The Shorter Wisden 2013

by John Wisden

  Jordon was a genuine character, and the stories about him are legion; many are true but few are printable. His vocabulary was not for the faint-hearted: one of his friends announced in the tributes column of a Melbourne paper that “Heaven will make a fortune from the swear-box.” Jordon was a dynamic presence in Australian Rules football as an insightful coach of younger players, and was described by Keith Stackpole, a close friend, as “a unique judge of character”, despite his abrasiveness. He had a period as a radio commentator on cricket, and his times on air with Richie Benaud gave a new dimension to Puccini’s “strange harmony of contrasts”. A stroke early in this century saw him draw on his reserves of stoicism, but eventually cancer was too much, even for Slug.

  KUNTAL CHANDRA, often known by his nickname “Pappon”, was found dead on the side of a road in Daur, not far from Dhaka, on December 3. Police said the 28-year-old was discovered with injury marks on his throat, and his shirt had been used to tie his hands behind his back. No motive was immediately apparent. Chandra, a wicketkeeper-batsman, represented Bangladesh at the Under-19 World Cup early in 2000. Five years later he scored 33 and 71 on first-class debut, for Chittagong against Rajshahi at Bogra, but played only two further matches, both for Sylhet, in 2007.

  KYLE, JACK, who died on June 21, aged 82, was president of the Canadian Cricket Association for 15 years until 1993. He played for British Columbia in the 1950s, and in 1955 scored 93 against Manitoba at Brockton Point in Vancouver, the ground rated by Don Bradman as the prettiest he ever saw.

  LACHMAN, RUDY, who died on August 19, aged 50, was a left-hand batsman and slow left-armer from Guyana who played for the United States in the ICC Trophy tournaments of 1994, when he made 75 not out against Argentina in Nairobi, and 1997.

  LAMASON, JOY GRACE (née Stenberg), who died on February 16, aged 96, was an all-rounder who played four Tests for New Zealand, taking four for 51 against England at Headingley in June 1954. Her brother-in-law Jack, a Wellington stalwart who toured England in 1937 without making the Test side, married Ina Pickering, who also played four Tests for New Zealand.

  LEWIS, KEITH, who died on September 12, aged 89, opened the batting for South Australia in 1948-49, making some useful scores, the highest being 73 against Western Australia at Adelaide. Because he turned up to club practice just after the Second World War wearing his army uniform, he was dubbed “The Colonel”. His father’s sudden death in 1953 forced his retirement from club cricket, and he concentrated on running the family hardware business.

  LOMBARD, ELISE, who died on August 9, aged 62, was the only female chief executive in South Africa’s provinces, having been in charge of the Northerns Cricket Union, latterly the Titans franchise, for 32 years. “She was an amazing woman who did so much for the Titans,” said the South African Test player Faf du Plessis, “and always with a smile on her face.”

  LOVELL, Sir ALFRED CHARLES BERNARD, OBE, died on August 6, aged 98. Bernard Lovell was one of Britain’s greatest scientists, revered worldwide as a pioneer of radio astronomy. His lasting monument is the telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire that now bears his name. It was built in the 1950s thanks chiefly to his drive and determination, although visitors to the site who arrived at lunchtime might have had to wait while he finished his game of cricket with staff and students. Lovell’s love of the sport began during his boyhood in Bristol, and continued when he accepted a post in the physics department of Manchester University in 1936. Like Sir Neville Cardus, he relished the fact that the city held the combined attractions of Old Trafford and the Hallé Orchestra. Lovell became a devoted follower of Lancashire – he was club president in 1996 – and could not resist exploring how technology might benefit the game, devising a contraption rather like a clock face that kept spectators informed of the state of the light. Lovell was remarkably far-sighted, writing to John Woodcock – then Wisden editor – in 1983 to suggest technology could be used to determine lbws. The TCCB (later the ECB) set up a working party, but the computers involved were too costly and slow. “His wisdom and prescience have been witnessed by the advent of Hawk-Eye,” said Woodcock. Lovell also foresaw the possibilities of the snickometer. Jim Cumbes, the former Lancashire chief executive, recalled: “He invented a device that fixed to the top of the bat and would detect a nick, but when we did a test it picked up the frequency of the local taxi company.”

