da apostebet： It was a strange sight, the newest entrants to international cricket harassing arguably the best team in the world
da wazamba： Partab Ramchand21-Jun-2007It was in the era of princes that India made their firstofficial tour of England in 1932. The royal families werelavish in promoting the game and employing cricketers, sothey wielded tremendous influence off the field. Naturallyenough, the royals also captained the teams, whether theywere qualified to play or not.Not surprisingly, then, the captain and vice-captain of theIndian team were both princes. The Maharajah of Porbandarwas named captain, while his brother in law, PrinceGyanashyamsinhji of Limbdi, was the vice-captain. Thankfullyhowever, both were aware of their limitations as cricketers,so the captaincy for most of the matches on the tour -including the only Test – passed to CK Nayudu, then theleading personality in Indian cricket.On the lovely summer morning of June 25, 1932, at Lord’s,India stepped out onto the Test field for the first time. AsNayudu led the Indian team out and Douglas Jardine sent inHerbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes to open for England,about 24,000 spectators were present to watch the babes ofinternational cricket. A run-glut was predicted; why, only aweek before, Sutcliffe and Holmes had put on a world record555 runs for the first wicket for Yorkshire against Essex.And yet their partnership this time was restricted to justeight runs. With the first ball of his second over, MohammedNissar yorked Sutcliffe for three, and with the last ball ofthe same over, Nissar sent Holmes’ off-stump cartwheeling.England were 11 for two, and Neville Cardus wrote that theIndians gathered around the broken wicket “like sightseersat a celebrated ruin.” A little later, Lall Singh, an eyecatching figure in his colourful turban, lived up to hisreputation as the side’s best fielder by running out FrankWoolley, and England, after 20 minutes, were 19 for three.It was a strange sight, the newest entrants to internationalcricket harassing arguably the best team in the world. Afterall, only a few months later, England were to defeatAustralia by four matches to one and regain the Ashes albeit by resorting to the controversial Bodyline tactics.But on their first day in Test cricket, India did haveEngland in a corner. Cardus, in his immortal prose, caughtthe scene thus: “In my mind’s eye, I saw the news flashingover the air to far flung places in India, to Punjab andKarachi, to dusky men in the hills, to the bazaars of theEast, to Gandhi himself, and to Gunga Din.”England recovered to make 259, thanks in main to WalterHammond (35), Jardine (79) and Leslie Ames (65). But theopening day’s honours belonged to India and in particular toNissar, who finished with five for 93 off 26 overs. Nissar,a tall, strapping six-footer from Punjab was at the timereputed to be as fast as Harold Larwood in his openingspell. But no less praise was accorded to his partner, LadhaAmar Singh, who took two for 75 off 31.1 overs. Hammond saidthat “he came off the pitch like the crack of doom,” whilemany critics rated the sturdily built quick from Nawanagaras one of the finest bowlers seen in England since World WarI.The top-order Indian batting followed the good work of thebowlers, and thanks to valuable efforts from opener NaoomalJeeomal (33), Wazir Ali (31) and Nayudu (40), India were 110for two. But then opening bowlers Bill Bowes and Bill Vocebrought about a collapse, and India were bowled out for 189.In the second innings, Amar Singh, wrote Wisden, “bowledeven better than before” as England slumped to 67 for four.Again, though, Jardine led a recovery with a typicallyobdurate 85. His partner in the rescue act was Eddie Paynter(54). A declaration at 275 for eight left India with aforbidding target of 359. They were never really in thehunt, particularly after losing seven wickets for 108, and abreezy 51 by Amar Singh only succeeded in delaying theinevitable.But India, though beaten by 158 runs, were not disgraced. Itwas pointed out that the West Indians, on their first tourof England in 1928, had lost all three matches by aninnings. In keeping with the gallant performance in the onlyTest match, the Indians put up a generally impressiveshowing in the first-class games. Out of 26 matches, thevisitors won nine, lost eight and drew nine.Nayudu was India’s star. He scored 1,618 runs at an averageof 40.45 with five centuries and was deservedly named one ofWisden’s Cricketers of the Year. A naturally attackingbatsman, Nayudu hit 36 sixes, next only to LearieConstantine’s 37 on the 1928 tour. One particular hit wasdescribed thus by an English critic: “The ball was last seensailing in an easterly direction.” He lived up to thereputation of being India’s leading all-rounder by pickingup 65 wickets at an average of 25.53. The other batsmen tocross 1,000 runs during the tour were Naoomal Jeoomal(1,297), S Wazir Ali (1,229) and his younger brother NazirAli (1,020).With the ball, Nissar and Amar Singh impressed as among thebest pair of opening bowlers to come to England since thewar. Nissar headed the tour averages, bagging 71 wickets at18.09 apiece, while the indefatigable Amar Singh took 111wickets at 20.78. Their showing was indeed commendable sincein support they could count on only Nayudu and the mediumpace of Jahangir Khan, who ended the tour with 53 wickets atan average of 29.05.The background to the team selection may have been one ofintrigue and suspense, and there were quite a few unseemlyincidents, stemming from personal jealousy and rivalry, offthe field. But overall it was a tour that the team couldlook back on with pride and satisfaction, and the criticswere almost unanimous in predicting a bright future forIndian cricket.
