Lords
Neil Manthorp Cricket
Lords is a funny place. The funniest moment of South Africa’s last visit in 1994 involved, almost inevitably, Fanie de Villiers. The Afrikaans school teacher cum part-time amateur car mechanic had reached the pinnacle of the game when he arrived in England and began preparations to represent his country, in a Test match, at the home of cricket.
He had heard a lot about Lords, but never seen it. Back then, like this year, the team spent several days netting on the Nursery Ground behind the Edrich and Compton stands. De Villiers couldn’t wait for the big day so he sneaked off to see the famous turf and breathe in its atmosphere.
As he set foot on the outfield there came a booming, none-too-friendly hollering from close by: “Oi, get off! Ooh the bloody ‘ell d’ya think you are?!”
De Villiers really hated the place after that. And didn’t he just show it after the English had been stuffed inside four days by 356 runs?
For just about 100 years, Lords provided England with a very significant advantage. Teams from the colonies would arrive, be suitably over-awed and intimidated, and then swatted away by the home side in head- masterly fashion.
Right up until the 1970s, when England won just four of their 13 Tests – but were beaten only once – they enjoyed far more success than failure at their famous St John’s Wood headquarters.
In 55 Test matches up to 1979, the home side won 25 and lost just 10. Only one Test at Lords, in 1912, did not involve England. Australia beat South Africa in that by 10 wickets.
But the 1980s finally saw the trend change. In 15 Tests, England won just three times and lost twice as many.
The 1990s has already produced 11 Tests and although England’s win-lose record is 3-3, the pain of recent memories is still very fresh. When England lose at Lords these days, they do it in style.
It was started by South Africa in 1994, and coach Mike Procter compounded the dismay of Lords officialdom by flouting local guidelines on etiquette with celebratory flag-waving.
Kepler scored a century and England subsided to a miserable 99 all out in their second innings. Some historians did note, however, that it was only South Africa’s second win in 11 attempts at Lords since 1907. No wonder they were pleased. They’d struck a blow for all the former colonies.
By the time you read this, team selection will be ancient history. Of one thing we can be certain; it will have involved much chin- scratching and debate. The unfortunate Gerhardus Liebenberg’s pre-match nerves precluded him some time ago.
Solution: Jacques Kallis to open with Brian McMillan coming in at number three. Yet another all rounder and a man whom the English team still respect generously. A bit harsh on both Kallis, who has finally settled at number three, and on Adam Bacher, the other specialist opener. Significant that Kallis made all the right noises when the possibility was mooted: “I’ll bat anywhere for the team, one, three, six .”
McMillan said he would rather not open, when asked, and also said he would rather bat closer to five or six, than number three. The day before the Test no one, in the ranks that is, knew what direction Peter Pollock was heading.
He is a huge McMillan fan, as witnessed by the role he played in having him selected for the tour, but one suspects that Big Mac might have to wait until Old Trafford and the third Test to get his chance.
Only one thing went wrong for South Africa in the first Test. Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock bowled poorly. That’s it. Cronje said they “lacked rhythm”. When asked what that meant, Pollock couldn’t resist the temptation: “It means we didn’t take wickets!” he laughed.
In fact, they did. Nine between them, and bowling like drains, too (by their own standards). South Africa can celebrate the fact that they cannot bowl so poorly, simultaneously, again. Just can’t. “We pitched too short, and too wide, amongst other things,” Pollock Jnr admits. “I’m sure we’ll get it right this time around.”
South Africa are fortunate to have Bob Woolmer, whose own career for England started and ended with Tests at Lords in 1975 and 1981. In all, he played five of his 19 Tests at Lords and scored 120 in the second innings against Australia in 1977.
“Most of the guys will be perfectly all right, but I will probably remind a few of the younger ones to remain calm,” Woolmer says with a smile. “The atmosphere can be a bit over-bearing, particularly the walk through the long-room on your way out to bat. [Former England batsman] David Steele was so nervous on his way to the wicket that he walked down one too many flights of steps and ended up in the toilets .”
The most significant problem might have been at around tea on the first day, particularly if South Africa fielded first. For any of you who watched it, did you notice slightly more appearances than usual by the 12th and 13th men? There was a lot of interest in Bafana Bafana’s game against Denmark, which kicked off at the start of the final session!
But finally, back to Lords.