SJS
Hall of Fame Member
I have always wondered about this.
Oh yes I can guess what was happening in my house. My father must be fretting outside in the courtyard (all of us were born at home in the hands of midwives brought to deliver the child safely) either pacing up and down or sitting in the lotus 'asana' praying for a son he so badly wanted after his four daughters with an ear ****ed to any news emanating from the 'labour' room.
My eldest sisters, all of ten and eight trying to look like the ladies about the house and the other two at five and two adding to the confusion amongst the ladies of the neighbourhood who were surely thronging the place for the 'news' and to help in the household chores.
But thats not what I meant. I was wanting to know about what was happening in the cricket world at 10.40 am on a Sunday morning in February 1950 - the 5th to be precise. Today, cricketarchivedotcom gave told me.
Being a Sunday, there was next to no important cricket taking place that day. With the time difference, there could have been some cricket possible at least in NewZealand and Australia at that precise time but it was a Sunday
And then we decided to look closer home, moving from the bylanes of Delhi to the maidaans of Mumbai, then known by its far better name of Bombay.
On that tour by the Commonwealth side, India played four games against the tourists. Uday was included in the first one at the Firoze Shah Kotla and was sent into bat at number ten ! In a side in which he was taken as a batsman, in which his brother was the captain but was absent due to being unwell and in an innings where only ten batsmen could play (the absent Vijay being the 11th).
Uday scored a single at virtual number 11 and was forgotton for the rest of the tour. There was no second innings for him.Surely there is a mystery here that needs investigating.
He got to play three more games against the tourists, two for the Cricket Club of India, Bombay and one for Bombay in the game mentioned. He got to play just one innings in each. His scores were 80, 107 and 40. They were his last three innings in cricket. He was 34.
Oh yes I can guess what was happening in my house. My father must be fretting outside in the courtyard (all of us were born at home in the hands of midwives brought to deliver the child safely) either pacing up and down or sitting in the lotus 'asana' praying for a son he so badly wanted after his four daughters with an ear ****ed to any news emanating from the 'labour' room.
My eldest sisters, all of ten and eight trying to look like the ladies about the house and the other two at five and two adding to the confusion amongst the ladies of the neighbourhood who were surely thronging the place for the 'news' and to help in the household chores.
But thats not what I meant. I was wanting to know about what was happening in the cricket world at 10.40 am on a Sunday morning in February 1950 - the 5th to be precise. Today, cricketarchivedotcom gave told me.
Being a Sunday, there was next to no important cricket taking place that day. With the time difference, there could have been some cricket possible at least in NewZealand and Australia at that precise time but it was a Sunday
1. At Brisbane, in the last Sheffield Shield match of the season, Queensland (led by Don Tallon) were playing Victoria who had Jack Iverson in the side and Keith Stackpole Sr. (father of the player with the same name who played 43 tests for Australia) and it was the rest day for the match that started on Friday. By close of play on Saturday, Victoria had taken a 44 run first innings lead and squandered some of the advantage on Monday being bowled out for 88 to lose an exciting match by 2 wickets. No excitement on that Sunday though.
2. In another continent, the touring Australians (led by Arthur Morris) were resting after the first day of their match against North Eatsern Transvaal at Pretoria. The visitors had hammered the locals for 338 in just 57 overs (8 ball over ??) and Transvall were three down for a mere 7 runs by close ! Lindwall and Jhnston claiming a wicket each. But no play as I was seeing light and none later that day too.
3. Further West, in the American continent, Trinidad and Jamaica were having trouble to play at all. Match started on Thursday but with no play on Friday and Saturday, they were sleeping to have a relaxed off day on Sunday. Gantaume (the man with the famous 112 run test average and a hundred in every test innings he played
, was in the Trinidad team along with Denis Atkinson, Gerry Gomez and Jeff Stollmeyer. Quite a batting line up. Add to that Ramadhin's guile with the ball and they were a handful - were Trinidad.
Ramadhin's bowling twin, Alf Valentine is the only name that conjures up pictures of great cricket in that Jamaica side and it showed as they followed on in the drawn game. But once again no cricket for the young SJS to 'feel' as he stepped onto the 'turf'.
