spoke eloquently on behalf of Bakewell, who had remarried three years previously and had a young daughter. The Chief Constable went on to say that there was an extraordinary amount of good in him, but added, to use the vernacular of the times, that he had got in with a bad crowd. The result was the Chairman of the bench being unable to resist describing Bakewell’s offending as not cricket, and he went on to fine him £5, ordered him to pay £5 in compensation and made an order for probation supervision. To put that in context the report gives Bakewell’s earnings as £4 5/- per week.

Life does seem to have improved for Bakewell after that. He moved to Cambridge and told Frith he was for a time a publican in Wisbech and then subsequently in the village of Fowlmere. In 1965 however tragedy struck him twice. His second wife died and he was also, again as passenger, involved in a road accident. The account he gave Frith was that a friend of his (the driver) had been to court over his divorce and driving back from court the car struck a lamp post. Bakewell lost an eye. In fact a bit of online research shows this was at least the third serious road accident he had been involved in as a passenger. The first was in 1933 when a car driven by an acquaintance of his was driven into a shop front. On that occasion Bakewell appears to have come to no serious harm, but he clearly wasn’t believed by the court when he gave evidence on behalf of the driver at the ensuing trial.

There was one more visit to a court for Bakewell in 1970. He found himself charged with the theft of a bottle of ginger wine and two packets of biscuits from a store at which he had been an employee. He was again made the subject of probation supervision and that, as far as can be ascertained, was his last clash with the courts. By the time he spoke to Frith a decade later he seems to have been unwilling to discuss those latter offences but there must have been a story to it as Frith reported that a signed deposition regarding the matter was lodged with Bakewell’s solicitor. Thirty years after Bakewell’s death it seems unlikely it will ever now see the light of day, if indeed it ever existed in the first place.

Just a couple of years after tracking him down for that interview Frith was writing Bakewell’s obituary. He died in Westbourne, Bournemouth of a heart attack. He was 74. As a cricketer Bakewell was clearly an exciting talent and was, perhaps, unfortunate not to play for a stronger county. Had the fates not conspired against him in the way they did he might now be remembered as one of the greats of his era. As a human being he was clearly flawed, but certainly cannot have been all bad. Amongst all the negative stories of his life outside the game there is one interesting little snippet. At the beginning of the 1934 season, the one after his annus mirabilis, Bakewell was reported as having donated a trophy for Working Men’s Clubs to compete for.

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Hazel Keech takes a subtle dig at KXIP opener KL Rahul

KL Rahul has found his mojo back in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has played some scintillating knocks for his new franchise, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) this year. In the first game of the season for KXIP, Rahul smashed the fastest IPL fifty ever against Delhi Daredevils (DD). Rahul has

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IPL 2018: Anushka Sharma posts a series of Instagram stories supporting Virat Kohli and RCB

Anushka Sharma is undoubtedly one of India’s favourite WAG, and the badass actress doesn’t shy away from going all out to support her husband and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain, Virat Kohli. On Monday, Anushka took to Instagram to post series of stories where she can be seen cheering for Virat and his team. Getting

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The rise of Indian wicket-keepers in IPL 2018

The Indian Premier League is the biggest tournament in the nation. Due to the return of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after 2 year, there was more excitement for the IPL 2018 season. True to its reputation, the tournament so far has been full on entertaining with some excellent batting, bowling, and fielding performances. Another positive

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Twitter brutally trolls Rohit Sharma for yet another ‘Golden Duck’ against Rajasthan Royals

Rohit Sharma’s woes in the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) seem never-ending and yet again he succumbed to a golden duck, the second this year against Rajasthan Royals (RR). Undone by a Jofra Archer bouncer first up, Rohit took on the short ball and hit it straight to the fielder – Jaydev

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IPL 2018: Mayanti Langer reacts to a tweet on Rishabh Pant being Virat Kohli-AB de Villiers amalgamation

Sports anchor and TV presenter Mayanti Langer is one of the most popular cricket hosts in India. She is currently a part of the pre-match, mid-innings, and the post-match analysis shows broadcasted on the Star Sports network. She has gained a good knowledge of the game now and therefore, every time when she comes up

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IPL 2018: Bollywood actress Nushrat Bharucha in awe of Rishabh Pant’s innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad

The 20 year old wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant played one of the most entertaining innings by an Indian batsman in the shortest format of the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Thursday night. However, Pant’s efforts went in vain as his

