Jimmy Anderson

[Burgey]

Because I don't believe my countrymen and women deserve to be lumped in with the players and supporters of lesser nations.

 

[wpdavid]

If you watch the footage of Lillee opening the bowling in Brisbane after being bounced out by Greig, you can tell he's genuinely pissed off. I saw an interview with Deniss Amiss where he said they'd seen Lillee bowling off a short run since he'd come back, and when he was pacing out the long run, Luckhurst turned to Amiss and asked wtf was going on, to which Amiss said he didn't know, but you take the first one. And then all hell pretty much broke loose

For all my talk of L&T 'bouncing the crap' out of the English attack, I wonder whether how much of that actually happened. I think that guys who were hurt were hit by balls that were just short of a length, which was a very different thing. Perhaps Tommo was more partial to bouncing guys than Lillee, but there's a certain amount of guesswork there. My impression now is that our batters were simply unused to genuine pace, especially on quick wickets that were tailor made for L&T to take advantage of. And obviously it was a huge shock. All we knew of Tommo was that he'd gone for plenty in his one test against Pakistan a while back. But we didn't know that he was carrying an injury in that test and we certainly had no idea of how he'd bowled in your domestic games. And we wrongly thought that Lillee might be finished after his back injury. I suppose the fact that he'd bowled off a shorter run-up when he first came back from that injury didn't mean that there wasn't any intention to ramp it up once he built up his body strength again. It's just a shame the series didn't take place 12 months earlier when we'd have faced an attack of Walker, Dymock and Colley.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

It’s a shame so little footage of the Windies series the following winter (Australian summer) exists. I get the impression that Lillee and Thomson were even quicker and more lethal on some very green wickets.

 

[wpdavid]

It’s a shame so little footage of the Windies series the following winter (Australian summer) exists. I get the impression that Lillee and Thomson were even quicker and more lethal on some very green wickets.

Agreed. Mind you, there's a lot of great 1970s cricket that hasn't found its way onto Youtube, especially WI home series against us in 1973/74, at home to India in 1976 and at home to Pakistan in 1977. I'd also love to see footage from Lloyd's first tour as captain, in India in 1974/75, with Greenidge and Richards making their first impacts. Imran's test at Sydney in 1976/77 would be great too.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

at home to Pakistan in 1977.

In fact:

Knowing the usual survival, I'm surprised television from Jamaica has survived from 1977 (and I see they still had that terrible-looking scoreboard). A lot of the things you mention may not have been broadcast or even filmed, and survival of such footage is poor.

For Aus. vs. W.I. in 1975/76, the British Pathe site has some footage, mostly from Network 0/10 broadcasts.

 

[Starfighter]

Agreed. Mind you, there's a lot of great 1970s cricket that hasn't found its way onto Youtube, especially WI home series against us in 1973/74, at home to India in 1976 and at home to Pakistan in 1977. I'd also love to see footage from Lloyd's first tour as captain, in India in 1974/75, with Greenidge and Richards making their first impacts. Imran's test at Sydney in 1976/77 would be great too.

There was a YouTube channel with a complete set of newsreels from the 74/75 India WI series and the England series around the same time, as well as Australia vs India 77/78 and a lot of fifties and sixties film footage from India test matches. Of course it was recently taken down.

 

[Burgey]

For all my talk of L&T 'bouncing the crap' out of the English attack, I wonder whether how much of that actually happened. I think that guys who were hurt were hit by balls that were just short of a length, which was a very different thing. Perhaps Tommo was more partial to bouncing guys than Lillee, but there's a certain amount of guesswork there. My impression now is that our batters were simply unused to genuine pace, especially on quick wickets that were tailor made for L&T to take advantage of. And obviously it was a huge shock. All we knew of Tommo was that he'd gone for plenty in his one test against Pakistan a while back. But we didn't know that he was carrying an injury in that test and we certainly had no idea of how he'd bowled in your domestic games. And we wrongly thought that Lillee might be finished after his back injury. I suppose the fact that he'd bowled off a shorter run-up when he first came back from that injury didn't mean that there wasn't any intention to ramp it up once he built up his body strength again. It's just a shame the series didn't take place 12 months earlier when we'd have faced an attack of Walker, Dymock and Colley.

I think one of the things which made them different was they just bounced anyone. I know the idea of not bouncing tailenders was largely a myth all along, but I think it was more a shock thing to stop them just plonking on the front foot. Lillee & Thomson just happily bounced the **** out of everyone. Less protective gear then made it worse I suppose. Bunnies couldn't protect themselves from that sort of bowling as well as they can now.

 

[Burgey]

Agreed. Mind you, there's a lot of great 1970s cricket that hasn't found its way onto Youtube, especially WI home series against us in 1973/74, at home to India in 1976 and at home to Pakistan in 1977. I'd also love to see footage from Lloyd's first tour as captain, in India in 1974/75, with Greenidge and Richards making their first impacts. Imran's test at Sydney in 1976/77 would be great too.

I'm sure I'd read somewhere that there had been a burst water pipe or a fire at the ABC archives in Australia which ruined a lot of old film from the 1970s. I've barely seen any footage of the 76/77 series vs Pakistan out here, yet seen plenty of the Centenary Test which was at the end of the same summer. Rob posted some of the 77-78 series vs India on YouTube, but I don't think there's an awful lot of it around aside from the Sydney test.

