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(Part 31.) Manager’s view.
To bounce or not to bounce?
That seemed to be one of the questions occupying the minds of cricket’s administrators in the week leading up to the first Men’s Cricket World Cup in 1975.
So, with 20 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the defeat of Australia in the final at Lord’s, we look at the tournament from the perspective of West Indies team manager Clyde Walcott, one of the celebrated ‘Three W’s’ of Barbados who formed the nucleus of the Caribbean side’s batting line-up through the decade of the 1950’s.
Indeed, before getting deeper into his role off the field of play, it is worth reminding ourselves of Walcott’s phenomenal numbers as a batsman, who, despite his height (just over six feet) was also a good enough wicketkeeper to be standing up to the wiles of Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine in the West Indies’ ground-breaking series triumph in England in 1950.
(via The Cricketer.)
In 44 Tests over a 12-year period (1948-1960), Walcott tallied 3,798 runs for a phenomenal average of 56.68. Of 29 scores greater than 50, 15 were converted into centuries—which means that, on average, he got to three figures every three Test matches.
Imagine the reaction if there was anyone with that sort of productivity in West Indies cricket today.
At the very peak of his batting powers, Walcott amassed 698 runs at 87.25 in the 2-2 home series with England in 1954.
Then a year later, when Australia visited the Caribbean for the first time, he piled up 827 runs (average 82.70) with five centuries, including, uniquely, hundreds in both innings of a Test twice.
He managed the feat in the second Test at Queen’s Park Oval and the series finale at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, where the Aussies completed an innings victory to take the series 3-0.
(via The Cricketer.)
But back to his managerial role for that first World Cup.
As the limited-over format was still relatively new at international level, the game then didn’t have all the restrictions as applies now. So, for most of the teams competing in 1975, the competition was merely an abbreviated version of Test cricket.
However, the International Cricket Conference appeared to also be moving in the direction of imposing some sort of restriction on bowlers, and fast bowlers especially, although none of this was officially announced.
Writing in Tony Cozier’s celebratory brochure World Cup Champions ‘75, Walcott, in a contribution entitled Now A New Game Has Been Born, wrote:
“The Prudential Cup Management Committee left no stone unturned to make the competition a success. There had been considerable concern regarding the use of the fast, short-pitched ball as an intimidatory weapon.
“This was by no means new in cricket history but was highlighted in the Australia vs England series in Australia last winter (1974/75) and the near-fatal injury to the New Zealander, [Ewen] Chatfield, in the Auckland Test match vs England.”
Photo: Getty Images.
Before continuing with Walcott’s comments, a reminder here of the bouncer barrage, which was actually started by England on the opening day of the series, where Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee battered their Ashes opponents as Australia reclaimed the Ashes 4-1.
In a two-Test series across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand following that debacle, Kiwi tailender Ewen Chatfield, on debut, was struck on the temple by a bouncer from Peter Lever and might have died but for the intervention of England physiotherapist Bernard Thomas.
He first pulled back Chatfield’s tongue, which he had swallowed, before doing a heart massage and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
(via Wisden.)
Back to Walcott and his pre-World Cup observations:
“As a result, a special meeting of the International Cricket Conference was held at Lord’s one week prior to the start of the Prudential Cup (Prudential Insurance were the tournament sponsors) to consider what, if any, action should be taken with regard to fast, short-pitched deliveries during the Cup.
“The understanding was that this would be without prejudice to any discussion which may take place at the annual meeting of the ICC under the headings of (a) intimidatory effects and (b) the possible negative effect of such bowling on scoring rates.
(Copyright Gareth Copley/ Getty Images)
“The decisions made at this meeting had the full support of all countries participating even though they may not have had the full support of all the players—especially the fast bowlers!
“I represented the West Indies at the meeting and, apart from the official items on the agenda, many other matters relating to the competition were discussed.”
All of which implies, even though it was apparently never made public, that there was some sort of official restriction on fast, short-pitched bowling at the World Cup.
Photo: Eric Piper/ Daily Mirror.
Yet this perspective is, strangely, contradicted by Walcott himself in his 1999 autobiography Sixty Years on the Back Foot, written with the assistance of English journalist Brian Scovell, where he states definitively:
“There were no restrictions on bouncers in the first World Cup and there was a liberal supply, chiefly from [Keith] Boyce.”
Walcott passed away in 2006 at age 80, so it will have to be left to any surviving members of that pre-World Cup meeting, if there are any, to clarify what was really decided then in relation to limiting fast, short-pitched bowling at the 1975 tournament.
And just for context, the former West Indies batting great, who became the first black and first non-British chairman of the ICC in 1993, clearly supported the imposing of restrictions on fast bowlers as he states later in the autobiography:
“The excessive use of bouncers was another problem, chiefly at the time of West Indies’ ascendancy when four fast bowlers operated in rotation. We (the ICC) have now changed the Law to allow two bouncers an over (one per batsman) and that seems to satisfy everyone.
“The bouncer should be a surprise weapon; if it is used too much, it no longer ranks as a surprise.”
Everyone satisfied? Not as I recall—but that’s the man’s view.
(Part 35.) No unlucky 13. Clive Lloyd’s 1975 Cricket World Cup squad marked the first time that a West Indies Read more
(Part 34.) Because we forgot. As this 50th anniversary series approaches the actual days of competition at the 1975 World Read more
(Part 33.) Pride of Dominica. Tony Cozier and Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira were the two prominent members of the broadcast team Read more
(Part 32.) Let it snow, let it snow. Today is a significant day in the history of English cricket. Not Read more
(Part 30.) A Bird’s eye view. Let’s just try to imagine the setting 50 years ago today, a week before Read more
(Part 29.) Contenders and pretenders. With 22 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Read more
Fazeer Mohammed is a journalist/broadcaster with almost 40 years’ experience across a range of media.
His interest in cricket, and particularly its history, started at home via his father’s small collection of autobiographies and magazines, offering perspectives and context which have informed his commentary and analysis on contemporary issues in the game.
