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A display of ruthless straight-driving as had never been seen before
© Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
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It’s the highest individual score at Lord’s, was compiled against India in 1990, and a wagon wheel of the innings has been fittingly illustrated on the tickets for this match. Graham Gooch’s 333 was made with the help of a three-pound Stuart Surridge Grand Prix Turbo and the triangular formations from either side of the pitch show the extent of driving during the knock. One hundred and seven singles, 15 twos, 2 threes, 43 fours and 3 sixes. Seven years later India suffered at the hands of Sanath Jayasuriya (340 in Colombo) but rarely have they experienced such ruthless straight-driving. The lines perpendicular to the pitch remind one of the savage cuts and pulls; in fact one of the strokes one remembers is the swat to the short ball, picking it up from outside off and pulling it down the ground to the straight fence.
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Harold “Dickie” Bird is at the ground and can’t get enough of attention. “My final Test was on this ground, you know, back in ‘96” he tells people, “and that left-hander of yours got quite a lovely century. Hope he does something similar today.” A few moments later, the left-hander misses a beauty of an indipper and loses his off stump. Was it an emotional end for him at Lord’s? “Tears you know, walking down those steps for the last time. T’was tough.” Did he see any of yesterday’s action? His take on the Kevin Pietersen walk-back? “I think the umpires should have had a discussion before giving him out. You can reverse a decision at any point but it just made the whole thing a bit complicated.”
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Just after India’s batsmen had been shot down by the young English attack, a couple of archers practised with their bows and arrows at either end of the ground. Lord’s will stage the archery event during the 2012 London Olympics and this was more a PR exercise for that. Great Britain are to face India and China in a triangular competition next month, in what will be the first archery tournament at Lord’s, and this was just an appetiser for bigger things to come.
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Former captains at the media centre XI: 1 Graham Gooch, 2 Sunil Gavaskar, 3 Mike Atherton, 4 Ian Chappell, 5 David Gower, 6 Mike Gatting, 7 Nasser Hussain, 8 Mike Brearley, 9 Ian Botham, 10 Richie Benaud, 11 Ravi Shastri.
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