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Old November 9th, 2010, 04:18 PM   #26
scoundrel
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmee2000 View Post
it's in a bit of strife at the moment.
Let's hope this series can lift the game back to where it should be.
When the sordid allegations against the 3 alleged Pakistan spot bet fixers first broke I thought of Arthur Mailey's superb memoir, Ten For Sixty Six and All That. Mailey was one of the great Aussie leg spinners of the inter-war era (the others were Clarence Grimmett and Charles Fleetwood-Smith); on the dawn of Day Five of the Brisbane Test of 1921, England needed 23 runs to win and had 3 wickets standing. Herbert Collins was Australia's captain and ordered Mailey to bowl, despite Mailey's misgivings (Mailey was an expensive bowler who always described a maiden over as a freak accident). Collins was unequivocal; only wickets could win it and Mailey was easily his best wicket taker, and to paraphrase Collins slightly, if Australia was destined to lose, putting Mailey on meant they had more time to get drunk afterwards. In the event, Mailey wiped the England slate in 2 overs and Australia won by 9 runs.

Before the start of play, Collins, not a huge man physically, spoke to Mailey in the dressing room. "There's a bloke outside just told me it's worth 100 guineas if we chuck the test match. Lets throw the bastard down the stairs." Mailey, a man of sunny and amiable disposition, sprang to his feet, eager to help his skipper do exactly that. The "bloke" was glimpsed disappearing over the horizon.

That was then.
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