Birth of the Burewala Bombshell
Wisden Cricinfo staff16-Nov-2003All Today’s Yesterdays – November 16 down the yearsNovember 15 | November 171971
Birth of the Burewala Bombshell. There have been few more scintillating sights in cricket history than Waqar Younis in his pomp. With batsman hopping and stumps flying, he and Wasim Akram took reverse-swing to a new level in the early 1990s with their toe-crushing yorkers. They were close to unplayable, particularly for new batsmen: in 1992 alone, England lost 4 for 1 (Lord’s), 8 for 28 (Headingley) and 7 for 25 (The Oval). Remarkably, over half of Waqar’s Test wickets have been out bowled or lbw (by contrast, the figure for Dennis Lillee and Courtney Walsh is 33%). He was at his best in the early 1990s – after bursting onto the scene against New Zealand in 1990-91, Waqar took 109 wickets over a three-year period at an average of 18.07, at the incredible strike rate of 33.55 balls per wicket. He later became captain of Pakistan, and took 7 for 36 – the second-best figures in ODI history – against England at Headingley in 2001. He retained that job until the 2003 World Cup, but a poor showing by Pakistan hastened an unceremonious exit. He was also a huge success in county cricket, first for Surrey and then Glamorgan, for whom he took a career-best 8 for 17 against Sussex at Swansea in 1997.1862
Birth of the man known as “The Terror”. Australian seamer Charlie Turner was a formidable opponent, particularly on wet surfaces, and he took his 101 Test wickets at the startling average of 16.53. Among Aussies with 100 wickets the next-best, Alan Davidson, conceded exactly four more runs per wicket. With his long, rhythmic run and virtually square-on delivery, Turner took 6 for 15 on debut against England at Sydney in 1886-87. And in 1888 he took 21 wickets at an average of 12, despite England winning two of the three matches by an innings. In 155 first-class matches in all he took an improbable 35 ten-fors. He died in Sydney in 1944.1982
Just another day at the office for Chris Tavaré, who took 63 minutes to get off the mark in the second innings of the first Test between England and Australia at Perth. In all Tavaré made 9 from 82 balls, and in the first innings he took almost eight hours over 89. In the course of that innings Tavaré was stuck on 66 for 90 minutes – it was the second time in three Tests that he’d twice spent an hour without scoring. The match itself was a fairly dull draw, notable for a freak injury to Terry Alderman, who rugby-tackled a pitch invader and dislocated his shoulder so badly that he did not play first-class cricket again that season. The match was also notable for Norman Cowans becoming England’s 500th Test cricketer.1983
The third Test at Ahmedabad proved to be a landmark match for Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, but West Indies were still victorious by 138 runs. In the course of his first-innings 90 Gavaskar overtook Geoff Boycott as the top runscorer in Test history (at the time), while Kapil (9 for 83) became the tenth person and the first captain to take nine wickets in a Test innings. But in a low-scoring game India were blown away as they chased 242 to win. Michael Holding, fresh from spanking 58, took out the top order with 4 for 30, and at 39 for 7 and then 63 for 9 India were in danger of humiliation. They recovered to 103, but West Indies took a 2-0 lead in the six-match series with three still to play. An eventual 3-0 victory left nobody in any doubt as to their ability to thrive in all conditions.1940
Birth of one of the few men to play Test cricket and League soccer in recent years. Chris Balderstone played cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire, and soccer for Huddersfield, Carlisle and Doncaster, and in September 1975 he played in the County Championship until 6.30pm and kicked off for Doncaster an hour later. He was a scrapper of a batsman and a useful left-arm spinner, particularly on wearing wickets, who was rather unfortunate to play his only two Tests against a formidable West Indies side in 1976. Balderstone’s last appearance, at The Oval, was a nightmare: he was cleaned up twice by Michael Holding for a pair, and he dropped Viv Richards, who went on to smash 291. He went on to become a Test umpire between 1993 and 1996. Balderstone died of cancer in Cumbria in 2000.1952
India hammered Pakistan by 10 wickets in the decisive third Test at Bombay to take the first series between the sides 2-1. India were in control from the moment Pakistan slid to 60 for 6 on the first afternoon, and despite a brilliant 96 from the 17-year-old Hanif Mohammad (who also had to keep wicket) that gave the first indication of his abundant talent, India romped home on the fourth day. Left-arm spinner Vinoo Mankad completed the Test double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in only his 23rd match. It was a record until 1979, when Ian Botham managed it in his 21st.Other birthdays
1827 James Southerton (England)
1944 David O’Sullivan (New Zealand)
1968 Eboo Essop-Adam (Zimbabwe)