2. In another continent, the touring Australians (led by Arthur Morris) were resting after the first day of their match against North Eatsern Transvaal at Pretoria. The visitors had hammered the locals for 338 in just 57 overs (8 ball over ??) and Transvall were three down for a mere 7 runs by close ! Lindwall and Jhnston claiming a wicket each. But no play as I was seeing light and none later that day too.
3. Further West, in the American continent, Trinidad and Jamaica were having trouble to play at all. Match started on Thursday but with no play on Friday and Saturday, they were sleeping to have a relaxed off day on Sunday. Gantaume (the man with the famous 112 run test average and a hundred in every test innings he played
, was in the Trinidad team along with Denis Atkinson, Gerry Gomez and Jeff Stollmeyer. Quite a batting line up. Add to that Ramadhin's guile with the ball and they were a handful - were Trinidad.Ramadhin's bowling twin, Alf Valentine is the only name that conjures up pictures of great cricket in that Jamaica side and it showed as they followed on in the drawn game. But once again no cricket for the young SJS to 'feel' as he stepped onto the 'turf'.
And then we decided to look closer home, moving from the bylanes of Delhi to the maidaans of Mumbai, then known by its far better name of Bombay.
4. At the historic Brabourne Stadium, Bombay, the Ranji Champions, were hosting a Commonwealth side led by Northant's Jock Livingston. The sides star attraction was a 25 year old West Indies star batsman, Frank Worrell. He was the star of the touring side that year scoring 1447 runs at 77 each with 5 hundreds and another seven scores above fifty in just 13 matches including a majestic 223 against INDIA. The Indian side was a full India attack including Phadkar, Gekwad, Hazare, Mankad, Ghulam Ahmed and Umrigar.
But we digress.
Coming back to that game at Brabourne started on Saturday and by close of play on day 1, Commenwealth were 403 for 9 (Worrell 66, Place 90, Lambert 59 - Subhash Gupte 5 for 144). Worrell got 66 in the second innings too.
On that Sunday, the 5th Feb 1950, I would guess that the match started at around 10 am which meant that by 10.40 Commonwealth (who declared at the overnight score) had already got rid of the top three Bombay batsmen for 8 runs and Umrigar in the company of Uday Merchant (younger brother of the illustrious Vijay) were starting to build on what was to be a massive 225 run partnership. They both got hundreds.
1400 kilometers away, in New Delhi, I must have been smiling
PS : I discovered another interesting thing while undergoing this fabulous 'journey'. Uday Merchant, a relative unknown in Indian cricket today, had an excellent first class record. In 42 matches he scored 2789 runs at 55.8, surely he would have been a contender for an India slot.But we digress.
Coming back to that game at Brabourne started on Saturday and by close of play on day 1, Commenwealth were 403 for 9 (Worrell 66, Place 90, Lambert 59 - Subhash Gupte 5 for 144). Worrell got 66 in the second innings too.
On that Sunday, the 5th Feb 1950, I would guess that the match started at around 10 am which meant that by 10.40 Commonwealth (who declared at the overnight score) had already got rid of the top three Bombay batsmen for 8 runs and Umrigar in the company of Uday Merchant (younger brother of the illustrious Vijay) were starting to build on what was to be a massive 225 run partnership. They both got hundreds.
1400 kilometers away, in New Delhi, I must have been smiling
On that tour by the Commonwealth side, India played four games against the tourists. Uday was included in the first one at the Firoze Shah Kotla and was sent into bat at number ten ! In a side in which he was taken as a batsman, in which his brother was the captain but was absent due to being unwell and in an innings where only ten batsmen could play (the absent Vijay being the 11th).
Uday scored a single at virtual number 11 and was forgotton for the rest of the tour. There was no second innings for him.Surely there is a mystery here that needs investigating.
He got to play three more games against the tourists, two for the Cricket Club of India, Bombay and one for Bombay in the game mentioned. He got to play just one innings in each. His scores were 80, 107 and 40. They were his last three innings in cricket. He was 34.
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