You might want to investigate the records of Hugh Trumble or Charles Turner or Joey Palmer - we did have some great off-spinners a long time ago.
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Best Bowling Attack Ever
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You might want to investigate the records of Hugh Trumble or Charles Turner or Joey Palmer - we did have some great off-spinners a long time ago.
D'oh your right.
I didn't think so at all. Did all of those Pakistan players appear in the same team? Why did he not just specify exact games if that were the case?
VicO
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How many times did this attack actually all play together?
Larwood, Voce and Verity weren't bad.
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Just 6. 2 in England in 1980 and 4 at home against India in 1983. 3 wins and 3 draws.
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Following on from the point that Holding/Roberts/Marshall/Garner only played together 6 times.
In 1985/86 England got slaughtered by West Indies 5-0 & I think that for at least some of the Tests the Windies attack was
Marshall
Patterson
Holding
Garner.
Now for sure Holding wasn't as quick as he'd been and Patrick Patterson never reached the level of being a 'great' but for a year or two he was the nastiest bowler in world cricket, quite possibly the quickest & maybe the most feared.
The 1st Test was at Sabina Park & it was a 2 paced pitch, shiny & rock hard in the middle giving plenty of pace for the short stuff but also a nice layering of grass at each end to further discomfort the batsmen.
Graham Gooch, who was pretty fearless & a great player of quick bowling said that it was the only time in his career that he feared for his safety.
J Garner 27@ 16.14
MD Marshall 27@17.85
BP Patterson 19@22.42
MA Holding 16@24.06
These are the wickets & averages for those 4 in the series, Holding missed 1 Test.
In 1985/86 England got slaughtered by West Indies 5-0 & I think that for at least some of the Tests the Windies attack was
Marshall
Patterson
Holding
Garner.
Now for sure Holding wasn't as quick as he'd been and Patrick Patterson never reached the level of being a 'great' but for a year or two he was the nastiest bowler in world cricket, quite possibly the quickest & maybe the most feared.
The 1st Test was at Sabina Park & it was a 2 paced pitch, shiny & rock hard in the middle giving plenty of pace for the short stuff but also a nice layering of grass at each end to further discomfort the batsmen.
Graham Gooch, who was pretty fearless & a great player of quick bowling said that it was the only time in his career that he feared for his safety.
J Garner 27@ 16.14
MD Marshall 27@17.85
BP Patterson 19@22.42
MA Holding 16@24.06
These are the wickets & averages for those 4 in the series, Holding missed 1 Test.
courtjester
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Patterson was brutal.
I reckon he must have been about the scariest quick ever.
I reckon he must have been about the scariest quick ever.
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Meant to say "one of the best off-spinners we've produced"....lol!
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Winner for mine as would definitely take one of those Windies line ups. They were simply unbelievable and edge the Aus attack for mine despite the greatness of Warne and also of Mcgrath. There was 1-2 years where the worst bowler in that group Patterson was absolutely brutal and the most dangerous bowler l have ever seen. Actually like Bishop for a while before injury it was thought that those two would become all time greats. Its hard to describe how fearsome Patterson was, but many batsman from that period have remarked on the incredibly serious edge his bowling had then. Marshall is the best bowler l have ever seen, could do everything, and Holding would also be in the top 5 with Akram, Warne and DK (and then Mcgrath). Garner was also A++ at this time. This is the attack l would least like to bat against or indeed bowl against Aus.
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The weakness of Australia is probably the 4th spot, but Mcgrath Warne and Gillespie were excellent for a long time. McGraths role in the side was probably underestimated, Warnes record would not have been as good without him. He was supurb and created a shiteload of wickets for others, along with all the ones he took himself
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How many tests did those 4 play together?
Answer: 0
That's just like saying
McGrath
Lillee
Thompson
Warne
Are the best lineup ever.
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Long innings.Then when he is done all you gotta do is deal with Marshall, Ambrose and Garner.
How many did Akram, Younis, Akhtar, Razzaq, Mushtaq and Afridi play together?
The OP nominated the eras “Pakistan late 90s”, “West Indian quicks” and “Aussies early 00s”.
Very short innings.
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Dunno, seems the OP doesn't know is arse from is elbow. He's sort of done a fantasy line-up for Pakistand and West Indies and a real one for us.