 

[wpdavid]

I'm sure I'd read somewhere that there had been a burst water pipe or a fire at the ABC archives in Australia which ruined a lot of old film from the 1970s. I've barely seen any footage of the 76/77 series vs Pakistan out here, yet seen plenty of the Centenary Test which was at the end of the same summer. Rob posted some of the 77-78 series vs India on YouTube, but I don't think there's an awful lot of it around aside from the Sydney test.

From memory, there's footage of the 1976/77 test where Australia beat Pakistan, but not the one where Imran bowled Pakistan to victory. Maybe people prefer to upload the matches that went well for their side. Same with the 1974/75 India vs WI series, where someone has uploaded one of the tests that India won, but there's no footage of Greenidge or Richards hitting their first test tons or Roberts bowling them to victory. Same thing for 1972/73 India vs England actually, where there's footage of one of the India wins but not the test that England won. Not that I'm so fussed about that one, but it would be interesting to see ATGs like Viv, Greenidge, Imran and Roberts making their first splashes at that level.

 

[wpdavid]

I think one of the things which made them different was they just bounced anyone. I know the idea of not bouncing tailenders was largely a myth all along, but I think it was more a shock thing to stop them just plonking on the front foot. Lillee & Thomson just happily bounced the **** out of everyone. Less protective gear then made it worse I suppose. Bunnies couldn't protect themselves from that sort of bowling as well as they can now.

Yes, I remember that being the sore point. We didn't object to our batsmen being bounced, but it was either Underwood or Arnold who on one occasion made a 50/50 guess which way to avoid a 90mph+ bouncer and getting lucky. A wrong guess could have been terminal, of course.

Beyond that, our batsmen took an absolute pasting from the press. I thought it was a bit unfair actually; it was obvious that their time in the CC would have done absolutely nothing to prepare them for L&T on those pitches, and 12 months later the WI batsmen were equally at sea.

 

[wpdavid]

In fact:

Knowing the usual survival, I'm surprised television from Jamaica has survived from 1977 (and I see they still had that terrible-looking scoreboard). A lot of the things you mention may not have been broadcast or even filmed, and survival of such footage is poor.

For Aus. vs. W.I. in 1975/76, the British Pathe site has some footage, mostly from Network 0/10 broadcasts.

Is that clip the test where Asif Iqbal hit a really good hundred in a losing cause? I watched it not so long ago actually and loved it. But it would be interesting to see Garner and Croft making hay in the other tests. The Pakistan pre-series team talk would have been interesting. 'The good news is that Holding's out and they've picked a couple of guys that we've never heard of, so make sure you see off Roberts and we should be fine'.

The 1973/74 WI vs England was filmed, but the only bit on Youtube is Greig running out Kallicharran. I think our news programmes at the time included Amiss' magnificent innings, so it's a shame that they aren't around now.

 

[Burgey]

From memory, there's footage of the 1976/77 test where Australia beat Pakistan, but not the one where Imran bowled Pakistan to victory. Maybe people prefer to upload the matches that went well for their side. Same with the 1974/75 India vs WI series, where someone has uploaded one of the tests that India won, but there's no footage of Greenidge or Richards hitting their first test tons or Roberts bowling them to victory. Same thing for 1972/73 India vs England actually, where there's footage of one of the India wins but not the test that England won. Not that I'm so fussed about that one, but it would be interesting to see ATGs like Viv, Greenidge, Imran and Roberts making their first splashes at that level.

Is there footage of Gavaskar calling the west indies fans monkeys? #neverforgiveneverforget

 

[SteveNZ]

Nobody who’s taken 600 has had a threatening short ball, he’s just run of the mill. Speaking of others, Anderson vs Kumble?

Haha I hope that's satire.

Although Warne had a pretty fair short ball, ask Alec Stewart -

 

[the big bambino]

Yes, I remember that being the sore point. We didn't object to our batsmen being bounced, but it was either Underwood or Arnold who on one occasion made a 50/50 guess which way to avoid a 90mph+ bouncer and getting lucky. A wrong guess could have been terminal, of course.

Beyond that, our batsmen took an absolute pasting from the press. I thought it was a bit unfair actually; it was obvious that their time in the CC would have done absolutely nothing to prepare them for L&T on those pitches, and 12 months later the WI batsmen were equally at sea.

From a cricket pov it was dumb bowling too. I remember Underwood getting nuisance runs against a few times because, Lillee in particular, bowled short at him and he backed off and swiped over the slips. Whereas just the threat of a bumper with fuller deliveries would have satisfied both tactical and ethical aspects of the game.

 

[Burgey]

I remember Underwood

****, are you that old?

He certainly hung around with Greig to get him to his ton in the test in Brisbane.

 

[the big bambino]

Ha yeah, sure am. I watched that ton from Grieg and didn't appreciate as I was too young. Over time its apparent it was one of the best and most courageous tons hit in test cricket. That and Cranky Roy Fredricks ton the following summer at Perth. Huge respect for Cowdrey and Titmus too.