Cricket
Season's end
Alan Gibson
It has not been, to put it mildly, one of the more exhilarating cricket seasons, though some of the gloomier prophecies made about the progress of Mr Packer have not been fulfilled. The ranks of the test-playing countries have wavered but not broken. The average country cricketer has obtained prospects of financial improvement, though to praise the Packer organisation for it is rather like praising burglars for better security precautions. Greig has left us, unmourned. There is still very little sign of a compromise: indeed in some ways, necks on both sides are stiffer than ever. I have no doubt that the England tour to Australia will be a success (not necessarily in playing terms) but that does not mean that World Series cricket will be a failure, or that we shall be any nearer to a resolution of the problem. The World Cup next summer will perhaps bend a neck or two. Not that I can get very worked up about the World Cup. Mr Packer can have it for all I care. It is not that I find one-day cricket objectionable, though the forty-over John Player League is monotonous, destroying the excitement of a close finish by making them commonplace. I have seen some splendid cricket in the Gillette Cup, the Benson and Hedges, and of course in the last World Cup. It was indeed a very enjoyable super-frolic. But it is no more a substitute for proper test cricket than the World Series is, However, I return to the English season of 1978. The test matches were a disappointment. For this the miserable weather was much to blame. Pakistan would have been a good side in the second half of a dry summer. In the first half of a wet one, they could not cope with England. The New Zealanders had possibly less sunshine, if also less 'rain, through the long succession of grey, chilly days in July and August. Only occasionally did either side show its real talents. At the same time, we had a stronger bowling side. The qualification was often made, 'Yes, on English pitches in English weather', but they did what was required of them in the conditions they encountered, and at times did it formidably well.
In Australia, no doubt, they will find it harder work, but they can approach the task with some confidence. After this tour, we shall have much more information about our two brightest young players — as they seem now — Gower and Botham. Young men of great ability have failed in Australia before now. I think of Brian ('another Woolley') Close in 1950-51, his first and last Australian tour. Though to be sure both Gower and Botham have had more experience of test cricket than Close had had then.
We shall also, after this tour, presumably know whether to rank Brearley among the outstanding England captains. There are still those who attribute his successes so far to good fortune as much as good man agement, and have reservations about his batting. I am sure he was by far the best choice, though the selectors must have been relieved that he got a few runs against New Zealand.
Kent's success in the championship caused diviggd feelings, even among Kent's supporters. Ni the October edition of The Cricketer, Brian Johnston describes how he has reluctantly resigned his Kent mem bership, because of the county's decision to offer new contracts to their Packer players. John Woodcock, in The Times, spoke of the Kent committee's change of attitude on this point as 'craven'. But leaving that aside, Kent were the strongest side in the country, all the more so because of their freedom from test demands, and always good to watch. Sussex's win in the Gillette Cup was a popular one, which could not have been forecast at the beginning of the season. There is a feeling that, under Long, they are putting their house in order. There was much sympathy for Essex and Somerset in their narrow frustrations, and also for Derbyshire, who had poor luck after a brave start. There was disappointment in Yorkshire, where it was felt that the side could have done better; and also because neither Hampshire nor Bairstow was chosen for Australia. John Hampshire captained them, well, before Boycott was fit, and had a successful batting season; but he was no more than a modest success on his previous Australian tour, and I suppose was thought slightly too old for this one. There was keen competition for the last couple of batting places, yet if things go wrong I would expect it to be in the batting rather than the bowling.
The batting of Vivien Richards was my happiest memory of the season, perhaps because I was lucky enough to see a lot of him. There is always a tendency to be extravagant in praise of the man of the moment, and I would not go so far as to speak of 'the greatest cricketer who ever picked up a bat', and so on. Not so long ago we were saying the same sort of thing of Barry Richards. Enough that they are both uncommonly good, and it is sad, though not unexpected, that Barry has departed. They played a single-wicket match at Taunton at the end of the season. Vivien won.
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