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| Sunday, 26 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Oh, for a
Nissar!
by A. C. de Silva Great players are born, not made -not even produced. Once in a while, a new generation throws out great players, but never in abundance. Perhaps there have been as many great bowlers as there have been great batsmen, but among the former, the birth of a fast bowler has been a rarity. In the good old days, Grace and Ranji, were great fast bowlers, but it was not until Larwood arrived on the scene in 1926 did England possess another great fast bowler. Then it took another quarter of a century to find a successor to Larwood. He was Trueman. Australia had Spofforth as their "demon" bowler and with him was Ernie Jones. Then came Gregory and McDonald many years after. In Larwood's time, Australia had no answer for pace. After World War II, Lindwall and Miller arrived on the scene and began to sweep everything before them. India was on the look out for a fast bowler and in Mohomed Nissar from the Punjab, bowled his last ball in a Test match in the third Test against England at the Oval in 1936, claiming the only wicket, that of Fagg, in the England second innings. He matched his pace against the English giants of his day such as Sutcliffe, Holmes, Wooley, Hammond, Jardine, Leyland, Paynter and Ames. In his very first spell against England at Lord's in 1932, Nissar sent the English supporters into panic stations, dismissing Sutcliffe and Holmes within the space of an over and ended up by taking five wickets for 93 runs in England's innings of 259. The English critics declared that at least during his first three overs, Nissar was faster than Larwood. A high tribute, indeed! The burly Indian paceman sent back Sutcliffe back to the pavilion on that historic day with an inswinger. He knew to bowl a yorker - one of the most difficult ball to play and certainly the most difficult ball to bowl. Holmes was yorked on the off stump. He knew to bowl to his slips. He had no use for the bumper or the beamer. In fact, he detested the use of such a ball which he characterised as unsporting. He had disclosed that in his career he had never hit any batsman intentionally. Nissar was a giant in every sense of the word. He was tall, strong and sturdy and nature endowed him with the ability to generate great pace off the pitch. He knew the art of swing. In the West Indies there was Constantine and Martindale - a dreaded pair of fast bowlers in the early thirties. Then came Wesley Hall. It is just not an accident that Nissar became a fast bowler. According to experts, the humid climate of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta does not help fast bowling. In the places mentioned, the bowler is out of breath before he has bowled even three overs. Scoreless period While on the subject of bowling, an interesting question that had cropped up is what is the greatest number of balls bowled by one bowler without conceding a run in first-class cricket? It was in the 1956-57 South Africa vs England Series where South Africa's H.J.Tayfield bowled 131 balls before conceding his first runs. Tayfield ended the first innings bowling 119 balls (14 maidens) without giving away a run and then started the second innings with two maidens before conceding a two off the third ball of his third over. |
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