There has been precious little to cheer during this year’s Covid-19 pandemic. From the appalling loss of life to the crippling impact on services and businesses, it’s been a seemingly endless stream of grim headlines since the beginning of March. Sport, too, has taken a horrendous hit, but it’s encouraging to see England playing the West Indies this week and to hear news that recreational cricket has also been given a green light. Amidst all the event cancellations and postponements, from the Euros and Olympics to Wimbledon and IPL, one beacon of positivity has shone brightly: we have been spared the horrors of The Hundred!
In its place I have decided to create my own Hundred. Instead of a number of meaningless franchises thrashing out a series of contests adopting a pointless - sorry, ‘innovative and exciting’ – format, I shall be revealing my 100 favourite cricketers from five decades of following cricket.
There have been all sorts of challenges like this during lockdown but this is less a review of all-time greats, more a list of personal favourites based on my own subjective opinion. I haven’t compared career averages, strike or economy rates, World Cups won, wickets taken or centuries scored. Rather I’ve thrown into the mix hundreds of players I’ve watched live or on telly, or merely followed via the pages of newspapers or the internet.
Much
of the list is a roll-call of cricketers from the Seventies, the decade when I
first became excited by the sport and most of the world’s stars, particularly
those from the West Indies and Pakistan, appeared regularly on free-to-air TV,
whether for their countries or counties. Before the days of year-round
international cricket, the top names turned out every season, throughout the summer
so you could become familiar with their faces (no helmets!), batting stances
and bowling actions.
It wasn’t only the overseas contingent. BBC coverage of the Sunday League and one-day cups offered a shop window to millions of fans (not the mere thousands who dip into a T20 Blast fixture on Sky) for English players. It wasn’t all about the current Test stars, those who were heading for retirement or the hot young talent but also the rank-and-file players capable of fine performances without consistently grabbing the attention of selectors. I won’t belittle them with the disparaging description of ‘journeymen’ but they were as much part of my cricket viewing as the internationals.
I
make no apology either for allowing my Somerset affections to skew my selections,
right up to the present day. There were times in the Nineties and Noughties,
when Sky started to hoover up all the broadcasting, that my relationship with
cricket started to show cracks. Without regular exposure to live action, I felt
unable to feel close to the players. The wearing of increasingly bulky
headguards also made it harder to identify the men lurking beneath..
Galloping to the rescue in the mid-Nineties came the concept of Fantasy Cricket. A chance flick through my uncle’s Daily Telegraph, not my own family’s choice of newspaper, introduced me to Fantasy Football, and a few years later they branched out into Fantasy Cricket. With virtual budget constraints, it was essential to consider the relative merits of lesser-known, ‘cheaper’ players. That focussed the mind more intensely on the daily scorecards, increasingly online. For a few months a year, previously anonymous medium-pace seamers from Derbyshire or opening bats for Sussex became the most important sportsmen in my, and my Dad’s lives. We were very competitive!
Following
Dad’s death five years ago, my interest in Fantasy Cricket waned somewhat. The recent
chaotic structure of county cricket and profusion of short-term contracts
finished it off. Fortunately my move to Cardiff and subsequent early retirement
have made attending top-class cricket matches easier. Two Champions Trophy
tournaments, assorted ODIs and domestic T20s and my first taste of the Women’s
Ashes have all helped revive my enthusiasm for the summer sport.
The Hundred need no longer be an exercise in pure nostalgia. There will be major megastars rubbing shoulders with minor all-rounders you may never have heard of. Some are famously thrilling strokemakers or barnstorming pacemen while others appeal thanks to their ready smiles or infectious enthusiasm for the game. A few have been chosen for no reason other than a flurry of Fantasy points, a memorable name or nationality or perhaps no obvious reason at all. So what? It’s my list!
I shall reveal my choices in parcels of ten, beginning with 100-91. I guarantee surprises…..
