Malcolm Marshall on Dilip Vengsarkar

[MechEng]

Vengsarkar Vengeance Cricket legend Malcolm Marshall, who died of colon cancer yesterday, recalls his fiery battles with Dilip Vengsarkar. An excerpt from his memoirs. Dilip Vengsarkar is one of the finest batsmen in contemporary cricket and proof of his quality came in 1986 when he became the first overseas player to score three Test centuries at Lord's: not even Bradman could match that. Yet, while I readily acknowledge his fine achievement, I could not bring myself to get very enthusiastic about it. He is the one cricketer I have ever disliked and the only one I have felt consistently hostile towards. It all stems from my Test debut at Bangalore in 1978 when his constant appealing in my short innings, I believe was responsible for me being given out unfairly. It was the day I cried my way back to the pavilion and the day I was humiliated in public. I will never forget the taunts and the disgrace and, possibly unfairly also, I saw Vengsarkar as the main culprit. I vowed revenge and in 1982-83, four long years later, I got it. My anger had largely subsided by then and my broken pride repaired: I felt my main job was to help the West Indies win the series when the Indians arrived on their fifth tour of the Caribbean. Vengsarkar was just another fine batsman in a strong Indian batting line-up. Mohinder Amarnath and the durable Sunil Gavaskar were more likely to get in our way and any team with Kapil Dev in its ranks had to be taken seriously. Amarnath, in fact, emerged as the Man of the Series with 598 runs at an average of 66.44 but it scarcely mattered as far as we were concerned because we won the series 2-0 with India hanging on for draws in two of the other three matches. By now I was bowling as fast as at any point in my career and I was determined that in helping the West Indies win I would also let India pay the price for my misery four years earlier. Although we played well within ourselves, it was a tour not without its acrimony. Indeed, the Indian manager, and former captain, Hanumant Singh felt obliged to lodge a complaint about what he felt was intimidatory short-pitched bowling by the West Indies and by me in particular. This was because of their much-vaunted batting, only Amarnath was finding it comfortable to cope with our pace and our tactics. He scored centuries in the Tests at Trinidad and Antigua, Gavaskar managed only one, in Guyana, and Vengsarkar none at all. He did, however, come close to getting one in Antigua and it was then that I pulled out everything to prevent him having the satisfaction of reaching three figures. By way of a new strategy I was now bowling more and more around the wicket which meant the batsmen, mostly right-handers, were getting the ball angled across them and moreover, because I was coming from behind the umpire, they had less time to pick up the flight. Vengsarkar had done nothing in the previous four Tests to make me feel any better disposed to him. As he had done in India, he appealed time and again unnecessarily -- though he found the umpires rather less responsive. He had gone four Tests without a century and I was not going to let him get one now. The St John's wicket could not have been more benign. It had absolutely nothing in it for the likes of me, Andy Roberts, playing on his home ground, or Winston Davis from St Vincent, making his Test debut in place of Joel Garner who was in need of a rest after a long, hard season playing for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield competition. It was a wicket made for the Indian stroke-makers - and that meant Vengsarkar. Kapil Dev lost the toss, as he did in every match, and Clive Lloyd made India bat first with the series already safely won. Bowling around the wicket I soon had Gavaskar caught behind and with Gaekwad caught at slip by Richards off Roberts, to the delight of the Antiguan crowd, Vengsarkar arrived at the crease with Amarnath as his partner. Until Amarnath left the field with leg cramps, they were hitting us all over the Recreation Ground, as it is called, and my feelings of intense dislike - not hate - for Vengsarkar were stirred again when he became involved in what I believe was blatant gamesmanship. Standing at the non-striker's end while I was bowling, I heard him repeatedly telling the umpire while I was in earshot that I was over-stepping the crease and bowling no-balls. If that was designed to upset and irritate me, then he certainly succeeded. I was furious and absolutely beside myself with anger as the memories of his performance at Bangalore flooded back. I have never felt like this about an opponent, either before or since, but I will admit now that I not only wanted to get him out, I didn't mind if I decapitated him in the process. I came in quicker than ever as he faced up to me, just 22 yards away, and I showered him with a hail of bouncers. He was aggressive from the start of his innings and as he raced to his 50 and beyond, my desperation grew more intense by the run. There was no way I was going to let him get his century after what he had been trying to do to me. On he went, 60, 70 to 81 when our battle reached a new and crucial stage. Once more I let him have it with another bouncer which smacked into his helmet. That shook him but his response could not have been more positive. Realising now that I meant business, he took three boundaries from the remainder of my over in what I can only describe as risky shots. If I was desperate to get him out before he reached his hundred, he was becoming desperate to get there. This was war. He was in the 90s now and within tantalising distance of his ton. Surely nothing could stop him, not even me bowling with fire in my belly. Once more I tore in and gave him yet another short-pitched delivery. On 94 there was no need for him to take any more risks, but Vengsarkar was rattled - I could tell that after hitting him on the helmet - and he was not behaving normally. He had been shifting nervously in his crease and he was patently as not as in command as a man six short of his century should have been. I sensed my chance. He went for the hook, top edged it and to my lasting delight, Davis held the catch on the long leg boundary. Another couple of yards and it would have been six runs - and his hundred. I have never been more elated at a wicket nor so relieved at a dismissal and as he plodded dejectedly back to the dressing-room, my fury subsided and my ill-feeling towards the Indians and Vengsarkar, in particular, disappeared. My ghost had been laid and now I regard him, almost, as just another opponent, though I suppose I shall never forgive him fully for what happened in Bangalore -- or in Antigua. I went on to take four for 87 in the innings but India took full advantage of the easy paced wicket to amass 457 with Ravi Shastri, batting at six, hitting 102 before being stumped off Larry Gomes. Then Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes each scored a century in putting on 296 for the first wicket on our way to a total of 550 of which my contribution, from number nine, was two. Jeff Dujon and Lloyd also made hundreds as the match drifted towards an inevitable draw, though the innings was marred by the illness of Gordon's daughter. He was batting brilliantly with 154 already to his credit when he had to retire in order to fly to her besides in Barbados. She died two days after the match was completed from a kidney disorder. With a lead of 93 to overcome there was little for India to do except bat out time, but not before I had one last dash at Vengsarkar to prove I was now his master. The match was in its last day and even the vociferous Antiguan crowd appeared bored, unaware I still had a point to prove. In the last over before tea I had Gaekwad, the opener, leg before for 72, thereby ending a patient innings of nearly four hours and that brought Vengsarkar back to the crease. I was ready for him. In the same over, without a run to his name, I had him caught at the wicket. Game, set and match to Malcolm Marshall. Amarnath went on to score 116, the match duly died a death and Greenidge, enduring his beside vigil, was named Man of the Match for a century made under what must have been intolerable mental pressure. For me, revenge had been sweet. The series was won and the exit of Vengsarkar for the second time in the match gave me a total of 21 wickets in the five Tests at an average of 23.57 each, not a bad haul in what was my first full series as an established bowler. KIND COURTESY: Excerpted from Marshall Arts, by Malcom Marshall, Macdonald, Queen Anne Press, 1987.

