Pavilion Tales
Cricket Stories
Pakistan was in deep trouble when Rashid Latif came to bat in Sydney against West Indies during 1992–93 Tri Series. The scoreboard scared at 6-35. Ramiz Raja, Asif Mujtaba, Aamer Sohail, Saleem Malik, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram went back to the pavilion. Ambrose and Simmons were literally unplayable on that day. Rashid took the …
A double toss in the Ashes might sound absurd, however, it happened during the third Ashes Test at Trent Bridge in 1993. England and Australia had the choice to pick from Duke or the Reader ball. An additional toss was conducted to decide the fate of the ball. Reader ball was used in the first …
Cricket is a mind game. Technique, skills, temperament, and fitness played a big role in the game. However, one should be mentally strong enough to survive the battle. Decision-making skill is a crucial aspect of the game. The skipper takes numerous decisions based on the context of the game. It’s not only the captain but all …
It’s a nightmare to face great bowlers like Derek Underwood, Barry Knight, Graham McKenzie, Wes Hall, Frank Worrell, Garry Sobers, and Lance Gibbs back in the day. How difficult it would be to face them with just one eye. Now, what if while facing the delivery with one eye, someone saw two red cherries coming …
Nothing better than leisure with a pint or two. Back in the day, Aussie cricketers used to participate in the Beer drinking competition in the flight. The record was set by Doug Walters and Rodney Marsh when they drank 44 cans of beer each in the 1973 trip back home from the Caribbean. Several attempts …
Trivia: Dilip Doshi played for Warwickshire during the early 80s. He used to come to the dressing room impeccably dressed in suit and tie. A perfect gentleman. During a rain-interrupted match against Somerset. Ian Botham decided to pull a prank on him. He took the bucket of whitener and entered at Warwickshire dressing room. Doshi was …
Trivia: The elegant Hooper was always a treat to watch. His style of batting attracted millions of cricket lovers across the globe. Growing up in Guyana was always special where many of his neighbors were of Indian descent. He enjoyed Indian dishes all along and celebrated many Indian festivities like Diwali etc. Hooper made his …
Prior to the 1992 cricket world cup, England visited New Zealand. They whitewashed New Zealand in three matches ODI series. Mark Greatbatch’s performance was under par. He scored 4, 10, 5 and dropped from the first two matches of the World cup. However, Martin Crowe had other plans. He knew Greatbatch from the school days. …
Trivia: Chris Martin is the fifth-highest Test wicket-taker (Behind Hadlee, Vettori, Southee, Boult) in New Zealand’s history. He was not an express bowler but known for his nagging line and lengths. However, more often than not his batting skills came under scrutiny. He scored second highest number of ducks (36) in Test cricket, just behind …
Trivia: Andrew Freddie Flintoff used to hang around a lot with Steve Harmison. They were the best buddies and played under Michael Vaughan’s captaincy for many years. Vaughany had outstanding people management skills. He knew the duo wanted to spend time together and made sure that they always got an adjacent room during the tours. …
Trivia: Dining at Lord’s is always special. It has one of the finest kitchens among all the cricket grounds of the world. Players love the exquisite dishes at Lord’s. During matchday, the kitchen team size can reach up to 65 including 4 chefs. Choice of food varies from team to team like England’s players are meat …
Trivia: Jhulan Goswami is the highest wicket-taker in Women’s ODI. She had not much interest in cricket till 15. Jhulan was the ball- girl during the 97-world cup final game at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. She was highly inspired after watching Belinda Clark, Debbie Hockey Cathryn Fitzpatrick, and decided to play cricket professionally. Life was not easy …
Early at career, Ian Botham was considered primarily as a batsman who could bowl a bit. He joined the ground staff team at Lord’s where he performed many tasks such as “cleaning the pavilion windows, pushing the roller on match days, selling scorecards, pressing electronic buttons on the scoreboards, and rushing bowling analyses to the …
Tony Mann, the manager at WACA called Justin Langer prior to the 4th Test between Australia and West Indies in 1993. He informed Langer to join the Australian national cricket team at Adelaide as he was all set to make his Test debut in place of injured Damien Martyn who poked his eyes accidentally during …
Trivia: Gilly was keen to change his strong bottom hand grip because he was losing the shape of his shots. He discussed with his batting coach Bob from Perth and as per the suggestion, Gilly put squash ball into the bottom hand of his glove. It helped to loosen the grip. Gilchrist practiced a lot …
Trivia: “Hey! teachers! leave them kids alone! All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall” – Pink Floyd Rahul Dravid is not just another brick but ‘The Wall’ of cricket. He was one of the most complete batsmen the world has ever produced. Due to his batting consistency, Dravid is also called ‘The …
Trivia: It was a rainy winter morning and Brett Lee had an appointment at Flare for the measurement of his Australian team blazer for the Under-19 tour to India. Lee reached the store at 8.30 AM, met with Richard Bowman, and completed the formalities. After three weeks, Binga received a call from Mr. Bowman and …