  LYNCH, RONALD VICTOR, died on June 27, aged 89. Slow left-armer Ron Lynch played three matches for Essex in June 1954 and took his four wickets in one innings – for 54 runs against Northamptonshire at Rushden. His county career might have been brief, but he played club cricket for years, for Ilford and later Chingford; he also represented the Club Cricket Conference and served on their committees.

  McGIBBON, LEWIS, who died on September 22, aged 80, was a fast-medium bowler from Newcastle who took 33 wickets in 13 appearances for Northamptonshire in the late 1950s after some success in Minor Counties cricket with Northumberland. His best figures were four for 42 against Somerset in 1958, although he did take seven for 14 for the Second Eleven the following year as Worcestershire were bowled out for 45. An accountant, McGibbon served on Northamptonshire’s committee from 1962 to 1980, including a spell as treasurer.

  MANGERA, MOOSA, who died on November 15, aged 67, was a useful batsman and fine fielder, often keeping wicket, who played 29 matches now considered first-class for Transvaal’s non-white teams in the 1970s and ’80s. He scored 98 against Eastern Province at Lenasia in 1973-74. Nicknamed “Monkey” because of his speed and agility, Mangera was also a talented footballer and track athlete.

  MANZUR AHMED, who died of a heart attack on January 10, aged 54, was the chief executive of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. A former wicketkeeper, he had a long club career, and was the Brunei association’s chief executive before taking up the BCB post in 2010. “The news shocked everyone at the ICC,” said their outgoing chief executive Haroon Lorgat. “I worked closely with him during the organising of the 2011 World Cup.”

  MARSHALL, JOHN CAMPBELL, who died on April 26, aged 83, was a batsman who played 16 matches for Oxford University between 1951 and 1953, winning a Blue in his final year, not long after scoring his only century – 111 against Free Foresters in the Parks. Marshall was better known as a rugby player, winning five caps for Scotland at full-back in 1954. He became a teacher, and soon returned to his old school, Rugby, where he took charge of the cricket.

  MARSHALL, WALTER MAXWELL MILNE, died on November 24, 2006, aged 86. Max Marshall was a slow left-armer who played a few matches in Trinidad’s Beaumont Cup (not first-class at the time). Later, he was assistant manager on West Indies’ tour of Australia in 1960-61 – which started with the Tied Test at Brisbane. When injuries hit the squad mid-trip, he was pressed into service for his only first-class appearance, against Tasmania at Launceston: aged 40, he scored one not out and did not bowl.

  MAYNARD, THOMAS LLOYD, died after being electrocuted on a railway line on June 18, aged 23. During the weekend before his death, Tom Maynard was a cheerful presence on television screens, as a guest on Sky’s knockabout Saturday show Cricket AM and as part of Finishing School, a documentary about the England Performance Programme’s winter training. There had been a chance to glimpse him in the flesh, too, in Surrey’s Sunday afternoon Twenty20 match against Kent at Beckenham. Then, shortly after breakfast time on Monday, came the news that his body had been found on the tracks near Wimbledon Park tube station in south London. Not since the death in 2002 of Ben Hollioake – also of Surrey, also youthful, good-looking and precocious – had English cricket been so numbed by tragedy.

  Five weeks earlier, against Worcestershire at New Road, Maynard’s talent had been thrillingly laid bare. With Surrey following on, he made a career-best 143, moving to three figures with a six. The watching Kevin Pietersen called Andy Flower that evening to offer an enthusiastic endorsement. Not that this surprised Graham Thorpe, his EPP batting coach: “Tom scored runs when his team needed them, which is crucial for a play
er who has potential to get to the top.”

  The innings also underlined a new cricketing maturity acquired in his second season at The Oval. “He had moved to another level,” said Dean Conway, the former Glamorgan and England physio who had known him all his life. “Before joining Surrey he had the talent but not the stats.” At his funeral, at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Hugh Morris – the former Glamorgan opening batsman now managing director of England cricket – said Maynard had first toddled into the dressing-room at Sophia Gardens with his father Matthew at the age of two. Thereafter, he was seldom out of it. Conway remembered: “He became like one of the team. We called him ‘Bruiser’. Even then, he had massive arms and legs.”

