Oborne & Heller on Cricket

Peter Oborne, Richard Heller

Cricket authors (and obsessives) Peter Oborne and Richard Heller have launched a new podcast to help deprived listeners endure a world without cricket. They will chat regularly about cricket topics – hoping to keep a good line and length but with occasional wides into other subjects.

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118 episodes
Updated May 3, 2023

Episodes118

Newest first

Jan 18, 2021 · 55 min
What happened to the magic of Sri Lankan cricket?
In 1996 Sri Lanka won the World Cup with electrifying, innovative cricket. They brought solace and hope to a deeply troubled nation and joy to all the world’s neutral cricket-lovers. For the next fifteen years or so, players such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Muttiah Muralitharan, and the brothers-in-arms, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, delivered often magical performances which kept their country in the top flight in all forms of the game. But now Sri Lanka is struggling to keep up its standards. The young historian Nicholas Brookes explains why in his forthcoming book An Island’s XI, a masterly study of Sri Lankan cricket since the British first arrived in 1796. He lived there for two years and taught at one of the country’s top cricket schools, St Thomas’s Colombo. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast.
Jan 11, 2021 · 1 hr 4 min
The United States: Paradise Regained For Cricket?
The United States is the Paradise Lost of world cricket. For about half of the lifetime of the Republic cricket was its major summer sport. Then it lost its hold to baseball and other sports and recreations. In modern times waves of immigrants from the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent have fostered many attempts at a revival. Another big effort is under way, backed by high-profile investors – but will it prove another false dawn? Giving an expert assessment is the author and journalist Peter Della Penna who has penned astute and astringent coverage of United States cricket in many media, especially Wisden Cricketers Almanac. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast.
Jan 4, 2021 · 1 hr 1 min
The man who changed cricket for ever: Peter Hain
He was once the most hated man in cricket. He faced down threats to his career and to his life. He achieved his mission, an epoch-making change in international sport. His new book (with the great historian André Odendaal) Pitch Battles not only narrates his astonishing personal journey but sweeps up the history of South African sport and society, especially the lost stories of non-white players, and throws down major challenges for everyone today who cares about the state of global sport. Peter Hain discusses these themes and makes new revelations as the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. Read the full episode description here: https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-36-the-man-who-changed-cricket-for-ever-peter-hain/
Dec 28, 2020 · 54 min
“Absent, caught fire” and other great moments from Scotland’s cricket heritage
To most English cricket-lovers Scotland is an exotic foreign country, but it has a rich, independent cricket history, as Peter Oborne and Richard Heller discover from an expert guide in their latest cricket-themed podcast. Fraser Simm is an author, historian, analyst and collector who has been chairman of the Cricket Society of Scotland for over 25 years. Fraser speaks of his first introduction to cricket – from Richie Benaud’s Australians visiting Edinburgh at the end of their long 1961 Ashes-retaining tour. They became lifelong heroes to him for playing on through constant drizzle which (said Benaud) turned his normal legbreaks into off-cutters (he still took seven wickets with them, and scored over 70). Fraser picks out some eminent names in the Scottish team including Ronnie Chisholm, Jimmy Allan, Rudy Webster, later a sports psychologist and ambassador, and a young future England captain, Mike Denness. He also recalls Bradman’s last two playing matches in the British Isles, in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, where he scored a century, after which King George VI invited him and both teams to Balmoral. A surviving member of the Scottish team later told Fraser that Balmoral was very untidy, that Keith Miller was seen walking with his arm around Princess Margaret and that there was a phoney press row about Bradman with his hands in his pockets talking to the King. Fraser says that the King gave permission for this but cannot answer whether Bradman gave the King permission to put his hands in his pockets. All of these scenes were mysteriously omitted from The Crown. Fraser delves into the early history of Scottish cricket. He cites the earliest known recorded match near Alloa in 1783, but also mentions evidence that cricket was played by Scots at home and as emigrants to Georgia fifty years earlier. He traces the influence of the English soldiers in the Hanoverian army in Scotland after the suppression of the 45, and that of English workers in Scotland’s textile, paper and iron works during the Industrial Revolution. Cricket became popular all over Scotland in the nineteenth century, and had a major stimulus in 1849 when many of England’s best players in the All-England XI came to play 22 of Scotland: they won easily although Scotland’s Charles Lawrence took all ten English wickets in an innings. Fraser sets out his interesting afterlife: he became a major cricket “missionary” to Australia and managed the first Australian tour of England, by Aborigines, in 1866. As in Italy many famous Scottish football clubs began life as cricket clubs, but cricket in Scotland was held back by lack of a central organization. Although Scotland received many visiting teams from England, including several led by W G Grace, and provided a vital two-year apprenticeship to Wilfred Rhodes, English cricket gave little support to its development. Although largely denied first-class or professional cricket opportunities in their own country, many important Scottish personalities played cricket enthusiastically and in some cases with real ability. Fraser sets out the astonishing multi-sporting achievements of Scotland’s cricket champion, Leslie Balfour-Melville (a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson). J M Barrie loved cricket and formed his own literary team to play it. It included Conan Doyle, who once had to leave the field on discovering his flannels were ablaze after the ball ignited a box of matches in his pocket. Hesketh Pritchard, educated at Fettes, refused a cap for Scotland in order to play for his house at school. Later as a literary explorer his search for the giant sloth inspired Conan Doyle to write The Lost World. And more...