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Danielle Wyatt reveals the name of her favourite to win IPL 2018

England women cricketer Danielle Wyatt, who was the leading runs scorer in the recently concluded tri-series including India and Australia, has named her favourite side to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. She has been supporting the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from the beginning but has picked Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to be the champion

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Twitter Reactions: Rishabh Pant becomes the first Indian to score a century in the IPL 2018

Rishabh Pant smacked a sizzling century as Delhi Dardevils (DD) finished at 187-5 after electing to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Thursday. The table-toppers struck early in the power play as Shakib Al Hasan removed openers Jason Roy and Prithvi Shaw. Later on, Rishabh Pant

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Top 5 players ruled out of IPL 2018 due to injury

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IPL 2018: Meet the Kolkata Knight Riders’ anchor – Madonna Tixeira

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MS Dhoni finally reveals the name of his first crush

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Twitter erupts as Andrew Tye dedicates the four-wicket haul against KXIP to his late grandmother

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BCCI announces India squad for the T20I series against Ireland and England

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BCCI announces India’s squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan

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IPL 2018: Pakistan anchor Zainab Abbas appreciates KL Rahul’s batting

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Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt has a new career option for MS Dhoni

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WATCH: Virat Kohli, Pathiv Patel and others enjoys Hyderabadi biryani at Mohammed Siraj’s home

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WATCH: IPL anchor Erin Holland shares her MI experience at the Wankhede Stadium

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Twitter Reactions: Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah deny KKR win at Wankhede

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IPL 2018: Danielle Wyatt and Rashid Khan exchange pleasantries on Twitter

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IPL 2018: Sakshi Dhoni’s Instagram story for husband MS Dhoni is winning the internet

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Twitter Reactions: Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni star in CSK’s 6-wicket win over RCB

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) climbed to the top of the points table with a comfortable six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Saturday. Having elected to field on winning the toss, CSK restricted the visitors to 127/9 in their 20 overs. In reply, while Shane Watson departed

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Kane Williamson spills the beans on his favourite Bollywood actress

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson has been effectively enjoying his stint in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is also greatly enjoying his time off the field, as the Blackcaps skipper recently had a candid interview with the Radio channel 93.5 Red FM. There was certainly so many expectations and

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Danielle Wyatt names her favourite Chennai Super Kings player

England women cricketer Danielle Wyatt is trending these days on social media owing to her support to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Wyatt keeps on supporting her favourite cricketer Virat Kohli on Twitter and hopes that his side will win the IPL title this year. Similarly, she loved the

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Young Shivam Mavi thanks MS Dhoni for his cricketing tips

The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 has brought out a different version of MS Dhoni for cricket fanatics. It’s a matter to rejoice that the man who has been entertaining us for more than a decade is back in his form. More importantly, his discussions with young and budding cricketers from

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Who Should Be Favourites for 2019 Cricket World Cup?

Making long-term predictions when it comes to cricket is never easy, especially when it comes to big-pressure tournaments like the Ashes or the ICC World Cup. Sourav Ganguly addressed the latter competition recently, suggesting that India should be favourites for the World Cup in England next year. The former Test captain believes that India’s quality merits the favourites tag despite the fact they have not won a Test series in England since 2007.

Indeed, as most cricket fans will be aware, India will be heading to England for a Tour this summer, with firm hopes of recapturing the Pataudi Trophy that England have held since 2011. It will be something of an acid-test for both sides ahead of the 2019 World Cup, with India out to prove they can dominate on English soil, whereas England will be keen to prove home advantage can take them beyond the number one ranked side in test cricket.

England given top odds as World Cup hosts

Despite that number one Test ranking, India are not the favourites with the bookmakers to win the World Cup. In fact, both England and Australia have been placed above them in the odds. While there is some disagreement among bookmakers, almost all have placed England around 3/1 to win their first World Cup. Although they will have a built-in advantage as host nation, that’s quite a short price when you consider they have never won the World Cup before.

Australia’s odds did rise slightly after the suspensions of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft over the ball tampering scandal, although the trio will be back from suspension and will be available for selection. In fact, a couple of bookmakers (Paddy Power, Betfair) have gone as far making Australia 3/1 favourites for the tournament. Most bookies, however, have them around the 4/1 or 9/2 mark. You can check out the guide to sports betting in Australia to get free bets and promos for the Australian team from local betting companies.

