Historical footage: Impressions of some greats

[Starfighter]

Starfighter, you're not from Hurstville by chance are you?

Nah, I'm not even from Sydney.

Why do you ask btw?

 

[NotMcKenzie]

We have colour footage of the first test of the 1962–63 Ashes series.

First, the final film with commentary:

 

[NotMcKenzie]

Then, two items of rough footage:

 

[NotMcKenzie]

and:

 

[Starfighter]

I've got some stuff from the 24-25 Ashes series here, although I'm not too good with who's who. I'd like to find some footage of Australian all-rounder Charles Kelleway bowling, but I can't definitely say that anything's him.

First Test
Second Test
Fourth Test

There isn't all that much footage out of Australia compared to England until 32/33 unfortunately.

 

[the big bambino]

Some footage from India's 1936 England tour at the Oval. Shows a somewhat better view than the 1932 footage, Amar Singh bowls the first ball, Nissar the one at the end (doesn't look a fast as the 32 footage IMO). Jahangir Khan and CK and CS Nayadu are the others.

If the lefty Nissar is bowling to is Fishlock then the innings is coming to an end and it was a long one. So I'd expect he would have been tired though he still looks swift. My favourite bowling action from that era is Allen's.

 

[Starfighter]

I wouldn't consider his effort exceptional though, 26 overs out of 129 (in a day!). In comparison Amar Singh bowled 39.

During 35/36 there was a tour by an Australian XI to India. It wasn't a very strong team, being a bowler heavy lineup of players generally past their best, but Nissar put up some remarkable figures:

1st 'test': 6/72, 0/18
2nd 'test': 6/35, 1/25
3rd 'test': 4/72, 4/80
4th 'test': 5/61, 6/36

The series was shared 2 all.

I find it interesting that Amar Singh perhaps is more often regarded the better bowler despite Nissar's numerical superiority.

It's funny how things change, whereas before the war India depended on pace while afterwards their opening attack would have struggled to reach 70 mph on their very best day.

 

[Starfighter]

I prefer Larwood's action personally. They're both completely different to any today though, and much more beautiful.
Whatever the chest on action's supposed advantages (and according to some biomechanics papers I read recently, there aren't really any) it simply can't compete with side on for aesthetics.

 

[the big bambino]

I wouldn't consider his effort exceptional though, 26 overs out of 129 (in a day!). In comparison Amar Singh bowled 39.

During 35/36 there was a tour by an Australian XI to India. It wasn't a very strong team, being a bowler heavy lineup of players generally past their best, but Nissar put up some remarkable figures:

1st 'test': 6/72, 0/18
2nd 'test': 6/35, 1/25
3rd 'test': 4/72, 4/80
4th 'test': 5/61, 6/36

The series was shared 2 all.

I find it interesting that Amar Singh perhaps is more often regarded the better bowler despite Nissar's numerical superiority.

It's funny how things change, whereas before the war India depended on pace while afterwards their opening attack would have struggled to reach 70 mph on their very best day.

26 overs for an express bowler in a day is a fair workload. 129 for a team is exceptional. I agree the shorter run ups would explain it. Even Nissar's wasn't overly long. and yeah, there are plenty who played against and watched him that raved about Amar Singh.

 

[a massive zebra]

Some assorted short newsreels:

Third Test Durban 1939
Fourth Test Johannesburg 1939 - in this one you can see Hammond falling to Norman Gordon, who died in 2014 aged 103, the only test cricketer to make the ultimate century.

The second hyperlink is identical to the first and does not show the fourth Test.

And a couple of silent clips:

The Oval Test 1935 - This one contains a couple of distant shots of Holcombe 'Hopper' Read in his only test, he was said to be the quickest in England during his brief career, though erratic. Unfortunately he was forced to choose his business career over cricket. Also a notably incompetent batsman with a FC average of 3.59. I saw some footage of Stan Nichols who also opened the bowling in this match somewhere, but I can't remember where.

Better coverage of Hopper Read can be found here.

 

[a massive zebra]

great work Starfighter, indeed taking over where Watson left.

What happened to Watson? I really enjoyed his tireless and consistently high quality contributions to this thread.

 

[OverratedSanity]

What happened to Watson? I really enjoyed his tireless and consistently high quality contributions to this thread.

Got banned for being a scumbag.

 

[Starfighter]

The second hyperlink is identical to the first and does not show the fourth Test.

Here

I must've pasted in the wrong link the first time round.

 

[a massive zebra]

Here

I must've pasted in the wrong link the first time round.

Many thanks for this and all the other fabulous contributions you have recently made to this thread.

 

[vcs]

What happened to Watson? I really enjoyed his tireless and consistently high quality contributions to this thread.

Unfortunately his good posting in this thread was counterbalanced by his bigoted nonsense in the politics threads.

 

[the big bambino]

The lupine pack attack on an effectively muzzled Watson, was one of the most disgraceful pile ons I've seen and far worse then anything he said. If you were a part of it you should be ashamed of yourself.

Some of the footage here has been terrific. The vid on the Essex team is like finding a masterpiece at a garage sale. Well done Zebra. I have never been able to find footage of Jack Gregory with his entire run up. If someone could succeed where I've failed and post a link I'd be grateful. I'd like to see the extent of his run up compared to the rather short runs ups that seemed to dominate his era.

