Foreign Inspirations: Overseas County Cricketers

At the start of each year, county websites are full of excited reports raving about their new overseas signing for the forthcoming T20 Blast or maybe three Championship games in May. Rolling my eyes at such promotional puff I recall the days when many of the world's biggest stars would appear for the same county, year after year, April to September, first-class fixtures and one-dayers.

Long before I was born, overseas players would extend their earning period by signing as a professional in the Yorkshire or Lancashire leagues. This continued well into the Eighties – imagine taking guard at say, Haslingden, watching Rishton’s Michael Holding steaming in towards you! – but I feel fortunate that my initiation into the joys of cricket coincided with a golden era of international cricketers on the county circuit.

It was probably no coincidence at all. In the early Seventies, watching live coverage of one-dayers, especially the Sunday League, I was thrilled by the performances of the overseas recruits. Most of them were West Indians or Pakistanis, who seemed to play a different way from the home-grown contingent. It’s cricket, Jim, but not as we know it. The Caribbean crew in particular seemed to boast the fastest bowlers, most athletic fielders and finest strokemakers. Watching the likes of Clive Lloyd (Lancashire), Roy Fredericks (Glamorgan), Alvin Kallicharran (Warwickshire) and Vanburn Holder (Worcestershire) also meant I didn’t have to wait four years for the next West Indies tour to enjoy their unique approach to the sport. I vividly recall the black and white images of Nottinghamshire’s Garfield Sobers heaving poor Malcolm Nash for six sixes in an over in 1968.

It wasn’t just about telly. At my first taste of live cricket in May 1975, it was the batting of Somerset’s Viv Richards and fielding of Essex’s Keith Boyce which made the greatest impression on me. Later that summer, I became engrossed in the inaugural Prudential World Cup, noting that many of the biggest names were already on the county scene. If they weren’t at that stage, I wouldn’t have long to wait.

They weren’t the modern day ‘blink-and-you-miss-it’ contracts either. Lloyd, Richards, Kalli, Greenidge, Walsh, Marshall and Zaheer Abbas each represented their respective counties for a decade or more. With none of today’s distractions of year-round T20 tourneys and short ODI series, they racked up career tallies of first-class runs and wickets which dwarf those of current Test superstars. Boosted by their prolific seasons at Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Northants, Courtney Walsh, Malcolm Marshall and Bishan Bedi each retired with well over 1,500 first-class scalps to their names. At the time of writing, Dale Steyn has a mere 612, and even the perennially fit Jimmy Anderson remains ninety short of the thousand landmark.

Throughout my life I haven’t attended a huge volume of county matches but I’ve been lucky to have witnessed some superb international players in action, even if they weren’t necessarily at their best. In addition to the incomparable Viv and Joel Garner for Somerset, Essex used to feature batsmen of the quality of Andy Flower, South African Ken McEwan and Aussies Allan Border, Mark Waugh and Stuart Law.

Other personal highlights have been the giant Sarfraz Nawaz bowling for Northants and Younis Ahmed’s resounding crack of an off drive for Surrey in ’76  (it resonates in my mind still), the jaw-dropping pace of Warwickshire’s Allan Donald (bowling second change) at Ilford in ’95 and Mike Procter almost singlehandedly saving Gloucestershire against Somerset at Bath in ’81. I’m glad he failed in the end!

My favourite Procter (pictured below) moment, however, was when he destroyed Dad’s beloved Hampshire in a 1977 B&H Cup semi-final, this time with his pace bowling. It must have been the first time I’d seen a hat-trick. Had South Africa not been isolated by their country’s political apartheid abomination, Procter would surely have gone down as one of the greatest ever all-rounders. His compatriot Barry Richards was similarly disadvantaged but he and Gordon Greenidge formed for several years the county game’s most formidable opening partnership.

In subsequent decades, other Southern Africans opted to seek international cricket with England by serving their seven-year county apprenticeship to achieve residential status. Allan Lamb, Graeme Hick and Kevin Pietersen spring to mind. It’s not all about traditional Test playing nations, either. I recall in the ‘80s/’90s the extremely economical Danish seamer Ole Mortensen for Derbyshire and Somerset’s profligate Dutchman, Adrian van Troost promoting the European Union.

Imran Khan graced the county circuit for many years, too, first with Sussex then Worcestershire, by which time Pakistan’s Wasim Akram (Lancs) and Waqar Younis (Surrey and Glamorgan) were also on these shores. Banned rebel West Indian Frankly Stephenson twice achieved the 1000 runs/100 wickets double for Notts in 1988 and 1989. In the Nineties, it was against Durham at Edgbaston that Brian Lara stunned the world with his record-breaking 501 not out, and two decades later with Surrey that both Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara opted to end their first-class careers, the latter in stunning style in 2017.

In more recent times, county fortunes have often been galvanised by the arrival of foreign internationals. Mushtaq Ahmed’s leg-spin transformed Somerset and especially Sussex for whom he helped win two Championship titles. Shane Warne’s overall aura and astute captaincy gave Hampshire impetus in the Noughties, and the veteran Ottis Gibson bowled Durham to success. Several Aussies, unable to break into a formidable Baggy Green batting line-up, also proved influential over here, notably Stuart Law, Michael di Venuto and Chris Rogers, while Michael Klinger’s batting and leadership took Gloucestershire to T20 glory.  

