“Test cricket – The first cut is the deepest and the sweetest!”

May 15, 2011 Sports

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By Colin E. H. Croft

There is no 2nd chance to make a good 1st impression! Everyone remembers the 1st time of anything, good or bad. All sports persons cherish that very first big appearance, that massive 1st crowning glory. Devendra Bishoo will always remember his Test No. 1 too.
Bishoo is Guyana’s 45th Test cricketer. Since 1928, 300+ players have represented seven million Caribbean inhabitants, especially over the last five years, with so many upheavals, abstentions, removals and team remodeling, but Bishoo is already enjoying his very 1st Test! His 4-68 is a tremendous start!
Believe it or not, it is almost 35 years since Joel Garner and Colin Croft also made Test debuts, against Pakistan too, in 1977. Having recently seen “Big Bird” in London; we attended “Fire in Babylon” UK premier; we spoke a bit on the state of West Indies cricket. We also reminisced some!
I had played one 1st Class game for Guyana; Jamaica in 1972; aged 18+, with very disappointing and distressing results: 15-2-75-0. Guyana did not select me again until 1976, aged 22+!
Garner too had made his 1st Class debut, in 1976, aged 23+, v Combined Islands, with much better 1st returns than me: 10-4-11-3. From the start, “Big Bird” was always mean!
In 1977, two young, gangly fast bowlers were starting to make waves in West Indies cricket. I had decided that, as Pakistan was touring, I would try my best to play for West Indies President’s XI, a useful trial match for up-and-coming or out-of-form players. I certainly hoped that I was one the former!
It would have been impossible, stupid even, for me to think of playing for full West Indies against Pakistan. Especially Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel and Andy Roberts, ably augmented by Vanburn Holder and Bernard Julien, had decimated England during West Indies’ tour there in 1976.
That momentous tour included Tony Grieg’s “Grovel” comments, barrages of real pace and bouncers that destroyed England; nearly killed Brian Close too; at Old Trafford on a cracked, hard green-top, and the magnificence of ‘Whispering Death’s deadly yorkers, at Kennington Oval; 8-92 and 6-57! Sheesh!
It would have been a figment of my imagination to even think of being selected with these bowlers all fit and available. Sometimes, though, providence provides, even through difficult times!
By 1977, just before Pakistan’s series started, Garner had played five 1st Class games; 22 wickets; including 5-37 against Jamaica, and 5-64 against Trinidad & Tobago. I had played seven 1st Class games, 17 wickets, including 4-81 against Combined Islands, and 6-87 for Demerara against Berbice.
My 8th First Class game, Garner’s 6th, was against Pakistan, for West Indies President’s XI. At least, I had fulfilled my hope and plan for that year’s cricket. That specific game changed our cricket lives forever!
Fast forward, though, to Devendra Bishoo, who made his Test debut for West Indies, also against Pakistan, in Guyana on Thursday last. While he did not play a President’s XI game, Bishoo already has 21 First Class games under his belt, before Test No. 1. That experience cannot be paid for; priceless stuff!
1977 – West Indies President’s XI v Pakistan: Pakistan 203 (Croft 4-43, Garner 3-46, Norbert Phillip 2-61), and 113 (Croft 6-66, Garner 4-40).
West Indies President’s XI 380 (Alvin Kallicharran 134, Irving Shillingford 69, Leonard Baichan 62).
West Indies President’s XI had beaten Pakistan by an innings and 64 runs. Truly incredible!
With match figures of 10-109 and 7-86 respectively, Croft and Garner had shown that we could compete with the best and be successful. I even remember asking Collis King, my room-mate (we had those back then), as to “if this is the way Test cricket goes, or was this just how Pakistan bats?”
‘The Pleb’- King – concurred with West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd that Pakistan played similarly to West Indies; tough, aggressive, but also very attractive cricket. When these play each other, anything really can happen. We have seen, over the years, that is exactly the case for these teams now!
Garner and Croft were selected for 1977’s 1st Test against Pakistan, but not purely on returns in that President’s XI game. Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel had come down with injuries before that 1st Test. Chairman of Selectors Joey Carew, and Lloyd, thought that we were ready substitutes!
My first catch in Test cricket was courtesy of Garner and Sadiq Mohammed. Sadiq hooked at Garner’s bouncer, spooning a simple catch to me at mid-wicket. At least, I helped Garner get his 1st Test wicket.
Garner’s first catch in Test cricket was a much more difficult one, an angry, full-bloodied slash to gully, off Roberts, by Imran Khan, for which “Big Bird” opened his buckets- you cannot call those hands!
My 1st Test wicket came a ‘strangle’, as Pakistan’s captain, Mustaq Mohammed, Sadiq’s brother, inside-edged to wicketkeeper Deryck Murray. I am sure that I felt exactly as Bishoo did when he trapped present Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, LBW, for his 1st Test wicket. Oh, what a wonderful feeling!
That 1977 series was so close, West Indies just beating Pakistan 2-1, in five Tests; more on that soon. From 1958, when they first played each other, to this series, these teams have been very evenly matched indeed!
Pakistan should have won that Test No. 1 at Kensington Oval, after West Indies had let slip a glorious opportunity to go ahead. Also, it was a very hard 1st Test game for Garner and me, but we had justified the captain’s and selectors’ beliefs that we could cope at the top. I bowled 47 overs; Garner 57!
Pakistan 435 (Wasim Raja 117 no., Majid Khan 88, Garner 4-130, Croft 3-85), and 291 (Wasim Raja 71, Wasim Bari 60 no., Croft 4-47, Roberts 2-66, Garner 2-60). West Indies 421 (Lloyd 157, Imran Khan 3-147, Safraz Nawaz 3-125) and; set 306 to win; West Indies managed to hold on for a draw, at 251-9.
Match figures of 7-135 and 6-190 had shown that Croft and Garner, respectively, had arrived, especially when one considered Pakistan’s batting line-up was a very good one, including two Khan’s, Majid and Imran, two Mohammed’s, Mustaq and Sadiq, two Wasim’s, Bari and Raja, Asif Iqbal and Haroon Rashid.
That Pakistan made 291 in that 2nd innings was as a result of 68 extras by West Indies, then a world record, including 28 no-balls, papa, and even more significantly, 29 byes. It was complete shambles!
The two Wasim’s (Bari and Raja), had put on 133 for the 10th wicket, then also a record. Ironically, Wasim Bari had nearly drowned on the rest day (we had those too back then), while swimming at the beach!
Set 306 to win, West Indies coasted at 142-1, before hell broke loose. Safraz Nawaz and Salim Altaf, with the first spells of “reverse swing” that I had ever seen, catapulted our middle order. Only Viv Richards with 92, and Roy Fredericks with 52, survived well.
In the end, it was left to me, and Roberts, to bat out the last 9 overs; 40 minutes; hanging on for a draw. What a 1st Test that was for me. What a 1st Test Bishoo is having. There is nothing like the first! Enjoy!

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