The Hare and the Tortoise

[fredfertang]

The Hare and the Tortoise

In this feature David Taylor takes a look at two Pakistani batsmen whose careers were given a helping hand by Kerry Packer.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I remember listening to the Pakistan Tour on the radio. The tedium was only rarely punctuated - most notable when Henry Blofeld insisted that one of the batsman was Don Mosey. One point about the missing England Packer players. There's no mention of Tony Greig who but for Packer would still have been captain. I believe Greig insisted on Mike Brearley being selected as vice captain for the India Tour in 1976/77 because he knew he wouldn't be able to continue as captain having been so prominent in the World Series set up. There was no other logical reason why Brearley would have been selected as he was an average batsman and not particularly impressive against spin. Without World Series I think Fletcher would have been vice captain in India and they would never have made the scandalous decision to omit David Steele.

 

[fredfertang]

I can remember feeling, with many others, that Steele's omission in 76/77 was a complete betrayal. I recall his debut very clearly when he came in after that horrible collapse and off just about his first delivery he tried to hook (I think it was off Thommo) and got a top edge that could easily have been the end. He settled down after that though, and what a hero he became. I really thought that those two 40s in the last Test against WIndies in '76 were going to be enough to get him on the India trip and then another crack at the Aussies in '77, but I suspect now his fate had been decided long before.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

He was still selected in a fairly experimental ODI squad for the 3 matches against the West Indies at the end of the1976 summer. Whatever the reasoning he should have been straight back in the side for the First Test against Australia in 1977. Graham Barlow had done absolutely nothing on the winter tour to justify being selected. They even kept wheeling out Graham Roope who (God rest his soul) was not a Test batsman and by the winter had even chosen ............. drum roll........... Clive Radley (who to be fair did quite well).