My Hundred: from 10 to 6

 10: Majid Khan

The Pakistani’s career was already well established when he exploded into my consciousness in 1974. I think I was at my Nanna’s house one August day when Dad and I were watching an ODI against England. Majid Khan was blazing a century at a pace almost unknown in those days. I was an instant fan. Sadly he had few opportunities to play international one-day cricket although he was a brilliant batsman to watch in the first-class game, too. He was undoubtedly a superior strokemaker to his cousin Imran but of course not quite up to his bowling standard. Majid also graced Glamorgan for a few years in the Seventies, consistently one of the best in the county game. What I particularly liked about him was his old-school attitude. He would think nothing of ‘walking’, and had the serenity to defy the feared West Indian pace attack on their own territory while retaining a sense of style. 

9: Sunil Gavaskar

Another hero of mine from the 1970s was Sunil Gavaskar. There was something noble about such a short batsman ducking and weaving against the world’s fastest bowlers and to this day nobody has beaten his aggregate of 774 in a Test series against West Indies. He could be frustratingly slow, as illustrated by his notorious 36 not out for India in a 60-over World Cup innings but in the Test match arena, he was the greatest batsman of his era, able to defend stolidly then hook a bouncer with ease.

‘Sunny’ rewrote the record books many times, becoming the first man to play a hundred consecutive Tests, score 10,000 Test runs, and setting the bar for centuries at 34, which lasted for almost two decades until his famed successor Tendulkar zoomed past. Gavaskar managed just one season in county cricket (for Somerset!) but my abiding memory is of his wonderful last day 221 at The Oval in 1979 which so nearly earned India a sensational victory. Chasing a target of 438, stumps were drawn at 429-8, ending an absorbing day’s play. Having willed him to succeed I was left emotionally drained. He was an inspiration. 

8: Sarfraz Nawaz

A contemporary of both Majid and Gavaskar, Sarfraz Nawaz was a very different kettle of fish. At six feet six he was unusually tall for the sport in those days but he was nowhere near as quick as Thomson, Holding, Garner et al. I recall trying to copy his short, shuffling stride, which deceived so many batsmen. He was a stalwart of the Northamptonshire attack for many years, an almost alien presence with his height, moustache and consistent success with the ball.

What he lacked in pace he gained in skill, a pioneer of reverse swing which influenced fellow Pakistan legends such as Imran or Waqar Younis. Like Stuart Broad, for instance, he could be distinctly average, then produced devastating bursts. His 7-4 in 33 balls to turn the tables on Australia in 1979 at the MCG was astounding, and his bowling was decisive in Pakistan’s first series win over India. He wasn’t always a gentleman on the pitch and in retirement was often outspoken about issues such as match-fixing: a better cricketer than politician! 

7: Sarah Taylor

On the face of it, perhaps an unexpected choice for a top-ten position, but Sarah Taylor epitomises the importance of personality and enjoyment of playing cricket that seems rare in this modern world of millionaire contracts and hard-nosed professionalism. She first made her mark for England as a 16 year-old and, as women’s cricket boosted its profile, Taylor was undoubtedly one of the world’s shiniest stars. She became the first woman to play men’s grade cricket in Australia and has contributed to assorted record ODI partnerships, in the process exhibiting some flamboyant strokeplay. She also demonstrates the tidiest, most athletic wicketkeeping standing up of anyone I can recall, of any gender.

However, when I first watched women’s cricket on the telly, Sarah stood out for her sunny disposition on the pitch. Instead of snarling sledging she could be heard bantering with colleagues, always bright as a button. For instance, I was at Cardiff enjoying an Ashes T20 when she was forced to make an acrobatic catch from an over-enthusiastic Katherine Brunt throw. Even from my seat I noted her exaggerated glare towards the fielder before her face exploded into a smile. You don’t get that from Jonny Bairstow! She was probably the last person I'd expect to have her career curtailed by anxiety issues, but her first time-out was announced in 2015. This speaks volumes for the horrors of mental illness as well as the character of Sarah Taylor.

6: Peter Trego

In May 2019 I was at Lord’s to witness Somerset’s One Day Cup triumph. Tom Abell lifted the trophy but nobody looked more delighted to have won than Peter Trego. The all-rounder had been an integral part of Somerset in all competitions for so long, with little silverware to show for it so he could be forgiven for hurrying around the entire boundary clasping every outstretched hand, including mine. It was the highlight of my day.

