Bravery in International Cricket

What is bravery?

Bravery or Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation,Valour is courage or bravery, especially in battle, but as cricket is called as Gentlemen's game it should not be seen as a battle right, however there were some instances in international cricket which is now seen as act of bravery.

Era of bodyline series 

Mainly cricket started majorly as gentleman's game and it was generally not a dangerous game however it completely changed after that (now infamous) bodyline series where bowlers started Leg theory tactics against batsmen, earlier this tactic considered as unsportsmanlike like but after sometimes it was used by bowlers to test batsmen's patience and force a rash stroke. 

In 1932, England toured Australia under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine and in the subsequent Ashes series English bowlers continuously used bodyline tactics against Aussies, the Idea was simple, dominate the opposition batsmen either hit and injure batsmen or induced a false stroke out of them. 

Knowing what in stake and without Bradman's presence or the Australia geared up for challenge, in the first test of the series English bowlers at Sydney cricket ground, were relentlessly bowling bodyline deliveries, Aussie batsmen Stan Mccabe while waiting for his batting with his pad on whispered to his father "If I get hit, Dad, stop Mum from jumping the fence."

At 82 for 3 Mccabe arrived in the crease and what followed was amazing , His innings was marked by dangerous cutting and compulsive hooking of short-pitched deliveries in front of his face, unfazed by the repeated body blows which hit his teammates and with that he completely neutralized the threat of  bodyline bowling, he scored a brilliant unbeaten 187* out of the Australia's total of 360, which gave some sort of respectability, most importantly these innings of Mccabe forced Jardine to abandon his bodyline strategy.

After not playing in the first test match in the series Donald Bradman came back into the team got out in the first ball of his first innings outing, but Bradman scored a brave century against the bowlers using the bodyline tactics and helped Australia to level up the series, Bradman and Mccabe were only two Australian batsmen to hit centuries in the series.

Where is Your Helmet, Mate?

Before Helmet was introduced in the cricket, batsmen were never used any sort of protection to cover their Heads, after the bodyline series the rules were changed but bouncers were still there and a bouncer bowled with a vicious pace was still dangerous for batsmen.

In 1971, India visited West Indies and before that India never won a test match or test series against West Indies, but it was all about to change even against that fierce bowling attack a new batsmen from Mumbai Sunil Gavaskar scored a mammoth 774 in the whole series bravely fighting against all odds and believing only on his skills & confidence.

Helmet was introduced in 1978 when Graham Yallop of Australiawear a protective helmet to a test match on 17 March 1978, when playing against West Indies at Bridgetown. So liked to salute all those cricketers who bravely placed against all fierce attacks without any protection despite knowing that any delivery that can hit them might becoming a life threatening one relying highly on class, skills, temperament,skills and confidence.

I'm not weak

I believe that Aussie team's resurgence begins under Allan Border's leadership he and coach Bob Simpson make the Australian team a world beater champion, if its Simpson who gets valuable cricketers for Aussies, it was Border who used to get the best value out of them.

September 1986, Australia toured India, and were playing in Chennai, temperatures was hovering in between 40 and 41 with a humidity of over 80 percent under this hot conditions Australia were batting first and after losing the first wicket of Geoff Marsh, Late Dean Jones walked in and played one of the amazing innings that people still talk about.

He batted for seven hours in brutal conditions, he vomited, urinated frequently in his pants,suffered from leg and stomach cramps and still kept going, in his own words - “I didn’t drink water overnight. One hour into day two I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t drink anything apart from a cup of tea or coffee. We didn’t know anything about dehydration and rehydration back then. Then I just batted from memory basically. I can’t remember much from 120 on. I know nearly every shot in every innings I played. I can’t remember a thing after 120 in that innings,” he had told ESPNCricinfo.

After 170 he told captain Border that he won't be able to continue until Border Riled Jones up by saying that “You weak Victorian. I want a Queenslander out there.”

Jones got out at the record score of  210 , this innings he played was  played out in sheer gut and instinct and purely believing on his skills, one of the most brave outing as I or most of us will believe.

