Marcus Berkmann on his favourite cricketer

Marcus Berkmann on his favourite cricketer
Cricket, as we all know, is a team game played by individuals and no cricketer can have been more beguilingly individual than Derek Randall. Modest of stature, equipped with a pixie-ish demeanour, and liable to doff his cap at insane Australian fast bowlers, Randall was a one-off.
Viewed with the dispassionate gaze of hindsight, his figures may not look much: 47 Tests between 1976-77 and 1984, 79 innings, 2470 runs with seven hundreds and 12 fifties, five not-outs,[url=http://duveticavestesfr.halod.com/][b]Doudoune Duvetica Femme[/b][/url], average 33.37.
After Randall was dropped for the last time,[url=http://rogervivieroutlet.webmium.com/][b]Roger Vivier UK Online Shop[/b][/url], the role of "slightly frustrating underachieving England middle-order batsman" was occupied by Allan Lamb,[url=http://parajumpersparkamen.webmium.com/][b]http://parajumpersparkamen.webmium.com/[/b][/url], Mike Gatting, Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash and John Crawley, each of whom drove me mad at various times in his own way. But Randall, I forgave everything.
Although 47 Tests is not a bad haul for a top-six batsman who did not score a huge number of runs, I felt at the time that he should have played more, and I feel it still. Randall was, for me, the most ill-used and underestimated batsman of his era, allowed fewer chances than his contemporaries, and punished more swiftly for every failure. Writing these words, I feel my teeth start to grind uncontrollably.
He is, of course, best known for the Centenary Test of 1976-77. It was only his fifth Test, but if you are going to score an epic 174 against Australia, this was the Test to do it in. Mere months before Kerry Packer turned the game upside down and inside out, this was a grand celebration of all that had gone before, without the slightest clue of what was to come.
The Queen was there,[url=http://parajumpersoutletsverige.albirank.net/][b]http://parajumpersoutletsverige.albirank.net/[/b][/url], so were thousands of elderly former cricketers, and Randall produced the performance of the game. England needed 463 runs to win and, astoundingly,[url=http://peutereyjacket.webmium.com/][b]Ricarda Christina and Peuterey Jacket With Front Pockets for sale[/b][/url], came within 46 runs of it. The cap-doffing incident followed a particularly well-directed Dennis Lillee bouncer. There could be no better way to disarm the old growler. Another bouncer was flat-batted to the midwicket boundary "with a speed and power that made many a rheumy eye turn to the master of the stroke, the watching Sir Donald Bradman. Words cannot recapture the joy of that moment." This was Wisden's unusually effusive description. It was my hero's defining innings and, needless to say, I did not see a ball of it.
Later games, though,[url=http://discountparajumperssaleonlinestore.webmium.com/][b]http://discountparajumperssaleonlinestore.webmium.com/[/b][/url], I remember with unnatural clarity. Randall was always a nervous starter. At times, when he was out of form, he could look as though he had never actually batted before and had just wandered on to the pitch by mistake. We who revered him sat through these occasions in torment,[url=http://cheapsoccercleatsonlinestore.blogspot.com/][b]cheap soccer cleats[/b][/url], hoping he would somehow survive his first few overs, for when he finally found his touch everything clicked in the most magnificent way.
He had that ability,[url=http://parajumpersjacketwiki.blogspot.com/][b]parajumpers jacket wiki[/b][/url], most recently seen in Kevin Pietersen (who otherwise resembles him in no way at all) to play shots you did not think were possible, and make them look easy. It was an outrageous talent that communicated the sheer joy of batting. For Randall, Test cricket never seemed like just another day at the office. He played the game as we thought we would if we were in his shoes, only with 2000 times more natural ability.
True,[url=http://woolrichoutletde.albirank.net/][b]http://woolrichoutletde.albirank.net/[/b][/url], his game was not without its technical flaws. Like so many Test batsmen he had a tendency to nibble fatally outside off stump. Apparently the man himself believed that his relatively short reach made him vulnerable to such balls, although his reach never seemed that short when he was swooping on balls in the covers like a hyperactive orangutan.