The MCC cricket team traveled to India under the captaincy of Arthur Gilligan and played 26 first-class matches between October 1926 and March 1927. One of the matches was played at Bombay Gymkhana between MCC and Hindus. C.K.Nayudu played a gem of an innings against Mercer, Geary, Tate, and Astill. He spent 116 minutes on …
Trivia: During a Test match at Durban, Haydos scored a century and Australia was in a commanding position. However, a massive thunderstorm hit around 4 PM. Everyone was busy packing while Haydos rushed to the hotel. He had a full quiver of boards and went straight for surfing for two and a half hours. While …
Friday used to be a Q&A session day for young Sanga. His dad used to give a novel on Monday and asked questions from the book on Friday. That’s how the love for reading slowly developed for Kumar Sangakkara. Sanga’s father told him that if he wanted to become a good batsman then read the …
Trivia: Wriddhiman Saha aka Papali started his cricketing journey at Shaktigarh Pathagar club in Siliguri under the guidance of his father Prasanta Saha who was a renowned goalkeeper during the 70s. Wriddhiman was the first cricketer to represent India from Siliguri. As a child, he was not a prodigy, but his dedication was mind-boggling. He …
Whistle in Tune: During the 2011 World cup, Sehwag decided to hit boundary on the first ball he faced. Sachin advised him that it was not necessary to hit a boundary on the first ball but once Sehwag made his mind, it was impossible to convince him. India was playing against South Africa at Nagpur. …
The fourth Test match between India and West Indies was scheduled to play at St John’s Antigua in 2002. West Indies won the toss and decided to field first. Anil Kumble came to crease when India was 5 down for 235. Mervyn Dillon was operating from one end. He opted the age-old technique against the …
Trivia: In 1997, South Africa was playing the first Test match against Pakistan at Rawalpindi. The wicket was flat and the bowlers had a tough day on the field. Suddenly, a scream from the dressing room raised many eyebrows. It was informed to nearby officials that Jack Kallis was suffering from excruciating stomach pain. The …
Trivia: Tillakaratne Dilshan used to play tennis ball cricket in the streets of Sri Lanka where there was not much room to play at the either sides of the wickets. The situation forced him to play the ramp shot behind the wickets. During the 2009 IPL, some of the players were playing paddle sweep and …
Vijay Merchant’s first-class batting average of 71.64 is second in the History of the game and only behind Sir Don Bradman. He played 150 first-class matches and scored 13470 runs including 45 centuries. He lost the golden days of international cricket due to World War II. Merchant played 10 Test matches and scored 859 runs …
Keith Boyce was born at St Peter in Barbados. He studied at Coleridge and Parry School and started as a leg spinner. He played with Everton Weekes, Seymour Nurse, and Charlie Griffith at a young age. Boyce was a fantastic athlete. He switched to medium fast bowling and was known for his hard-hitting as well. …
Trivia: Have you ever wondered; what players discussed during the drinks break? The 12th Man plays a pivotal role by passing the essential messages from the dressing room to the players in the middle. Sometimes the messages from coach or captain are so crucial that it changes the entire course of the game. There was …
VVS Laxman was suffering from back spasms during the first Test at Mohali against Australia in 2010. He batted at number 10 in the first innings to fulfill the formalities. He was in sheer discomfort and could barely walk. India needed 216 runs to win the Test match. He thought it was not required to …
In 1962, Eighteen years old Barry Rees was appointed by iconic David Rowe and Barry Jarman in their Adelaide sports store to sweep floors and run messages. Barry had a learning disability but his love for cricket was unquestionable. Jarman soon realized Barry’s passion for cricket and started inviting him to watch the South Australian …
Back in days, it was not easy to keep the lethal quicks. The padding was not that great in keeping gloves and it was dreadful to keep the 90+ miles/hour bowlers. Keepers always tried to find out a way to protect the palm. Some even put plasticine between two pairs of chamois inners to absorb the …
Trivia: It was reported under the ‘Sporting Notes and News’ section of a British newspaper ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ on 15 January 1894 that 286 runs scored off one ball. The match was played between Western Australia and Victoria ‘scratch XI from the neighborhood’ at Bunbury. Victorians took the stance and the first ball was hit …
Chris Broad was a former English opening batsman. He played 25 Test and 34 ODI matches and scored 1661 and 1361 runs respectively. Broad will always be remembered for his three consecutive Test centuries in the 1986/87 Ashes series. His fiery temper at the crease came under scrutiny many times. His son Stuart also represents …
Trivia: Bishan Singh Bedi was a slow left-arm orthodox spinner from India. He played between 1966 and 1979 and took 266 Test wickets. Bedi was part of Indian spin quartet. The other bowlers were Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners) and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner). He also took 1560 First-class wickets, most by …
