fredfertang
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
THIS THREAD IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A COMPARISON OF THEIR CRICKETING ABILITIES
Last week I got chatting to a mate of a mate and dicovered that we had a love of cricket in common. Eventually the conversation got round to the subject of the first Test we ever went to - he was a few years older than me and his was the Lord's Test against West Indies in 1966. West Indies had won the first Test and he went up on the Monday, the fourth day - England had their noses in front, but not by a huge distance - cricinfo confirms that England had a first innings lead of 86 and the WIndies were 18-1
He was in that part of the ground where all the West Indies supporters were, and these were the days when a whole lot of them would turn up at the Tests and turn their part of the ground into a calypso party. He said they were incredibly knowledgeable and good natured, even though they lost a couple of quick wickets and then a fourth at 91 when Seymour Nurse went. That brought Sobers to the crease and he said the change in the crowd was unbelievable - absolute adulation for the great man (to a man they referred to him simply as "The King") and great tension as the game was slipping away, and it slipped further moments later when Rohan Kanhai was out - anyone who looks at the scorecard will see that my new mate hit the jackpot and that Sobers batted for the rest of the day with David Holford and was well past his century by the close
Despite seeing a Sobers century the abiding memory for the bloke was the crowd and their attitude to their "King" - total reverence and unswerving loyalty and on those occasions when Sobers turned to them with an acknowledgment they went into an absolute frenzy. Lucky bastard went back the next day too and saw Sobers bat on and then England save the game courtesy of a famous century from Ollie Milburn - Hall and Griffith made some early inroads, but the West Indies fans, whilst celebrating their deeds in typically noisy fashion, treated them as mere mortals, unlike their King, who was still treated in the same way as the previous day whenever he went near the ball
So my question is, was Sachin treated in the same way?
Last week I got chatting to a mate of a mate and dicovered that we had a love of cricket in common. Eventually the conversation got round to the subject of the first Test we ever went to - he was a few years older than me and his was the Lord's Test against West Indies in 1966. West Indies had won the first Test and he went up on the Monday, the fourth day - England had their noses in front, but not by a huge distance - cricinfo confirms that England had a first innings lead of 86 and the WIndies were 18-1
He was in that part of the ground where all the West Indies supporters were, and these were the days when a whole lot of them would turn up at the Tests and turn their part of the ground into a calypso party. He said they were incredibly knowledgeable and good natured, even though they lost a couple of quick wickets and then a fourth at 91 when Seymour Nurse went. That brought Sobers to the crease and he said the change in the crowd was unbelievable - absolute adulation for the great man (to a man they referred to him simply as "The King") and great tension as the game was slipping away, and it slipped further moments later when Rohan Kanhai was out - anyone who looks at the scorecard will see that my new mate hit the jackpot and that Sobers batted for the rest of the day with David Holford and was well past his century by the close
Despite seeing a Sobers century the abiding memory for the bloke was the crowd and their attitude to their "King" - total reverence and unswerving loyalty and on those occasions when Sobers turned to them with an acknowledgment they went into an absolute frenzy. Lucky bastard went back the next day too and saw Sobers bat on and then England save the game courtesy of a famous century from Ollie Milburn - Hall and Griffith made some early inroads, but the West Indies fans, whilst celebrating their deeds in typically noisy fashion, treated them as mere mortals, unlike their King, who was still treated in the same way as the previous day whenever he went near the ball
So my question is, was Sachin treated in the same way?
