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Pratyush's favourites for weird reasons

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
A similar thread was started and it got me thinking. I have had a lot of players whom I have liked for very strange reasons. So many that I thought making a thread on them, putting them down right from the time I started watching cricket would be interesting. I hope others find this just as interesting.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
This has already been posted in the earlier thread

#1 Clive Rice

The first game I watched was the one where South Africa were reinstated into international cricket in 1991. I luckily went to see that game in the Eden Gardens that day.

There werent many player names I knew. So I go into this match and try to figure out who the players are. Naturally we start thinking from the captains. Rice an easy name to remember sticks on. I know nothing of the guy but just coz his name is Rice and I can remember it, he becomes a favourite player for,yes, a weird reason.

More to come.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
#2 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev came to our school when I was in class 2. We had a small school cricket ground where hitting sixes was definitely easier than in an international stadium.

There was a match arranged quickly 'Kapil Dev vs Don Bosco Calcutta'

Kapil batted first against the school team. I saw more sixes that day than ever after. Balls vanished from the school at the rate of 4-5 an over and I wonder how much Kapil made by the end. Some school bowler finally did take his wicket.

And when Kapil bowled, he took the wickets of the school lads who were aged 16-18 pretty damn quickly.

For a young kid who had only just started watching cricket, watching such an awesome player displaying his skills so extravagently was a huge thrill. My friend went to the principal's office and got his autograph. I have since then managed to meet and get autographs of more than a 100 players. Still havent managed to meet Kapil again closely, the first cricketer I ever saw at close proximity.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Cricket players who have come to my school :-

Kapil Dev
S.Ganguly
J.Srinath
L.R.Shukla
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
#3 Mark Greatbatch


http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/PLAYERS/NZ/G/GREATBATCH_MJ_05001882/

Mark Greatbatch has a pretty ordinary one day record with an average of 28 and just two centuries to his name. But he really turned the heat on in World Cup 1992, the first real tournament I watched properly on t.v.

With scores of 68 vs South Africa, 63 vs WI, he had started the WC in style.

When the match vs India came along, we knew two things, Dipak Patel was this Indian connection guy who could bowl great off spinners and Mark Greatbatch was a very dangerous batsmen. The captain was of course Martin Crowe but not much was known about him and his claim to fame was just that, being the kiwi captain. He could bat of course.

So coming back to Greatbatch, I remember the match starting very early and Tendulkar reaching his highest one day score uptill then. But then Greatbatch came along and played the most agressive inning I had seen up till then. Figures prove this as Tendulkar made his 84 in 107 balls while Greatbatch managed his 73 in 77 balls.

http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_dat.../WC92/LEAGUE/IND_NZ_WC92_ODI27_12MAR1992.html

What is more notable is the sixes column if you look carefully in the score card. Four sixes! I dont remember much of it except for the fact that the Kiwis were very devastating and started off in devastating fashion.

The Kiwis won ofcourse and Greatbatch became a notable player. He didnt do any thing as memorable before and after that for me. But for that brief period which was the WC 1992, he shone and was a hero. Not for a totally weird reason as well as it was related to his cricketing achievment. But freakish almost like Geoff Allott was in 1999.

I hope people are liking these personal cricketing tales which are insignificant on a larger perspective.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Pratyush said:
L.R.Shukla
I remember him from a few years back. In Singapore against the West Indies. Wasn't too bad - 1 for 20odd IIRC.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla I believe.

What ever became of him?
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Mr Mxyzptlk said:
Laxmi Ratan Shukla I believe.

What ever became of him?
Yes thats his full name.

He was tried by India and was discarded after having been proved incompetent at the international level probably because of being given the international cap too early.

The latest is good news for this chap. He played a crucial inning for Bengal staying not out to avoid relegation for the team in the last league encounter. Ganguly also played in the match. It was the same match in which Utpal Chatterjee played to come out of retirement in an attempt of saving Bengal the emabressment of relegation. Chatterjee was on 499 FC wickets and he made it clear he made a come back only for a match not for hs 500 but for the team's cause on having been called.

Ganguly was mighty happy with Shukla's efforts in the match and even reportedly gave his match fees to him. No better way to come into the captain's good books!
 

Zinzan

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Pratyush said:
#3 Mark Greatbatch


http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/PLAYERS/NZ/G/GREATBATCH_MJ_05001882/

Mark Greatbatch has a pretty ordinary one day record with an average of 28 and just two centuries to his name. But he really turned the heat on in World Cup 1992, the first real tournament I watched properly on t.v.

With scores of 68 vs South Africa, 63 vs WI, he had started the WC in style.

When the match vs India came along, we knew two things, Dipak Patel was this Indian connection guy who could bowl great off spinners and Mark Greatbatch was a very dangerous batsmen. The captain was of course Martin Crowe but not much was known about him and his claim to fame was just that, being the kiwi captain. He could bat of course.