But most on the thread have been talking about actual attacks that happened in real life. None of this fantasy cricket bollocks.
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When Holding finished up in 87, Ambrose didn't come along til 88. Pretty long wait. Must be a big innings. Probably his maiden test Gorilla. At least.
Yeah fair enough, I assumed from the above that he could not have meant actual line-ups.
You're assuming there would have been batsmen left by the time they got to the 4th bowler.
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The Windies side he put did actually play together as did the Aussie one.
The Pakistan one seems unlikely, I dunno if anyone can confirm if they did all take the field together?
I'm assuming though that he knows that they did.
Actually just looked at Cricinfo & they did form the attack in a one dayer v NZ in 2001 whether they came together in a Test though I still don't know.
The thing is it would probably be a better attack without needing to have Razzaq on board, he'd be pretty surplus.
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Suprised Mushtaq Ahmed wasn't thrown into the mix for Pakistan. I know he was more mid '90s than late '90s, but he did do some damage against Australia - leading wicket taker after Warne (19 wickets to Warney, 18 to Mushy) in the 3 test series in Australia back in 1995-96.
I think Akram, Waqar, Saqlain and Mustaq was a pretty underrated attack (not as good as the great West Indian or Aussie attacks, but still), and it was mainly the Pakistanis' batting that let them down in that 1995-96 series.
I think for pure fear factor, the 1988-89 West Indies side that beat Australia 3-1 in Australia would have to be up there as well - Ambrose, Marshall, Patterson, Walsh. That attack also defeated Australia 2-1 in the West Indies in 1990-91.
The bowlers Australia had in the 1990-91 Ashes were decent as well - Alderman, Hughes, McDermott, Reid - and all had double-figure wicket tallies for the series.
Hughes, Reiffel, Warne and May proved to be a very effective attack in the 1993 Ashes as well.
But after all that, those that I've mentioned are probably a fair cut below the best, and I'd say that a McGrath/Warne/Gillespie or a Marshall/Holding/Garner led attack would probably be the benchmark.
I think Akram, Waqar, Saqlain and Mustaq was a pretty underrated attack (not as good as the great West Indian or Aussie attacks, but still), and it was mainly the Pakistanis' batting that let them down in that 1995-96 series.
I think for pure fear factor, the 1988-89 West Indies side that beat Australia 3-1 in Australia would have to be up there as well - Ambrose, Marshall, Patterson, Walsh. That attack also defeated Australia 2-1 in the West Indies in 1990-91.
The bowlers Australia had in the 1990-91 Ashes were decent as well - Alderman, Hughes, McDermott, Reid - and all had double-figure wicket tallies for the series.
Hughes, Reiffel, Warne and May proved to be a very effective attack in the 1993 Ashes as well.
But after all that, those that I've mentioned are probably a fair cut below the best, and I'd say that a McGrath/Warne/Gillespie or a Marshall/Holding/Garner led attack would probably be the benchmark.
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A few interesting stories about West Indian fast bowlers, courtesy of Wikipedia and CricInfo:
Andy Roberts (Test Career 1974-1983)
"Despite an excellent record in Tests his international career was relatively short and ended in 1983. Imran Khan (former captain Pakistan national cricket team) once described a ball bowled to him by Andy Roberts as the fastest and most terrifying he had ever faced."
"One of his trademarks was the use of two different bouncers. One was delivered at a slower pace and was often dealt with quite easily by the batsman. However, this was a ploy by Roberts to lull the batsman into a false sense of security. Roberts would then deliver the second bouncer, pitching in a similar spot to the first, but delivered at far greater pace. The batsman would attempt to play this delivery in the same fashion as the first slower bouncer only to be surprised by the extra pace and bounce of the ball. Many batsmen were dismissed- and many more struck painful blows- by Roberts using this ploy."
Michael Holding (Test Career 1975-1987)
"One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. Holding was an outstanding athlete as a teenager and used skills acquired from running the 400 metres on the cricket pitch, with one of the longest and most rhythmic run-ups in world cricket. His bowling was smooth and very fast, and he used his height (6 ft 3½ in/1.92 m) to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch."
"Holding was the bowler in what is often described as "the greatest over in Test history", which he bowled in 1981 in Bridgetown to English batsman Geoff Boycott. The first five balls increased in pace, causing Boycott to have to react very rapidly to avoid being hit. The final ball saw Boycott clean bowled, to the great delight of the crowd."