Dec 21, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
“To take us to tea – and beyond”: the incomparable Henry Blofeld
For over fifty years, there have been few pleasures to compare with spending a cricketing hour with Henry Blofeld. He was the joyous guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. Henry explains his philosophy as a radio commentator on TMS and elsewhere of making listeners feel part of a real cricketing event. If they hear only the events in the middle “it all becomes rather two-dimensional and not very warm or human.” Hence the buses, pigeons and colourful spectators which made his commentaries world-renowned. After his early nervous start on TMS, Peter Baxter, its long-serving producer, gave him a gentle encouragement to “go over the boundary” a bit more. “I think at times I’ve gone too far over the boundary ever since.” He has no regrets over the end of incidental detail for scene-painting in modern commentary, which he attributes in part to the demands of short-form cricket for constant updates of the score and match situation. He tells of his happy escape (very similar to that of Mike and Psmith in his beloved P G Wodehouse) from a joyless career in banking into cricket reporting, through the good offices of John Woodcock, the great cricket correspondent of The Times. This was in 1962, when newspapers had far more cricket coverage and he fears that today’s trapped banker Blofelds would find it impossible to make a similar career change. His later entry into commentary was almost equally fortuitous. Henry’s brilliant career at a cricketer at Eton was halted by a horrific accident (with a bus). He gained a Blue at Cambridge and had a Minor County and first-class career but never reached the promised heights. He speaks candidly but philosophically about the physical and emotional impact of the accident, and his determination throughout his career never to look back on what might have been and always to seek out new sources of excitement and fulfilment. He shrewdly analyses his “Bertie Wooster” mannerisms and style of dress – and denies strongly that his unique tones owed anything to elocution lessons. (He comes from a vocally distinguished family.) He uncorks a startlingly good imitation of John Arlott, while paying tribute to his personal kindness and mentorship. Brian Johnstone was cordial but detached. E W Swanton (“the demi-god of the press box”) gave him little help, apart from one job with fagging duties. That was on England’s 1967-68 tour of the West Indies. Henry offers insight into Basil D’Oliveira’s personal problems on that tour, and believes that like Fred Trueman on an earlier tour he was poorly supported by his captain and manager, Colin Cowdrey and Les Ames. He gives a warm and vivid tribute to the supreme stylist of the press box, and his great personal friend John Woodcock. He had unique powers of observation and analysis. He recalls their adventurous journey overland from London to Bombay in 1976, their transport (a vintage Rolls Royce Silver Ghost) and their clothing in sharp contrast to the lorry drivers and hippies they met on the route. The last stages were marked by an unexpected cricket match in Tehran and the accidental purchase (and ingestion) of some strong hashish in Kandahar. When they heard over the radio commentary on a Test match between India and New Zealand they realized (like the two cricket-obsessed English characters in The Lady Vanishes) that they had regained access to civilization. After years of interviewing players, Henry explains why he thinks their answers to questions have become more guarded and boring: partly the influence of corporate sponsorship and firm media coaching and control, partly the loss of intimacy and trust between players and journalists. And more...
Dec 14, 2020 · 48 min
New Zealand cricket’s long journey to success
Charles Darwin watched a cricket match in New Zealand in 1835 – but the country had to wait a long time for international recognition and even longer for its first Test match victories. Things began to change in the 1970s, and David Leggat explains the reasons for its climb, and not only the one named Richard Hadlee. Formerly the chief cricket writer of the New Zealand Herald who has reported and toured with many New Zealand teams, he is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their latest cricket-themed podcast. David profiles the latest addition to New Zealand’s formidable pace attack – Kyle Jamieson (roughly the height of Joel Garner). He pays tribute to the leadership and exceptional dedication of Kane Williamson. New Zealand’s best teams, he suggests, have been built on a world-class performers supported by hard-working players who “get on with the job and do their bit” – in line with the country’s national character. He suggests reasons why rugby union took off so much more quickly than cricket in New Zealand. He reveals that the legend of the invincible All-Blacks began with a misprint in newspaper copy. Historically, he argues that distant England did more to support New Zealand cricket than neighbouring Australia, who played one (retrospective) Test match against them in 1946 and then no more until 1973. There is enduring gratitude to England’s pioneering tourists in the nineteenth century – notwithstanding the betting scandal in 1877 (the first in international cricket) by the English wicketkeeper Ted Pooley. England later established the practice of tacking on a short Test tour of New Zealand after Ashes tours to Australia. In one of these, Walter Hammond struck what was then the record Test match score. He pays tribute to an early great New Zealand bowler, Jack Cowie – who needed just one over to dismiss Don Bradman in front of a packed Adelaide Oval. He traces New Zealand’s generally friendly relationship with Pakistan cricket – and gives a striking first-hand portrait of Imran Khan on and off the field. David’s father, Gordon Leggat, played for New Zealand on their pioneering tour of Pakistan in the 1950s, and, as a barrister, was called on to perform most of the team’s many speaking duties. He was later a national selector, tour manager and chair of the New Zealand Cricket Council, and David traces his influence on making New Zealand stronger international competitors. For years, New Zealand’s best cricketers were amateurs, with just a small allowance for overseas tours. Some of the best, such as Bert Sutcliffe, had to leave the game for long periods to earn a living. David assesses the impact of access to English county cricket for New Zealand players in the 1970s such as Glenn Turner, John Parker, Geoff Howarth, and of course Richard Hadlee – who became the first New Zealand player to have his name chanted by crowds. They gave inspiration to others to apply themselves professionally. Three highly significant Test wins in the 1970s, and success in ODIs, put New Zealand’s cricket on an upward trajectory which brought them to number 2 in the international Test rankings. Finally, he reveals the team’s pain at the manner of their defeat in last year’s World Cup beneath the public display of good sportsmanship which won them so much admiration.
