A view from the Gully (27 May 1999)

27 May 1999

A view from the Gully

Tawfiq Aziz Khan

The tremendous spurt with which Zimbabwe opened their World Cup campaign against Kenya and India seems to have petered out during their last two matches against Sri Lanka and England. In both these matches they managed scores less then the two hundred mark, put into bat on both the occasions, and then failing to bowl out their stronger opponents. They have the toughest match still left against South Africa. It is an unlikely proposition that they would be able to overcome their mighty neighbours but that is still the only hope they have of reaching the Super Six from Group A.

Nottingham - Trent Bridge became a cricket ground due to the enterprise of William Clark, according to Wisden. A bricklayer by trade, William Clark was also the organiser of Nottingham First XI in the 1830s. In late 1837 he married Mrs. Chapman the landlady and lessee of the Trent Bridge Inn and the open ground behind the building.

On 10 July 1838 he organised the first cricket match on the ground behind the Inn between T. Baker's Side and W. Clark's Side. In July 1840 the first county match was staged with Sussex the visitors and the first Test match at Trent Bridge was played in 1899, exactly hundred years ago, against Australia. Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, who started as a left-arm spinner, formed as menacing a fast bowling partnership as county cricket has seen. They were the instruments of Jardine's leg theory or 'bodyline' in the 1932 Tour of Australia by England that caused furor and was outlawed. Denis Compton the Middlesex and England star scored his masterly 278 against Pakistan in 1954 on this ground and Sir Frank Worrell of the West Indies had his 261 in 1950.

On this famous ground the English bowlers were superb with their length and line and Gough and co bowled their forty overs for a miserly 102 runs. The African lions were left hungry by British lions.

This easy win of the English team not only took them closer to the Super Six but salvaged some of their lost prestige against the South Africans. Stewart's men were very careful about the run rate also lest they are faced with such a problem.

Source :: The Daily Star