Published: Jan 08, 2016, 07:00 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 07, 2016, 06:58 PM (IST)
November 6, 2003. A freak incident at Harare had almost brought the Test match to a standstill. Strangely, it was golf that helped out and it resulted in a thriller of a contest. Arunabha Sengupta relieves the day an auger from a golf club came to the rescue of cricket.
It happened a mere dozen or so years ago, but it does seem like an age of myth and legend.
The Zimbabweans were still a remarkably strong unit, although Andy Flower had announced retirement and his brother Grant was not available for the Test. And West Indies, although the firepower in their bowling had dwindled considerably since the retirement of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, were not the measly, miserable pushovers they have become. Indeed, the Caribbean flavour still made their batting something to savour.
And in the end it turned out to be a dramatic Test match, enthralling till the last delivery. Perhaps it would have been just if Zimbabwe had managed to pull off the victory they deserved so much; but Ridley Jacobs dug in and so did the greenhorn Fidel Edwards. The light, which had faded out way too quickly on Day Two to rob 36 vital minutes, again on Day Three to chop off 11 overs and finally at 51 minutes past 5 on the final day, did have a bearing on the result.
The organisers did try to make up for the lost time, scheduling an early start on the third day. But it was then that freak incident took place putting a spanner in the wheels, delaying proceedings by two hours, eclipsing the well-intentioned 30-minutes of additional play. In retrospect, that delay did go a long way in influencing the edge-of-the-seat stalemate.
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The Harare Test had started with a familiar tale of unkept promises when the hosts had batted on the first day, with some decent starts fizzling out into undisciplined dismissals. But at 154 for 5, young Tatenda Taibu had joined hands with his former schoolmate Stuart Matsikenyeri and the 79-run collaboration had been indicative of things to follow.
On the second day, Taibu had lost his stumps for 83, but Heath Streak, that brilliant and hugely under-rated stalwart, had remained patient, watchful and correct. There had been none of the slogs that Streak was extremely capable of pulling off, and at the other end Andy Blignaut had lent a steady hand. The star all-rounder, in his 56th Test match, had cruised to his maiden Test hundred and Blignaut had missed his by 9. The two had put on 168 for the eighth wicket. West Indian captain Brian Lara had bowled everyone but himself and wicketkeeper Jacobs, with opening batsmen Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds sharing 34 overs between them.
Zimbabwe had amassed 507 for 9 when Streak, on a personal score of 127, had declared the innings.
Gayle and Hinds had been out there for only 16 balls when the light had become murky. At 24 minutes past four the players had walked in and 36 minutes had been lost.
Golf to the rescue
The following day the game was supposed to resume half an hour earlier than usual to make up for lost time. The players arrived early and started warming up in the outfield. The pitch was being rolled, the sun shining, all the makings for a good day’s cricket.
And suddenly there was this bizarre turn of events. Trevor Gripper, the Zimbabwean opening batsman, struck the ball towards the middle. It travelled on to the pitch just as the roller was making its way across the 22-yards. And it rolled right over the ball. When the groundsmen stopped to take a look, they found a deep indentation on the wicket. It was at a rather vital spot, just short of the fast bowler’s good length to a left-handed batsman.
This was not good news. Five of the top seven West Indian batsmen were southpaws — Hinds, Gayle, Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jacobs. A glum-faced Gundappa Viswanath, the match-referee, scrutinised the damage with the two worthy umpires Billy Bowden and Simon Taufel. The curator was consulted.
Hastily, an auger was fetched from the golf course of the Harare Sports Club. The groundsmen started working diligently to replace the turf.
It was a painstaking endeavour … and time consuming. The men sweated for a couple of hours. The resulting surface looked repaired, but it was left to the West Indian captain to decide whether he wanted to play on the patched up wicket.
And in a gesture that earned widespread respect, Lara agreed to go ahead with the game. The help from the golf course had saved the Test match. Did Lara’s fascination with this other sport play a role? We don’t know.
Viswanath now postponed the lunch interval by an hour and a half to allow a two-hour session.