So coming back to Greatbatch, I remember the match starting very early and Tendulkar reaching his highest one day score uptill then. But then Greatbatch came along and played the most agressive inning I had seen up till then. Figures prove this as Tendulkar made his 84 in 107 balls while Greatbatch managed his 73 in 77 balls.

http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_dat.../WC92/LEAGUE/IND_NZ_WC92_ODI27_12MAR1992.html

What is more notable is the sixes column if you look carefully in the score card. Four sixes! I dont remember much of it except for the fact that the Kiwis were very devastating and started off in devastating fashion.

The Kiwis won ofcourse and Greatbatch became a notable player. He didnt do any thing as memorable before and after that for me. But for that brief period which was the WC 1992, he shone and was a hero. Not for a totally weird reason as well as it was related to his cricketing achievment. But freakish almost like Geoff Allott was in 1999.

I hope people are liking these personal cricketing tales which are insignificant on a larger perspective.
Yes. Greatbatch was very lucky to get that game against S.Africa. He was a middle order batsmen up to that point who'd really been struggling for form. John Wright and Rod Latham were the openers at the beginning of that world-cup.
John Wright picked up an injury, so Crowe put Greatbatch up to open again S.A with Latham with the instructions to..."back yourselve and hit yourself back into form".
Although Greatbatch had a pretty average time of it after this world-cup, I think he had a big impact at the time of how batsmen should look to play in the first 15 overs at that time.

My favourite Greatbatch moment in that W.C was when he ran down the wicket to the late Malcolm Marshall and hit him over cover for 6. The look of astonishment on Marshall's face was priceless.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
#4 Adrian Kuiper

The reinstation match of South Africa (http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1991-92/RSA_IN_IND/RSA_IND_ODI1_10NOV1991.html) in Calcutta in 1991 is memorable for more reaons than one for me.

I had gone to watch the match with a few cousins. The South African inning was slow as is indicated by the score card. The crowd must be desperate to see some good scores because when a South African batsman hit a six, there was a standing ovation in the ground! Now standing for a century of an opposing team is okay but for a six!? One of the bully cousins of mine stood up and insisted we stand too. Other cousins and I didnt obviously stand up :D.

For years I wondered who that batsman was. When I finally looked at the score card around two years ago, I noticed there was only one six in the South African inning. It was Adrian Kuiper http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/RSA/K/KUIPER_AP_03002014/

Now I despised this player at the moment he hit the six but have had a special place for this player since I found out it was he who hit the six. So he is a weird for a weird reason indeed. Even I cant fathom exactly why.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
#5 Pravin Amre

There is some thing about a weird aspect of the craft of a cricketer which makes a new fan of cricket adore that player. Old timers may well have followed the Thommo or Whispering Death bowlin actions. Or maybe the gum chewing, arrogant brilliance of Viv Richards.

A lot of the kids of the 90's loved followed Warne's bowling action which was to do with the fact that he bowled them brilliantly too! Anil Kumble's weird action caught on with many an Indian kid who mimiced it for fun in the early 90's. I am sure the action of Paul Adams would hae mde some people love him for it although it may have reulted in a few broken necks as well among those brave enough to attempt it or braver still, to attempt hi victory celebrations.

I caught on the weird batting stance of Pravin Amre. Now he i a nondescript cricketer from the early 90's who didnt achieve much success internationally for India, went on to later play some domestic cricket in South Africa as well.

What was weird about him? While batting, he would squeeze his lips inside hi mouth which would give the impression of a very intense fat face on an already plump face. And he would hit his bat with force repeatedly on the pitch. Intense stance that.

I love it or its intensity and tried the stance while batting on the cement verandah where we used to play lot of cricket as kids. A lot of bats rather than windows were broken coz of the force with which the bat would smack on the cement.

For helping me break more bats than records or windows, Pravin Amre is one of the many cricketers I have loved for weird reasons.
 

Richard Rash

U19 Cricketer
The Kiwis won ofcourse and Greatbatch became a notable player. He didnt do any thing as memorable before and after that for me. But for that brief period which was the WC 1992, he shone and was a hero. Not for a totally weird reason as well as it was related to his cricketing achievment. But freakish almost like Geoff Allott was in 1999.
http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1980S/1989-90/NZ_IN_AUS/NZ_AUS_T_24-28NOV1989.html

Probably his most memorable moment. Saving a test match in Perth for NZ. Incedentily Chris Cairns's debut
 

Sudeep

International Captain
Pratyush said:
Cricket players who'd come to my school :-

Kapil Dev
S.Ganguly
J.Srinath
L.R.Shukla
Cricket players who'd come to my school:
- Kiran More
- Atul Bedade
- Nayan Mongia
 

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