Published: May 24, 2015, 06:30 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 21, 2015, 09:22 PM (IST)
June 11, 1946. The Indians were on top of Glamorgan during their tour match at Cardiff Arms Park. Then John Clay and Vijay Merchant came to a mutual agreement, which allowed Chandu Sarwate to dismiss Peter Judge twice in two minutes. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back.
The tour did not start well for Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi’s Indians. They lost a cliff-hanger to Worcestershire at New Road in the tour opener. They conceded a lead to Oxford. And then, they were reduced to 205 against Surrey at The Oval, and all seemed lost. Then Chandu Sarwate and Shute Banerjee forged a 249-run last-wicket stand and the tourists romped to a 9-wicket win.
Things took a different course after that: Cambridge was bettered by an innings; the tourists had the better of Leicestershire in a rain-affected draw; a strong MCC were humiliated, again by an innings; and Hampshire lost by 6 wickets despite a 67-run lead.
The match
Pataudi stood down from the match, allowing Vijay Merchant to lead. Merchant would finish the tour 2,385 runs at 74.53; here, too, he scored a polished 52. Vijay Hazare and Vinoo Mankad, both veterans in First-Class cricket, clung to the crease grimly on a rain-affected day.
The score read 141 for 2 at stumps. Hazare fell for 86 and Mankad for 79 respectively next morning. Both men would go on to make their Test debuts on the tour.
The tourists pressed for the declaration; Lala Amarnath, deported from English shores a decade back, lit up Cardiff Arms Park with a dazzling unbeaten 104. Johnnie Clay, the 48-year old Glamorgan captain (who could oscillate between seam-up, swing, off-breaks, and leg-breaks) tried to tie them down with 2 for 65 from 35 overs. Merchant declared at 376 for 6.
Hazare, Mankad, and Sarwate claimed a wicket apiece as Glamorgan reached 77 for 3 at close. They trailed by 299.
Sarwate and Mankad kept striking next morning. Glamorgan were reduced to 103 for 5 and later 137 for 8. Haydn Davies and Clay added 12 more. They were still 227 short, and needed another 78 to save the follow-on.
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Then Sarwate struck, running through Davies’ defence. 149 for 9.
Peter Judge, with no pretension of being a batsman, walked out. A former Middlesex player, Judge had moved to Glamorgan just before World War II. During the War he served duties in India, playing Bombay Pentangular for Europeans and Ranji Trophy for Bengal.
Judge lived up to his reputation of being a rank tail-ender, and was bowled by Sarwate first ball. Merchant enforced the follow-on.
The Clay play
What followed led to some confusion across the ground. It is not clear whether Merchant and Clay had decided it beforehand, but Clay and Judge opened innings after the follow-on. In other words, the pair stayed on.
With little time left in the match, Clay had decided to play for the crowd. Clay and Merchant, upon mutual agreement, decided to do away with the inter-innings interval altogether to reduce loss of time. It took less time for the match to resume than it took you to read this paragraph.
Sarwate opened bowling (probably to reduce warm-up time for others). Judge took strike, and was bowled second ball for the second time in two minutes. Judge’s pair is the fastest in First-Class cricket history.
Wilf Wooller scored a gutsy 24, but three quick wickets reduced Glamorgan to 48 for 6. Maurice Johnson and Arthur Porter eventually saved the match. Though Porter hit one back to Amarnath off his bowling, Glamorgan finished on 73 for 7.
What followed?
– India lost the Test series 0-1, but had an excellent tour otherwise, winning 11 First-Class matches and losing 4 out of 29. In all matches they won 13, drew 16, and lost 4.
– Sarwate finished the tour with 382 runs at 23.87 and 37 wickets at 25.37.
– Judge played for another season. His 454 First-Class runs came at 7.56 and did not contain a fifty.
Brief scores:
Indians 376 for 6 decl. (Vijay Merchant 52, Vinoo Mankad 86, Vijay Hazare 79, Lala Amarnath 104*) drew with Glamorgan 149 (Vinoo Mankad 4 for 68; Chandu Sarwate 5 for 30) and 73 for 7 (Vinoo Mankad 3 for 31).
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
