Word pictures just as exciting as TV visuals...

V Ramnarayan

September 15, 2001

The first Test match I listened to was the Brisbane Test in 1954. Len Hutton won the toss, put Australia in, and England got beaten by an innings, after the baggy green caps scored more than 600.

Incredibly, England swept the series thereafter. An avid England fan then, I was transported to seventh heaven by the acts of derringdo of young Colin Cowdrey and elegant Denis Compton, but more than the efforts of any other individual, by the fantastic fast bowling unleashed by Typhoon Tyson.

Later, as this love at first hearing became a full-blown passion, it became both a challenge and an adventure to twiddle the knobs on the old valve radio at home to get BBC just right and listen to Test Match Special. The word pictures of EW Swanton and John Arlott were as vivid as the most spectacular camerawork of Channel Nine today.

Yes, we all followed Indian cricket on the radio. Somehow, it was never so exciting, for two reasons. One, India was not the strongest Test outfit of the day, and Test matches tended to be one-sided affairs in which India usually got thrashed. Secondly, the standard of Indian radio commentary was nothing to write home about. Almost every ball was 'a well-flighted delivery' and batsmen usually 'played forward.' Not until transistor radios at cricket grounds exposed the gap between the cricket on view and the commentator's version of it, did we realize that perhaps the men behind the mike did not enjoy the best view of the game.

That was the time when newspaper reporting of Test cricket was arguably at its best. Some fine writers covered Test matches, Jack Fingleton of Australia, the best known of them, and they were not hampered by having to write on events the reader had already watched ball-by-ball on TV, and still make it interesting. For a young cricket fan, nothing was more eagerly awaited than the morrow's newspaper account of a Test match. What was left unsaid was often as exciting as what was said, and filling in the gaps through mental pictures of your favourite hero was one of the pleasures of following cricket in different parts of the world. For example, Fingleton's account of the first tied Test in history was perhaps more evocative and thrilling than any footage of the game.

Today's splendid TV coverage has brought in millions of new cricket enthusiasts, who are able to acquire a fair amount of cricket knowledge thanks to the stunning visuals and the observations of some of the great cricketers of our times. It is wonderful to be able to observe from behind the bowler's arm the science and art of our foremost bowlers and batsmen. To watch the acrobatic fielding feats of the best of our times is no less thrilling.

Cricket coverage by the worldwide web is perhaps the most personal connection you can have to the action. Here, not only can you listen to or read the expert opinion on the day's play, you can also tell the world what you think of it all. It is already a superb source of cricket data and pictures as well as a treasurehouse of all manner of cricket trivia. The potential for comprehensive coverage and scientific analysis is huge, and so is the scope for getting insights into what makes your favourite stars tick.

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