I don't think I've done cricketers yet so here the occasional series continues with them.
Derek Randall (pictured doffing his cap in jovial mood to Dennis Lillee) is my favourite cricketer, the maverick batsman and miracle cover point fielder. His fielding, from a purely statistical point of view, was worth 20 or 30 runs an innings but it was the almost boyish innocence and enthusiasm for batting that endeared him, as well as a few incidents involving Geoffrey Boycott. One could hardly imagine two more different characters, e.g. one was deeply endearing and the other deeply not.
We featured Basil D'Oliviera here last year when he died after a long and sad illness. But there was no more dignified and respected character that played the game. Even without his heroic back story, he was a hugely talented batsman and useful change bowler and an automatic pick for the All Time Favourite XI, or as it happens here, VI.
It might seem from old video footage on You Tube that Michael Holding was somewhat less gentlemanly out in the middle but he was playing within the rules of the game and the 1970's West Indians didn't invent intimidatory bowling. England took similar tactics to Australia to combat Bradman and both Larwood and Holding and his compatriots forced rule changes in the game because you couldn't play it nicely otherwise. And it turns out in the end that Holding was only one of several of that generation of fearsome Caribbeans who were actually very articulate and intelligent men. You don't always hear that said of their Australian fast bowling contemporaries.
We are inevitably going back to a sort of Golden Age here by taking Mike Procter next as the all action all-rounder, a potential match-winner with bat or ball, who carried an otherwise ordinary Gloucestershire side almost on his own in those days. Not quite as pretty to watch as Holding when bowling but rarely less than an exciting prospect.
Sunil Gavaskar wouldn't necessarily be immediately 'exciting' but there is something to be admired in the application of technique and the concentration required to continually put together big scores. Gavaskar's dedication to the long innings rendered him immune to an understanding of quickly accumulating runs and his effort in an early outing in one-day cricket for India was to be left 36 not out, presumably well set for the second day which wasn't scheduled, and well behind the run rate. And he is another fine and modest ambassador for the game in an increasingly cash-driven industry.
We could go in various directions for the sixth choice but I think we will come more up to date with the coolest of rulers of slow bowling practitioners and top short game batsman, Chris Gayle, perhaps the cricketer I'd most like to be. I knew quite well the feeling of the ball coming off the middle of the bat (sometimes), not having to run but watching one's handiwork disappear over the horizon. It does feel good but I don't think any of mine went as far or as often as most of his.