Have you sought your mother's permission before coming here, mate?

After Sunil Gavaskar another new lad from Mumbai came out to face one of the most fierce bowling attacks of that time, he was about to get selected for West Indies tour but as the destiny would have it he was selected for the Pakistan tour. 

Everybody was amazed to see a 'schoolboy' came to play in Pakistan to face off with one of the best pace attack of , he was ridiculed by others who were not aware of these talented young lad, but more than talent he became more famous by his gutsy performance which  nobody thought of from a young lad of that age, this young lad was a\might be of short stature but his determination will dwarfed everyone.

In Sialkot, this young lad was hit on the face by a bouncer bowled by Waqar Younis,  but he declined medical assistance and continued to bat even as he gushed blood from it, later on this young lad became master of all attacks, showed his hunger ,determination ,bravery and most importantly a world champion batsman, our very own 'Sachin Tendulkar'.

Injury, what's that mate? 

Two names , two heroic innings

Although he was known as one of the best bowler he was also famous for this bravado.

in 1984, West Indies toured England and was already 2-0 up in the series, in the third test match at Headingley, Malcolm Marshall injured himself while fielding and suffered a double fracture to his left thumb, England who were batting first scored 270/allout, in reply West Indies were 290/9, Larry Gomes was unbeaten on 96 but what was most important that West Indies just 20 runs ahead at that point of time.

With Marshall injured it was looked all over from West Indies, but surprising everyone Marshall came out to bat with a plaster on a left hand, not only he helped Gomes to score a century, he helped adding another 12 runs through their partnership and he scored a boundary as well, although his stay was short he scored just 4 runs, faced 8 balls, stayed 16 minutes in the crease and scored a solitary boundary what made this innings astonishing that he done all this by batting one handed with only his right hand.

Marshall, however, wasn’t done yet. After putting on an exemplary display of grit and determination with the bat, he returned with the ball to deliver an unforgettable performance, he took 7 wickets for 53 runs.

Another name which I like to include is Greame Smith, in 2008 South Africa toured Australia and demolished them by winning the series, this was the first time South Africa won a test series in Australia. 

The final test played at Sydney, with Australia playing for their pride and South Africa playing for a whitewash it was anticipated that it will be a highly dramatic end of what was already a exciting series.

Australia batted First and posted 445 runs on the board, in reply South Africa managed 327 with skipper Greame Smith broke his hand after being struck by paceman Mitchell Johnson on his Individual score of 30 and he was forced to retire hurt. 

With lead of 118 runs lead, Australia started their second innings and declared their innings on 257/4, South Africa ended day 4 on 62/1, with Smith injured it was the responsibility of the other batmen to draw the match.

With all 3 results possible - drawn match, victory for South Africa or victory for Australia- fifth and final day started, the game almost Looked all over for South Africa when they lost their 9 the wicket for 257, Australia was already celebrating as they were sure that injured Smith with a broken hand won't come out to bat. 

However, Smith surprised everyone by emerging out from the South African dressing room before anyone can understand what is happening, captain Smith was on his way out to the middle to try and get his team home.

The Idea was simple to bat out the final 10 overs but was it possible with Smith's broken hand, it was a brave move by Protea Skipper, he frustrated Aussie bowlers and made it sure that he will not make it easy for opposition, however it all ended when Mitchell Johnson bowled Smith with only 11 balls remaining, handing Australia a 103-run victory.

Smith wasn't required to do that as South Africa has already won the series but he still decided to go ahead and bat as he don't want it to be easy for the opposition and get a draw at any cost, it shows the tough grit of former proteas Skipper. 

He Is Indeed Very Very Special Player Mate

We Indians, do love our fab four batsmen, they're really the pillars of what is Indian team today, much has been said about them, but I will pick this Very Very Special player, VVS Laxman, Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman, we already know how Great Sachin is, we admired Dravid, we already know how bold and brave is Virender Sehwag, we know how good Saurav Ganguly is as a leader and batsmen, but I believe we don't talk about this man much. 