India possibly the value bet of the tournament

As for Ganguly’s former side, India are best-priced around 9/2 and look arguably the best value ahead of the tournament, although you would expect those odds to rise or fall with the manner of their performance in England this summer. The Indian team is just so stacked full of talent – Kohli, Jadeja, Aswhin and others – that it is difficult to see a weakness. However, Indian cricket fans will remember all too well the 2007 World Cup when they started as favourites but were promptly humbled and sent home early.

As ever with cricket, focusing on the perceived favourites leaves fans – and punters – open to shocks. For that matter, South Africa are also looking very accomplished and do represent betting value at 11/2. New Zealand (7/1) and Pakistan (10/1) might have to show a bit more in the coming months before punters will part with their money.

The point is that it is quite difficult to call a favourite with still over a year to go before the World Cup. Nearly every Test-playing nation has some sort of flaw or disadvantage hanging over them before the tournament, issues that may or may not be addressed in the coming months. You can see in the close odds that the bookies are undecided, as too are plenty of the fans. The only way to truly settle the issue over favourites is with hindsight, so we will find out in just over 400 days’ time.  

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Twitter erupts as Virat Kohli seals the deal with English county side Surrey

Team India captain Virat Kohli has signed a one-month deal with English county side Surrey ahead of India’s tour to England in July. Kohli is set to feature in both the Royal London One Day Cup and the County Championship next month. He will be making his Surrey debut against Kent at Beckenham in the

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Alexandra Hartley delightful with Surrey signing of Virat Kohli for the upcoming season

Surrey Cricket has confirmed the signing of Indian cricket team’s captain Virat Kohli for the month of June so ending months of anticipation that he would use the county circuit to warm up for the Test series against England in August. Kohli will become the fourth Test-eligible Indian player in county cricket this year with

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A Life Well Lived

There are probably more apocryphal tales about Lionel, Lord Tennyson than any other First Class cricketer, let alone England captain. That said even if only half the stories written about him were true he would still be one of the more interesting characters who have graced the game of cricket. Whenever I read about him I am reminded of an exchange involving a man who had the talent to be the finest footballer of his generation, but whose career lasted just three years. If you could settle down for three or four years you could play for England, was one entreaty delivered to try and lure our hero back into the game. His rejoinder was I’m half your age and have lived twice your life. In a different age the multiplier in Tennyson’s case was probably nearer four, and he of course did play for England.

The grandson of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet laureate for most of Queen Victoria’s reign, Tennyson seems to have acquired his cricketing talent from his mother. Certainly his talent for poetry was limited, as evidenced by his inability to extract from the Morning Post what he considered to be an appropriate fee for a four verse effort he penned in celebration of England’s 4-1 win in Australia in 1928/29.

For many years prior to his death in 1892 Tennyson’s father, Hallam, had acted as his own father’s secretary and was engaged in the endeavour of writing his biography in the years following his death. Hallam, who inherited his father’s Baronetcy on his death was, unusually amongst his extended family, a steady, reliable and safe pair of hands and was a responsible custodian of the family fortune. Wisely his eldest son was never given control of the family’s wealth and had to rely on an allowance, albeit a fairly generous one, that ended on his death. Lionel never succeeded in acquiring any wealth of his own and on his death his estate was minimal.

In 1899 the Tennyson family moved to Australia when Hallam accepted an offer from Joseph Chamberlain to become Governor of South Australia, and subsequently Governor-General of Australia before returning to England in 1904. This was planned, it having always been Hallam’s intention to ensure Lionel and his brothers were educated in England.

Lionel was sent to the most famous Public School in the country, Eton College, where he enjoyed himself immensely, rapidly becoming attracted to the bright lights of London and regularly ‘breaking out’ of school to catch a train to the capital for an evening’s entertainment. As far as his cricket was concerned Lionel was, at this stage, primarily a fast bowler but although he did eventually get into the first team his cricketing achievements at school gave no hint of what was to come.

After his time at Eton ended Lionel, a distinctly ordinary scholar, wanted to join the Coldstream Guards. Hallam, well acquainted with the elite nature of the Guards and wary of their reputation for living life to the full would not permit Lionel to join. Instead he made arrangements for him to follow in his footsteps and those of Alfred by securing a place for his eldest son at Trinity College, Cambridge. Unsurprisingly with racecourses nearby, London within easy reach and plenty of country house events to attend Lionel found no time for any studies. Seeing the way the wind was blowing Hallam eventually allowed Lionel to leave University without completing his degree and, despite his misgivings, the Guards seemed a better bet. It is also worth noting that despite the University XI not being particularly strong whilst Lionel was there, he never once managed to force his way into the first team.

