The Hundred: 50 to 41

 50: Imran Khan

Martin Crowe may have enjoyed a great 1992 World Cup, but it was 39 year-old Imran Khan who ultimately held the trophy aloft. In the mid-‘70s I remember him as a top-class batsman for Oxford University and Worcestershire but he quickly developed his fast bowling with no adverse effect on his ability to score runs. I saw him only once, bowling Gooch for a duck at Chelmsford for the Pakistan tourists in ’87. In his thirties his pace and control were as superb as ever and history should recognise him as one of the top three Test all-rounders of the past fifty years. 

49: Tony Cottey

Harry Pilling may have been shorter but, at 5 foot 4, Tony Cottey was the superior batsman. He even played pro football for his home club, too (but not as West Ham’s Tony Cottee!). The son of Swansea was a vital cog in the Glamorgan middle-order through most of the Nineties, helping them to the County Championship in 1997. I enjoyed watching him at the crease, including his sprightly 20 not out in a 40-over rout of Hampshire at Sophia Gardens in ’95. He saw out his career at Sussex where he won another league title, but missed out on an England call-up. 

48: Glenn McGrath

OK, so he wasn’t as exciting to watch as fellow Aussies Lillee, Thomson, Johnson or Hughes, but Glenn McGrath was the finest seam bowler of his generation. His metronomic accuracy rendered him almost impossible to score from, and until Anderson pipped him recently, had more Test wickets than any other paceman in history. His career average of 21.64 is, however, considerably better than the Englishman’s and achieved in thirty fewer matches. I witnessed first-hand his 8-38 at Lord’s in 1997 when in his absolute pomp. 

47: Moeen Ali

I feel a bit sorry for Moeen Ali. As a youngster playing in the second flight initially for Warwickshire he won plaudits for his stylish batsmanship but it was only when he produced outstanding stats as a slow bowler in one Championship game (he was in my Fantasy side) that England began to take note. Forced to focus more on his twirling, his red-ball batting suffered although he remains devastating in limited over cricket. Observing him in an ODI at Cardiff I was touched by the huge affection in which he was held by fans, but only Pakistani fans! At least they recognise his talent. 

46: Curtly Ambrose

It was hard not to admire Curtly. You certainly couldn’t miss him. At 6 foot 8 his stride ate up the ground and his ability to routinely dig ‘em in just short of a length and extract unseemly bounce was legendary. I remember enjoying him tickle the ribs of Nasser Hussain at Chelmsford in ’91 with astonishing consistency and accuracy. I doubt that the Essex captain felt the same. Two years later he claimed 7-1 in a single spell against the Aussies, one of the most remarkable ever. Forget the extraordinary bowling figures: Curtly was the ultimate cool icon in a frantic world. 

45: Brian Lara

Had BC Lara been born twenty years earlier he’d probably have topped this list but his heyday fell in the era in which my exposure to cricket was abysmally low. However, in 1994, there was no avoiding him. In April he broke the world Test innings record then, at Warwickshire, he enjoyed a patch so purple Prince would have sued out of jealousy. He scored six centuries in seven innings before thrashing the highest score in any professional cricket, 501 not out. Sadly in the only time I saw him play in the flesh he made just , but merely the sight of his distinctive follow-through flourish made it memorable. 

44: Steve Smith

In contrast, Steve Smith’s batting technique seems to have been plucked from the pages of a joke book. And yet in the past few years, apart from his twelve months in enforced exile, the Aussie skipper has been the most prolific Test batsman in the world, keeping his nation in the 2019 Ashes series almost singlehandedly. Originally he was just a gangly leg-spinner who could bat a bit. I was in the Oval crowd in 2013 when Steve scored his maiden century with a straight six, and he hasn’t looked back. 

43: Mike Smith

Over the years there have been three of my namesakes in county cricket. MJK had been England’s captain but I recall his bespectacled face batting for Warwickshire in the ‘70s, while MJ opened for Middlesex for ages. Then in the Nineties came AM. This Mike Smith bowled left-arm fast-medium for Gloucestershire and, being only 5 foot 9, relied on skiddy swing to worry batsmen. His county form finally won him an Ashes appearance in ’97 but he went wicketless and that was that. An unsung hero of county cricket. 

42: Wasim Akram

There’s nothing unsung about Wasim Akram. He was initially the apprentice to Imran’s master before eclipsing him, at least in the one-day format. I once saw him accompany his old skipper against Essex, in which he produced a typical all-round performance. A devastating batsman he was primarily a fast left-arm bowler whose run-up suggested a befuddled schoolboy but once the ball left his hand….. The ‘Sultan of Swing’ could move it both ways, produce a brutal bouncer or a lethal yorker, making him one of the most complete fast bowlers in my lifetime. 