Wayne Daniel (Test Career 1976-1984)
"A hostile and muscular fast bowler, Daniel seemed assured of a long and potent test career when he, in partnership with the lithe Michael Holding and the brooding Andy Roberts, battered England into submission in 1976. Although Holding and Roberts resumed their test careers after the World Series Cricket interregnum Daniel was less fortunate as Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh came to the fore. Daniel found himself in the international wilderness at a time when the West Indies were awash with fast bowling talent."
Joel Garner (Test Career 1977-1987)
"In Test cricket he played 58 Tests between 1977 and 1987 and took 259 wickets at an average of barely above 20, making him statistically one of the most effective bowlers of all time."
Colin Croft (Test Career 1977-1982)
"With his height, he bowled bouncers and was very aggressive. He was renowned for bowling wide of the crease over the wicket and angling the ball in to right-handers. Croft's figures of 8/29 against Pakistan in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies."
""Crofty," a West Indian team-mate once said, "would bounce his grandmother if he thought there was a wicket in it." In a relatively brief career lasting just five years, he established a reputation as one of the most chilling of fast men, with no compunction whatsoever about inflicting pain"
Malcolm Marshall (Test Career 1978-1991)
"By 1984 Marshall was seen as one of the finest bowlers in the world, and he demoralised England that summer, especially at Headingly, where he ran through the order in the second innings to finish with 7-53, despite having broken his thumb whilst fielding in the first innings. He also came out to bat at number 11 in West Indies' first innings despite his injury, allowing his team to gain a further psychological advantage as Larry Gomes completed an unbeaten century (Marshall batted one-handed that day). In that series, too, he also ended Andy Lloyd's Test career after just half an hour after hitting him on the head."
"In 1984/85 he had another successful series at home against New Zealand, although there were calls for his bouncers to be ruled as intimidatory beyond what was acceptable, and that Marshall should have been admonished by the umpires. As well as the bouncer, however, Marshall succeeded in swinging the ball in both direction. He also used an in-swinging yorker as well as developing an effective leg-cutter, and with the exception of the 1986/87 New Zealanders against whom he could only manage nine wickets at 32.11, no side seemed to have an answer to him."
Sylvester Clarke (Test Career 1978-1982)
"Although his Test bowling figures do not suggest it, Clarke had gained a reputation as the most feared West Indian fast bowler of his generation. Viv Richards claimed Clarke was the one bowler he did not enjoy batting against while David Gower stated that Clarke was the quickest he ever faced."
Winston Davis (Test Career 1983-1988)
"Lean, and able to produce genuine pace off a relatively short run, in any other era for any other country Winston Davis would have been a regular Test player, but he had the ill fortune to be at his best at the very same time West Indies possessed a battery of outstanding quick bowlers."
Courtney Walsh (Test Career 1984-2001)
"During the first part of his career, Walsh served as the "stock" bowler in an attack featuring Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and later Curtly Ambrose, but after the retirement of Marshall and Garner took the role as opening bowler. His action lacked the elegance of those bowlers, but its economy and his natural athleticism ensured he was accurate and durable, even over very long spells and he used his height (about 198 cm, or six-foot-six) to extract occasionally vicious bounce. Even as he lost pace in the latter stage of his career he continued to take wickets at an undiminished rate; teams tended to defend against him and Ambrose and attack the weaker third and fourth bowlers."
Patrick Patterson (1986-1992)
"In a Test Match in Melbourne, 1988-89, during Christmas, just before second last days play, Steve Waugh decided to bounce Patterson. At the end of the day's play, Patterson stormed into the Australian dressing room and threatened to kill all the opposition batsmen on the pitch on the fifth and final day of play. Australia were then dismissed for 114 chasing 400. Patterson finished with five wickets in the innings and nine wickets for the match."
Tony Gray (Test Career 1986-1987)
"Given his record, Trinidad paceman Tony Gray was a bit unlucky not to play more than five Tests and 25 one-day internationals. His stats are sensational: Gray averaged 17 with the ball in Tests, and 18 in one-dayers, when he took a wicket every 28 balls. That included 6 for 50 against Australia in an ODI on his home ground in 1990-91. His 6ft 6ins allowed Gray to generate disconcerting bounce, which allied to genuine pace made him a fearsome proposition. But injuries, added to the emergence of the likes of Ian Bishop, limited his appearances."
