Thursday, 26 March 2026

 

Above Sir Don!

Sir Donald George Bradman’s batting average in Test cricket stands at 99.94! Many great batters over the decades have tried their best to come near this astronomical figure. But all these legendary players have fallen far short. No prominent batter has come anywhere near to the one and only Sir Don.

It needed a short man however to show us the truth behind the cliché, ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’. The man was from the island of Trinidad. On his home ground at Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad, Andrew  Gordon Ganteaume was selected to represent West Indies against MCC (then England) in 1947 in the 2nd Test match of the series.

The deputy wicket-keeper was included at the last moment as the regular opener was unavailable and he played as an opening batsman. While batting, the debutant opener was his usual cautious self. Certainly more so because of the opportunity to play for the Federation of West Indies for the first time.

He was the highest scorer with 112 in the first innings and was not required to bat in the next innings. He was certainly very happy and looked forward to more opportunities. Little did he realize that selectors are men of varying intelligence and have unusual interests. They can be vindictive (SS Mitter’s and Amol Muzumder’s experience); they can be forgetful (Paras Dogra of J&K, a recent example); they can be…

Ganteaume was dropped from the West Indies team for the following Test as well as for the remainder of the series! And forever it seemed…

Ten years later someone suddenly remembered the diminutive, dogged opener. He went to England in 1957 but by then with the fantastic strength of the West Indies batting line-up – Weekes, Walcott, Worrell, Kanhai, Sobers and Collie Smith – no place could be found for him in the XI.

Thus ended the career of a man who played just one Test innings, scored 112 and finished his Test career ahead of Sir Don with a batting average of 112! Ganteaume achieved statistically what the legendary batters of cricket could not: beat Sir Don somehow!

Born in 1921 his first class career stretched from 1940 to 1963. Forlorn and anonymous he remained, except for that one day of glory.

 

Photo credits: Instagram (Sir Donald Bradman) & Facebook (Andy Ganteaume)

Interested readers may go through RAJUMUKHERJIONCRICKET.BLOGSPOT.COM for all earlier blog posts

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Thursday, 19 March 2026

 

Handsome achiever turned hermit: A karma-yogi cricketer




A Calcutta-born Test cricketer achieved an enviable world record in cricket. No, no, not thinking of Pankaj Roy. Anyway, Roy was not born at Calcutta.

Yes, Roy and Vinoo Mankad’s 1st wicket world Test record of 413 against New Zealand in 1955-56 did last long enough for over 50 years. But ultimately it fell, as almost all records do.

But one man Robert James Crisp did justice to his surname by munching 4 crispy wickets in 4 consecutive deliveries! Then to add to his magical achievement he overcame his crusty surname, through a performance as solid as the pyramids. Again he bit into 4 more crisps in 4 successive deliveries.

He is the only bowler in the annals of cricket to have achieved this feat of 4 wickets in 4 deliveries twice. None else has as yet been able to replicate the unique achievement.

 Robert Crisp was born in Calcutta in 1911 to British parents who were in the flourishing jute industry of Bengal at the time. From St Xavier’s in Calcutta, he went to St Edward’s School in Salisbury in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Academically bright, the brilliant sportsperson twice won the best all-round student award in school.

He seemed to acquire a habit of doing extraordinary achievements twice! Perhaps to show that the first one was no accident!

In the new environment of Western Province in South Africa the tall fast bowler displayed extraordinary performances with his fast rising deliveries. Against Griqualand West he had his first magical spell in 1931 and then repeated the feat against Natal in 1933.

Crisp represented South Africa in 9 Tests which included a tour to England in 1935 with the South Africa. On the tour he had 109 scalps at just above 19 plus. Extraordinary by any yardstick. Then enjoyed a ‘home’ series against Australia. Please note, again just two series of Test cricket!

But the restless soul grew tired of ‘dreary’ cricket. He returned to the continent of his life, Africa. And for good measure climbed Mt Kilimanjaro not once, but twice. 

During the 2nd World War he was at the forefront with the Allied Forces as a tank-commander at the Western Sahara. For his bravery he was awarded the DSO and MC honours. Again 2 distinctions in World War II! But to this amazing persona all these were merely diversions of life.

In between his two principal jobs were journalism for Daily Express, London, and establishing a magazine for Black Africans called ‘Drum’. A champion of anti-apartheid he was.

Later among his other books Bob Crisp sat down to write two memoirs of the War, both of which remain classics of warfare.

One day he suddenly vanished into an isolated Greek island and lived the life of a hermit. The exceptionally handsome man realized that both beauty and brains were only momentary diversions.

He lived life on his own terms. Down with cancer, he credited his recovery to “Plenty of red wine!” Born in Asia, he lived his life in Africa. Finally in Europe the soul went into eternal rest in 1994.

