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My favourite cricketer

By Rich Abbott Monday, 2 weeks ago Add your comment below

Most of us have one: a player to whom we can largely attribute – to varying degrees of tragicness – a lifelong passion for cricket.

Alan Tyers’ imagination was first truly captured by Ian Botham, as he explains in the latest edition of Cricinfo’s series, My Favourite Cricketer.

These players have a lot to answer for, and without them our lives could be very different.

Mine’s Robin Smith. Lion-hearted in defence and ferocious in attack, as a young child I was enthralled by the way he stood tall in the face of numerous Ambrose and Walsh-shaped barrages. His drives, square-cuts and point-blank refusal to be out-psyched by the bowler were all mimicked in my back garden, throughout my childhood. Very occasionally, they still are – because he was, and always will be, my favourite cricketer.

Who’s yours?

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7 Responses to “My favourite cricketer”

  • wonderfulforhisage wrote:
    November 10th, 2009 at 9.21 am

    Denis Compton. I have two general memories of DC and that era.

    First, I used to go to Lords fairly frequently to see him play, maybe four or five times a season. Most times I went on my own, tube from Ruislip to St Johns Wood, even though I was only 9 or 10 years old. I always sat on the top deck of what are now the Compton and Edrich stands.

    Second, my daily scan of the score card in the ‘Telegraph’. In those days county cricket was played six days a week and the first day of the three day matches was always either Saturday or Wednesday. This made following the progress of ones team so much easier.

    I consider myself still to be an enthusiastic cricket fan, I’m an MCC member, but my knowledge of the game today is woeful in comparisson to the days of the late forties of which I write. I put this deterioration in my expertise down to four things; a seemingly random fixture list with county games starting on any day of the week, the league system, the four day match, and the England squad denying the counties the services of their test players between Tests.

    As for 20/20……..oh dear my blood pressure has just gone critical. Better have a lie down.

    Bring back the good old days say I.

  • Wraye wrote:
    November 10th, 2009 at 1.50 pm

    David Gower

    I was a mere slip of a schoolgirl when Gower joined Leicestershire CC in the 70’s and I met him at a friend’s house. Previously, cricket was just something my Dad watched, a part of Sundays as much as Mum’s roast dinners. After meeting DG, it became personal, he had such utter poise, elegance and was cool beyond belief. I was hooked on following the game after that – Leicestershire and England. The crush faded but my love of the game never did.
    When I moved overseas, the BBC Worldservice and TMS were my lifelines. I became a scorer and have rarely regretted it, even though scorers are often hard-done by. Later in life, I was sad that I was not allowed to play myself when I was young but I have played while in my 40’s and loved it. I now try to help children as much as possible.
    About 5 years ago, I saw Gower again at Lord’s talking to a group of youngsters and I was instantly a teenager again. I elbowed my way in and now have his autograph at last – over 30 years after that first meeting!

    And yes, I still support Leicestershire CC.

  • Wraye wrote:
    November 10th, 2009 at 1.58 pm

    btw:

    My Dad used to tell stories about his favourites. Somehow I can never quite forgive him for having seen Keith Miller although I wasn’t even a twinkle in his eye at that time.

    I just love the idea that there might be kids out there that will one day *hate* me for having seen the Little Master Sachin twice!

  • Stephen Blythe wrote:
    November 10th, 2009 at 6.01 pm

    Can I have two? Viv Richards and Graeme Fowler.

    Viv Richards because my first live game, aged 12, was the Texaco Trophy Eng v WI in 1984 at Old Trafford where the Master Blaster scored 189* after the windies had suffered and early slump.
    I suppose that should have been enough to hook me, and I did get a Junior Subscribership at Lancashire that year and went to many County games.
    Graeme Fowler because his general larking about on the field, usually with Paul Allott, kept me entertained when I went to watch Lancashire as a youngster and got me through the “boring bits”. He was also a very entertaining batsman to watch – hardly comparable with IVA, obviously – but a feisty left-hander in the Sunday League.
    One other notable thing that I remember from my autograph-hunting days is that Fowler insisted on signing his in pencil despite the fact that I had offered him a pen – a sign of insecurity? Did he want us to ask him again when that autograph wore out?

  • james wrote:
    November 10th, 2009 at 7.43 pm

    i’m australian so Steve Waugh all time hero, after that Curtly Ambrose and two generations of Windies bowlers. i miss a magnificent Windies team no matter who they are stuffing

  • John Fuller wrote:
    November 12th, 2009 at 12.50 pm

    Perhaps an odd choice given I never actually saw him play but has to be Joel Garner.

    Reminded me as he’s just been given Tour manager post for the Aus tour, good luck to him, he’ll need it! But ‘Big Bird’ was a truly fantastic fast bowler and a great asset during Somerset’s brief patches of one-day trophies.

    After that, Mushtaq Ahmed, Jimmy Cook, Viv Richards…note the Somerset theme!

  • Ashes Ernie wrote:
    November 16th, 2009 at 4.01 pm

    David Gower. So elegant and effortless. Infuriating at times too, but for all the pleasure we can forgive most of the airey-fairy wafts to second slip and gully.
    Admire, rather than condemn, the idiotic dismissal at Adelaide just before lunch on the ‘tiger moth’ tour because it showed a wonderful aloofness that was utterly incomprehensible to Gooch and Mickey Stewart as they strove to take the fun out of playing cricket. Never forget that D.I.G. scored tons at Melbourne and Sydney when all around him flopped.

    Funnily enough Wraye, my Dad has been Keith Miller barmy since watching him in August 1945 and even travelled from England to attend his funeral.

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