Dec 7, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
The thrill returns of Ted Dexter at the crease
In the pomp of his playing days, Ted Dexter filled cricket grounds with spectators. The former Sussex and England captain returns to the crease as the latest guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their regular cricket-themed podcast. This also includes an appeal from Mike Atherton for the MCC Foundation. For the week from 1 December donations will be doubled in value, and will help to give cricketing experience and access to coaching for disadvantaged boys and girls. See https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a051r00001eojcBAAQ Ted has generously donated to the Foundation the royalties from his autobiography 85 Not Out recently published by Quiller. Ted recalls one of his most electrifying innings, 70 in the Lord’s Test against the 1963 West Indians, which ended with all four results possible on the last ball, Colin Cowdrey with a broken arm at the non-striker’s end. (He pays tribute to the cool David Allen, who actually received the bowling of Wes Hall.) He was given lbw to Sobers, bowling left-arm over: “with DRS I would have reviewed it.” Modestly (and wrongly) he denies that he had an aura as a player, but he always set out to the batting crease as if he meant business. Of modern players, he thinks that Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes and Steve Smith inspire awe in their opponents. Bradman in retirement had huge authority, and once silenced him in a memorable encounter. So far the only Test cricketer to have been born in Milan, Ted speaks of his early life in Italy and then following his father on war service to distant parts of the UK. He pays warm tribute to his father’s support in his career, not least his response to a lordly President of the MCC who had criticized him as captain of the 1962-63 tour of Australia. The peer was a cactus aficionado, and Mr Dexter senior made a graphic suggestion of where his lordship might place a cactus. He discusses his relationship with the Duke of Norfolk, the unexpected manager of that tour. The Duke had once given him tickets to Ascot, and he tells how he hurried to complete victory on the fourth day of a Test against Pakistan so that he could use them on the fifth. He reveals how he himself acquired his unwanted nickname of Lord Ted as a schoolboy at Radley (a story worthy of P G Wodehouse’s hero Psmith.) He looks back at his cricket career at Cambridge University (which owed much to his father and older brother) and as an amateur at Sussex. In his first year in the side, he sent a belated telegram pulling out of a Championship match to pursue a romance in Denmark – a story from a lost world of cricket. That romance came to naught but not long after he courted (to the background of Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swinging Lovers) the beautiful model who became his wife of over sixty years. He and she became the most glamorous figures in world cricket and he speaks revealingly about the condition of professional sportsmen’s lives in the new cultural and social era of the Sixties. As captain of Sussex (despite the romantic AWOL incident), he tells how he won them their first silverware (the initial two Gillette Cups) through his understanding of containment by accurate seam bowling. Although blamed for the long exile of spin bowlers from one-day cricket, he rejoices in the present paramountcy of leg-spinners in T20. He pays a warm tribute to his Sussex partner Jim Parks, a natural athlete. He is proud of his influence (with the aid of chairs) over John Snow’s development as a world-class bowler. And more...
Nov 30, 2020 · 1 hr
South African cricket and the poisoned legacy of apartheid
As England’s tour of South Africa gets under way, the two latest guests of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their cricket-themed podcast offer deep insight into South African cricket past and present. Mo Allie, of the BBC Africa service has reported on South African sport for many years and is the author of More Than A Game, telling many heroic stories of South Africa’s non-white cricketers in times of racial segregation. Cricket historian and analyst Arunabha Sengupta has written Apartheid – A Point To Cover, the story of South African cricket to 1970 and of the successful Stop The 70 Tour campaign. Mike Atherton delivers an appeal for the MCC Foundation. For a week from 1 December donations will be doubled in value, and will help to give cricketing experience and access to coaching for disadvantaged boys and girls. See https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a051r00001eojcBAAQ Mo explains the turmoil in South Africa’s cricket administration which almost caused the cancellation of England’s tour. He and Arunabha also analyse the bitter conflicts within South Africa over taking the knee in support of BlackLivesMatter. They have their roots in the poisoned legacy of apartheid, which created inequalities and imbalances in South African society which will take generations to eradicate, in the present violence which engulfs the country, and in a failure, not only in South Africa, to shake off cultural attitudes and racial myths formed in colonial times. Mo conveys the shock in South Africa when Makaya Ntini, the “poster boy” for its newly integrated cricket, revealed the loneliness he experienced in the team through enduring racism. He reveals that white players who took the knee earlier this year received death threats. Arunabha shows how racial segregation was embedded in South African cricket long before it was formalized and developed under apartheid, citing particularly the case of Krom Hendricks, a brilliant pace bowler of mixed race, denied international selection as far back as 1894 at the behest of Cecil Rhodes. He was the first of many non-white cricketers excluded by a “100 per cent white” quota system. Mo gives moving personal testimony of the losses experienced by his family through waves of discriminatory laws, especially from enforced removals, and of what it was like for him to grow up under apartheid. Many non-white people, not only in sport, had to go overseas to get a career, and the talents of millions more were lost to the world. Arunabha traces the impact of exclusion from international cricket and sport generally on the image and self-confidence of a sports-crazed nation, and how Nelson Mandela later saw integrated sport as an agent of change. He cites Mike Procter and Clive Rice on the effect of playing in multi-racial English county cricket in taking South African players out of their “white bubble.” Mo expresses deep worry about the shortage of selfless capable leaders not only in South African cricket but in other sectors. Racial quotas and stereotypes are too often blamed for failures. The “rainbow nation” may be dissolving as communities retreat into their own laagers and compete for scarce resources in a deeply troubled economy. However, both he and Arunabha see signs of positivity and hope, not least in the public efforts to promote inclusion through cricket by former cricketers such as Lance Klusener, Paul Adams, and especially Gary Kirsten, who is developing the talents of disadvantaged young players at his cricket academy. They also cite the successes of South African women in cricket and other sports and the efforts led by Professor André Odendaal (a future guest) to recapture the lost history of non-white players and make the nation aware of its full sporting legacy.
Nov 23, 2020 · 1 hr 9 min
John Cleese Shares His Lifelong Love of Cricket
“In that moment I went absolutely rigid with real terror, far worse than facing Jeff Thomson.” That is John Cleese, sharing with Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their latest cricket-themed podcast his experience as a performer of the “yips”, that dread loss of control which can blight cricketers on the field. He shares joyous memories of a lifelong love of cricket, which began watching the postwar Somerset team play at Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare. A previous guest, Jeffrey Archer, might also have been in the crowd but he cannot remember meeting him there. He does remember the fast bowler and mighty hitter, Arthur Wellard, hitting a six so high in the air that it when it fell it burst through the roof of a tea tent and shattered much crockery beneath. He recalls two other personal favourite Somerset players. Horace Hazell was a very accurate slow left-armer but so portly that he was forced to pause before each delivery to reposition his flannels. Bertie Buse was an all-rounder with an eccentric run-up which he tried to imitate as a fledgling bowler, “like an Edwardian butler serving tea on a tray.” Somerset were a happy team to watch, regularly bottom of the County Championship. John remembers his shock of adjustment, even sense of vague disappointment, when they broke the pattern by winning the Gillette Cup in 1979. There were darker moments in Somerset cricket, and he shares movingly the experience of watching two of them. Harold Gimblett was an explosive opening batsman subject to deep depression, which eventually drove him to take his life. John describes seeing him walking back to long-off so sunk in gloom that he was not even aware that the ball had been struck towards him; his belated attempt to catch it resulted only in falling over and injuring himself on some scaffolding on the boundary. The second was watching Maurice Tremlett get “the yips” at Taunton, losing the bowling action which had earned him selection for England and delivering endless wides and no-balls. He recalls the horror of the crowd as they desperately willed him to complete the over. John reveals his long fear of a similar experience in his performing career, a fear which especially haunts comedians. He tells the story of his own “Tremlett moment.” It came during a sketch with Ronnie Corbett on live television for The Frost Report. Mercifully for posterity, John got through the awkward line which had given him sleepless nights, but he remembers Ronnie Corbett’s surprise at his nervous amendment, when he described him as the tallest person he had ever met. John is modest about his prowess as an off-spinner at Clifton College, where he contributed to two victories at Lord’s over their rivals, Tonbridge. Already very tall, he claims that his greatest successes came on the school’s mid-season pitches where his hand appeared over the sightscreen against the background of a red brick building. (Joel Garner, another famous Somerset cricketer, would later enjoy a similar advantage.) John shares his joy at dismissing Denis Compton in a Clifton match despite an unco-operative wicketkeeper who wanted to see the great man bat. John explains why he did not play much after leaving Clifton, but shares the experience of a happy tour of Corfu with the Lords Taverners (renamed the Lords Tavernas) with Ken Barrington, Roy Kinnear and John Price of Middlesex and England. Discussing the influence of cricket on his work, John mentions his deep affection for the cricket-crazed Major in Fawlty Towers, a loving caricature of his father. He examines the treatment of English cricket in Monty Python as a monumentally dull experience narrated by idiotic backward-looking commentators. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6dl8og And more...
