I tell a great lie, and I’ve been telling it for so long now, practising and honing it, that I’ve come to believe it myself. This adds credence to the falsity, for the self-deceiving liar always carries more conviction; it’s almost a form of method acting.
The lie is this: I was at Headingley, in Leeds, in 1981 to witness Ian Botham’s mind-boggling and undefeated 149 against Australia in undoubtedly one of the most astonishing matches in Test cricket history.
Like most good lies, there is more than a grain of truth in it. Because, as cricket correspondent of the News of the world at the time, I was there for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of that match. The Screws of the World, as it was known to some, was something of a music hall joke but it did take its sports coverage very seriously and it was probably the best among popular Sunday newspapers at the time.
My sports editor told me that to get a proper feel for a Test match I shouldn’t merely parachute in on the Saturday, like so many Sunday writers, but also attend the first two days. This, I diligently did. And I did watch Botham score a rapid 50 in the first innings. But when I left Leeds for home on the Saturday evening Botham’s Monday heroics were yet to come – Sunday was a rest day in those times. I did watch every ball of play on the fourth day, but on TV, in my Crouch End flat.
So when friends and colleagues gather and recall Headingley ’81 I feel a strange of loss – I can’t lie to them because they know I wasn’t there. But this sense of of missing out has not felt the same for the past 20 years or so. The pain has been assuaged by the fact that I really did see an even greater innings than Botham’s hit-and-hope assault. It was an equally outstanding Test match too, played in Bridgetown in March 1999.
It is difficult to comprehend in these cash-strapped days for newspapers but at that time a few of them sent their cricket writers to cover “neutral” tours not involving England. So while The Guardian’s cricket correspondent, Mike Selvey, dutifully traipsed around the globe, following England’s bootsteps, I was sent off to cover such series as Australia in South Africa, Pakistan in South Africa and Australia in India. The most memorable of these was Australia’s visit to the Caribbean at the beginning of 1999.
The series was described as a mismatch before it started. The West Indies had just been overwhelmed 5-0 by South Africa, while the Australian side featured some of their greatest players, including Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting.
No-one was surprised when Australia won the first Test in Trinidad by 312 runs after bowling out the West Indies for 51. It was then that the series came alive. It was as if Brian Lara took on the Aussies single-handed.
He scored an heroic double hundred in Jamaica to level the series. Then came Barbados. It didn’t look good for the home side when they slumped to 98 for six in their first innings, in reply to Australia’s 490. They recovered from there but still needed an improbable 308 to win in the fourth innings.
But, in the words of the Australian cricket writer Mike Coward, Lara “guided his men to victory as though leading the infirm through a maze.” It was an innings of high technical skill and mental fortitude. It was also an innings of genius. When the eighth wicket fell there were still 60 runs needed but Lara, supported by tail-enders Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, kept going. With seven still needed he was dropped behind the wicket. But he then cracked Jason Gillespie through the covers for four to see his side home by one wicket. The ground was engulfed by jubilant supporters. Barbados did not sleep that night.
Lara’s unbeaten 153 was simply the greatest innings I’ve ever seen – and I really was there this time. Many judges say Sachin Tendulkar was the finest batsman of his generation, but Lara – to me at least – played more memorable innings. He stroked another century in the final Test in Antigua too, though it was not enough to avoid defeat and this most memorable of series was drawn 2-2. In the four Tests Lara scored 546 runs at 91; the next best effort came from Sherwin Campbell, with 197 at 28.
The Daily Nation in Barbados called the third Test the Match of the Century. And since witnessing it I’ve felt liberated enough to admit that no, I wasn’t at Headingley in 1981 when Botham scored his 149.
Memory added on March 17, 2013
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