41: Allan Border

I wasn’t particularly enamoured of his legendary rude bloody-mindedness as Aussie captain but there’s no denying Allan Border’s effective innings building or his success at turning the Baggy Greens into the best cricketing outfit in the world. However, before he became the infamous grouch, I remember him best as a fresh 25 year-old whose refusal to lose his wicket made his team-mates look awful during the 1981 Ashes tour, where he averaged 59 batting at six. People remember Botham but I haven’t forgotten the gutsy little left-hander and his short-arm pull shots.

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.....

Lara's 501, 20 years On

Until 6th June 1994, 501 was associated with the starting score in darts or Levi's. Since that memorable day, to any cricket fan that particular number means one thing only: Brian Lara.

In an era without the diversion of Twenty 20, exciting cricket was, more often than not, linked with the West Indies. At the start of 2004, the Trinidadian Lara had powered his way from being just another exciting Caribbean batsman with an exaggerated backlift to a world record holder. His 375 against England blew away Gary Sobers' long-standing landmark of 365 for an individual Test innings, and Warwickshire must have been licking their lips in anticipation of their new signing for the summer.

In those days, a contract was more than just a vague promise to play a few matches providing a T20 franchise or international selectors came a-calling, and the arrival of Lara would not only bring the world's media to Edgbaston, but also the most successful domestic season achieved by any county in the modern era. Warwickshire had a decent side but Lara was something else. Think Messi coming to Everton.

In his first seven innings for the county, Lara struck six centuries! Then, on the 2nd June, Durham came to town. They were relatively new to first-class cricket and not the top team we see now. Skipper Phil Bainbridge won the toss and opted to bat first on a belter. Although the openers fell cheaply, it seemed to be a good decision as the visitors piled on 365-3 on the first day. They extended their superiority the following morningm, declaring on 556-8, John Morris helping himself to 204 before Lara caught him off Paul Smith's bowling.

Bajan fast bowler Anderson Cummins removed Ostler for only eight, heralding the arrival of Brian Charles Lara to join opener Roger Twose. By close, Warwickshire were 211-2 and Lara had made yet another century, to cap the best run of three-figure scores in first-class history (seven in eight innings). The weather wrote off day three, then came Sunday's rest day (presumably there was a one-day League game) before Lara and Trevor Penney could resume where they left off.

With just a day left, a result was obviously impossible so this was probably a day for dreary defence and an early handshake to bring proceedings to a close. But this was Lara, and such an approach was alien. The few who attended on Monday 6th June musy have been rubbing their eyes in astonishment at what followed. He smiplay cut loose, thrashing everything Durham could throw at him. He passed 200, 300, 400 and then Hanif Mohammed's awesome 499 not out was there for the taking. The third wicket partnership of 314 featured a mere 44 from Trevor Penney, himself no slouch in one-day cricket. Keith Piper then joined in the fun, notching a personal best 116 not out in a second triple-century stand but this was all about the West Indian superstar.

He continued his merry way to 501 not out, at which juncture there was no point in going on, and Dermot Reeve declared on 810-4. The crowd and players had witnessed 600 runs in a day and a world record which still stands to this day. I recall being on holiday in Carlisle that week, peering up at a tiny TV in my attic B&B room, barely able to believe that Lara had broken the two most important cricketing records in just two months. 500??!!

Perhaps buoyed by this early season rampage, Warwickshire proceeded to win the Championship and two of the three one-day competitions, failing to complete the clean sweep only by losing in the final. Lara stayed with the county for another four years before he concentrated on propping up the ailing West Indies for another decade. Matthew Hayden beat his 375, albeit against Zimbabwe, so Lara merely stepped up a gear in 2004 to reclaim the record, taking a hapless England (again) attack for an unbeaten 400. The following year he overtook Allan Border's career Test run aggregate but, with West Indian in-fighting destroying unity on and off the pitch, he tired of carrying the islands' cricket hopes on his ever-broadening shoulders, he called it a day in 2006.

Tendulkar, Ponting and others may have overhauled the overall Test run record but nobody has come near to Brian Lara's Bradman-esque love of huge individual scores. He became bogged down in his latter years but in his pomp, Lara was an exhilarating batsman, even at a time when he routinely faced legendary bowlers like Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, Allan Donald and Muttiah Muralitharan. Sadly on the one occasion I saw him play at Lord's he was dismissed for just eight. The crowd emitted an almost-audible groan in disappointment. However, there are plenty of DVDs or YouTube clips around to watch and enjoy. Viv Richards may have had the greater aura in all cricket but there really was nothing like Lara in those heady days two decades ago.