Low centre of gravity, long arms, astounding instincts: what else do you need? The fielding, of course, was his great additional value to a side. It was said,[url=http://cheapsoccercleatsonlinestore.blogspot.com/][b]http://cheapsoccercleatsonlinestore.blogspot.com/[/b][/url], so often that I probably said it in my sleep, that he was worth an extra 20 runs to his side in the field, although I remember once arguing in the pub that it should be 23,[url=http://woolrichoutletde.albirank.net/][b]Woolrich Outlet[/b][/url], while someone else said 18. Those who did not buy into Randall really did not buy into him. Their number included several England selectors.
But, though constantly shoved up and down the order,[url=http://duveticashoponline.blogspot.com/][b]http://duveticashoponline.blogspot.com/[/b][/url], Randall had a tendency to score runs when they mattered. I particularly remember a gritty and ground-out 105 at Edgbaston against Pakistan in 1982 when he was opening the batting, mainly because no one else would. In Melbourne he batted at No. 3 but I always thought he looked more comfortable at Nos. 6 or 7, at which positions he averaged in the mid-40s.
My favourite innings of his, better than any of the hundreds, was an 83 at Trent Bridge against New Zealand in 1983. Coming in at 169 for 5, he and Ian Botham flayed the Kiwi bowling to all corners. Botham bludgeoned a century and stole the headlines but it was Randall's batting that delighted the connoisseurs. In one over from Richard Hadlee, a Nottinghamshire team-mate who at the time was taking wickets pretty much when he felt like it, Randall hit three boundaries in three balls through the off side. Each ball was slightly different, each shot was slightly different and the result was the same. It was joyous and sublime.
The next year Randall got 0 and 1 against West Indies and was dropped forever. Typically he had his most productive county season in 1985, when England were trouncing Australia and no middle-order places were available. It was not always a lucky career but it was an honourable and at times brilliant one. He was a brilliant fielder (probably saved thirty odd runs that must be added to his batting runs) and kept dancing to the crowd's chants that was enjoyed by one and all (even my mother-in-law!). He seemed like a person who enjoyed cricket and communicated it to everyone on the field. I believe India lost that test, but I didn't mind the result as I had great fun watching Randall. Thanks for bringing up great memories, and Cheers,[url=http://monclerjacketsuk.albirank.net/][b]Moncler Outlet Online Store UK Cheap Moncler Jackets Coats Sale[/b][/url], Prakash
I saw Derek Randall in his very first test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 1977 when I was still in high school. Some of the enduring images from that test for me (along with two huge sixes by Chris Old and Bob Willis towering over a very dimunitive English fitness trainer during the pre-match warm-up) are Derek Randall's deliberately, crowd-pleasingly funny, exaggeratedly maniacal running in the outfield - it seemed like his bones or limbs could come out any time. He was quite a showman and a comedian on the field, and I am surprised there's no mention of that side of him in this article.
And my favourite cricketer too.
Two things,[url=http://parajumpersparkamen.webmium.com/][b]Woolrich Parka Parajumpers Jacket Canada Goose Outlet Online[/b][/url]. Only assembly I ever listened to.
Working-class hero. Thanks for a great write-up Marcus.
I never saw him on the ground. I saw his photo in a book bringing out details of all the players just before the 1976-77 England tour of India,[url=http://rogervivieroutlet.webmium.com/][b]http://rogervivieroutlet.webmium.com/[/b][/url], and what struck and still stays with me was the grin. What still stays with me is the sheer sense of pleasure he seemed to give out. Another was I think in Boycott's autobiography. In the 1977 Ashes, Boycott ran Randall out and stated that he felt devastated. It apparently took Boycott some time to get himself back on groove. According to Boycs, it was the sight of Randall playing with his child which brought back a sense of perspective.
Wales cricket's charm offensive
The Champions Trophy will put the spotlight back on Cardiff and Welsh cricket, and the likes of Robert Croft plan to make the most of it. By Alan Gardner
Snow, sleet. and cricket
Rewind: In 1903, the English county season got off to a frosty start, with a match between London County and Surrey played amid sleet and snow showers
An inspiring story, simply told
Suresh Menon: The tale of how Yuvraj Singh beat cancer and came back to cricket is now the subject of a book that reveals the man behind the allrounder.
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