I’m currently watching Sky Sports and it’s lunchtime in the cricket, so they’re showing previous moments in history between the two sides, England and South Africa.
One of them is the England v South Africa Test Match at The Oval in 1994. This is one where England were looking down the barrel after getting a thumping at Lords earlier that summer. This game was looking fairly balanced, with South Africa getting a short lead at halfway.
This is where Devon Malcolm entered the stage.
Devon Malcolm was a fast bowler who was playing for England for a little while. He’s a big fella who when he played, was England’s fastest bowler by a long way and one of the fastest in the world. He could barely bat but that didn’t matter. I revered the guy like a god at the time (I was 17 and hoping for big things from my bowling), it didn’t matter that his place in the side was always in danger because his accuracy was pretty poor. For American readers, think of a pitcher that can do 100mph fastballs but has trouble locating them over the plate.
Back to the game. South Africa made a critical error just before the halfway mark … one of their bowlers managed to pin our Devon right between the eyes and hard enough to dislodge a decent chunk of his helmet. Unfortunately I missed what was to come because I was also playing cricket that day. Devon Malcolm’s a good fella but in the words of David Gower, “don’t make him angry”. Revenge for the helmet was promised and was duly delivered over the course of the day.
An awe inspiring spell of bowling totally changed the game, with our Devon getting 9 of the 10 South African wickets in their 2nd innings. That’s one hell of an achievement, because the wickets are usually shared and it shows how dominating our Devon was.
And I missed it cos of playing cricket for the village side !
Also, thoughts today go out to Phil Williams of Wayfarers Sports Club. Phil Williams is an amateur cricketer hit on the head by a ball during a midweek game this week. He’s now recovering in hospital with a skull fracture and has been unable to move the left side of his body. It’s further grim evidence that I got away with one a while ago. Like me with my nose, Phil didn’t have a helmet on, it’s still not got through to club cricket culture that accidents happen and helmets help turn those accidents from life threatening to rather less serious. Like the second time I got hit on the head, without a helmet I’d have got carted off to hospital again, with the helmet I carried on batting and anchored our side to a handsome win.
There’s guidance by the England and Wales Cricket Board (governing body in the UK) for all players under 18 to wear helmet with facemask or grill but past 18, it’s up to the player. Cricket is a very random game, not enough people below the professional level wear enough protection to keep themselves safe from when accidents like my nose or Mr Williams’ skull fracture happen.
Here’s hoping that Phil Williams makes a full recovery 🙂