Winston Benjamin (Test Career 1987-1995)
"Winston Benjamin had the bit of devil that marked out many of his West Indian peers as great fast bowlers, but he only ever really attained the ranks of the good. Short and whippy, in 21 Tests (spread over nearly eight years) he never took a five-for and never took the new ball."
Curtly Ambrose (Test Career 1988-2000)
"In Test cricket, he had 98 caps, bowled 1,001 maiden overs (roughly two in every seven) and took 405 wickets (making him only the fifth to exceed the 400 barrier) at an average of 20.99. This superb average is marginally bettered only by fellow West Indians Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and Joel Garner (20.97) among bowlers who have taken more than 200 wickets. In addition, Ambrose also boasts the best economy rate of any of the nine bowlers who have taken 400 or more Test wickets, at 2.31 per over. His best performance was eight for 45 against England at Barbados in 1990 (in 34 Tests against England he took 164 wickets, dismissing Mike Atherton seventeen times); he took five wickets or better on 22 occasions, including seven wickets for one run against Australia at the WACA, in Perth, in 1993. He also bowled an infamous fifteen-ball over at the same ground: it contained nine no-balls and took twelve minutes to bowl, making it possibly the longest over in Test cricket."
"Ambrose was a man of few words, refusing countless interview requests with the motto "Curtly don't talk to no man.""
"He was recently placed at No. 3 in Shane Warne's list of the fifty greatest cricketers of his time, while Ian Botham in his book Botham's Century noted that, although "a cricketer who thrived on aggression and menace", Ambrose was "the most reluctant and detached of heroes", indeed "one of the quietest that I ever encountered". As a bowler, he was always "miserly accurate" but occasionally, when fired up, "as unforgiving and as devastating as a hurricane", and "virtually unplayable""
Ian Bishop (Test Career 1989-1998)
"He reached 100 test wickets in only 21 test matches. A powerful fast bowler with a talent for outswing, severe back injuries cut him down in 1991. He rehabilitated strongly and made adjustments to his bowling action, returning strongly late in 1992. however in 1993, he was struck by injuries again, not returning until mid 1995, thus what was at one stage a highly promising career had been substantially reduced."
Kenny Benjamin (Test Career 1992-1998)
"A valuable support act for Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, Kenny Benjamin helped to prop up West Indies' fading pace dynasty until the late 1990s. Like a Caribbean Lance Klusener, he took a very straight approach to the wicket, then bowled from the shoulder, without much attempt at body action. A well-built fast bowler from Antigua, he made his Test debut in the inaugural match against South Africa in 1991-92 and then once on the tour of Australia the following winter. Although onlt taking two wickets at Adelaide, he subjected the Australians to a fast and furious barrage"
Over that '70s/'80s/early '90s period, the depth of talent in West Indian fast bowling seems just unbelievable.
Andy Roberts (Test Career 1974-1983)
"Despite an excellent record in Tests his international career was relatively short and ended in 1983. Imran Khan (former captain Pakistan national cricket team) once described a ball bowled to him by Andy Roberts as the fastest and most terrifying he had ever faced."
"One of his trademarks was the use of two different bouncers. One was delivered at a slower pace and was often dealt with quite easily by the batsman. However, this was a ploy by Roberts to lull the batsman into a false sense of security. Roberts would then deliver the second bouncer, pitching in a similar spot to the first, but delivered at far greater pace. The batsman would attempt to play this delivery in the same fashion as the first slower bouncer only to be surprised by the extra pace and bounce of the ball. Many batsmen were dismissed- and many more struck painful blows- by Roberts using this ploy."
Michael Holding (Test Career 1975-1987)
"One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. Holding was an outstanding athlete as a teenager and used skills acquired from running the 400 metres on the cricket pitch, with one of the longest and most rhythmic run-ups in world cricket. His bowling was smooth and very fast, and he used his height (6 ft 3½ in/1.92 m) to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch."
"Holding was the bowler in what is often described as "the greatest over in Test history", which he bowled in 1981 in Bridgetown to English batsman Geoff Boycott. The first five balls increased in pace, causing Boycott to have to react very rapidly to avoid being hit. The final ball saw Boycott clean bowled, to the great delight of the crowd."
