Cricketing autograph heaven
A few months ago I re-posted an earlier entry about the first cricket match (albeit an exhibition) that I attended in Muscat in September 1992. On my recently-concluded visit to Muscat, I came across the book of autographs that links me to the scene of the crime. Growing up in a country which used to host crumbs of international sport of any kind, you can imagine how much I valued this particular collection of autographs. It's a day I hope to never forget, for it played no small role in hooking me for life on what is quite frankly, the greatest sport ever devised by humankind.
In June of that year our family visited Disney World near Orlando. I picked this convenient book up there. Imagine my eight-year-old delight to obtain both Michaelangelo (of Ninja Turtle fame) and Sachin Tendulkar's autographs within the space of a few pages - and months!
My naive attempt to make sure everything went according to plan!
'Nuff said. The other bits written on each of the pages (like the date etc) was dad's contribution. It's thanks to that I now know the exact date in September the match was played: Thursday the 3rd. Until fairly recently, Thursday was the first day of the weekend in Oman (like Saturday in most parts of the non-Islamic world). The moment I realised it was Thu 3 Sep when taking these photos a couple days ago, it suddenly dawned upon me why that was significant. It's amazing what the mind can remember on a memorable-day(-to-be). That same morning, and it would've been fairly early, I can clearly remember sitting on the living room sofa with my dad listening to the (BBC) World Service sports report on the wireless, where the top-story was Jimmy Connors having won his first-round match on his birthday at the age of 40 at the US Open. That memory had been imprinted in my mind, together with this match, and I knew they had both occurred in September, but it was only a couple days ago I realised they both occurred on the same day. I couldn't tell you what happened the days leading up to the match or after the match, or perhaps even what happened exactly a week ago, but I must've been so excited about that match, that I can remember just about everything that happened on that day. Including the World Service sports report. That's childhood.
Incidentally, dad hadn't written "Best Batsman" as an opinion, but that's exactly what SRT was awarded that night. 84 also happened to be his highest score in official ODIs at the time, so it seemed somewhat ironic that he didn't surpass it. It would be a full two years before he did score his first ODI century, which for a man who comfortably owns the record for the most tons today, is simply mind-boggling. I'll never forget the partnership between Gavaskar and Tendulkar. It was almost like the Gods were performing a passing-of-the-baton ceremony to an impressionable yours truly.
I can't remember if he captained the Indian XI that day, but he was the official skipper at the time.
Again, 'nuff said. Sunny had retired in 1987 but still managed to score 34 with at least four boundaries. That partnership with SRT under lights...
Shastri didn't actually play in the match because the official team of doctors on-duty that day (including my dad), ruled him out with the bad back that hampered the tail-end of his career.
I also clearly remember dad trying to speak a few words in Tamil with fellow Tamil Kris Srikkanth as we sought his autograph, but Cheeka didn't seem to notice or was intentionally ignoring him!
We didn't just pester the Indian stars, ye know.
I sort of regret adding "The Aloo" bit at the top-left. I'm not exactly sure when I wrote it but it probably wasn't at the time of the match, because he wasn't as bulky back then. Inzi did put in a match-winning performance by scoring the only century of the game which included a couple of lusty blows over long-on, if memory serves. The match was played on a football pitch surrounded by an athletics track, which made fielding on the boundary a precarious affair, but a couple of Inzi's shots didn't even involve the boundary patrol.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience overall, even if we didn't obtain the desired result. A constant theme throughout the nineties was Pakistan beating us regularly, particularly on a Friday at Sharjah (the Islamic holy day), and us having the last laugh at World Cups. In six matches at 20-over and 50-over World Cups, we've yet to be beaten by the arch-enemy. :)
However, my only regret from the autograph collection that night in September is not picking up Imran Khan's. For some reason I seem to have believed (refer to original 2005 entry) that I had obtained it, but now I know for sure that I didn't. Oh well, still a great collection even without the greatest cricketing Khan.
This entry was originally posted at http://mcgillianaire.dreamwidth.org/2221904.html.
In June of that year our family visited Disney World near Orlando. I picked this convenient book up there. Imagine my eight-year-old delight to obtain both Michaelangelo (of Ninja Turtle fame) and Sachin Tendulkar's autographs within the space of a few pages - and months!
My naive attempt to make sure everything went according to plan!
'Nuff said. The other bits written on each of the pages (like the date etc) was dad's contribution. It's thanks to that I now know the exact date in September the match was played: Thursday the 3rd. Until fairly recently, Thursday was the first day of the weekend in Oman (like Saturday in most parts of the non-Islamic world). The moment I realised it was Thu 3 Sep when taking these photos a couple days ago, it suddenly dawned upon me why that was significant. It's amazing what the mind can remember on a memorable-day(-to-be). That same morning, and it would've been fairly early, I can clearly remember sitting on the living room sofa with my dad listening to the (BBC) World Service sports report on the wireless, where the top-story was Jimmy Connors having won his first-round match on his birthday at the age of 40 at the US Open. That memory had been imprinted in my mind, together with this match, and I knew they had both occurred in September, but it was only a couple days ago I realised they both occurred on the same day. I couldn't tell you what happened the days leading up to the match or after the match, or perhaps even what happened exactly a week ago, but I must've been so excited about that match, that I can remember just about everything that happened on that day. Including the World Service sports report. That's childhood.
Incidentally, dad hadn't written "Best Batsman" as an opinion, but that's exactly what SRT was awarded that night. 84 also happened to be his highest score in official ODIs at the time, so it seemed somewhat ironic that he didn't surpass it. It would be a full two years before he did score his first ODI century, which for a man who comfortably owns the record for the most tons today, is simply mind-boggling. I'll never forget the partnership between Gavaskar and Tendulkar. It was almost like the Gods were performing a passing-of-the-baton ceremony to an impressionable yours truly.
I can't remember if he captained the Indian XI that day, but he was the official skipper at the time.
Again, 'nuff said. Sunny had retired in 1987 but still managed to score 34 with at least four boundaries. That partnership with SRT under lights...
Shastri didn't actually play in the match because the official team of doctors on-duty that day (including my dad), ruled him out with the bad back that hampered the tail-end of his career.
I also clearly remember dad trying to speak a few words in Tamil with fellow Tamil Kris Srikkanth as we sought his autograph, but Cheeka didn't seem to notice or was intentionally ignoring him!
We didn't just pester the Indian stars, ye know.
I sort of regret adding "The Aloo" bit at the top-left. I'm not exactly sure when I wrote it but it probably wasn't at the time of the match, because he wasn't as bulky back then. Inzi did put in a match-winning performance by scoring the only century of the game which included a couple of lusty blows over long-on, if memory serves. The match was played on a football pitch surrounded by an athletics track, which made fielding on the boundary a precarious affair, but a couple of Inzi's shots didn't even involve the boundary patrol.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience overall, even if we didn't obtain the desired result. A constant theme throughout the nineties was Pakistan beating us regularly, particularly on a Friday at Sharjah (the Islamic holy day), and us having the last laugh at World Cups. In six matches at 20-over and 50-over World Cups, we've yet to be beaten by the arch-enemy. :)
However, my only regret from the autograph collection that night in September is not picking up Imran Khan's. For some reason I seem to have believed (refer to original 2005 entry) that I had obtained it, but now I know for sure that I didn't. Oh well, still a great collection even without the greatest cricketing Khan.
This entry was originally posted at http://mcgillianaire.dreamwidth.org/2221904.html.