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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Cricket's antics by A. C. de Silva Cricket is a game that has brought many pleasing moments to a vast majority of people, around the globe and it has come to stay as the sport, that has given utmost pleasure to the young. England is one of the pioneers of this game, and that country has many extraordinary characters who have kept the cricketing public alive with their antics. Derek Randall's antics are world famous. Not far one moment, did he keep quiet on the field. From the Caribbean to Canberra, his fame has spread. He won a bet with his father for sitting almost motionless under the table. As a child, he was told by his father that he would risk three pennies against his sitting still under the kitchen table and saying nothing. A difficult thing for Randall (jnr). Yet he did it and grabbed the amount from his father. Well-known for difficult catches, Randall's wife had to stop him from a unique catching practise. he would throw the teacups, behind his back and catch them. Obviously he spilled quite a bit, on a number of occasions and Liz had to ask him to stop it. There is also that extraordinary incident on the cricket field, where in early September 1932, where George Paine - the Warwickshire bowler, had an interesting tale. "I was playing for Smethwick, against Dudley in the Birmingham league cricket. Our fast bowler, Durnal - and he was really fast, struck a left-hand batsman on the pocket and ignited a box of matches he had. "I had to turn myself, into a 'fire brigade' and dash full speed up the 22 yards and extinguished the fire that was blazing. "I was afraid we would not be able to smother the flames in time. It was fortunate that we were able to", he said. Test cricket, these days is confined to five days as cricket is controlled by an international body. But followers of the game, may not remember that many years ago in 1938 or so the fifth Test between South Africa and England in the 1938-39 series played in Durban was a timeless Test. That match was really played for 10 days. It began on March 3 and ended on the 14th, there being no play on the 11th. The match ended undecided, when the tourists (England) had to begin their two-day train journey back to their ship at Cape Town. It is the longest first-class match ever played and produced the highest aggregate - 1,981 runs. There comes a story of one of England's stalwarts of the past - Douglas Jardine. In 1932, Jardine was playing for MCC, against All India at Lord's. Jardine's batting was so slow on that particular day, that according to all reports, he looked like developing into one of the slowest and most uninteresting of batsmen. Half-an-hour for one run and 70 minutes for 10 - that was the speed at which Jardine travelled. There was no excuse for his excessive caution as the MCC, were in no desperate need for runs. A man of infinite patience and possessing a rock like defence, Jardine is the ideal man for time-limit-less cricket, but he seemed out of his right sphere on that particular day.
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