Nov 16, 2020 · 54 min
Jill Rutter on watching cricket with Prime Ministers and others
Jill Rutter had many high-profile roles in British public service, including Director of Communications at the Treasury and a spell in the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit. She is now a Visiting Professor at King’s College, London and a senior Fellow at the Institute For Government (which has the uphill task of promoting better government.) She has been a regular and trenchant commentator on Brexit issues and the machinery of government (especially when this breaks down). But most important, she is a lifelong cricket lover, which is why she is the latest guest on the regular podcast by Peter Oborne and Richard Heller. Peter still being away on assignment, Roger Alton again takes the new ball in his place. Jill talks about her early life in Birkenhead, where she developed her obsession with cricket although top-class cricket matches with Lancashire were not easy to access, being overwhelmingly concentrated on Manchester. She remembers walking with her father through fields to bucolic club matches, and occasional excursions to the festive one-day matches with the Rothman International Cavaliers, with stars such as Rohan Kanhai. She describes her feelings of isolation as a girl watching cricket matches and the lack of encouragement for her and other girls to play the game, although at school she was coached by the then England women’s wicketkeeper, Sheila Plant. Her first Test match (England v Australia Old Trafford 1968) was a dull drawn affair. Alan Knott gave her his autograph, Geoff Boycott refused and rebuked Knott for giving his. (Her father mistook Alan Knott for a schoolboy.) County cricket became much more accessible when her family moved south and she became a member of Surrey CCC. Apart from the Oval she went to many outgrounds, and regrets that they have fallen out of use. Jill vividly describes the qualities that made her fall in love with cricket at an early age: the sheer beauty of great batsmen, the excitement of fast bowlers (but not when used for sheer intimidation), and the mix of players of all shapes and sizes. Above all, the constant drama and the potential for any individual player to change the course of a game, sometimes (like Jack Leach at Headingley last year) using their non-chosen and unrated skill. She enjoys all formats – and will go to the 100 if it gets going. Lockdown has made her an addict of the IPL. She especially likes Womens T20, and all international matches with fans from the Asian diaspora, which both have a completely different atmosphere for woman and children as spectators. She calls for an end to the alcoholic culture of men at nighttime T20 matches. Jill joined HM Treasury in 1978 and she tells how she very quickly discovered its strong cricket culture, although after Botham’s epic at Headlingly 1981 senior penny-pinchers stopped her and her colleagues from using official phones to check the Test match score. She was lucky to be posted to the private office of another Surrey CCC fan – John Major, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury. She took him to the Oval to watch Graham Hick, whom he had never seen before. She and other favoured officials were invited to watch cricket passages on his ministerial television. She describes senior official colleagues who played for the celebrated Mandarins cricket club (colours mandarin orange and civil service grey). The most eminent was Robin Butler, who became Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service: unsurprisingly he was a very correct batsman. She formed an enduring bond with cricketlovers in the civil service and still watches matches with them, both here and in Australia. She loves the atmosphere at Australian grounds – if she is not too close to the Barmy Army. She discusses the prospects for England’s next Ashes visit. And much more...
Nov 9, 2020 · 55 min
Talking with Pakistan Women’s Former Cricket Captain Sana Mir
Sana Mir played in 226 international matches for Pakistan, as an off-spinning all-rounder, 137 as captain, an appointment she received at just 23. She won many awards in her career, including two Asian Games Gold Medals, and was the first woman cricketer to be honoured by her country. Wisden named her Captain of the Women’s Team of the last decade. On her retirement earlier this year, she received messages from admirers all over the world, in tribute to the inspiration she has given to women in cricket. She is the latest guest in the regular cricket-themed podcast by Peter Oborne and Richard Heller. In Peter’s absence on an assignment overseas, their friend Roger Alton replaced him as co-host. Sana Mir vividly describes her first memories of playing cricket aged 3 ½ with her elder brother and his friends in the backyard and the street in the northern city of Gilgit, where her father was stationed in the Pakistan army. In childhood, she was usually the only girl playing and had to give up the game in her teens in the face of social pressures at the time. 5-8 minutes But her family supported her cricket dreams, and her mother induced her to seek a trial with the pioneering Khan sisters of Karachi, who decided to form a Pakistan women’s team and invited girls from all over the country to be part of it. She was successful, enjoying the experience of playing hardball cricket with other girls, including other future stars of Pakistan women’s cricket. She also attended other trials in Lahore organized by the rival group recognized by the then Pakistan Cricket Board. She describes her sadness at the bitterness between the two groups – which led her, still in her teens, to invite the President of Pakistan to reconcile them. It was painful for her and other girls to be caught in the crossfire between the two groups, and the experience gained by the Khan sisters’ team in international cricket was lost to the new Pakistan team formed in 2005. 9-15 minutes Sana Mir describes her entry into that team aged just 19. Although unable to play at her college (for lack of facilities) she kept fit with other sports and did well enough in trial matches to be selected for an ODI against Sri Lanka. She survived running out her captain and became captain herself four years later. 16-19 minutes She tells the secrets of her success, based on values learnt from her family, in motivating players to improve their performance and win matches by team work. 27 minutes She herself became the ICC’s top-ranked Woman bowler – but for all her many awards she is proudest of the fact that eight team mates joined her in the top 20 World rankings. 24, 27-31 minutes In telling the story of her two Gold medals in the Asian Games, she suggests that these T20 contests could provide a model for women’s cricket in the Olympic Games. She shows how the Asian Games victories were especially important for the prestige of women’s cricket in Pakistan in view of the recent matchfixing scandal which had mired the men’s team. 35-39 minutes She celebrates beating India twice in World Cups (a feat unmatched by Pakistan’s men) and describes the greatly improved relationship between the two teams since she first appeared. She names her favourite male players and says why M S Dhoni is her favourite captain. 25, 31-35 minutes For six years, she received no match fees or regular income from the PCB. She describes the financial difficulties still faced by women cricketers in Pakistan, especially those who want or need to leave home, and the lack of facilities, equipment and special nutrition for them. She pays tribute to the banks and Departments who give them essential support as effectively semi-professionals. 20-24, 40-41 minutes And more...
