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Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever

Dhondy

By Dhondy
in Cricket Talk

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Dhondy Newbie

Dhondy

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The magician is gone. Dunno what to feel, really. How can you sum up a career spanning 16 years in a few sentences? How is it humanly possible to depict the sheer, unfettered brilliance, the joy of watching something ethereal in motion, in two dimensions? I am doomed to failure even before I've started. But I have to try...I have to try. I owe him that much, for making my heart soar to the heavens, my soul sing, for the times that I have jumped out of the sofa, my mouth agape, at his audacity, at his never-say-die spirit, at his fury, his scorn of all things mundane. It was 1999. Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. West Indies v the mighty Aussies. West Indies had just come off a 5-0 hammering against South Africa. The series is tied 1-1 after two Tests. West Indies need 308 to win in the final innings, and slump to 105 for 5, losing first innings centurion Campbell, and the hyper-talented underachiever Carl Hooper cheaply among those dismissed. Lara is at the crease, and is joined by Jimmy Adams, the nudger, nurdler, and accumulator of runs. The two grind their way to 170 for 5. Lara has been restrained, batting on 49, scored at an uncharacterstically slow pace off 115 balls. The third ball of Warne's over is a long hop. Lara swivels violently, and the ball disappears over the mid wicket fence. The man never loses his penchant for the dramatic, moving to his half century with a six. The fifth delivery is marginally wide ouside the off, and a delectable late cut sends it soaring past Healy for a boundary. A calypso starts up high in the stands. All is not lost. Lara has come alive. Waugh takes Warne off and brings on McGrath with the fresh new cherry. Straightway, the master bowler hits the length, tying down Lara, playing on his patience, slipping in a few derisory words between his arrow-straight howitzers. Of the first delivery of his third over of the spell, he floors Lara with one that climbs off good length. Lara is hit flush in the back of the head and looks dazed as he steals a run. As he runs past McGrath, he bumps him. Words are exchanged. McGrath is furious, and towers over Lara, hands on hips. For a moment, the two gladiators stand toe-to-toe, and the crowd breaks into a cacophony of jeers and cat calls. The umpire separates two very irate men. The third ball from McGrath is pulled away through midwicket with all the pent up fury of a coiled intergalactic spring. I am getting goosebumps. Goodness me, this is pretty personal! Gillespie, sharing the new ball, feels the force of Lara's fury, with two blindingly fast despatches through the covers off consecutive overs. Lara stands poised on the edge of a mesmerizing hundred, at 97. After 13 overs with the new ball, Waugh's had enough. He brings on Shane Warne for the tiring Gillespie. Lara comes down the pitch to the second ball like twinkletoes, and effortlessly lofts it away over mid-on for his ton. Bearded, half-dressed men are dancing in the aisles. Lara lofts his bat, and Adams engulfs him in a bear hug. Off the final ball of his next over, McGrath nails the perseverant Adams. It's a top-of-the drawer away seamer, and it shatters Adams' off-stump. As Adams walks away with a nod to his skipper, the Australians run to McGrath, who clenches his jaw and looks slightly manic. Ridley Jacobs walks out. How will the script unfold? Two overs later, McGrath does it again. Jacob's tentative forward prod is defeated by McGrath's inducker. The ball seams to have hit Jacobs outside the off-stump, but local umpire Nicholls rewards McGrath's persistent appeal with a slow elevation of the index finger. The crowd falls deathly silent. The next ball, Nehemiah Perry is stone dead in front of the middle stump, and the great bowler is on a hatrick. It's the sixth LBW of the innings. Away beyond the harbour, West Indies spirits across the length and breadth of the sun-drenched land are sinking. Sixty runs required with Ambrose and Walsh to hold off the Aussies. Surely an impossible task, even for Lara? McGrath's genius has swung the match back in the world champions' favour. That's his fourth five-wicket haul of the series. Ambrose somehow survives the two overs before tea, and Lara walks away from the centre, head bowed, face an inscrutable mask. McGrath's first ball after tea, bowled around the wicket, is slightly short, and is brutally dealt with by Lara, flayed in front of square-leg like a tracer bullet. The diminutive batsman looks like a man possesed. Warne is swept one-handed from way outside the off, past a despairing and tired McGrath, fielding at fine leg. Still forty to get. That becomes 36, as Lara dances down to Warne's last delivery off the very next over, and essays a glorious drive through mid wicket. Can West Indies, can the neutrals looking on, even dare hope? I can hardly breathe. Ambrose flukes a four off McGrath, and with 28 to get, Lara leans on one knee and disdainfully despatches Warne through cover. Does the man have no nerves, no mortal blood in his veins? Gillespie replaces the exhausted McGrath and with a wicked outswinger, finds the edge of Lara's bat. Almost in slow motion, Healy dives to his left, in front of a floundering Warne at first dlip, and drops the catch. The sound of exhaled breath can be heard as far back as St. Lucia. With West Indies within hand-shaking distance of glory, disaster strikes. Gillespie gets Ambrose to dab at one outside the off, and Matthew Elliot at third slip throws the ball up, relief flooding through every sweat-drenched pore. The match is on a knife's edge. The silence in the stadium is deafening. Courtney Walsh walks out to replace his fast bowling partner. Lara meets him mid-pitch and puts an arm around his bony shoulders. Walsh nods, and then takes guard. He looks almost demented, patting the crease furiously with his bat, grimacing, as Gillespie runs up to bowl. It's outside the off, and what's more, the Aussie has overstepped his mark. One less run to get. Meanwhile, Walsh has completed an exaggerated follow through to his intended stroke, and comically tucks the bat under his armpit with a flourish. The crowd applauds, lustier than ever. Walsh somehow keeps out the next three deliveries from Dizzy, one of them a top class yorker. I am breathing again. Lara must finish the job here. Waugh brings McGrath back for one last, titanic effort. The first ball is edged wide off a lunging, despairing Warne at the lone slip. The fielder at third man dives desperately and keeps it down to two. Unbelievably, the fifth ball is a wide. Two more required. The next ball is a bouncer, designed to sail above Lara. But Mcgrath is too tired, and Lara hooks it into the ground. The crowd roars, exhorting Lara to go for the second run and win the match. But it's too risky. They settle for one. Walsh must keep out McGrath's final ball. He does, with that staged flourish. It's all down to the champion batsman. Gillespie runs up for what must surely be the last over of the match. Waugh brings in all the fielders. Four slips, two gullies...he even puts in a leg slip. The time for circumspection has long gone. Lara's bat flows in a great arc, and the dam bursts as Dizzy is summarily cover driven for the winning runs. Everyone goes mad. Complete strangers are hugging each other up in the stands. Lara and Walsh run back towards the pavilion and are met halfway by their jubilant team-mates. Adams reaches Lara first and the great man is scooped up and engulfed in a tangle of arms and legs and victory whoops. West Indies had been 98 for 6, chasing 490 in the first innings. I stood in silent exultation in front of my ageing television and saluted the man on the screen. The emotions are hard to describe after all these years. Emotions pass and fade away, to be replaced by new ones. But I remember being overwhelmed at what I had seen. Today, that man has hung up his boots. We will never see that flashing blade again. Go gently into retirement, my prince.