What followed?
The golfing intervention had not implanted any demon in the wicket. Gayle and Hinds put on 50 in just 57 minutes. After that Hinds and Daren Ganga produced pleasing knocks and West Indies were cruising past 200 with just three wickets down. However, some quick blows by Ray Price, the left-arm spinner, reduced them to 241 for 6 when bad light stopped play on the third afternoon.
The visitors just managed to scrape past the follow-on mark on the following morning with eight wickets down. In the end the hosts led by 172, with Price capturing 6 for 72, then the second-best figures for Zimbabwe.
The need of the hour was quick runs, but the home batsmen faltered in this regard. One wondered when some big hitters like Blignaut would be seen walking out, or whether Streak would promote himself up the order. However, one had to contend oneself with watching the small frame of Taibu trot out at 107 for 5 early on the fifth day.
Matsikenyeri did slam a couple of sixes, but perhaps Zimbabwe declared a bit too late, with a bit too many runs on the board. They set West Indies 373 in a minimum of 83 overs. Perhaps the presence of Lara in the batting card stopped them from becoming too adventurous.
In the end, Lara fell for just 1, leg before to Streak, and West Indies were reeling at 38 for 3. Streak and Price looked likely to knock the rest of the batting over, aided by some casual and carefree approach of the visitors.
When Ramnaresh Sarwan uncharacteristically jumped out to Gripper to be stumped, it was 103 for 5, with 44.3 overs remaining. Even the hugely experienced pair of Chanderpaul and Jacobs seemed to find it difficult to keep their heads down. Luckily for the men from Caribbean, the potency of the Zimbabwean attack barely extended beyond Streak and Price.
An hour after tea, Price snared Chanderpaul. There were still 24 overs to go, and Zimbabwe needed four wickets. With the left-arm spinner beginning to tire, Blignaut now bowled a thrilling spell, getting Vasbert Drakes and Jerome Taylor in quick succession.
Soon Price struck again, getting rid of Corey Collymore, thus picking up his tenth wicket of the match. There were 71 more deliveries to knock over the final West Indian wicket. And Edwards, playing only his second Test, trudged out to join the dogged Jacobs at the wicket.
But now the light faded again, and Streak was forced to pull Blignaut out of the attack. Neither could he bowl himself. The remaining overs were entrusted to the exhausted but persevering Price and the part-time breaks of Gripper.
The two spinners tried their hardest to dislodge this last bit of resistance. But Jacobs held fast, and surprisingly so did Edwards. One by one the remaining deliveries were negotiated. Runs were no longer required. Jacobs added just two to his score, Edwards ran just one single. But they managed to keep the ball out.
The tweakers took just 32 minutes to send down the remaining 71 balls. Good thing that they did, because after that the light was way too poor for any sort of bowling. But the last wicket did not materialise.
With nine minutes to go to six, Edwards played a maiden to Gripper and the 83 overs were bowled. The umpires offered the batsmen the light which was gladly grasped and the match ended in a draw.
Yes, the two hours lost on the morning of Day Three did come back to haunt the Zimbabweans. However, but for the help from the golf course, the match could have been delayed even further into a premature stalemate. The borrowed auger did ensure one of the most enthralling offinishes.
Brief Scores:
Zimbabwe 507 (Trevor Gripper 41, Craig Wishart 47, Stuart Matsikenyeri 57, Tatenda Taibu 83, Heath Streak 127*, Andy Blignaut 91; Fidel Edwards 5 for 133) and 200 for 7 decl. (Stuart Matsikenyeri 46*; Vasbert Drakes 4 for 67) drew with West Indies335 (Wavell Hinds 79, Daren Ganga 73; Ray Price 6 for 73) and 207 for 9 (Ridley Jacobs 60*; Ray Price 4 for 88).
(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history of cricket, with occasional statistical pieces and reflections on the modern game. He is also the author of four novels, the most recent being Sherlock Holmes and the Birth of The Ashes. He tweets here.)