Nov 2, 2020 · 46 min
The glorious social and cultural heritage of Irish cricket with Charles Lysaght
Besides being a celebrated student debater, who replaced Ken Clarke and handily defeated Vince Cable in 1964 as President of the Cambridge Union, then one of Ireland’s leading constitutional and administrative lawyers, a biographer, obituarist and a man of letters Charles Lysaght has been a noted cricketer and host of cricketers in Ireland for over sixty years. (For the curious, he is a distant kinsman of Cornelius Lysaght, the racing commentator.) He shares his deep love and knowledge of the history of Irish cricket and its literary heritage with Peter Oborne and Richard Heller as the latest guest in their cricket-themed podcast. Delving into the early history of Irish cricket, Charles Lysaght reveals the score made by the future Duke of Wellington in the match in 1792 between the Dublin Garrison and All Ireland – and the other future duke who dismissed him with an underarm delivery. 2-4 minutes He explains how cricket became popular in rural Ireland after Waterloo, often but not exclusively through teams raised by landlords for their tenants, and also in Dublin. One cricketing landlord was Charles Stewart Parnell. Charles Lysaght says that he was not a popular captain and once led his team off in a sulk over an umpire’s decision. Parnell gave up cricket when he entered the House of Commons and led the campaign for Home Rule – but his onfield behaviour might have inspired his successful obstructive Parliamentary tactics. 5-8 minutes He mentions another surprising Irish politician to have played cricket – Eamonn De Valera, at Blackrock school. De Valera enjoyed watching cricket, and even more so rugby, but had to conceal this from the powerful Gaelic Athletic Association, which for nearly a hundred years tried to ban Irish people from playing or even watching so-called English “garrison games.” 9-12 minutes Charles Lysaght describes two nineteenth-century Irish cricketers who played for England, Leland Hone, from a celebrated artistic and literary family, and an irascible but talented baronet, Sir Tom O’Brien (no relation of Ireland’s recent batting hero Kevin O’Brien). 13-15 minutes He is surprised to learn of a third: J E P McMaster (born in County Down) accompanied England’s first organized tour of South Africa and played in a match later given Test status. He was out for a golden duck, did not bowl and did not take a catch. This represented his entire first-class career. 17-19 minutes He explores the rich links between Irish cricket and literature, particularly those forged by Clongowes School, in county Kildare. He reads James Joyce’s beautiful short description of cricket there in Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, although noting that Joyce was forced to leave the school at the age of ten. He is sceptical about the feat later ascribed by Joyce in Ulysses to Captain Buller – hitting a six on the Trinity College ground through the window of the Kildare Street Club at square leg. 25-27 minutes Another Clongowes cricket-lover was the barrister and Home Rule MP Tom Kettle (who once said that the only legal briefs he ever received were from cricket friends). Charles Lysaght reads Kettle’s beautiful sonnet to his infant daughter, composed before his death on the Somme in the Great War. He explains its political and moral context and contrasts this with Yeats’ celebrated poem An Irish Airman Forsees His Death (whose subject, Robert Gregory, was also an Irish cricketer.) 21-25 minutes And more...
Oct 26, 2020 · 45 min
Cricket's growth in remarkable places: the man who knows
James Coyne, Assistant Editor of The Cricketer magazine, has prepared each year since 2012 the section in Wisden Cricketers Almanack on Cricket Around The World. He is also the co-author of a book Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion (to be published next April) a record of an epic cricketing odyssey in Latin America. As the latest guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their cricket-themed podcast, he shares his knowledge of all the astonishing places in the world which now play cricket. He outlines the cricketing crime instigated by Evita Peron, and explains its background in sporting politics. Cricket and two forms of football were all introduced by the British through their commercial influence in Argentina, but whereas association and later rugby football acquired a general following, cricket remained a game for the Anglophile élite, and therefore a prime target for the Perons’ populist nationalism. Egyptian cricket had a similar trajectory (its most famous product was the future actor Omar Sharif). He tells the story of the MCC tour of Argentina in the 1920s, managed by Plum Warner with Gubby Allen and a future Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home leading the attack. He tells the remarkable story of another amateur on the tour who was picked by Warner to lead the following year’s Test tour of South Africa – and the non-cricketing reason why Warner chose him. The Round the World feature in the Almanack has covered around 150 countries or territories – many more than the 104 current members of the ICC. James explains that it tends to focus on countries in the news, countries where cricket is contributing to recovery after conflict, cricket among refugee populations – and those with a great new cricket story to be told. The feature has tracked many countries’ rise through the ranks of cricket, notably Afghanistan and latterly Thailand. He suggests reasons for the rapid progress of Thai women’s cricket, a model for the rest of the world. In contrast are the sad decline of cricket in Morocco (where Richard was the only visiting captain to lose an international series) and the apparent disappearance of the cricket league named after “Sir Peter Oborne” in the West African state of Chad. It may have been a victim of equipment shortages, which have affected cricket in its neighbour Mali. James analyses the problems, especially amateurish governance and factionalism, which have persistently held back cricket in the United States despite its rich history and huge potential for participation, spectatorship and financing. He describes the present ambitious plans for American cricket which try to replicate the successful business models of other American sports – and names two of America’s top business leaders who are ardent cricket supporters. He cites the hugely exciting proposal to include cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and the obstacles it faces. He tells fascinating stories of cricket in St Helena (population around 4500 but ahead of China in the current ICC rankings), in the Falkland Islands (often interrupted by wind or Argentina, and lost kit in Tierra del Fuego), and Antarctica (a match at the South Pole in 1959, regular fixtures at the Australian base). He shares the moving story of cricket in desperate conditions in the Shatila refugee camp in the Lebanon, and its British pioneers led by Richard Verity and supported by a local headmaster, David Gray. It has shown the potential for cricket to offer its healing power to Syria’s huge refugee population as it has done previously to Afghans and others.