http://m.rediff.com/sports/1999/nov/05marsha.htm

[MechEng]

I thought his biggest rival was England, never knew he disliked Vengsarkar so much!

[Scarves]

I would have like the fact that the date was on top first. You know either TC managed to find a good internet service in 1999 or Marshall has returned from the grave.

[Temujin Khaghan]

"This" was what missing in Sachin's biography.

[MechEng]

I would have like the fact that the date was on top first. You know either TC managed to find a good internet service in 1999 or Marshall has returned from the grave.

The link - http://m.rediff.com/sports/1999/nov/05marsha.htm Of course, Marshall wrote this before he died. He was a columnist I guess for some time in 1990s.

[Crookbond]

I am a great fan of Marshall but doesn't this sound too juvenile? I would say Vengsarkar managed to do a Steve Waugh there - get into Marshall's head via appealing. That in itself would be Vengsarkar's mark. Marshall is celebrating Vengsarkar's wicket in a dull game as some sort of an achievement ?!!!

[vvvslaxman]

Marshall absolutely hated Vengy. In the bicenteinnial test that was a big talking point.

[MechEng]

I am a great fan of Marshall but doesn't this sound too juvenile? I would say Vengsarkar managed to do a Steve Waugh there - get into Marshall's head via appealing. That in itself would be Vengsarkar's mark. Marshall is celebrating Vengsarkar's wicket in a dull game as some sort of an achievement ?!!!

