Articles by Max

Always an Occasion to Anticipate

For a fast bowler, Sir Alec Bedser, was such an unusually likeable man … bushy eyebrows and a mischievous glint, wide grin and a rather raspy English accent that originated closer to kidneys than throat. To shake his hand in greeting was to feel undersized in the paw department – massive hands. Thick, long and strong working man’s fingers. This enabled him to comprehensively clamp his fingers around the ball. To vigorously rotate the seam was a natural extension of grip. Bradman more than once succumbed to the Englishman’s deadly leg-cutter. Once bowled for a duck. So too many lesser talented willow wielders. Sir Alec was a twin. When Alec and Eric stood together they were difficult to pick apart – identical. And, incredibly, when they were continents apart, Capetown to London, freakishly they would often choose to knot matching coloured ties on the same day. I met Sir Alec for the first time in 1975 at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham. It was Day 2 of the First Test – Australia v England. Australia was invited to bat first and scored 359, thanks to a bad Mike Denness decision. The miscalculation would ultimately cost him the captaincy of England. Rain interrupted play on the second morning. Time to kill. During the break I found myself, incredibly, discussing the aerodynamics of “swish-nsway” with the legend. We unconditionally shared wisdom, experiences and were quick to compare grips – leg-cutter / off-cutter – cradling bread rolls like any bowler would a cricket ball. In hindsight, quite surreal. Indelible…

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