  Maynard attended Whitchurch High School, a sporting hothouse that also nurtured the talents of Sam Warburton, a future Wales rugby captain, and the Tottenham Hotspur footballer Gareth Bale. From there he went to Millfield where, in his mid-teens, rugby briefly threatened to become his main sport. In June 2007, aged 18, he made a dazzling first senior appearance for Glamorgan, scoring 71 from 75 deliveries against Gloucestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy. At first, his one-day returns were always more eye-catching: in August 2009 came a 57-ball century – one fewer than his father’s one-day quickest – against Northamptonshire. But the summer of 2010 ended traumatically, when Glamorgan missed promotion in the Championship on the final day, and Matthew Maynard lost his job as director of cricket. Shocked by the treatment meted out to his father, Tom relocated to Surrey, joining his old Millfield friend Rory Hamilton-Brown. He was energised by the change, and in 2011 played a full part in their promotion in the County Championship and CB40 triumph. There were 1,022 Championship runs at nearly 41, including a seemingly preordained hundred against Glamorgan at Cardiff. His form earned him selection for the EPP in 2011-12, when he impressed Thorpe on a trip to India. “He came across as a caring and kind young man,” he said. “I thought he learned a lot from that time away in Asia, and on his return to England he really did look the standout batsman at Surrey.”

  Matthew Maynard’s abundant talent was never successfully transferred to the international stage, but many believed his son had the temperament and ability to prosper there. Morris called him “a player who was surely destined for the highest reaches of the game, and whose authority and elegance at the crease reminded so many of his father”. Another speaker at Llandaff Cathedral was the Glamorgan captain Mark Wallace. “I will always remember him as the lad who could make me laugh more than anyone else I have ever met,” he said. “I just wish he had never made me cry.”

  MISHRA, SIDDHARTHA, who died of cancer on October 30, aged 41, was a writer with a particular fondness for cricket, and the sports editor of the New Indian Express. His last article was about Sachin Tendulkar’s century of centuries. He observed: “This number is perhaps the worst measure imaginable for Tendulkar, blessed – and simultaneously cursed – as he is to turn everything he touches into a record-breaking statistic.”

  MKRAKRA, MASIXOLE, drowned in Bathurst, South Africa, on December 17. “Hassan” Mkrakra was 20, and one of a group of youngsters trying to wash themselves in a disused quarry after a week in the bush that included his circumcision ceremony. They were using empty plastic bottles as buoyancy aids, but Mkrakra gave his to a struggling friend before disappearing under the water. He was a promising cricketer who in March 2012 received a standing ovation at a Sporting Heroes dinner at Lord’s, after telling a distinguished audience – including Prince Edward, Derek Underwood and Boris Becker – about the dreams of impoverished youngsters who played for the Tiger Titans cricket team.

  MONAGHAN, RUBY, died on June 10, aged 96. Ruby Monaghan (later Lee) grew up playing vigoro, a then-popular blend of cricket and softball for girls, but switched to conventional cricket as a teenager and was selected for New South Wales against the 1934-35 England tourists. In a display of mature concentration and sound defence, she made 25 and 45, adding 84 for the second wicket with Hazel Pritchard. Monaghan, the youngest player in the side, was chosen for the first two internationals of that tour – the inaugural women’s Tests – but was dropped after a highest score of 12 in four innings. She had become the second woman, after Pritchard, to face a ball in a Test match.

  MOORE, Sir PATRICK ALFRED CALDWELL, CBE, died on December 9, aged 89. Death held no fears for Sir Patrick Moore, who believed that the end of an earthbound life was merely the start of a new existence. “We go on to the next stage,” he said. “I shall be interested to see what it is. Who knows? It might be somewhere I can learn to bat decently.” Britain’s most famous astronomer, who hosted The Sky at Night on BBC television for more than 50 years, was a devoted cricket lover who kept his size 12 boots on the hearth in his study, next to his 2001 BAFTA award for services to television, and near the 1908 typewriter on which he wrote more than 100 books. He was cheerfully honest about his hopelessness with the bat in Sussex club cricket, but he was more successful as a leg-spinner; his 14-pace run-up was typically eccentric. In one of his final books, Can You Play Cricket on Mars? (2008), he concluded that the contest would be heavily weighted in favour of batsmen, able to hit the ball enormous distances in the thin Martian atmosphere; bowlers would be unable to find any swing, always assuming they could cope with a bulky space suit.

  MORTON, RUNAKO SHAKUR, was killed in a car accident on March 4. He was driving home from a club match at the Queen’s Park Oval when his car hit a telegraph pole on the Solomon Hochoy Highway in central Trinidad. He was 33.