Ego of over competitive sportsmen.

[vvvslaxman]

Marshall did not drop his pace even for the double wicket tournament where . Gavaskar and Kapil were pair for India. Miandad and Imran was another pair. One of the comical thing that happened was Miandad was bowled by Walsh . He couldn't stand the humiliation. Logically one would go after bowler as you get to bat all the over no matter how many times you get dismissed. He kept deliberately getting bowled for next 2 or 3 balls lol.

[Crookbond]

Ego of over competitive sportsmen.

This is not even over competitive - it is just plain petty for me. If I were to analyze this, Vengsarkar had the better of Marshall. To call the wicket after 94 runs as an achievement of sorts, is testimony to that fact.

[MCGGG]

Was a good read, but slightly strange at the same time, not sure why a no10 would hold such a grudge lol.

[Gollum]

Even my dad used to say that Marshall hated Vengsarkar and Indians in general. He was called black monkey, racially abused once in Kolkata by the home crowd and after that he was always in rage when against us.

[Temujin Khaghan]

many cricketers will have such feelings. marshall has blurted it out thatsall. second thing is that, the West Indies cricketers of that age had different kinds of complex against different teams. They had deep inferiority complex when playing against the Caucasian teams like OZ, NZ, Eng. This gave them the fire to perform really well. They had extreme superiority complex against India. Also they looked at Indians as cowards. Becoz when Lille and Thommo first gave the chin music treatment in OZ, Windies STFU and took it. Then they went home and trained to become strengthen their pace bowling arsenal. But if you look at the Indians, they cowered under the bouncer barrage from the windies. Bedi actually took the team away from field because of this strategy from the windies. Another reason is the bad new ball tactics of India using gavaskar for a couple of overs before giving the ball to the spin quartet - which was looked upon as un-masculine and escapist by their pacers. So windies normally had a very bad opinion about Indians at that time. They had tremendous respect for Gavaskar though. Thats why it hurt so much when lost against India in the WC83 final. Complacency was one of the primary reasons for Windies to drop their guard down against India. WC83, still rankles very deep in the psyche of ex-Windies cricketers. If you observe the cricketers of that generation, dont have one kind word for India ever. Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Lloyd, Holding, Haynes, Greenidge, Dujon - not one kind word about Indian cricket. Richards is the only exception, but then again he is nice to everyone. Richards is a huge supporter of Sachin, Sehwag and Kohli. Windies kind of had decent respect for the Pakistan team under Imran. Pakistan was the kinda decent against them in their peak. Something like a Ganguly's India against Steve Waugh's OZ.

[MechEng]

many cricketers will have such feelings. marshall has blurted it out thatsall. second thing is that, the West Indies cricketers of that age had different kinds of complex against different teams. They had deep inferiority complex when playing against the Caucasian teams like OZ, NZ, Eng. This gave them the fire to perform really well. They had extreme superiority complex against India. Also they looked at Indians as cowards. Becoz when Lille and Thommo first gave the chin music treatment in OZ, Windies STFU and took it. Then they went home and trained to become strengthen their pace bowling arsenal. But if you look at the Indians, they cowered under the bouncer barrage from the windies. Bedi actually took the team away from field because of this strategy from the windies. Another reason is the bad new ball tactics of India using gavaskar for a couple of overs before giving the ball to the spin quartet - which was looked upon as un-masculine and escapist by their pacers. So windies normally had a very bad opinion about Indians at that time. They had tremendous respect for Gavaskar though. Thats why it hurt so much when lost against India in the WC83 final. Complacency was one of the primary reasons for Windies to drop their guard down against India. WC83, still rankles very deep in the psyche of ex-Windies cricketers. If you observe the cricketers of that generation, dont have one kind word for India ever. Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Lloyd, Holding, Haynes, Greenidge, Dujon - not one kind word about Indian cricket. Richards is the only exception, but then again he is nice to everyone. Richards is a huge supporter of Sachin, Sehwag and Kohli. Windies kind of had decent respect for the Pakistan team under Imran. Pakistan was the kinda decent against them in their peak. Something like a Ganguly's India against Steve Waugh's OZ.

