Just a few notes on my obsession with all rounders - or, rather, my obsession with other people's obsession with all rounders.
I've been a cricket fan all my life - very occasionally a player, but mostly just a fan. I love watching and reading about the game. It's one of the great loves of my life.
I grew up on Australian cricket of the 1980s. It was a time rich in great players, off field drama, and erratic Australian performances: the mighty West Indies who visited here far too often, South African rebel tours, Kim Hughes vs Lillee/Marsh/the Chappells, the gutsy batting and mediocre captaincy of Alan Border, the rise and fall of Wayne Philips, the false dawn of Shaun Graf.
It was also a period of four of the greatest all rounders to ever grace the game: Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev. These players would consistently deliver unbelievable performances, often against Australia, causing many writers/commentators/former players to whinge why we didn't have an all rounder. Various options were mooted and tried - Simon O'Donnell, Wayne Phillips, Peter Sleep - but none stuck.
By the late 1980s Australia were sticking firmly to the 6/1/4 model (six batsmen, 1 specialist keeper, four bowlers). Using this formula, by the early 90s we were the second best team in the world; by 1995 we were number one, and stayed that way for over a decade.
In 2005, along with many cricket fans I was gripped by the thrilling Ashes battle that English summer, star of which was England's all rounder Andrew Flintoff. He not only helped England to one of the most exciting series victories in recent memory (and let's face it, the Ashes series had been duds for a long time), he transformed the English side into something strange and exotic. For the first time in my life, I started really studying closely the adventures of a country's test team other than my own.
And it was then I started to realise how destructive all rounders can be to a side. And how dangerous an obsession with them can be.
Hence, this blog.
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