All this brings me back to the current fetish for ultra-brief stints by the likes of Muralitharan, McCullum and Gilchrist, plus jobbing Twenty20 specialists such as Dirk Nannes, Aaron Finch, Colin Munro and the Sultan of Sixes himself, Chris Gayle. These stars undoubtedly help shift season tickets and advance Blast sales. Unfortunately, when in 2015 Somerset snapped up Gayle, the biggest star of them all, it proved to be a bittersweet experience. In the January, it was revealed he’d made good on a three-year promise to join the county for a maximum of six T20 fixtures. Six games! Yippee! He was certainly a huge draw and demonstrated the right attitude towards promotional appearances in schools, etc.

On the pitch, too, the Jamaican fulfilled the hype with devastating innings at Taunton, even if his 151 not out against Kent wasn’t enough to win the match. If only I’d crippled the visitors’ team bus the day before when our paths crossed at Membury Services maybe the result would have been different! Sadly Gayle decided that three matches were enough and duly buggered off. Remember that “maximum of” prefix to the six? He did return to play what must have been an exhausting five matches the following June but with considerably less impact.

All a far cry from those dizzying days of Asif Iqbal, Farokh Engineer, Wayne Daniel and Sylvester Clarke, who’d delight county crowds week in week out. And when they weren’t representing a county, such cricketing celebs would also grace our grounds as part of the country’s tour schedules, which deserves a chapter of its own.....

England v South Africa - The Proteas' Fantasy XI

Yesterday I looked back at the most successful England cricketers in home series against South Africa. Today I'll focus on the visitors. As with the English, just three of the likely 2012 starters are in the fantasy eleven, starting with the number one and outstanding skipper of a generation, Graeme Smith.

He has really taken a shine to English bowler in the past two tours. 1083 runs in only nine Test matches is an impressive total. Back in 2003, consider he was only 22 and already the skipper of a formidable team. First game of the series and he goes and whacks 277, including a triple-century opening stand with Herschelle Gibbs. He scored 85 in the second innings, too. A week later, he disappoints, making a 'mere' 259 before being bowled by an even more youthful Jimmy Anderson. This time the Saffers won by an innings. Smith had a dismal run thereafter but what an amazing start! Five years later, he scored two more centuries, the best being a match-winning unbeaten 156 at Edgbaston.

By then his old partner Gary Kirsten had retired but he deserves selection for this team. He played on three tours to these shores. 1994 wasn't a great one. Four years on he was out five times in single figures yet is remembered for a steady 210 at Old Trafford which almost set up an innings victory. 2003 was his best tour, featuring two successive hundreds and a couple of 50s. Not a flair player but he was a fine opener, representing his country 101 times in Tests.

Herschelle Gibbs is renowned as a one-day stroke maker but he was also a decent first-class cricketer. In 2003, he aggregated almost 500 runs against England, including two big hundreds, topped by his 183 at The Oval where England managed to pull off a series-saving triumph. Much has been said about Jacques Kallis' poor record in England, but that only really applies to his batting. He now contemplates his fourth tour having scored 586 runs and taken 35 wickets at only 27 apiece. Headingley 2003 was the scene of his best statistics; 6-54 to round off a 191-run win. He's in the side as a bowling all-rounder!

Abraham Benjamin de Villiers only came here in 2008 but was typically successful as a specialist batsman, notching up 384 runs in the four Tests. AB's best knock was the 174 at Headingley where he shared a double-century stand with Ashwell Prince who he pips to a place in this fantasy side. At number six, I've gone for Jonty Rhodes, a stalwart of the 1990s. Not a flashy batsman, he did nonetheless contribute almost 500 runs, 117 of them coming in the Lord's triumph of 1998. Jonty could make the side on his fielding alone. I reckon he's one of the few players in memory who you'd watch in the covers rather than the batsman at the crease; he was so electrifying. How many times would you in the crowd, or the TV cameramen, pan to the boundary only to realise that Rhodes had pulled off a remarkable stop as the ball rocketed across the outfield?

It's no compensation for his enforced retirement the other week but Mark Boucher is the obvious choice as wicketkeeper. Like Kallis, this was his fourth tour of England, and had a similarly mediocre batting record. However, 60 catches, two stumpings, some useful late-order runs and that great attitude make him a shoo-in. Anyway, he days of Dave Richardson behind the stumps belong to a different era!

When it comes to fast bowling, present-day fans marvel at Steyn, Morkel and Philander. None make my team because between 1994 and 2008, South Africa could boast, in addition to Kallis, three all-time greats. At number eight, Shaun Pollock has an even better record than Kallis with the bat (351 runs at 44) and took 35 wickets at 25. His 6-39 at Trent Bridge nine summers ago should have been a match-winner but, of all people, Richard Kirtley eclipsed him that day. Nevertheless, Pollock was a superb cricketer. Allan Donald was an even faster, fearsome strike bowler, the aggression enhanced by his white sunblock strip, glowing like warpaint as he steamed in. Well versed in English conditions, he took 45 Test wickets here in only eight fixtures. There were five 'five-fors' amongst them, four in successive Tests in 1998. He claimed 5-32 at Lord's and bowled an exhausting 40 overs to take 6-88 in the Old Trafford game where Stewart and Croft defied everything Donald, Kallis and my other two bowlers could throw at them.