Wayne Daniel (Test Career 1976-1984)
"A hostile and muscular fast bowler, Daniel seemed assured of a long and potent test career when he, in partnership with the lithe Michael Holding and the brooding Andy Roberts, battered England into submission in 1976. Although Holding and Roberts resumed their test careers after the World Series Cricket interregnum Daniel was less fortunate as Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh came to the fore. Daniel found himself in the international wilderness at a time when the West Indies were awash with fast bowling talent."
Joel Garner (Test Career 1977-1987)
"In Test cricket he played 58 Tests between 1977 and 1987 and took 259 wickets at an average of barely above 20, making him statistically one of the most effective bowlers of all time."
Colin Croft (Test Career 1977-1982)
"With his height, he bowled bouncers and was very aggressive. He was renowned for bowling wide of the crease over the wicket and angling the ball in to right-handers. Croft's figures of 8/29 against Pakistan in 1977 are still the best Test innings figures by a fast bowler from the West Indies."
""Crofty," a West Indian team-mate once said, "would bounce his grandmother if he thought there was a wicket in it." In a relatively brief career lasting just five years, he established a reputation as one of the most chilling of fast men, with no compunction whatsoever about inflicting pain"
Malcolm Marshall (Test Career 1978-1991)
"By 1984 Marshall was seen as one of the finest bowlers in the world, and he demoralised England that summer, especially at Headingly, where he ran through the order in the second innings to finish with 7-53, despite having broken his thumb whilst fielding in the first innings. He also came out to bat at number 11 in West Indies' first innings despite his injury, allowing his team to gain a further psychological advantage as Larry Gomes completed an unbeaten century (Marshall batted one-handed that day). In that series, too, he also ended Andy Lloyd's Test career after just half an hour after hitting him on the head."
"In 1984/85 he had another successful series at home against New Zealand, although there were calls for his bouncers to be ruled as intimidatory beyond what was acceptable, and that Marshall should have been admonished by the umpires. As well as the bouncer, however, Marshall succeeded in swinging the ball in both direction. He also used an in-swinging yorker as well as developing an effective leg-cutter, and with the exception of the 1986/87 New Zealanders against whom he could only manage nine wickets at 32.11, no side seemed to have an answer to him."
Sylvester Clarke (Test Career 1978-1982)
"Although his Test bowling figures do not suggest it, Clarke had gained a reputation as the most feared West Indian fast bowler of his generation. Viv Richards claimed Clarke was the one bowler he did not enjoy batting against while David Gower stated that Clarke was the quickest he ever faced."
Winston Davis (Test Career 1983-1988)
"Lean, and able to produce genuine pace off a relatively short run, in any other era for any other country Winston Davis would have been a regular Test player, but he had the ill fortune to be at his best at the very same time West Indies possessed a battery of outstanding quick bowlers."
Courtney Walsh (Test Career 1984-2001)
"During the first part of his career, Walsh served as the "stock" bowler in an attack featuring Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and later Curtly Ambrose, but after the retirement of Marshall and Garner took the role as opening bowler. His action lacked the elegance of those bowlers, but its economy and his natural athleticism ensured he was accurate and durable, even over very long spells and he used his height (about 198 cm, or six-foot-six) to extract occasionally vicious bounce. Even as he lost pace in the latter stage of his career he continued to take wickets at an undiminished rate; teams tended to defend against him and Ambrose and attack the weaker third and fourth bowlers."
Patrick Patterson (1986-1992)
"In a Test Match in Melbourne, 1988-89, during Christmas, just before second last days play, Steve Waugh decided to bounce Patterson. At the end of the day's play, Patterson stormed into the Australian dressing room and threatened to kill all the opposition batsmen on the pitch on the fifth and final day of play. Australia were then dismissed for 114 chasing 400. Patterson finished with five wickets in the innings and nine wickets for the match."
Tony Gray (Test Career 1986-1987)
"Given his record, Trinidad paceman Tony Gray was a bit unlucky not to play more than five Tests and 25 one-day internationals. His stats are sensational: Gray averaged 17 with the ball in Tests, and 18 in one-dayers, when he took a wicket every 28 balls. That included 6 for 50 against Australia in an ODI on his home ground in 1990-91. His 6ft 6ins allowed Gray to generate disconcerting bounce, which allied to genuine pace made him a fearsome proposition. But injuries, added to the emergence of the likes of Ian Bishop, limited his appearances."