So where does the problem lie, India being termed hypothetically as unmasculine or West Indian inferiority complex? Many would agree with the latter. They even manipulated facts and showed Indians in wrong colour in the movie Fire in the Babylon.

[Scarves]

"This" was what missing in Sachin's biography.

C'mon could you imagine all the controversies with that. Sachin wants to be seen like a saint and Indians don't want to think of him as anything else. Personally I would love if Sachin hated a few players and had some issues, makes him cooler.

[amiret]

Vengsarkar Vengeance He is the one cricketer I have ever disliked and the only one I have felt consistently hostile towards. It all stems from my Test debut at Bangalore in 1978 when his constant appealing in my short innings, I believe was responsible for me being given out unfairly. It was the day I cried my way back to the pavilion and the day I was humiliated in public. I will never forget the taunts and the disgrace and, possibly unfairly also, I saw Vengsarkar as the main culprit.

Lol ! Vengasarkar and constant Indian appealing made Marshall cry .:haha: Who was the Umpire ? was he related to the famous indian Matchwinner Umpire Jayaprakash ?

[govinda]

many cricketers will have such feelings. marshall has blurted it out thatsall. second thing is that, the West Indies cricketers of that age had different kinds of complex against different teams. They had deep inferiority complex when playing against the Caucasian teams like OZ, NZ, Eng. This gave them the fire to perform really well. They had extreme superiority complex against India. Also they looked at Indians as cowards. Becoz when Lille and Thommo first gave the chin music treatment in OZ, Windies STFU and took it. Then they went home and trained to become strengthen their pace bowling arsenal. But if you look at the Indians, they cowered under the bouncer barrage from the windies. Bedi actually took the team away from field because of this strategy from the windies. Another reason is the bad new ball tactics of India using gavaskar for a couple of overs before giving the ball to the spin quartet - which was looked upon as un-masculine and escapist by their pacers. So windies normally had a very bad opinion about Indians at that time. They had tremendous respect for Gavaskar though. Thats why it hurt so much when lost against India in the WC83 final. Complacency was one of the primary reasons for Windies to drop their guard down against India. WC83, still rankles very deep in the psyche of ex-Windies cricketers. If you observe the cricketers of that generation, dont have one kind word for India ever. Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Lloyd, Holding, Haynes, Greenidge, Dujon - not one kind word about Indian cricket. Richards is the only exception, but then again he is nice to everyone. Richards is a huge supporter of Sachin, Sehwag and Kohli. Windies kind of had decent respect for the Pakistan team under Imran. Pakistan was the kinda decent against them in their peak. Something like a Ganguly's India against Steve Waugh's OZ.

good one:two_thumbs_up:

[vvvslaxman]

Lol ! Vengasarkar and constant Indian appealing made Marshall cry .:haha: Who was the Umpire ? was he related to the famous indian Matchwinner Umpire Jayaprakash ?

If Jayaprakash was match winner what is Sharkoor Rana lol. he was 20 times worse than any other bad umpire in history.

[vvvslaxman]

So where does the problem lie' date=' India being termed hypothetically as unmasculine or West Indian inferiority complex? Many would agree with the latter. They even manipulated facts and showed Indians in wrong colour in the movie Fire in the Babylon.[/quote'] Holding till date doesn't like Sunny that much. He always takes pot shots at Sunny slyly that he batted well only in better batting conditions. One thing that really made this hate worse was 1983 world cup defeat. From that point their encounters with India had lot of spice. To add salt to wounds Indian fans at jamshedpur threw stones and bottles at Windies team. This was followed by a massacre by Greenidge and Richards. they added 226 in 26 overs. Shastri bot was taken to cleaners :giggle: . Then there was another incident. Ahmedabad pitch for the third test. It was awfully prepared. Lloyd did not really like the way they prepared the pitch. India did not have much to chase. But Lloyd already decided they were going to win the match. Promptly their pacer sent India packing for 103 runs .

[putrevus]

It is very strange to read this , MM was regarded as one of the genuinely great human beings first as attested by many players who played with and against him Vengy was also regarded as very soft person .So very very odd to see this reaction from MM. May be we need to understand psyche of a sportsman. MM was undersized fast bowler who got a chance just due Packer dispute in 1978.So that over appealing by Vengy must have left a long lasting impression.It took him almost five years to honing his skills in country and that 1983 series against India was true beginning of his greatness.