Whilst Tregs hasn’t represented his home county throughout his career, it was still a shock when, last season, having limited opportunities in our First XI, he transferred to Nottinghamshire. At 39, he has nonetheless done a cracking job with the ball in the four-day Bob Willis Trophy, and I don’t begrudge him one bit. He was probably the first sportsman I observed wearing an ugly ‘sleeve’ tattoo but I much preferred watching his energetic fast-medium bowling and wide smile as he crashed another T20 ball into the Taunton crowd. He probably peaked too late for England selectors but he will always be a West Country folk hero - and mine.

Steve Smith mixes it with Bradman but Viv and Sunil reign supreme!

As any cricket fan, Sir Don Bradman was the greatest batsman of all time. Full stop. Of course, players have accumulated far superior run totals given the huge increase in international cricket played these days. After all, in the time it took the Australian squad to sail (yes, sail) to England, modern day India and Sri Lanka would probably have squeezed in two three-Test series, seven ODIs and five T20s.

It was therefore interesting to see Steve Smith's aggregate of 769 in the recent series at home to India celebrated as beating the Don's previous record for a rubber against the Indians - and even that was over five matches (but only six innings) back in his twilight years following the Second World War. Bradman's overall series aggregate record of 974 in seven innings (in England in 1930) will take a lot of beating, with five-Test series a rarity these days. Nevertheless, Smith's total was the third highest for four-Test series in cricket's long and illustrious history. He struck four hundreds (all in the first innings) and two fifties, but what about the players above him?

Well, Smith was just five run adrift of Sunil Gavaskar, after whom half the current India-Australia trophy is named, who accumulated 774 in early 1971. The superb opener's feat was notable particularly because it came in the West Indies and also marked his international debut! The Windies had yet to develop their classic fast bowler battery, although Gavaskar would later prove one of the best players of pace and bounce since Bradman himself. Nevertheless, his debut featured two knocks of 60+ and two weeks later came the first century and a resilient 67 not out. He made an uncharacteristic failure in the first innings at Bridgetown but delivered another match-saving performance (117) a few days afterwards. Trinidad then witnessed Gavaskar at his best.

With India needing just a draw to secure the series, the decider as scheduled for six days. Gavaskar started with 124 but the Sobers-led opposition put together a strong first innings lead. He proceeded to grind out a memorable double-century spread over three days which not only saved the match but also set up what was nearly a shock victory.

However, even the great Sunil Gavaskar was overshadowed by one West Indian, King Viv himself five years in the long hot English summer of 1976. In the series which cemented Viv Richards as my favourite sportsman of all time, he batted only seven times yet topped and tailed the series with double-hundreds of power and strength not witnessed for decades.

At Trent Bridge he struck 31 fours and four sixes in 232 off the likes of John Snow, Derek Underwood and Mike Hendrick before top-scoring in a swift declaration-setting second innings. He missed the Lord's Test but on the second day at Old Trafford (rain almost wiped out day 1) nineteen wickets fell, including Viv's for 4. Gordon Greenidge's 134 was sensational in this context. Viv and Greenidge (again) reached three figures next time out, leaving Roberts, Holding and Daniel to destroy Tony Greig's supposedly stubborn veterans and take the game. At Headingley, Viv produced scores of 'only' 66 and 38 in another triumph but it was the Oval climax which raised this series to the heights of one of the most devastating England defeats of modern times.

I recall paying tennis as a 15 year-old in the summer holidays while spectators and families had radios tuned to Test Match Special while England were put to the sword on a pitch browned by weeks of relentless sun and negligible rainfall. Bob Willis had Greenidge LBW early on for a duck but in came Richards to plunder a fabulous 291. We all thought the Sobers record of 365 was absolutely there for the taking. Tony Greig was probably the only man there celebrating when he bowled the great man. Indeed, the crowd was full of can-tapping Caribbean fans anyway. To his credit Dennis Amiss responded with a double of his own but England were still dismissed 250-odd short. Instead of enforcing the follow-on, Clive Lloyd sent in Fredericks and Greenidge to smash 182 in 32 overs before on the final day Michael Holding was unplayable and the series was theirs. Everybody remembers Holding breaking wickets and English hearts that day but it was Viv's 291 and series aggregate of 829 which provided the anchor - nay the shield and sword - for that success. It was Greig who grovelled and the Windies never looked back.