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Predator_05 Newbie

Predator_05

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever Lara, gone, forever. I can't quite believe it. This is the guy who i grew up watching. Along with Tendulkar, the greatest i have ever had the privilege of seeing. That 153* is an innings i have recalled on numerous occasions, and is one which i rate as the greatest test innings i've ever seen - right up there with Tendulkar's "movie script" 136 vs PAK. At fortress Kensington, Lara achieved the impossible that day - winning a match when no one would have given WI any chance of coming back. I will really miss watching him; that high backlift, the manner in which he wielded his willow like a whip. Awesome player. Words can't quite do justice to Lara's batsmanship at his best; he and Tendulkar were the only batsmen who would make stop whatever i was doing when they were at the crease - their presence had an alluring quality unseen in the other mortals who have played this game. What makes me respect Lara even more is that he took the challenge of captaining the Windies again in a third stint - a challenge in which any other captain would have refused. Lara had been scarred by his previous captaincy stints; but at 36, he gave it one last shot - batting without a care for the world like he used to, eventually going out in style by amassing thousands of runs at break-neck pace during his final years in Test cricket; scoring double hundreds vs AUS, SA, ENG, PAK etc. I can only hope that Tendulkar goes out in the same way.

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King Newbie

King

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever Excellent write up Dhondy and thanks for posting the link to the knock Holysmoke. That was some mystery inning. I will be brutally honest and won't rate it as the best ever I've ever seen as I've seen a lot of great knocks over the years from the blades of some all time greats. If I do then I will not be doing justice for a lot of great knocks I've watched. It is one of the better ones I've watched and that's for sure.

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CC1981 Newbie

CC1981

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever 153* closely but decisively beats out the 281 in my books. The 153* really had it all, plus it was a one-man show against the greatest bowling lineup of modern times on a pitch that was harder to bat on. Superb writeup, Dhondy!

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Dhondy Newbie

Dhondy

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever Did anybody notice that the 281 and the 153* came against the same team, skippered by the same man? Waugh didn't have a defensive bone in his body. On both occasions, he attacked till the last, some would say excessively, believing victory was possible. Against a dour team such as the South Africans, I doubt such knocks could have been played, unless of course, you are an Adam Gilchrist. Talking of Gilchrist, he shares a very endearing trait with Lara. They always walked. I find this worth admiring, and another reason I held Lara in such high esteem. Thanks to all those who replied.

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Guest dada_rocks

Guest dada_rocks

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever great inning.. but see how he gets one life.. had that catc bene pouched it wud have been yet another so near yet so far kind of innings u know the knd sahin played in chenai against pakistan.. had he gooten one life we woudl be singing paens for that inning too.. so fortunes do decide what ends up as great inings and what gets an honourable mention in the list of great innings

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yoda Newbie

yoda

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever

great inning.. but see how he gets one life.. had that catc bene pouched it wud have been yet another so near yet so far kind of innings u know the knd sahin played in chenai against pakistan.. had he gooten one life we woudl be singing paens for that inning too.. so fortunes do decide what ends up as great inings and what gets an honourable mention in the list of great innings
good point. life is a biyatch. winning is everything afterall.
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CC1981 Newbie

CC1981

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Re: Memories of The Greatest Innings Ever

he was dropped lot of times in that inngs by shane warne and co
False. He was grassed by ME Waugh when he was on 141 or 142 off a very hard chance off Gillespie IIRC. That was the one and only one chance or half-chance Lara gave that entire innings outside of lbw shouts, which are there in every innings of every batsman.
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