12/21/24
October 27, 2010
Fire in Babylon: Probably the greatest sports team you've never heard of: the story of the West Indies cricket teams of the 1980s, who ruled the planet with 'an enlightened despotism' (apparently). Now told as a feature documentary.
My parents always took us kids to the first day (always a Saturday) of the Sydney Test. As we got older, my brothers and I would also turn up at the SCG on the following Monday or Tuesday. You could do that then, when tickets were cheap for schoolboys, and weekday Test crowds were sparse.
I saw a young Michael Holding and the Windies in the series they lost 5-1 to Australia in 1975-76, and then watched them in the World Series Cricket circus. The dominance of test matches over the next 15 years was astounding, with a Caribbean conveyor belt seemingly producing tall, fast bowlers to order. However, I did see them follow on and lose the Test in Sydney in January 1984, on a wicket that virtually turned sideways (Bob Holland and Murray Bennett - God that was a long time ago).
posted by owlhouse at 05:44 AM on October 27, 2010
Heh. Owlhouse, I too was dragged along to the Sydney test in 1976 as a young'un. Andy Roberts was the Windies bowler that stuck in my mind, to a little kid he just looked menacing coming in to bowl. What a spectacular team they turned into, it seemed like they would keep producing dominant fast bowlers forever.
Pretty amazing array of bowling talent in that 75/76 series. Roberts, Holding Gibbs, Thommo, Lillee - 1300+ test wickets between them. The Perth test was pretty much the blueprint for the Windies dominance for the next 20 years. Good times.
posted by deflated at 01:21 PM on October 27, 2010
I never knew much about the sport until my wife & I spent 2 weeks in Barbados this past summer. My mom was 'Bajan, but she left at the age of 16, and other than a passing reference, she never told me anything of the game. One thing I discovered there was the true father of Barbados cricket, Sir Garry Sobers. I believe his success in the 60s and 70s in the international tests as well as a member of Nottinghamshire and South Australia, set the mark for the West Indies players later on. He is honored with a statue at the Bridgetown Oval.
posted by Howard_T at 03:33 PM on October 27, 2010
Hey, deflated. We would have been in the old Brewongle on the Saturday, and on the Hill on the Tuesday.
I remember that summer well, our cricket games were characterised by everyone trying to bowl as fast as possible. I even modelled my run up on that of Mr Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts.
You think I had to look up his full name? Ha!
posted by owlhouse at 02:35 AM on October 28, 2010
I tried to model my action on Big Bird, but was told by the teacher in charge of the school team that while he appreciated me shortening my run up and not running on the pitch during my follow through, the school didn't have the money to pay for the hip replacement I would surely need before the end of the summer if I kept at it. I switched to trying to imitate Marshall, but I could never master the finger snaps having taken a wicket (or the beautiful bowling action of course - but it was the finger snaps that annoyed me). I thought about trying to imitate Roberts and/or Holding, but I felt a bit like either of them might turn up in my bedroom and strangle me in the night if I dared.
posted by JJ at 03:49 AM on October 28, 2010
I went to see the Tillman Story premier last week at the BFI London Film Festival. The person who invited us (the girlfriend of a friend) revealed that she'd been at the premier of Fire in Babylon the night before and was gutted to learn that I was a massive cricket fan (and furthermore that I was a massive cricket fan largely because my dad took me to Lords in 1984 to watch the Windies take England to pieces in the second test) and she hadn't invited me.
She isn't a cricket fan at all but was captivated by the film and said it's a must watch for anyone even remotely interested in cricket, but that it's also just a wonderful film even if you know (or care) nothing about it. Another review from the Independent here. The trailer on YouTube here And of course, any excuse to post a link to footage of Mr Whispering Death himself.