Trivia: Virender Sehwag had a groin injury before the T20 world cup final in 2007. Indian team management wanted him to play the match because his presence in the team would give a strong message to the opposition. However, on the match day, he was declared unfit and Yusuf Pathan replaced him. Yusuf never played …
In the movie Gladiator, Maximus gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum won the hearts of all the spectators. Martin Crowe often played the same role and won the hearts of millions by his artistic batting. Russell Crowe played the role of Gladiator in the movie and he is the parental cousin of Martin Crowe. They both …
Dean Jones made his debut against West Indies in 1984 but failed to manage the lethal four fearsome quicks and dropped from the squad after two Test matches. During 1985, he got a lucrative offer to join the rebel tour of South Africa. It was extremely tough to reject the offer because he could easily …
Derek Pringle played 30 Test and 44 ODI matches for England between 1982 and 1992 and took 70 and 44 wickets respectively. He represented Essex County in First-class level. Derek’s father Donald Pringle played 2 matches in the 1975 World Cup for East Africa. Embed from Getty Images The Childhood Derek Pringle was born in …
‘Get up Ashwin otherwise you will be late for the practice’. Ashwin’s father Mr. Ravichandran used to wake him up at 5.30 in the morning for training. Ashwin used to hate it. Ashwin mentioned about it in an interview with Spicy Pitch that his dad used to collect all the trophies and paper cuttings since …
West Indies lethal fast bowling attack was unparalleled during 80s.They were the nightmares for the batsmen. At the same time, keeping them also very challenging due to sheer pace. A big credit went to Jeff Dujon who kept them magnificently years after years. When asked at Lord’s Taverners, who was the fastest among them, Dujon …
Shane Warne is considered as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Warne played international cricket for Australia from 1992 to 2007 and took more than 1000 international wickets. Only Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan took more international wickets than him. He was also a useful lower order batsman. Warne was the …
Lala Amarnath played 24 Test Matches for India and scored 878 runs and took 45 wickets. He played for India between 1933 and 1952. He lost prime cricketing years due to World War II. Lala was the only cricketer to dismiss Donald Bradman hit wicket. After retirement, he worked as a chairman of the senior …
Trivia: Ranjitsinhji was also known as Ranji, played 15 Test matches for England between 1896 and 1902. He scored 989 runs with an average of 44.95 in Test cricket. He also represented Cambridge University, and played county cricket for Sussex. Ranji scored 24692 runs, averaging 56.37 in First-Class cricket, which included 72 centuries and 109 …
Neil Fairbrother played as a middle-order batsman for England between 1987 and 1999. He played First-class cricket for Lancashire from 1982 to 2002. He was named after Australian cricketer Neil Harvey by his mother. Colin Bateman mentioned, Fairbrother was an inventive and intelligent left-hander cricketer. Embed from Getty Images The Dream Debut: One fine Saturday …
Trivia: Saeed Anwar is one of the best opening batsmen Pakistan has ever produced. He played 55 Test and 247 ODI matches between 1990 and 2003. Saeed scored 4052(Test) and 8824(ODI) runs. His opening stand with Aamer Sohail paved the way for Pakistan many times. Embed from Getty Images Prank with Inzamam & Mushtaq: Saeed …
Trivia: Romesh Kaluwitharana was born on 24 November 1969 in Colombo. He played 49 Test and 189 ODI matches for Sri Lanka between 1990 and 2004. Kaluwitharana was an integral part of the world cup winning team in 1996. His aggressive opening batsmanship along with Sanath Jayasuriya during the first 15 overs, revolutionized the ODI …
Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd was born on 31 August 1944 in Georgetown, British Guiana. West Indies cricket reached staggering heights under his leadership. He is considered one of the finest captains from the Caribbean islands. Lloyd was the first West Indian cricketer to play 100 Test matches. He went on and played 110 Test and …
Trivia: Nathan Astle was one of the most prolific run scorers in the History of kiwi cricket. He was born on 15 September 1971 at Christchurch. Astle played as an opener in ODI and batted in middle order in Test cricket. He played international cricket between 1995 and 2007 and scored 4,702 Test and 7,090 …
Andrew James Hall was born on 31st July 1975 in Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, South Africa. He played 21 Tests and 88 ODI matches for South Africa between 1999 and 2007. Andrew scored 760 Test runs with an average of 26.20 and 905 ODI runs with an average of 21.04. He also took 45 Test and …
Trivia: Cameron Cuffy is a former West Indian medium fast bowler from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He played 15 Test and 41 ODI matches for West Indies and took 43 and 41 wickets respectively between 1994 and 2002. He belongs to the elite height club with Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose because of his …