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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
End of a Golden Age?
Today, whilst stuck in possibly the worst traffic jam ever - 5 hours from Chesterfield to Luton must be a record of some sort - I at least had the time to enjoy the Specator's 'Connoisseur's Guide to the Cricket World Cup 2007'. The article by Peter Oborne entitled 'A New Golden Age' was entertaining and screams out to all the nostalgic over 30's who watch Life on Mars, that cricket at least wasn't more entertaining when excessive facial hair and Cortina's were cool.
As in cricket terms the 1970's were dull. Batting was about 'occupying the crease' and a good series ended 1-0, with many, many drawn games. Even ODI's were dull - the 1979 World Cup final between England and the West Indies was, by modern standards, looking comfortable for England as they were set the target of 286 to win. However Boycott and Brierley opened, (with Boycott taking 17 overs to reach double figures!) leaving the rest of side to slash and swipe in an attempt to meet the required run rate, which they never did. Test cricket was worse and surely reached it's nadir when Chris Tavare took five and a half hours to score 35. This was not just an English affliction, some other notably stoic innings from the period include Pakistan's Hanif Mohammed's 337, impressive but the lustre fades when you note that it took 970 minutes to score (that's nearly 3 days!).
This is in stark contrast to the modern game and the modern day players, that currently light up the world stage. A select bunch of today's cricketers could even be compared to the very best of all time, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Inzimam-Ul-Haq, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Glenn McGarth and Adam Gilchrist. Sanath Jayasuriya also deserves credit for re-inventing one-day batting in the mid 90's. Oborne lists these players and declares that we are in a new 'Golden Age' of cricket, but a quick glance at the list will inform most that these players are all (Ponting being the only exception) coming to the end of their careers. Rather than being in a Golden Age are we seeing the end of one?
Some current players have been labelled with even being the next Tendulkar already, such as Sehwag, as if we are tired of the original. With many of these declared heirs not fulfilling the promise predicted.
The World Cup will be the last major tournament for many of these giants of the game, lets hope that some young, exciting players do surpass some of the the retiring players marks - Pietersen stands out as one player who has a chance - but lets also take time to enjoy the last hurrah of some of the outstanding players of the last decade.
As in cricket terms the 1970's were dull. Batting was about 'occupying the crease' and a good series ended 1-0, with many, many drawn games. Even ODI's were dull - the 1979 World Cup final between England and the West Indies was, by modern standards, looking comfortable for England as they were set the target of 286 to win. However Boycott and Brierley opened, (with Boycott taking 17 overs to reach double figures!) leaving the rest of side to slash and swipe in an attempt to meet the required run rate, which they never did. Test cricket was worse and surely reached it's nadir when Chris Tavare took five and a half hours to score 35. This was not just an English affliction, some other notably stoic innings from the period include Pakistan's Hanif Mohammed's 337, impressive but the lustre fades when you note that it took 970 minutes to score (that's nearly 3 days!).
This is in stark contrast to the modern game and the modern day players, that currently light up the world stage. A select bunch of today's cricketers could even be compared to the very best of all time, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Inzimam-Ul-Haq, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Glenn McGarth and Adam Gilchrist. Sanath Jayasuriya also deserves credit for re-inventing one-day batting in the mid 90's. Oborne lists these players and declares that we are in a new 'Golden Age' of cricket, but a quick glance at the list will inform most that these players are all (Ponting being the only exception) coming to the end of their careers. Rather than being in a Golden Age are we seeing the end of one?
Some current players have been labelled with even being the next Tendulkar already, such as Sehwag, as if we are tired of the original. With many of these declared heirs not fulfilling the promise predicted.
The World Cup will be the last major tournament for many of these giants of the game, lets hope that some young, exciting players do surpass some of the the retiring players marks - Pietersen stands out as one player who has a chance - but lets also take time to enjoy the last hurrah of some of the outstanding players of the last decade.
Labels: 1970's, Brian Lara, Cricket, Geoff Boycott, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, World Cup
2 Comments:
Those were the days! We see now where cricket’s stigma of being ‘boring’ comes from.
From www.cricinfo.com
Apparently in the frist World Cup...
Most teams still treated the matches as if they were truncated Tests - especially India, who played for a draw in the first game! Responding to England's 334 for 4 with 132 for 3. Sunil Gavaskar batted through the 60 overs for 36 not out; a disgusted spectator dumped his lunch at the opener's feet.
And not to be forgotten...At the height of that last-wicket excitement in the final, Lillee slapped a Van Holder no-ball straight to Fredericks at extra cover. The crowd missed the call and rushed on, thinking the match was over. Fredericks tried another run-out, only to see the ball disappear into the horde. "Keep running," shouted Lillee to his mate. When order was restored, umpires Dickie Bird and Tom Spencer declared they could have two runs. "Pig's arse," cried Thommo. "We've been running up and down here all afternoon!" So they gave them three.
I've played cricket with Peter Oborne. He wears a pink shirt.
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