Winston Benjamin (Test Career 1987-1995)
"Winston Benjamin had the bit of devil that marked out many of his West Indian peers as great fast bowlers, but he only ever really attained the ranks of the good. Short and whippy, in 21 Tests (spread over nearly eight years) he never took a five-for and never took the new ball."
Curtly Ambrose (Test Career 1988-2000)
"In Test cricket, he had 98 caps, bowled 1,001 maiden overs (roughly two in every seven) and took 405 wickets (making him only the fifth to exceed the 400 barrier) at an average of 20.99. This superb average is marginally bettered only by fellow West Indians Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and Joel Garner (20.97) among bowlers who have taken more than 200 wickets. In addition, Ambrose also boasts the best economy rate of any of the nine bowlers who have taken 400 or more Test wickets, at 2.31 per over. His best performance was eight for 45 against England at Barbados in 1990 (in 34 Tests against England he took 164 wickets, dismissing Mike Atherton seventeen times); he took five wickets or better on 22 occasions, including seven wickets for one run against Australia at the WACA, in Perth, in 1993. He also bowled an infamous fifteen-ball over at the same ground: it contained nine no-balls and took twelve minutes to bowl, making it possibly the longest over in Test cricket."
"Ambrose was a man of few words, refusing countless interview requests with the motto "Curtly don't talk to no man.""
"He was recently placed at No. 3 in Shane Warne's list of the fifty greatest cricketers of his time, while Ian Botham in his book Botham's Century noted that, although "a cricketer who thrived on aggression and menace", Ambrose was "the most reluctant and detached of heroes", indeed "one of the quietest that I ever encountered". As a bowler, he was always "miserly accurate" but occasionally, when fired up, "as unforgiving and as devastating as a hurricane", and "virtually unplayable""
Ian Bishop (Test Career 1989-1998)
"He reached 100 test wickets in only 21 test matches. A powerful fast bowler with a talent for outswing, severe back injuries cut him down in 1991. He rehabilitated strongly and made adjustments to his bowling action, returning strongly late in 1992. however in 1993, he was struck by injuries again, not returning until mid 1995, thus what was at one stage a highly promising career had been substantially reduced."
Kenny Benjamin (Test Career 1992-1998)
"A valuable support act for Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, Kenny Benjamin helped to prop up West Indies' fading pace dynasty until the late 1990s. Like a Caribbean Lance Klusener, he took a very straight approach to the wicket, then bowled from the shoulder, without much attempt at body action. A well-built fast bowler from Antigua, he made his Test debut in the inaugural match against South Africa in 1991-92 and then once on the tour of Australia the following winter. Although onlt taking two wickets at Adelaide, he subjected the Australians to a fast and furious barrage"
Over that '70s/'80s/early '90s period, the depth of talent in West Indian fast bowling seems just unbelievable.
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The Windies quicks beneath the high profile ones were just as scary & often just as quick.
That story about Andy Roberts 2 different bouncers, I heard it before & they added that the first 1 was delivered with a higher arm & the second 1 a bit more slingy, so not only was it quicker but if they pitched in the same spot the 2nd one would come through lower as well as quicker & the intention was to knock a few teeth loose.
Here's an article by Peter Fitzimons that I read years ago in a paper over here showing the aggro of Patrick Patterson, I'd love to think it actually happened:
'Nevertheless, I think I have a beauty. It was told to me by the great Australian batsman, Dean Jones, who positively swore on the head of his daughter it happened, and I have since been told that Merv Hughes also confirms its truth.
The scene is set at a Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval back in February 1989. These were the days when the Windies were the greatest power the cricketing world had ever seen, the days when they used to select 11 fast bowlers in the team and a 12th man who was a fast bowler just to be on the safe side.
And it was into just such a furnace that the young bowler Mervyn Hughes walked - with bat in hand. Figuring fortune favoured the brave, Hughes wielded the willow like an axeman his axe, and somehow - after snicking fortutiously, connecting full-bloodedly, and missing entirely - he finished the day's play at 72 not out.
