Grovel! The Story and Legacy of the Summer of 1976 by David Tossell

Author:David Tossell [Tossell, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cricket, windies, west inies, england, test match, tony greig, viv richards
Publisher: Pitch Publishing (Brighton) Ltd
Published: 2012-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

11

MORNING GLORY

MIKE SELVEY had read the morning newspaper reports suggesting that John Snow would not be fit enough to play at Old Trafford. On arrival in the England dressing-room he looked about him for clues that he was, indeed, to make his Test debut. Yet he had still heard nothing until confirmation arrived in a paper package.

‘I remember sitting in the dressing room,’ he says. ‘I didn’t know I was playing until that morning and then I had this brown parcel thrown at me. It had my England cap and sweater in it. It was quite strange because when we went out and had a bit of a warm-up, Knotty asked if I would mind bowling a few at him so that he knew where to stand. He had never kept wicket to me and we didn’t do anything in practice, so half an hour before the game he is asking me to bowl at him.

‘We lost the toss and were in the field, so I didn’t really have any time to think about much. I wasn’t nervous. I had played against Gordon Greenidge since he was 14 or something – for Berkshire Schools and Hampshire seconds and stuff like that. I had known him a long time and had played against Richards and Lloyd and all these people in county cricket. They were fine players, but I wasn’t nervous about the occasion. In some ways – although the preparation they do now is right and proper – you can create a gulf by talking up Test opposition to too high a level. You can understand someone coming in now and thinking, “How can I cope with this?” It never occurred to me that there was this huge differential.’

Clive Lloyd’s preference upon winning the toss was never in doubt. This wicket was only going to get worse as the game wore on, so now was the time to bat. No one, however, could have predicted the course that the game would take in the first half hour.

Mike Hendrick bowled the first over, with instructions from Tony Greig ringing in his ears. ‘Just before we went out Greigy said, “Forget about all that line and length stuff. Just bowl as fast as you can.” After a couple of overs I thought, “Forget that.”’

After playing out Hendrick’s maiden from the Warwick Road End, Roy Fredericks found himself facing the end of Selvey’s first over in Test cricket. The final ball was dropped short and, just as he had off the second ball of the match at Lord’s, Fredericks hooked straight to long leg. ‘It was a long hop,’ Selvey admits. ‘Greigy talked it up afterwards, saying we’d had this plan, but that was bollocks really. It was a long hop that came off so slowly that he tried to hit it too far and was caught by Derek Underwood running in.’

Startled at losing his partner, Greenidge drove Hendrick through mid-on but was almost out to the first ball of Selvey’s second over when he edged just short of third slip.

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