His time in the Army cemented the Tennyson reputation. Nothing suggests he did anything other than carry out his duties satisfactorily although it is difficult to understand how. Many were the occasions that Tennyson, to all intents and purposes, stayed out all night carousing before his ceremonial duties. He also gambled, mainly on the sport of kings, and was noted for generosity towards his many friends. Tennyson was not short of income, enjoying an allowance of £500 a year from his father (the equivalent of more than £50,000 today) as well as his commission, albeit at a rate of around £170 a year that would have been a sum unlikely to even have covered his mess bill. Winning more often than he lost Tennyson’s bank balance at one point in 1912 was around £5,000, so half a million on 2018 values.

From that high watermark Tennyson learned the lesson that many gamblers learn and in the space of a week of frantic activity he managed to lose not only the £5,000, but to run up another £7,000 worth of debt with bookmakers. His father, understandably beside himself with rage, eventually agreed to cover the debt in order to maintain family honour. The quid pro quo was that, his instincts about the Guards having been proved correct, Tennyson transferred to the Rifle Brigade. Perhaps because of what had happened Tennyson decided to concentrate on his cricket at last and so well did he perform in the Army that he was invited to play for the MCC against Oxford University at Lord’s in July.

By now Tennyson was primarily a batsman, and one who had got used to English wickets after learning most of his craft in Australia. Never dull he was an aggressive bat who drove with great power, and was also particularly strong off the back foot. On debut Tennyson scored a century and, finally noticed by Hampshire, was then selected for nine championship fixtures. There were two more centuries, and 96 against a powerful Yorkshire attack at Harrogate. Tennyson ended the summer with an average of 46.22, a figure he was destined never to better in an English summer. To put that in context only Phil Mead and Jack Hobbs averaged more than 50 in 1913, and then only fractionally.  Overall Tennyson was fifth, the only other men ahead of him being George Gunn and an amateur, Leslie Kidd, who enjoyed by far the best summer of a brief career. When PR Johnson of Somerset withdrew from the party Tennyson was offered the chance to join the 1913/14 tour of South Africa, an invitation the War Office were persuaded he should be permitted to accept. Named as one of the Five Cricketers of the Year in the 1914 edition of Wisden the editor wrote; It is scarcely too much to say that Tennyson’s success as a batsman was the most surprising feature of last season’s cricket. Rarely indeed has a player quite new to First Class matches done so much.

Only one man (DW Carr) has ever played in a Test for England so soon after his First Class debut as Tennyson and only three having played fewer matches (Carr again, Ian Peebles and Ken Cranston) and Tennyson played in all five Tests in South Africa. He started well enough with 52 in the second innings of the first Test but after that, on wickets that brought the great Sidney Barnes 49 wickets in four Tests, the variable pace and bounce of the mat coupled with the sideways movement skilled bowlers could achieve left Tennyson with a series average of just 16.57. His Army commitments meant that First Class cricket saw Tennyson only four times in 1914, and thereafter the game closed down for the next four summers.

The Rifle Brigade were sent to France and Tennyson first saw action in early September of 1914. Conditions were difficult and his men poorly equipped and a couple of months later Tennyson suffered a leg wound which was made worse when he fell into a shell hole. He tore various muscles and ligaments and was invalided home. It was October of 1915 before, by now a Captain, he was back at the front at the Battle of Ypres. Tennyson saw all the horrors of trench warfare at first hand over a period of many weeks.

In June of 1916 Tennyson was mentioned in despatches but three months later was back home again, having sustained a gunshot wound to the mouth and shell shock. The Daily Mail reported his death, and Tennyson had to quickly send a telegram to his parents to assure them the report was untrue. It must have been a difficult time for the family. Tennyson’s younger brother, a Naval officer, had lost his life in January 1916. His other brother was to perish in action in January 1918.

After a second mention in despatches in January 1917 Tennyson was back in France in June of that year and ended up at the famous Battle of Passchendaele. On 22 November he was wounded again and, although a week later he was promoted to Major, that was to all intents and purposes the end of his war. In a sense Tennyson had a lucky war, as very few men saw action in all of the major battles of the Great War and survived. There can be no doubt that Tennyson was a brave man, and it is surprising that, despite two promotions and being twice mentioned in despatches he was not decorated for his sacrifices. It is understandable that he remained embittered at this lack of recognition for the rest of his days. The reason for it can, realistically, only be the various scandals he had been involved in.

