ARTCILE: On the Masters Cup Tournament (D.Pringle) - 19 Mar 1995

Masters brave the big heat; Derek Pringle revels in a blast  from
the cricket past in Bombay - Derek Pringle

IT WAS a week when the body screamed out  more  than  the   fans.
Unlike the players, they mainly stayed at home, sensibly avoiding
the humidity and ricocheting balls at the World Masters   Cricket
Cup  in  Bombay.   Satellite TV is Asia`s largest growth industry
and a purported 200 million people watched the action beamed back
from  the  Brabourne stadium, where the West Indies - average age
40 - easily defeated India - 41.6 years - in a  high-scoring  fi-
nal.

The West Indies were deserved  winners,  despite   a   flirtation
with  the  rules,  after it was discovered that Gus Logie was six
months light of his 35th birthday, the minimum age stipulated for
being  a  "Master". On the field, no other team could match their
firepower with bat or ball, and their fielding was quite  brilli-
ant.   Viv  Richards  and  Gordon  Greenidge struck the ball with
majestic power,while Sylvester Clarke and Ezra  Mosely  were   at
least a warp factor above the other pace bowlers.

Even from early on, their dominance  had  looked  assured.   Con-
firmation  came  on  a  chart  pinned to the wall of the physio`s
room, comfortably the busiest cul-de-sac in the  ample  pavilion.
On the chart, big, bold ticks were placed against all the players
who had received treatment.  Half-way through  the week,   almost
every  team had approached double figures bar one, which had only
three ticks against it. Many reckoned the West Indies  would  run
their present Test team close in a one-day series.

England (average age 40.9) should have  fared   better,   and   a
perfect  opportunity  to  upset the samosa cart and beat India in
the first semi-final was squandered after we had  the  home  side
reeling  at 88 for five. We may have had only five players on the
injury list, but our greatest asset on paper - six current county
cricketers - turned swiftly to liability, as they decided to dust
off winter cobwebs and treat the exercise as a pre-season net.

Where others pulverised the mainly gentle  attacks  -  even  your
correspondent  managed a hearty 64 off 47 balls against the might
of South Africa - our admirable pros played  the  game  properly,
biding  their  time  and waiting for the moment to accelerate. It
never came, and with only 135 against the  West Indies,   England
registered the lowest score of the competition.  `Twas ever thus.

We did manage one  notable   victory,   however,   against   Aus-
tralia.   They  seemed to have taken things rather too seriously,
practising for over a week before others arrived.  It  proved  of
little use. In their first game, the West Indies pulverised their
bowlers for 311 off the allotted 45 overs; and in the  second  we
turned  them over despite the presence of those Pommie destroyers
of yesteryear, Alderman, Lawson and Thomson.

West Indies aside, the bowlers showed the most obvious  signs  of
time`s ravages. Not so the batters, and Graeme Pollock, at 51 one
of the few South Africans  in   Bombay   to   have   played  Test
cricket  before  their  international ban in 1970, smote the ball
with power and precision.

Apart from a sublime century by  Barry  Richards   against   Eng-
land,  which  saw   South  Africa  (average  age 44.5) take third
place, Pollock scored the bulk of their runs. As  Sunil  Gavaskar
marvelled:  "If  this  is  what he`s like in his fifties, he must
have been some player in his twenties."

The hospitality would have been acceptable to royalty. Howev- er,
the  competition  was  sandwiched  by  alcohol-free weekends: the
first when the local elections were held,  the  second when   the
results  were announced.  This was to ensure the people could not
have their votes bought by offers of free hooch.  That is no  way
to  ensure  docility from a bunch of old warhorses nursing aching
limbs and gigantic thirsts. As one noted, the dry days proved  an
even bigger handicap than the weather.

As ever in India, the daily minutiae  of  this  teeming   country
enthrall the visitor - unless you are wealthy enough to own a sa-
tellite dish.  Then, with beer in one hand and remote in the oth-
er,  you  can  join  that new elite, the Bombay couch potato, and
watch the cricket Masters.

Source :: The Independent
 Contributed by Ram.Krishnan (rkrishna@garnet.acns.fsu.edu)