Steve Smith produced a wonderful sequence of scores in the past few weeks but for excitement he has a long way to go to beat those performances of Gavaskar and Richards.

England v India - Dravid and Botham the Stars of the Past

In the past four decades, India have played 30 Tests in England and have won only four. Nevertheless those victories have come at opportune times, contributing to series victories in 1986 and 2007. Of course 2011 witnessed India's humiliating 4-0 drubbing, more humbling than even England's Ashes debacle last winter. When looking back over the nine series played in this period, there have been great batting performances from both sides, but it is with the bowling that England have dominated. This is apparent when selecting my teams of the past forty years.

ENGLAND: Graham Gooch will always be remembered for his 333 against India in 1990, and nobody has scored more than the 1134 runs he accumulated against this opposition in England across ten Tests. Michael Vaughan, though, boasts a superior average, at 75.83. His 910 runs were scored in only seven matches, including two scores of 190+ in 2002. Even Mike Atherton has a decent record at home to India but Gooch and Vaughan are my openers.

Kevin Pietersen's record is also excellent. He amassed 878 runs at almost 80 between 2007 and 2011, the highlight being his unbeaten 202 in the Lord's success almost exactly three years ago. Ian Bell played in the same seven Tests, collecting 694 at 52.87, a touch higher than David Gower's average. However, the former England strokemaker appeared twelve times and made 833 runs. At this point, I have to confess I have ignored a batsman who has an average of 260 at home to India! Nevertheless, he fails to make my team because David 'Bumble' Lloyd scored those 260 runs in only two games, albeit including an unbeaten 214 forty summers ago. Although Matt Prior has a century to his name, Alec Stewart's 423 runs at 52.87 between 1996 and 2002 earns him the gloves.

Perhaps surprisingly, Ian Botham's career batting average of 80.87 is the best of anyone in the last nine England v India rubbers. He never liked touring the subcontinent but he made up for it by destroying India on home territory, with bat and ball. 647 runs and 29 wickets at 27 make for an exceptional set of all-round statistics. His 11 catches also put him second behind Gooch amongst non-wicketkeepers in this period.

Bob Willis claimed one more victim than Beefy; 30 at an average of 24.16. Mike Hendrick is an under-rated England stalwart. History has been less kind to him than, say, Botham and Willis, but his swing and seam in '74 were as dangerous as anybody's. His match figures of 7-71 did as much as Lloyd's double-century to beat India by an innings in that game at Edgbaston. In '74 and '79 he took 26 wickets at under 17 apiece. Moving forward to more recent times, Stuart Broad's series average of 13.84 in 2011 is even more special, and he makes my fantasy XI alongside Jimmy Anderson. While the latter's average of 27 is not spectacular, his wicket tally of 35 is unsurpassed on the England side.

INDIA: The visitors, of course, have had their fair share of superstars even if some didn't quite reproduce their form for India in England. Gambhir, Bedi, Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh spring to mind. It's no surprise that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have more runs to their name than anybody else on either team. Dravid collected 1376 runs at 68.80 and was India's sole beacon of excellence in that disastrous 2011 series. Three of his six centuries came in that run of four heavy defeats. Some of his runs came as an opener, so he starts alongside the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. In 13 Tests between 1974 and 1986, he made 1008 runs at 46.

SRT represented his country 17 times in Test matches in England and his average of 54.31 more or less matches his career record around the world. Saurav Ganguly scored fewer runs (960 to the Little Master's 1575) but 65.35 makes for a superior batting average. He was player of the series in 1996 and led his country with a 128 to an innings defeat of Hussain's side at Headingley in 2002. My middle-order is completed by Dilip Vengsarkar. He and Gavaskar did so much to keep Indian innings afloat in the 1970s and early '80s, as witnessed by his rearguard 157 at Lord's in '82 and 102 not out in the Headingley victory four years later.