The major cause celebre in which Tennyson had been involved was in his marriage in 1918 to his first wife, Clare. The couple had married a couple of days after Clare’s previous marriage had been dissolved after three years. Tennyson was the co-respondent to the petition issued by Clare’s husband. The couple were to have three children in the ten years before their marriage too ended in divorce. It seems to have been an acrimonious break up there having been court proceedings (lost by Tennyson) to try and set aside a matrimonial settlement. Throughout their time together the couple had continued to live an expansive and fast paced life, in the main at Clare’s expense.

In 1919 Tennyson retired from the Army and accepted the Hampshire captaincy. Although much was expected of him after his success in 1913 in truth he was a disappointment. His men clearly had the greatest fondness and respect for him, and he proved a good captain, but he seldom made many runs averaging just 17.74 for the season. He was a little better the following season but even then averaged only 25.29. His bowling was something he would regularly try in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, but by the end of the 1921 summer even he realised he was not going to make it as a bowler and after that he seldom bowled. When he did, as he did with a bat in his hand, he threw everything he could at his task. He took a long run that culminated in a flurry of arms and legs as he tried to deliver the ball with as much speed as he could. He was pretty quick for a couple of overs, but seldom moved the ball and did not trouble good batsmen.

As the 1921 season began despite England’s 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Warwick Armstrong’s 1920/21 Australians there will have been no one predicting a return to the England side for Tennyson in the return series that was due to take place that summer. In the event however Tennyson’s season began with him rediscovering some semblance of form and, with the express pace of Jack Gregory and Ted MacDonald obliterating England inside two days in the first Test, the cricketing world was suddenly a very different one.

The England selectors were looking backwards and trying to persuade CB Fry, by then 49, to accept the captaincy. He had declined for the first Test, and although he made himself available for the second and was duly chosen he ultimately pulled out again, citing a lack of match practice. Fry did however suggest that Tennyson, being a fine player of pace bowling, would be an ideal replacement. Fry’s advice was followed and Tennyson called up to play at Lord’s. In the first innings he was out for just five, attempting to hit Arthur Mailey out of the ground. In the second Mailey might have had him again, caught at the wicket for nine, but Sammy Carter put the chance down. It was far too late by then to change the course of the game, but Tennyson did what he was picked for and scored an aggressive unbeaten 74 with the tail. Twice on the second evening the man who had taken everything the Germans could throw at him drove MacDonald back over his head. He really does seem to have known no fear.

Tennyson’s performance at Lord’s has always been overshadowed by the twin 90s recorded by Frank Woolley, but no one else made any runs and there were seven changes for the third Test at Headingley. Again Fry was one of them, but again he didn’t appear, this time injury finally calling time on his career. The captaincy, again on Fry’s recommendation, passed to Tennyson who would at least lead from the front. One of the more remarkable Tennyson stories, surely at best an exaggeration, is that he turned up for his first match as England captain driving a Rolls Royce. The car was allegedly his winnings from a bet, the subject matter of which was said to be which of two flies would defecate first.

Armstrong won the toss and chose to bat. Australia scored 407 and to make matters worse Tennyson split the webbing on his left hand in trying to stop a flowing drive from Charlie Macartney. He wasn’t fit enough to bat but, as England slumped to 67-5 vowed that he would. He could only use one hand, and had a wire cage made for the other. He also went out and bought a junior bat that he could wield more easily with one hand. After a recovery of sorts Tennyson came in at 165-7, still well short of the 257 needed to avoid the follow on. When he was out the score was 259, and he had scored 63. The tide was turning for Gregory and MacDonald and while the match was still lost (Tennyson added 36 more in the second innings including, a remarkable testament to his strength and eye, a straight six) the psychological hold on England had been broken thanks to Tennyson and he led England to honourable draws in the remaining two Tests. Tennyson himself didn’t get to the crease in the fourth Test, but he added another 51 in his only innings at the Oval to leave him with an average of 57.25 for the series. He did not, however, play for England again.

Had Tennyson enjoyed a better relationship with Lord Harris he might, in 1924/25, have fulfilled his ambition of returning to Australia as England captain. It is certainly true that his batting would have been suited to Australian conditions, but his county form in 1922 – 24 was patchy to say the least. In none of those summers did his average get as high as even 23. There were still special days from time to time however and Tennyson still made his share of headlines, none more spectacular than leading his county to victory after they were all out for 15, and then, after being invited to follow on, responded with 521. You can read the story here.