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Thursday, 12 March 2026

 



 Photo credits: courtesy ESPN and Alamy

One-eyed Test Cricketer: ‘Buster’ Nupen

There is a general view that Mansur Ali Khan (the erstwhile junior Nawab of Pataudi) played cricket with just one eye. This is not entirely the full picture. Tiger, as he was nicknamed, did have a loss of vision as a result of a car crash in 1961 while at Oxford University.

Later thankfully his vision, though severely impaired, returned through complex surgeries. In his autobiography Tiger admitted that initially he had double vision but gradually the sight improved to an extent. Certain problems remained but he overcame the great visual handicap in his own way. 

 Later through very determined practice, the immensely talented batter regained his fitness and consequently his form. He went on to play for India within a year of his injury.

Scored centuries including a double hundred. Fielded magnificently in the covers. Was certainly among the best in the world. Led the team with panache. Miraculous recovery of a very courageous gentleman.

As a real leader, he transformed the young Indian cricketing talents into a fighting unit at a very critical juncture in the 1960s. Communalism and provincialism never crossed his broad mind. An exemplary gentleman of the ‘old school’.

***

However, one Test player actually played international cricket with just one eye! A South African Test cricketer by the name of Eiulf Peter ‘Buster’ Nupen. Of Norweigian parentage, ‘Buster’ Nupen played in 17 Tests between 1921 and 1935, capturing 50 wickets. On matting wickets he was considered almost unplayable such was the ferocity of his off-cutters and pace.

As child of 4 while playing with hammer and nails, a wooden splinter got lodged in his eye. The most unfortunate accident led to complete loss of vision in his left eye. A similar permanent damage would have frustrated any person. But the Norweigian ‘Buster’ Nupen decided to meet the challenge face to face.

He took to cricket and decided to make himself into a pace bowler. For the right-handed bowler, the unaffected right-eye posed no problem in aiming at the batter’s wicket. Picture yourself as a right-handed rifle shooter. Through sheer intelligent application he developed his bowling style.

Playing on matting wickets in South Africa, Nupen found that he could bowl fastish off-cutter which would leap at the batter on the matting pitches. Actually he bowled more of cross-seam (fastish off-break) instead of off-the-seam cutters.

Another interesting issue happened to be that as stand-in skipper Buster Nupen led South Africa to a victory over England in the only Test he captained. Nupen was the highest wicket-taker with 5 and 6 wickets in that match. The selectors in their wisdom decided not to appoint him as captain again!

Eiulf Peter ‘Buster’ Nupen would go down in cricket history as a man who played Test cricket with just one eye. To be an international sport performer with such a serious, permanent handicap is almost unheard of. Height of courage and application indeed.

 

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Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Arthur Conan Doyle & HG Wells

The literary character Sherlock Holmes enjoys world-wide popularity. Perhaps the detective is more easily identifiable than the author himself! The keen-eyed detective however had hardly any connection with the British passion. But his creator, the master story-teller Sir Arthur Isaac Conan Doyle, did.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Scotland, detected and deceived one person in his entire first-class career of 10 matches, all at Lord’s between 1907 and 1910, while bowling for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Conan Doyle’s trapped victim was no criminal, but happened to be none other than the legendary cricketer Dr WG Grace, the most famous face of Victorian Britain, perhaps more than the Queen herself!
Among his numerous references to cricket in his writings, Sir Arthur authored an exemplary fictional piece surrounding the game he admired so much. The Story of Spedegue’s Dropper reveals the author’s exceptional concept of the game. A must read for all cricket lovers.
Conan Doyle’s fictional hero delivers a ball that goes 50 feet high in the air and falls on top of the stumps! The doyen of commentators John Arlott mentioned that such ‘probable fantasy’ could only come from the pen of the master of detective stories.
***
Another literary persona the eminent novelist HG Wells wrote 79 novels before telling us of his love for cricket in his 80th. He reveals that his father was actually a professional cricketer for a period during which his family business sank beyond redemption, “…for him cricket was far more sacred than any religious sentiment or whatever…”Later the senior Wells – Joseph – made ends meet by coaching cricket in schools.
Despite a poverty-stricken childhood, HG (Herbert George) Wells was a visionary who authored books like The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon, The Time Machine, etc. Far, far beyond his generation, HG Wells conceived the ideas of time-travel, alien-invasion, biological-engineering, etc. Wife Seema points out that he is referred to as the Shakespeare of Science Fiction.
But HG Wells never tells us that his father Joseph Wells was the first-ever bowler in the world to get 4 wickets in 4 deliveries in a first-class match! Wisden Cricketer’ Almanack – attentive and articulate as always – highlighted the issue in its Book of Cricket Records. Joseph Wells achieved the exceptional feat way back in 1862 playing for Kent against Sussex.
Cricket and literature enjoy a deep and permanent companionship. No other sport can come anywhere near cricket in this respect…Tennyson, Byron, Shelly, Keats, PG Wodehouse, Noble laureate Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle… the list is endless.
Photos from left : courtesy Wikipedia (Doyle) & Britannica (Wells)
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Sanjoy Dutta

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