MS Dhoni pips Faroukh Engineer to the wicketkeeper slot, but not by much. India's all-rounder line-up pretty much begins and ends with Kapil Dev. Ravi Shastri had his moments in England but his spin bowling netted him a mere 11 wickets at over 70 apiece! Kapil's average of 39.18 is nothing to write home about but he did claim 43 wickets with his fast bowling and score 638 runs at 35.44 with the bat. His only century came in his last appearance in 1990 but his most memorable innings was an 89 in 55 balls at Lord's in 1982. It merely delayed the inevitable defeat but it did make England bat again and give Botham and Willis something to fret about for an hour or so.

None of India's great spinners set the world alight over here, but Anil Kumble gets a place in my team because of his 36 wickets. Chetan Sharma (16 wickets at 18.75 in 1986) and Praveen Kumar (15 at under 30 in 2011) have decent records in single series but my India XI is completed by Zaheer Khan. 31 wickets at under 28 represents a decent return over eight Tests, and his nine wickets at Trent Bridge seven years ago earned him the MOTM award.

In summary;
ENGLAND: Gooch, Vaughan (*), Pietersen, Gower, Bell, Stewart (+), Botham, Broad, Anderson, Hendrick, Willis
INDIA: Gavaskar, Dravid, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar, Ganguly (*), Dhoni (+), Kapil Dev, Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Kumar, Sharma

England v India - India's Best XI

With only five home Tests against England in the last decade, my picks for India's best XI of the past forty years is short of players likely to feature in the forthcoming series. No Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Gambhir or Sehwag. However, it's a formidable line-up in anyone's book.

Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar played 22 times in these fixtures but only in 1982 did he really show his true talent. His average of 36 was well short of his Test career figure of 51 but his aggregate of 1331 runs makes him an automatic choice. No other opener has scored particularly highly, so I'm making Sunil's partner his 1970s team-mate Farokh Engineer. A wicket-keeper who usually batted at six or seven, his highest score in five-day cricket came at the top of the order at Bombay in February 1973. He was a fine 'keeper, too, and he needed to be when standing up to India's spin quartet of that era.

The middle-order is so hard to pick. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar didn't disappoint against England, scoring over 1400 runs between them. The Little Master has aggregated 848 in eleven games at more than 60. So what about Ganguly and Laxman? Well, they don't make it. Neither does Duleep Vengsarkar, the elegant strokeplayer from an earlier age. Instead, disgraced former captain Mohammad Azharuddin is my number five. He is the only man in the past four decades to have notched four centuries in the India vs England series, peakng with 182 at Eden Gardens in 1993, and averaging 93 in only six Tests. Creeping in at number six is another regular from the '70s, Gundappa Viswanath. More squat than Vengsarkar, he nonetheless compiled more than 1000 runs and struck by far his top Test score, 222, in the 1982 draw at Chennai towards the end of his career.

Kapil Dev outstrips Ravi Shastri in the all-rounder stakes, averaging almost 48 with the bat and capturing 42 wickets at 35 apiece. In any case, there are so many other fabulous spinners to choose from. The most prolific wicket-taker in these series is also one of the highest wicket-takers in Test history: Anil Kumble. He played only nine Tests at home to England yet snaffled 56 victims at only 23 apiece, utterly dominant in both 1993 and 2001 in particular.

I've already mentioned the Fab Four spinners from the '60s and '70s and three of them could easily join this particular fantasy XI. However, poor Kapil Dev can't be expected to shoulder the pace burden alone, so I'm pairing him on the new ball with Madan Lal. Maybe not an all-time great, and he looked very ordinary on English pitches, but he proved to be an admirable foil for his more illustrious compatriots in 1981-2. That leaves only two more places. Harbhajan Singh was in the frame, as was Prasanna, but the line-up is completed by Bishan Bedi and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar. Both took more than 50 wickets at home to England at averages below 25. They bowled so many overs they often simply ground down visiting batsmen into submission. Were Indian pitches in those days realy prepared for spinners? Bedi, Venkat, Chandra and Prasanna reigned supreme together in the Indian attack for more than a decade but their longevity also owes much to the dearth of seam talent at the time. After all, English fast men were also quite successful on those same strips, as I shall elaborate upon next time....

A recap on my India vs England Eleven:-

Gavaskar, Engineer (+), Dravid, Tendulkar, Azharuddin (*), Viswanath, Kapil Dev, Kumble, Madan Lal, Bedi, Chandrasehkar.