Pavilion Tales
Cricket Stories
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Australian cricket team is known for their toughness. They are fierce competitors and play the game hard. It is also debated many times who was the toughest among them. Brett Lee had mentioned in BwC that by far the toughest cricketer in the world was Simon Katich. Katich’s ability to cope with pain was amazing. …
The stage was set at Oval, on Aug 14, 1948. The ground was packed, after all it was the last Test match of Sir Donald George Bradman. Bradman got a huge reception when he reached the middle in front of a crowd of 20,000 spectators. English players took off the caps and gave him three …
Anderson Cummins made his ODI debut for West Indies in 1991. He was a medium-pace bowler and played 63 ODIs for the West Indies from 1991 to 1995. During Benson & Hedges World Series in 1991, he was declared player of the match for his match-winning 5/31 spell against India at Brisbane. He also played …
Kane Williamson is one of the most complete batsmen of the modern era. He showed great potential since the early days. Ken scored 40 centuries before he left school. Williamson made his first-class debut at the age of 17 for Northern Districts. He also led the New Zealand team at the under-19 World Cup in …
Dominic Cork stormed into the international cricket arena after his dream debut in Test cricket against West Indies. It was said that the search for a proper all-rounder finally came to an end, as England found a new star. Cork became the crisis man for England. His out-swingers and in-duckers were lethal. His contributions in …
James Anderson is the all-time leading wicket-taker among pace bowlers in the world. Arguably the best right arm swing bowler the world has ever produced. He also took most five-wicket hauls for England in Test cricket. Learning the Art of Swing: Jimmy Anderson started as a quick bowler. He tried to bowl as quick as …
Kent cricket ground is always special. They had a supporter who always appreciated the glowing drives, wristy flicks or an outstanding catch from the deep. Never missed a single match at St Lawrence Ground since the inception in 1847 till 2005. It was a 27-metre-high lime tree (90 ft) which was located within the boundary …
England played their first ODI match in 1971 and they won the first ODI world cup in 2019. The 48 years of ODI journey had seen the agony, disappointment, sacrifice, dedication, hard work and fight back. However, the only thing that remains constant is believe. It’s the belief which turned the tables finally. England lifted …
The stage was all set for the final of the NatWest series at Lord’s on July 13, 2002. It was a big occasion for both England and India. The atmosphere was electrifying. The Indian skipper was hoping to turn the table as they lost the previous 3 to 4 finals and Team India was determined …
“It was Gavaskar, The real master, Just like a wall, We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all, Not at all, You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all.” – Lord Relator Birth Mishap: Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was born on July 10, 1949. His uncle Narayan Masurekar came to visit the baby at the hospital …
India ‘A’ was touring to Kenya to play the triangular tournament in 2004 under the captaincy of Sairaj Bahutule. Pakistan and Kenya were the other two teams in the tournament. India was highly dependent on two young players – The dynamic opener from Delhi, Gautam Gambhir and the flamboyant wicket-keeper batsman from Ranchi, MS Dhoni. …
In 1989, Indian National Team traveled to Pakistan under Kris Srikkanth captaincy. Surprisingly, sixteen years old boy ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ also got picked. The name was already popular in India’s first-class circuit. However, no one expected him to be a part of the Indian team at the age of 16. The Discovery of Waqar Younis: Imran wanted …
The exquisite beaches, the green mountains and the roadside crickets are the hallmarks of the beautiful Sri Lankan island. Cricket is always part of the culture. However, it became the integral part of life, after they won the world cup in 1996. The country takes a pause during a cricket match. The victorious carnival is …
Kapil was utterly disappointed after visiting the pitch at Lord’s on the eve of the 83 world cup final. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was a green-top seaming wicket and the moisture in the pitch would make it a bowler paradise for sure. Kapil was praying to win the toss and wished to field …
There were quite a few occasions where batsmen hit six sixes in an over. Well, max 36 runs can be scored on 6 legitimate deliveries in an over. However, if we add the extras (Fun Trivia: Extras are also called ‘Sundries’ in Australia) then the limit can be pushed further. This is a story of …
The 1983 world cup changed the cricketing landscape of India. The world cup win inspired millions of Indians and turned the country into the biggest cricket loving nation on the planet. It all started with one hell of an innings by Kapil Dev Nikhanj. Widely regarded as the best ODI innings ever.This is the story …
Steve Waugh is considered as one of the most successful Test captains in the history of cricket. Born in New South Wales on 2nd June 1965. He played 168 Test matches and 325 One Day Internationals for Australia between 1985 and 2004. He was named Australian of the Year in 2004 and included into the ICC …
The squelch becomes more prominent. The shout to extract every bit of energy before the delivery and it’s a cracking cover drive under the dusky sky. Bisecting the flying crisscross, rolling over the wet sand and finally kissing the breaking waves. The silhouette of a raised bat signifies the victory rituals. Everyday’s story of picture …
A shy guy from Antigua arrived in England to establish himself as a professional cricketer in 1973. Back in Antigua he used to work at D’Arcy’s Bar and Restaurant in St. John’s. He also joined St. John’s Cricket Club. The sheer talent of his batting mesmerized everyone including the restaurant owner who gave him gloves, …
Mom called him Willie and Gilbert by father. Downend born, one of the greatest the game has ever produced. W. G., The Doctor, The Champion – the man with a beard had many nicknames. A professional cricketer, qualified medical practitioner, champion hurdler, footballer, golfer and the list goes on. The career: Grace was an opening …