Oct 19, 2020 · 57 min
Talking with Human Rights Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Stafford-Smith OBE is a cricket-lover who is also one of the leading human rights lawyers in the world. He is the founder of Reprieve, an organization which specializes in defending people facing execution and victims of rendition, extrajudicial detention and torture in the name of counter-terrorism. As a lawyer practising in the southern United States he personally represented over 300 prisoners sentenced to death: all but six were spared. He won five cases in the (pre-Trump) Supreme Court. He has secured the release of 80 inmates detained without charges at the American facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, including all the British ones, and is still at work at another seven cases there. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their latest cricket-themed podcast. For information and how you can support Clive’s local cricket club, Broadwindsor, visit: crowdfunder.co.uk/savebroadwindsorcricket He sets out his philosophy – and practice – of cricket as an alternative to war, especially between India and Pakistan, and hails the Taliban’s enthusiasm for cricket. 8-11 and 24 minutes He has had a long relationship with Imran Khan, forged in campaigns for victims of drone strikes, 14-18 minutes and repeats Imran’s stark warning of the possibility of a nuclear exchange in the recent hostilities over Kashmir. 18-19 and 21-23 minutes He sets out ways in which cricket-lovers and other sporting enthusiasts might move human rights forward in different countries, including Dubai, the headquarters of world cricket, where foreign workers are victims of discrimination and exploitation. 50-55 minutes He describes his amazing experiences playing cricket at Guantanamo (a location not so far mentioned in Wisden’s Cricket Around The World) with the poorly-paid Jamaican workers, 2-7 minutes and how he managed to give the latest scores to cricket-loving inmates despite often bizarre US censorship over numbers. 13-14 minutes Clive learnt his cricket at Radley College, where his Warden was the inspirational Dennis Silk, a major figure in English cricket. 36-37 minutes He became the College’s opening bowler despite a teenage struggle against bulimia. He describes this movingly, along with his response to Freddie Flintoff’s recent account of his own struggle with a condition still poorly understood among men. 39-41 minutes He recalls his long experience of a thriving cricket scene in the United States, 47-49 minutesparticularly playing in Atlanta with and against many famous West Indian cricketers. They included Conrad Hunte. He speaks warmly of his ethical personality and his on-field kindness and forbearance with the efforts of his lesser playing colleagues. 42-46 minutes He recently testified on behalf of Julian Assange in his fight against extradition. He explains the significance of the case and looks forward to welcoming the most celebrated member of the Quito Cricket Club into his local cricket club, Broadwindsor in Dorset. 26-28 minutes He is now trying to save the club from the threat of eviction by the new owners of their ground. 29-35 minutes He gives listeners the chance to donate to the campaign (and purchase an office or title within the club). Henry Blofeld sent such a fierce letter of support that he felt compelled to tone it down slightly. 34 minutes Surprisingly for such a battling lawyer he remarks: “The law’s not a great way to solve anything. I’d rather solve it by the rules of cricket”. 33 minutes
Oct 12, 2020 · 55 min
Talking with Historian and Author, Dr Prashant Kidambi
In 1911 the first cricket team to represent all of India made a long tour of all parts of the United Kingdom. Professor Prashant Kidambi wrote a book about it, Cricket Country, which won the Lord Aberdare Prize awarded by the British Society of Sports History and was the first sporting work to be shortlisted for the Wolfson Prize for history. Cricket Country not only describes the events on the field but also the long and complex preparations for the tour, and its role in the history of India and the British Empire. As the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast, Prashant Kidambi vividly describes the challenges of capturing the big themes of the book and of writing sports history itself. He sets out the way in which the Indian middle class in Parsi, Hindu and Muslim communities took over the development of the game from the British and adapted cricket into Indian culture. 3 minutes et seq The British had an ambivalent attitude to Indians playing cricket – disparaging the early teams, then welcoming them as pupils and gracious losers, but shocked and resentful when Indian teams started winning in front of their enthusiastic spectators. 10-13 minutes The British made many excuses for their defeats – including an excess of champagne at the lunch interval. 19-21 minutes He shows why it took such a long time to overcome communal differences and select a team, and how the tour had an underlying political motive of demonstrating Indians’ loyalty to the British Empire at a time of growing tensions. Although generally unsuccessful on the field, the tour gave a lasting legacy to Indian cricket. 39-44 minutes The tour was held in the shadow of Ranjitsinhji, who refused the offer of the captaincy. The tourists were not in his class and their initial performances disappointed the press and the public. Prashant Kidambi analyses Ranjitsinhji’s difficult task of managing a series of conflicting roles – international superstar, English cricketer (although regularly described as benefit unfairly from “Oriental magic”) and maintaining his claim to the Indian princely state of Nawanagar. 23-29 minutes The hero of the tour was Palwankar Baloo, the first great Indian bowler, judged on the tour to be the equal of Sydney Barnes. Prashant Kidambi describes the struggle he faced in showing his talent, as a member of an 'Untouchable' Hindu caste, facing regular episodes of fierce discrimination. Baloo had a later political career as a respected campaigner for the Dalits. 30-37 minutes Drawing on his recent Derek Birley lecture, Prashant Kidambi sets out how he reconciled the three simultaneous tasks which he sees as required of any sporting historian: setting out the social, economic and if necessary, political context of sporting events; describing the sporting action (sometimes all but forgotten by modern historians) and the purely sporting developments that shape the story; and establishing the time frame of the story. He illustrates this with the example of Shane Warne’s Ball of the century: an episode in English-Australian history, a great cricketing moment condensing years of cricket history, and one of the events of 1993. 47-54 minutes