These two were Mukhaya Ntini and Paul Adams. Ntini, like Morkel these days, was quite expensive but he played in 101 Tests in all, 11 in England, where he took 43 wickets. At Lord's in 2003, he took five in each innings as South Africa enjoyed one of their most convincing victories. Adams, like Imran Tahir in 2012 was almost seen just as the token spinner. Someone to give the seamers a breather. He took only 17 wickets at 37 across two tours but he was a better bowler than these stats suggest. A left-armer with a delivery action which makes Murali or Malinga look conventional, he could hold up an end for hours and now he props up my SA-in-England XI.

To re-cap: Smith (*), G Kirsten, Gibbs, Kallis, De Villiers, Rhodes, Boucher (+), Pollock, Donald, Ntini, Adams.

On paper, they ought to make mincemeat of the England XI. However, like many of their real matches, they haven't always lived up to their promise, starting well and throwing away the last game. However, they always produce a thrilling Test series so let's hope we are served up another this summer.

South African pace - from Donald to Steyn

For a nation which can't quite reach number one in any world cricket rankings, South Africa seem to have their fair share of world-beating individual players. In Tests and ODIs, they hog all the top positions, from Kallis to Amla and Morkel to Steyn but somehow they have struggled to topple the likes of Australia, India and now England. In the almost twenty years since ending their spell in the wilderness, they have won 38 and lost only 14 Test series. However, half of those losses came against Australia, definitely their bogey team. Only five of their series failures have occurred on home territory, against the Aussies four times and once versus Michael Vaughan's England in 2004-5.

While the nation has boasted some great batsmen in Kirsten, Cronje, Smith, Kallis, Gibbs, Cullinan et al, that great record in the five-day game owes a huge amount to a continuous line of brilliant fast bowlers. Allan Donald led the line superbly in 72 Tests from that 1992 comeback match against West Indies through to another severe beaten at Jo'burg against an Aussie side pumped up by Gilchrist and McGrath ten years later. It's not just the 330 wickets which were so remarkable but the career average of just 22.25. His one-day record was similar and he captured an amazing 1,216 first-class wickets, including hundreds for his adopted home at Warwickshire. I saw him play only once in the flesh, steaming in at Ilford in a 40-over game against Essex, with 'keeper Keith Piper seemingly standing half way to the boundary. He sprinted to the crease at first change, and was virtually unplayable! In the early nineties, he was the only truly fast seamer outside the Caribbean, earning him the rather dodgy epithet of 'White Lightning' an dthat had nothing to do with his trademark strip of sunblock! Fortunately for cricket, he has remained heavily involved in the game as bowling coach.

When Shaun Pollock joined the first team, Donald found a wonderful foil. With a name synonymous with South African cricket, the young redhead would bound up to the wicket with easy rhythm and high action which made him appear less quick than he really was. He went on to play more than 100 Tests and 300 ODIs, breaking national records for wickets in each. On top of that, he contributed over 7000 international runs to the cause, boasting an average of more than 32 in Tests. However, like Donald, his bowling average was sub-24, and his economy rate was a mere 2.39 an over. That's better than Glenn McGrath's career figure! Of course he was unusually mean for a paceman in T20, too.

Two years after Allan Donald retired from Test cricket, 21 year-old Dale Steyn stepped up to the plate bowling at three or four behind Pollock and Ntini. Like Donald, his debut was a losing one but once he began to establish himself in the side as the spearhead a few years later, he developed a reputation as a bowler who combined sheer speed with metronomic accuracy, the perfect ingredients. Although not tall by modern standards (six foot dead) he has taken 238 wickets in only 46 Tests. Perhaps his relatively slight frame has cost him many games because of injury but his strike rate is one of the best in history and his Test average is comparable with the aforementioned illustrious predecessors, at 23.21. Steyn hasn't played a five-day game since January, when he enjoyed a good old battle against Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dravid and co, since when his ICC rating has been frozen at 899, miles above anyone else in the world game. Indeed, he has topped the table for 2 1/2 years now, and only a poor performance in the next several series could give those chasing him - like Anderson, Swann and team-mate Morne Morkel a hope of overhauling him.

Whereas most of the wicket-taking records belong to spinners like Murali, Warne and Kumble, South Africa's all-time list in Tests is headed by Pollock, Ntini, Donald, Kallis and now Steyn. Few players can claim to average more than five wickets a match, not even Shane Warne, but if Steyn can remain fit and firing those bullets he could be one of the all-time greats. At 28 he could reach the 400 milestone but I fear the demands of ODIs and lure of IPL money could steer him away from legendary status but that would be a shame. Consistently accurate and genuinely fast bowlers are becoming a rare breed and we need to hang on to the likes of Dale so that he, Pollock and Donald aren't consigned to the history books as relics of a forgotten age.