The tradition in Test cricket is that the batting side take a few beers into the fielding side's dressing-room afterwards, but not on this evening. Instead, Merv took an ice-box full of bottles, so keen was he to give the men of the Windies the full blow-by-blow account of every run he'd made. So it was that half an hour later, Jones - who himself had contributed 216 - and Hughes and several other Australian players were in the Windies dressing-room, when a sudden hush fell upon the gathering.
They looked to the door and there was Sir Donald Bradman himself, being ushered into the room by several South Australian cricket officials. The Don had expressed a desire to meet this mighty team, and now here he was.
For the next 15 minutes or so, the great man was introduced to the visiting players, with each West Indian standing up well before Sir Donald got to their position on the bench. Then, when their time came, they warmly shook his hand and had a few words.
This all proceeded splendidly until Sir Donald got to the last man on the bench, Patrick Patterson - the fastest bowler in the world at that time. So the story goes, not only did Patterson not stand, he simply squinted quizzically up at the octogenarian. Finally, after some 30 seconds of awkward silence, Patterson stood up, all two metres of pure whip-cord steel of him, and looked down at the diminutive Don.
"You, Don Bradman!?!" he snorted. "You, Don Bradman?!?! I kill you, mun! I bowl at you, I kill you! I split you in two!"
In reply, Sir Donald, with his hands on his hips, gazed squarely back at Patterson and calmly retorted: "You couldn't even get Merv Hughes out. You'd have no chance against me, mate!"'
That story about Andy Roberts 2 different bouncers, I heard it before & they added that the first 1 was delivered with a higher arm & the second 1 a bit more slingy, so not only was it quicker but if they pitched in the same spot the 2nd one would come through lower as well as quicker & the intention was to knock a few teeth loose.
Here's an article by Peter Fitzimons that I read years ago in a paper over here showing the aggro of Patrick Patterson, I'd love to think it actually happened:
'Nevertheless, I think I have a beauty. It was told to me by the great Australian batsman, Dean Jones, who positively swore on the head of his daughter it happened, and I have since been told that Merv Hughes also confirms its truth.
The scene is set at a Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval back in February 1989. These were the days when the Windies were the greatest power the cricketing world had ever seen, the days when they used to select 11 fast bowlers in the team and a 12th man who was a fast bowler just to be on the safe side.
And it was into just such a furnace that the young bowler Mervyn Hughes walked - with bat in hand. Figuring fortune favoured the brave, Hughes wielded the willow like an axeman his axe, and somehow - after snicking fortutiously, connecting full-bloodedly, and missing entirely - he finished the day's play at 72 not out.
The tradition in Test cricket is that the batting side take a few beers into the fielding side's dressing-room afterwards, but not on this evening. Instead, Merv took an ice-box full of bottles, so keen was he to give the men of the Windies the full blow-by-blow account of every run he'd made. So it was that half an hour later, Jones - who himself had contributed 216 - and Hughes and several other Australian players were in the Windies dressing-room, when a sudden hush fell upon the gathering.
They looked to the door and there was Sir Donald Bradman himself, being ushered into the room by several South Australian cricket officials. The Don had expressed a desire to meet this mighty team, and now here he was.
For the next 15 minutes or so, the great man was introduced to the visiting players, with each West Indian standing up well before Sir Donald got to their position on the bench. Then, when their time came, they warmly shook his hand and had a few words.
This all proceeded splendidly until Sir Donald got to the last man on the bench, Patrick Patterson - the fastest bowler in the world at that time. So the story goes, not only did Patterson not stand, he simply squinted quizzically up at the octogenarian. Finally, after some 30 seconds of awkward silence, Patterson stood up, all two metres of pure whip-cord steel of him, and looked down at the diminutive Don.
"You, Don Bradman!?!" he snorted. "You, Don Bradman?!?! I kill you, mun! I bowl at you, I kill you! I split you in two!"
In reply, Sir Donald, with his hands on his hips, gazed squarely back at Patterson and calmly retorted: "You couldn't even get Merv Hughes out. You'd have no chance against me, mate!"'
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Ah, Don, Don, how you are missed.
That's even better than when they asked how he'd have got on against Ambrose and Co: "Well I'd like to think I'd have made 50-odd. Then again, you have to remember, I am over 80."
Bomber Bears
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pity he was a surley prick
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