Oct 5, 2020 · 47 min
Talking with ECB's Managing Director of Women’s Cricket Clare Connor
The rise of women’s cricket, in England and worldwide, is the biggest story in the modern history of the game. Clare Connor CBE is a witness to this journey and a key driver of it. As a cricket-crazed girl, she played in boys’ and men’s teams, not even aware of English women’s cricket. But still in her teens, she played Test cricket for England women, then captained the side to a famous long-delayed Ashes triumph. After retirement she became a top administrator. Since 2012 she has been the chair of the ICC’s women’s committee, and more recently became the ECB’s Managing Director for women’s cricket and a board member. From October next year, she will become the first woman President of the MCC – a men-only bastion for over 150 years. She is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. She describes the thrill of learning about her MCC appointment from its incumbent, Kumar Sangakkara (then captaining MCC on tour in Pakistan) and the MCC Chief Executive, Guy Lavender. She outlines her ambitions in the role in making the Club more inclusive. She outlines her early cricket career in and near Brighton, unaware of women’s cricket and with no role model in women’s cricket. Although the only girl in her early teams, she never felt like an outsider, through the unconditional support of her parents and team members. She describes the trial – and the shot in front of the then England women’s coach – that brought her into women’s cricket. Clare speaks of the demands of her England international career, juggling them against her university studies in English and her later job as a teacher. Like her colleagues she was never paid match fees: initially they even had to pay all their own expenses, including overseas tours. Full professional contracts were introduced only in 2014. She describes vividly the intense national celebrations in 2005, shared with the England men, of the double success in their respective Ashes series, culminating in a ceremony and a joint photograph at an empty Lord’s. Clare picks out highlights of the global advance of women’s cricket, given new impetus by T20, notably its take-off in Thailand, its progress in Pakistan after the pioneering courageous work of the Khan sisters, and the current proliferation of women’s competitions. She outlines the ICC’s efforts to develop the game in new territories with no background in cricket, and to use the game for social unity and global healing after the pandemic. She cites dramatic statistics of the current TV and digital audience for women’s cricket in England and worldwide. She refers to the growing discussions of the possibilities of women’s cricket selling its own rights and obtaining its own sponsorship. (One downside to its growing success is the infiltration of attempted match fixing into women’s cricket.) She emphasizes the huge importance of showcasing women’s cricket (with free-to-air TV coverage) at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, and the strong efforts being made to include both men’s and women’s cricket in the next Olympic Games in Paris. Time constraints might well require this to be a T10 format. Hybrid pitches (real turf matched with artificial) will be essential: they have played a great role in the spread of global cricket. Finally she contrasts her early career, unaware of women’s cricket, with the ambitious ten-stage pathway devised by the ECB to attract girls and women into cricket and let them progress as far as they want. She concludes: “There are so many more opportunities now for girls and women to feel more part of cricket, as players, fans, coaches, and that’s a very exciting journey.”
Sep 28, 2020 · 1 hr 3 min
Talking with MCC's Head of Heritage and Collections Neil Robinson
Neil Robinson is the MCC’s Head of Collections and Heritage at Lord’s. He is responsible for one of the world’s greatest collections of sporting art, artefacts, and memorabilia, as well as a constantly expanding Library of over 20,000 books and complete collections of journals, many rare, as well as the MCC Archive, a treasure trove for historians and not only of cricket. Previously the MCC’s Librarian and head of research, he has given unstinting help to thousands of writers on cricket. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. Neil describes the scope of the collections (up to 5,000 works of art or artefacts, hundreds of thousands of photographs) and its nineteenth-century origins, especially the efforts of Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, an MCC grandee associated with the club for no fewer than 75 years. The oldest photos show the first English overseas cricket tour, of the USA and Canada, in 1859 as well as the sheep used to crop the field before the lawnmower was invented in the 1860s. Two other historic photographs show the English playing cricket in Yokahama, Japan, in 1863: amid great tension, the sides carried weapons on the field to defend themselves from expected attack by samurai. Neil also mentions the first English cricket tour of Australia in 1863 – as a late substitute for a cancelled tour by Charles Dickens (a cricket fan). He describes the restoration at the Natural History Museum of one of the most popular artefacts – the sparrow killed in mid-flight by a ball from Jehangir Khan (father of Pakistan’s Majid Khan). The gender of the bird has finally been established. Neil describes the efforts to build up the audio archive of over 200 cricketing interviews, to make the collections, especially the portraits, more representative of non-English countries and of women, and to put more of the collections online, a priority heightened by the temporary shutdown of the Lord’s Museum and the ending of tours. The collections are to be reviewed in the light of current concerns over associations with slavery and colonial oppression. Neil reveals the amazing Victorian romance hidden in the Ashes urn – and his own remarkable experiences in transporting it to Australia as part of a (non-cricketing) exhibition. He describes the creation of his own cricket book - Long Shot Summer - the history of England’s deeply troubled Test match year of 1988. Finally, Neil describes some of the vital historic materials in the MCC Archive, especially records of all the England tours organized by MCC as late as 1968. He explains the gaps caused by the haphazard way records were preserved before the Archive was begun in 2006.