  Morton was originally from Nevis, which has defied its minuscule size and population (around 12,000) to produce six Test players. His promise was recognised as early as 1996, when he was picked for the regional Under-19 team in three matches against their Pakistani counterparts in the Caribbean. A strong and aggressive batsman, if predominantly bottom-handed, he became one of the leading scorers for the Leeward Islands, amassing 4,104 runs at an average of 44 with 11 hundreds, among them successive innings of 210 against Barbados and 231 against the Combined Campuses & Colleges in 2009.

  A volatile temperament that repeatedly led him into trouble, allied to technical defects, limited Morton’s success at the highest level. Yet, as several of his team-mates attested, his love of the game could not be queried. The first of his widely publicised run-ins with authority led to his expulsion from the West Indian board’s initial Academy in 2001. A year later, he left the Champions Trophy early after claiming his grandmother had died. She turned out to be hale and hearty, which – compounded by further indiscretions on an A-team tour – brought him a year-long ban. There were later clashes with the law: a year before his death he and fellow Nevisian Tonito Willett were charged by the T&T police with possession of marijuana, an accusation to which they pleaded not guilty. Friends reported that marriage to a Trinidadian woman, and bringing up their three children, had been a calming influence. After moving to Port-of-Spain, Morton piled up the runs for Queen’s Park, Trinidad’s oldest and most famous club, where he was a popular mentor to young players; chosen for T&T for what turned out to be his final season in 2011, he became one of the few to represent two territories in the regional first-class tournament.

  The first of two strikes by senior players opened the way to his Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2005. Like many of the first-timers, he was embarrassed by the mesmerising spin of Muttiah Muralitharan and the swing of Chaminda Vaas. Still, Morton’s breathtaking catching in the slips moved Ian Chappell, commentating on the series, to rate him the best in the position at the time. In 15 Tests up to 2008, going in mostly at No. 3 or 4, Morton averaged just 22. The closest he came to a hundred was at Napier in 2005-06; unbeaten on 70, he was denied by rain. His 67, against Australia at Sabina Park in 2007-08 in a fourth-wicket partnership of 128 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was probably his best innings – but the next Test was his last.

  Morton was more at home in one-day internationals, in which he averaged 33 despite being shuffled around the order: he was tried in every position from o
pener to No. 7. He scored centuries against New Zealand and Zimbabwe, although more representative of his belligerence and grit was an unbeaten 90 in Mumbai, in a victory over Australia that helped West Indies to the 2006 Champions Trophy final. Still, the contrasts which made Morton such an enigma had been typified only a few weeks earlier by an innings in a one-day international in Kuala Lumpur – also against Australia, he made a 31-ball duck, a record.

  In his eulogy at a service in Trinidad which preceded the burial in Nevis, Brian Lara described Morton as “a fighter [who] worked harder than most, a true team man”. And Chris Gayle, Lara’s successor as captain, tweeted: “We lost a true warrior... heart of a lion. As captain at the time, I wish I had ten Mortons to lead on a cricket field!”

  MUNIR MALIK, who died on November 30, aged 78, was a fast-medium bowler who played three Tests for Pakistan, two of them in 1962 in England, where he took five for 128 in 49 overs at Headingley. One spell from the Kirkstall Lane End lasted from 3pm on the Thursday to 1.30pm on the Friday. Munir had come to prominence with five for 12 and seven for 27 as Rawalpindi beat Peshawar in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match in December 1958, despite being bowled out for 53 in the first innings. He made his Test debut against Australia the following season, in a match watched by the American president Dwight Eisenhower. Munir’s speciality, according to the Pakistani journalist Qamar Ahmed, was his “vicious leg-cutter, plus a ball which dipped in”. His best innings return – eight for 154 – came in what turned out to be the last match of his ten-year career, for Karachi Whites against Punjab University at Lahore in April 1966.

  MURRAY, LANCE HAMILTON, who died on October 21, aged 91, was a significant administrator in Trinidad and West Indies cricket. His flighted off-spin earned him three first-class matches, only one for the full Trinidad side – in 1956, the year the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board of Control replaced his own Queen’s Park club as the sole authority for the sport in the country, a move he strongly supported. He was the new board’s first vice-president, and their long-term representative on the West Indian board. He became more widely known as a radio analyst on regional and international matches in Port-of-Spain – and through the success of his son Deryck Murray, the wicketkeeper who won 62 Test caps between 1963 and 1980. In 1992, Lance was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s second-highest honour, the Chaconia Medal, for his work in sports administration.