Date-stamped : 13 Jul94 - 22:25 TALKING SPORT: Lara the lure for Wyatt of Warwickshire One man with an each-way bet on Saturday's final of the Benson and Hedges Cup is R E S Wyatt, at 93 England's oldest surviving Test cricketer. He captained Warwickshire before the war and Wor- cestershire after it. "I can't lose," he chuckled from his home in Cornwall when I rang him the other day. He still hopes to get up to Lord's for the match, though he hasn't been well this week and can't be sure. One reason he wants to go is to see Brian Lara. Wyatt is reckoned to be one of the wisest judges of the game, so I asked him for an opinion on the West Indian run- machine. "Phenomenal" was his reply. But he stressed that it wasn't the sheer volume of runs that impressed him so much as the speed at which he made them. It was this that invited comparison with Don Bradman. He was much taken by Lara's personality - "he is very modest, yet to be such a fine player he must have great confidence in himself. That's a good combination." Wyatt must rate as one of the most prolific all-rounders: 40,000 runs and 900 wickets. He also kept careful count of his own score - perhaps a relic of the days when official scorers couldn't always be relied upon. His last shot in county cricket was a winning six against Somerset at the age of 50. Six years later, in his final first-class game, he took the wicket of M J K Smith. His bat- ting average of 41.5 puts him alongside Dennis Amiss and just behind Smith, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai (and now, of course, Lara) in the pantheon of Warwickshire greats. But none of them took 650 wickets for the county as well. I HAD rung Bob Wyatt because he is one of two people in the world who could set- tle the debate I started here recently as to whether Harold Lar- wood was a 'chucker'. This unworthy thought came to me after seeing old film of Larwood bowling and I was surprised at the vehemence of the responses I received, both pro and anti-Larwood. I had clearly rattled an old skeleton. Wyatt was circumspect when I asked him if Larwood was a 'chucker'. "I have no reason to be- lieve that he was," he said carefully, and repeated the same words later, as if he had prepared them. He admitted that he had heard doubts expressed about Larwood's action before, especially when viewed from behind. "But he was very fast," he added. The other man who could settle the question is Don Bradman himself, though he may not be entirely objective about Larwood after the 'Bodyline' controversy of 1932-33. I said previously that the Australians would surely have commented on Larwood's action, had there been anything wrong with it, at that time. John Woodcock, former cricket correspondent of The Times, however, to whom I spoke during the Lord's Test, is not so sure about that. "Chuck- ing wasn't a subject in players' minds at that time," he said, "though it had been earlier." Norman Wilson writes from Belfast to say that film showing Larwood bowling sideways-on, which he has seen, clears him of suspicion. In fact, he says, it shows that his action was very like Ray Lindwall's. I'm happy to leave the matter there - as one correspondent says, "Larwood had enough to put up with while playing, without this." Unless, of course, Sir Donald happens to be reading this in Adelaide. Pakistan must have been embarrassed at yesterday's meeting of the International Cricket Conference to receive a writ from the Brit- ish company TSL (Television Sport & Leisure), who are covering the Tour de France for Channel 4. The writ claims that the Pakis- tan Cricket Board reneged on a five-year deal, signed last De- cember, to handle television rights in Pakistani cricket. The problem is rooted in politics and goes back to the election of Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister. She swept out the Pakistan Cricket Board because it was headed by a judge who had been chief justice at the time of her father's execution. The new board, which includes the former Test batsman Javed Burki, has done a bigger deal with Trans-World International, the television arm of the Mark McCormack organisation. This sort of thing makes one fear for cricket's World Cup, due to be played in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in 1996. Arrangements are already well behind schedule. I thought Richard Johnson's feat in taking all 10 wickets for Middlesex against Derbyshire was rather underplayed. His analysis of 10 for 45 has not been bettered in this country since the war. Even so, it doesn't compare with the performance of Eric Hollies in taking 10 for 49 for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire on St Swithin's Day, 1946, for he managed without the aid of field- ers - seven bowled, three lbw. John Wisden actually capped that at Lord's in 1850, bowling all 10. The best analysis was Hedley Verity's 10 for 10 for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire in 1932. And did you know that W G Grace once captured all 10 at Oxford in 1856? THIS charming news item caught my eye: "An under-15 crick- et team from Burton Latimer, Northants, has won a match without hitting a ball. They bowled out Weldon for three runs and the first ball of their innings went for four wides." It reminded me of a photograph - taken, shall we say, a few years ago - showing my wife in a team of Cheltenham Ladies, with neatly crossed white ankle socks, crossed bats and a cricket trophy. They had won it by bowling fewer wides. My wife had been known to quip that I only married her because she could bowl straight. That's non- sense, of course. She plays a straight bat as well! (Excerpts of Donald Trelford article in The Daily Telegraph) Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)