Sep 21, 2020 · 59 min
Talking with Huw Turbervill and Simon Hughes of The Cricketer
The Cricketer, on the edge of a well-deserved century, is the oldest surviving cricket magazine in the world – and shows no sign of leaving the crease. With Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast are its managing editor, and historian, Huw Turbervill, and its editor, Simon Hughes, known to millions from his televised appearances as the Analyst. They reveal that another distinguished centenarian, Captain Sir Tom Moore is a subscriber and an avid cricket follower. They trace the history of The Cricketer, from its foundation in 1921 as a worthwhile activity for Plum Warner after his retirement from first-class cricket. Although it followed the Great War and the Spanish flu pandemic but neither figured much in its early pages. Initially a weekly newspaper (at six old pence, about the price of a pint of beer), it began a tradition of securing famous cricketers and distinguished authors as contributors for little or no money. Besides being general editor of The Cricketer, Warner was cricket correspondent of the (ultra-conservative) Morning Post newspaper. He combined these roles with managing England’s Bodyline tour of Australia in the 1930s an arrangement unthinkable today, which caused Warner considerable stress. In 1939, The Cricketer greeted the outbreak of war with a memorable cricket-themed editorial. Gallantly, the staff coped with paper shortage and the Blitz to bring out issues throughout the war, which were much appreciated by British prisoners-of-war. Huw and Simon share vivid memories of two distinguished contributors – E W Swanton, grandiose and overbearing but devoted to cricket and good writing, and Christopher Martin-Jenkins, gentle, humorous and always running late, who inspired deep loyalty. They analyse the innovative competitions in English cricket introduced and still supported by The Cricketer, the Cup for old boys’ teams, and the highly popular National Village Trophy, which gives village teams the chance of playing at Lord’s (even in this Covid year.) Huw and Simon reveal the ructions caused by their two-yearly attempts to name the players and writer with the greatest influence in cricket. They reveal those who objected to being demoted or under-placed. They describe The Cricketer’s tight relationship with its readers and its determination to cover cricket at all levels. Recent issues have had a more social focus, and Simon outlines the magazine’s treatment of BlackLivesMatter and the loss of black people to English cricket. Outlining his latest book A New Innings, co-authored with Manoj Badale owner of the IPL team, Rajastan Royals, Simon charts the generally benign effects of T20 on global cricket. He also sets out the revolutionary implications of the new relationships between cricketers and spectators through sophisticated digital platforms. These could make cricket thrive even if live spectatorship remains off-limits due to Covid (or the next virus).
Sep 14, 2020 · 59 min
Talking with Former First-Class Pakistani Cricketer Qamar Ahmed
Qamar Ahmed is a legend in global cricket. He reported 450 Test matches – about one in six of all those ever played since 1877 – and 738 one-day internationals, including nine of the twelve World Cups. He is respected throughout the cricket world for his authority and integrity. He recently published his memoir Far More Than A Game. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller on their cricket-themed podcast. As a boy, Qamar Ahmed experienced the sudden and traumatic end of an idyllic childhood in Bihar, in pre-Partition India through communal violence. Movingly he describes the heroic Hindu family who sheltered him and his family from mobs looking for Muslims to kill – and even more movingly, re-visiting them in Bihar some thirty years later. Relocated in Pakistan, Qamar Ahmed became a cricketer. He shares vivid memories of the vanished world of first-class cricket there in the 1950s, playing for ten rupees a day (about 50p or ten shillings). He played against the great Mohammed brothers (including a thirteen-year-old Mushtaq), faced the party-loving spin bowling genius Prince Aslam, and had to endure on début a complete duffer in his first-class team – because he had selected himself as Secretary of the local association. He describes his relationship with the great early Pakistan coach, Master Aziz – and years later, his son Salim Durrani, who became a star in Indian cricket and (briefly) movies. As a journalist, Qamar Ahmed had meetings with many famous people in and out of cricket. He gives a close-up account of four of them: Kerry Packer, Sir Don Bradman (introduced to him in a generous gesture by Bill “Tiger” O’Reilly) and Nelson Mandela. But there was one person he refused to meet: General Zia ul-Haq, then ruler of Pakistan. Qamar Ahmed explains why. He reflects on the current state of Pakistan cricket, laments the general decline in the quality of Test cricket (after 450 samples) and expresses his fears for its future, especially if a “two-tier” system of Test-playing countries takes hold.
Sep 7, 2020 · 58 min
Talking with Journalist and Author Mihir Bose
Mihir Bose, author of over 30 books and the BBC’s first sports news editor has analysed and reported global sport incisively for nearly 50 years. He has written with special authority about Indian cricket, tracing its journey from colonial dependency to superpower in his book Nine Waves. He is the guest of Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their latest cricket-themed podcast. He explains how the Board of Control for India (BCCI) acquired its dominance over world cricket through its commercial revenues and as gatekeeper for tours by India (which for England are now more profitable than Ashes tours by Australia). In consequence, cricket has effectively become the first world sport controlled by non-white people. However, he sees the BCCI as more focused on local rivalries and Indian political agendas than on its new responsibilities to global cricket. After scandals which provoked judicial intervention, the BCCI has a high-profile new chairman, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly: Mihir Bose assesses his chances of achieving reform. He sees no hope of overcoming the political obstacles set by the Modi government against restoring bilateral series between India and Pakistan, despite the warm relations between players and past officials on both sides. He explains how the IPL has transformed the finances of Indian cricket and the location of power within it. There was nothing inevitable about the rise of cricket as India’s major sport: soccer could easily have become more popular. Mihir Bose tells the fascinating story of how Nehru saved Indian cricket from international extinction – at just the time when India’s footballers ruled themselves out of the 1950 World Cup by insisting on playing in bare feet. Looking further back, he traces the support Indian cricket received from its religious communities (who played tournaments in great harmony in times of great political tensions) and from generally minor princes who used cricket to bolster their claims to their thrones. The prime example was Ranjitsinhji. The first Indian global celebrity cricketer, he saw himself as totally English and did nothing for Indian cricket: Mihir Bose speculates that this was partly due to his secret love life. Initially a victim of Indian cultural snobbery about sport in general (shared by Gandhi), cricket is now a rich subject for modern Indian novelists such as Vikram Seth and has had a long relationship with its film makers. Mihir Bose tells how a great Indian movie star actually forced an Indian captain to declare so that he could watch a few overs of Australia batting. Mihir Bose met a young Sunil Gavaskar at school – but denies that he taught him his perfect defensive technique. However, he has mentored many other players especially as a touring captain in India. He relates the Incident outside the Chepauk Stadium in what was then still called Madras which was even more horrific than the run-out of Jeffrey Archer. Apart from Indian cricket, Mihir Bose has done groundbreaking work on issues of race and discrimination in world sport. He describes how he will be returning to this theme in a new book Impossible Dream. Although many non-white sportspeople have lately opened up on their past experience of racism, Mihir Bose sees real encouragement in the sporting lives and status of present stars such as Raheem Stirleng and Moeen Ali (whom he assisted with his recent autobiography.)