 

[Starfighter]

The lupine pack attack on an effectively muzzled Watson, was one of the most disgraceful pile ons I've seen and far worse then anything he said. If you were a part of it you should be ashamed of yourself.

Some of the footage here has been terrific. The vid on the Essex team is like finding a masterpiece at a garage sale. Well done Zebra. I have never been able to find footage of Jack Gregory with his entire run up. If someone could succeed where I've failed and post a link I'd be grateful. I'd like to see the extent of his run up compared to the rather short runs ups that seemed to dominate his era.

The video that I posted for the second test 24/25 seems to show most of it at 3:20 or so, but I've never seen it from a standing start. He seems to take twelve steps there, so maybe 14 all up? I think most of his pace comes from his body and shoulder.

Over the past year or so I've counted quite a few bowlers runs, and I'd say there is a big increase going into the seventies for some reason.
It's very hard at full speed though, and whether to count preliminary steps or shuffles is something I've never decided on.

I think about 10-16 was average up until the sixties, but people were loath to use film on showing a full run.
Farnes and McKenzie took 10 but theirs were exceptionally short for bowlers of their pace, Davidson 12, while Lindwall took 16, as did Trueman I think (although he seems to have often used a shorter run). McCormick supposedly ran 24 (4 short), although I've only seen the last 13, and Tyson's shorter run was supposed to be 20! But the first I've actually seen all of over 20 steps is Hall with 22. Medium pacer's of course were shorter, Tate ran 6 and Bedser 8 steps respectively.

There seem to be a lot more around 20 or so in the seventies, especially the late seventies, and the eighties. Lillee I counted 24, and Holding the same, Willis 22 and Lawson 20.
Peter Lever's 22 furious steps seem ridiculous for someone who looks mid to high 130's, but Martin Snedden takes the cake with 22 steps for a very gentle sort of medium-fast, while Sarfraz Nawaz seems to bowl the same pace off 10 as off 22.
The longest I've actually counted was Craig McDermott running 26 at Brisbane in 1989.

I'm personally convinced that anything over 18 steps is overdoing it even for the fastest bowlers, and such extreme lengths seem to have become less common these days. It's just a waste of energy.

 

[Midwinter]

Thanks for doing the counting.

Its good to have some facts when discussing these matters.

Can only assume the longer run ups in the seventies resulted from medical input in an attempt to try and reduce injuries. ( the start of sports science perhaps).

 

[the big bambino]

Thanks for that Starfighter. I remember when Lillee came in and there was talk about excessive runs ups. So I agree the change came about then and was unusual enough for it to become a talking point. It was a little contradictory for me because what looked normal to me was obviously something different for those who had been watching the game for much longer.

Ultimately I thought the criticism of Lillee for the length of his run up was misplaced. Especially in light of his bio where he explained it. He said he felt comfortable jumping into his delivery leap after a certain number of paces and that just happened to be manifest a longer than usual run up. Lillee's fame inspired imitators and that could explain the modern trend for longer run ups. However that doesn't give credit to Wes Hall whose own fame also possibly inspired imitators into longer than necessary run ups.

However I have a suspicion that longer run ups were adopted as a cynical tactic from the 70s to achieve the aim of depressing over rates; a problem that became such a concern authourities had to proscribe a set number of overs a day. Also suspect there is a good reason why the English fast bowlers of the era adopted shorter run ups. I recall Bowes and Farnes were counselled into shorter run ups to conserve energy. When a fast bowler is required to bowl 6 to 7 thousand balls in a 4 month period you can see the sense in cutting down the distance of your run up.

 

[Starfighter]

The following three videos are from the 1953 Ashes series. Eventually I'd like to post a lot of stuff from 46-47, 48, 50-51 and 53 here where it is available.

According to the description these are parts of about 40 minutes worth of footage from the second and third tests - I think most of it's from the second test judging by the presence of Benaud and Ring - neither of who played in the third test. There's also plenty of Johnny Wardle in the series as well.
You don't usually get this length of footage showing normal play so it's good to see, but the camera tends to follow away from the bowler so it's not quite so good for looking at them, which as a bowler myself, I prefer to do. But there's a bit more batting than usual.

The wicket to fall at 4:25 is Graveney for 78 in the first innings, 2nd test. 6:33 shows Bedser walking off after being bowled - Lindwall took 5/93.
Statham opens the bowling in his first match against Australia.
It's interesting to see how less refined and more natural bowling techniques were back then. Lindwall has a such a smooth run up but has only a small leap into delivery, instead having that very long delivery stride and drag that caused mutterings, and of course he's so round arm. Statham's all limbs, and has gets sideways very early producing that rather odd looking pre-delivery jump. Not very attractive but efficient. With modern coaching I can only think that such actions would never have a chance to emerge.

Freddie Brown is the guy bowling medium-pacers with neckerchief. It pays to think that he first toured with Jardine's team in 32-33.

I find it hard to form an opinion on Miller's bowling (which isn't a big feature here). I don't think he's be rated as genuinely quick today, more probably fast-medium.
He got a very brief gather and begins his swing early and abruptly, opening his shoulders out very early. Almost the opposite of Lindwall. I think his variations must have been very hard to pick, he doesn't seem to change his action at all and was known to be able to swing the ball both ways with ease and had a great bouncer too.