When passed over for the England captaincy in 1924/25 Tennyson led a side to South Africa instead. A great lover of the Caribbean and the opportunities that gave for pleasure seeking Tennyson also toured the West Indies in the next four English winters, three times as captain of his own side and once with Sir Julien Cahn. On the voyage out with Cahn Tennyson got himself into debt and, much as he had done with his father twenty years previously, was able to persuade the wealthy Sir Julien to cover his liabilities for him.

At this stage of his life Tennyson was, nominally at least, in regular employment and was involved in Surrey skipper Percy Fender’s wine business. Tennyson had no head for business, and doubtless was not allowed anywhere near the company cheque book, but his seemingly limitless contacts, natural bonhomie and complete familiarity with the company’s products made him a shrewd signing and the business prospered through the inter war period.

Tennyson’s last season for Hampshire was in 1935, by which time he was 46. He had given up the captaincy in 1933, although he skippered the side on a number of subsequent occasions. In 1925 his average crept above 30, but generally his numbers were unimpressive. Tennyson’s main problem was impetuosity and inconsistency as despite his disappointing averages he usually managed to raise his game once or twice a season. In 1928 for example a side from West Indies played Test matches in England for the first time. When the tourists came to Southampton the pace of Learie Constantine and Herman Griffith had reduced Hampshire to 86-5 before Tennyson got to the crease. By the time Tennyson was out another 313 had been added, of which he had scored a chanceless 217, the highest score of his career. Constantine and Griffith had been struck to all parts of the ground in a remarkable innings.

Four years on from his pyrotechnics against West Indies, at 42, Tennyson led his men to their first victory over Yorkshire for a decade, and did so at their headquarters at Headingley. In a low scoring match Tennyson coming in at first drop and scoring 43 out of 65 and 54 out of 68 were crucial contributions. In the very next match against a powerful Derbyshire seam attack at Chesterfield he repeated his feat with 69 out of 81 and 44 from 55 before, at The Oval, he chose the Gents v Players match in which to record his final First Class century in England. He had, of course, bet his teammates a bottle of champagne that he would do so. After his dismissal he had not even taken off his pads before he collected and drank his prize.

The last First Class cricket of Tennyson’s career came, perhaps appropriately, on tour. In 1937/38 he took a strong team to India for a ‘goodwill’ tour. He turned 48 during the tour and had put on a good deal of weight since his days as a Test player (so much so that his second wife, who accompanied him, was said to be delighted when a dose of dysentery much reduced his bulk). In the opening First Class fixture on the tour, against relatively modest opposition from Sind, Tennyson scored his final First Class century but it was a rare highlight. The five representative fixtures against the full strength of India brought him just 53 runs in eight visits to the crease. Whatever shortcomings he displayed on the field on a long tour Tennyson was, of course, an excellent ambassador for the MCC, happy to give his all at the many social functions that were arranged.

In the 1930s Tennyson generally split his time between the UK and California where, as can be imagined, he had a most enjoyable lifestyle mixing widely with the great and the good of Hollywood. In 1934 he had married his second wife, an American widow, but this marriage was dissolved within a decade. Tennyson did not marry again although he was not short of offers. There was one lady to whom he was particularly close, the mysterious ‘IM’, to whom he dedicated his 1950 autobiography, and who was the beneficiary of his very modest estate. The lack of a settled family life was the price that Tennyson paid for his pleasures. He had three sons by his first wife one of whom tragically died at just two weeks of age. Neither parent was considered suitable to have care and control of the surviving boys and Tennyson therefore had fractured relationships with both and only in his final years did he even begin to get to know them.

During the Second World War, as a former officer, Tennyson was put to work as a ‘defence adviser’ at an RAF base near Winchester. He played a little cricket and, when funds permitted, would slip off to London to enjoy what was still available to him of the high life he had always enjoyed. After the war, his only source of income being the allowance he received from the trustees of his late father’s estate, Tennyson took up residence at a hotel in Cooden Beach in Sussex. It was there on 6 June 1951, apparently sitting up in bed smoking a cigar and reading The Times, that Lionel, Lord Tennyson breathed his last. A minute’s silence was observed at the Trent Bridge Test against South Africa when the news broke.

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