This man pulled out special or highly significant innings  when Indian team's back was on the wall, whether it is his Individual score of  167 out of team's total of 261 against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australians in their backyard at Sydney, or his stellar 59 in 1st innings and staggering 281 (alongwith Rahul Dravid) in that famous Kolkata  test where India won the game despite following on, or in 2003 where again with Dravid he played one of the most valuable innings of 148 runs against Australia in Adelaide which helped India to gain strength  after losing early wickets and ultimately helped India to win the match. 

The most unbelivable innings he played according to me was the innings he played against Australia in Mohali, where Laxman made 73 Not out and successfully chased the target of 216 partnering mostly with tailenders ,while also battling with back spasms, despite all the issues he bravely withstood all the major problems and most of the time he was the person who denied opposition most of the times.

As Brett Lee once said - “If you get Dravid (out), great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it’s a miracle.”

One of a kind batsmen -

From being named as one of the best batsmen to becoming infamous as cheater Steve Smith really has a roller coaster ride in his career, but it not new for Smith after all he started as a leg spinner but later on he became one of  the best batsmen.

After the 'Sandpaper' incident Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned from cricket as well as they earned the wrath of cricket fans, so after coming back from ban the worst issue the trio has faced was getting booed from the crowd. 

Despite not playing for a whole year, despite all the criticisms and all the crowd problems Smith came out to bat in the 2019 Ashes series with his side in problem (154/8) with the help of tailenders scored a century which helped his team to maintain strength on their opposition and scored another century in the second innings as well and helped his team to win the 1st test, in the same Ashes series at  the 2nd test Joffra Archer started a vicious spell of fast bowling, during this Archer struck Smith twice with his bouncer, the first bouncer was struck on Smith's arm and the second one was directly in the neck, this time Smith was forced to retire hurt on individual score of 80 because of a concussion he suffered  but came back shortly some overs after because Australia just lost the wicket of Peter Siddle and Australia needed important runs it was brave effort to get hit by a bouncer, stand up , walked off the field, still come back and play.

One goes another one comes in...

Marnus Labuschagne shares a very unusual feat in international cricket  which ties him with some other  greats of  cricket that unusual feat is that he started his international career with a duck, however he soon started making runs in his domestic career so the selectors selected him for the Ashes series, very soon  Aussies required his services, as mentioned above after that Joffra Archer's bouncer and Smith's concussion, Australia named Labuschagne as the replacement of Steve Smith making making him the first player to be concussion substitute in a Test match. 

Just after he walked in he faced Joffra Archer who again looked up for the task, Bang!!! and with that  the second ball Labuschagne faced of his Ashes career hit him right on the helmet, Labuschagne was already under lots of  pressure ,Australia was under pressure, but Labuschagne proved what he is actually a tough and brave young man, he played a matured innings of 59 to help Australia salvage a draw and after this Labuschagne become a inseparable member of Australian middle order.

                      

They are brave, they aren't B team of India, they're Team India...

Even before the India tour of Australia (2020-21) has started, experts and people started to predict that India will perform poorly in Australia all because Virat Kohli will be leaving for India to attend his parental duties.

India  started poorly, they lost the 3 match one-day series, but came back to winning ways and won the subsequent T-20 series and were brimming with confidence despite losing the final T-20 match of the series.

But their dreams to perform well came crashing down in the first test match of the series, when they got dismissed for just 36 runs in their secound outing in Adelaide, mind that, it was not an individual score but whole team went down like that.

After this, when Virat Kohli left and Ajinkya Rahane took over captaincy reigns experts predicted even more worst,but Rahane and company took the bulls by the horns and decided to give their best and make this series memorable for us Indians.

Second test at Melbourne saw Indian bowlers performing well and restricting Australia for 195 and then Rahane played a captain's innings of 112 runs with some help from Australian fielders  and put India ahead of Australia by 126 runs, Indian bowlers totally stamped their authority over Australia by bowling them out for 200 even in their 2nd innings, what a brilliant comeback after such a huge debacle.

In the third test at SCG on the back of a brilliant century of Steve Smith Australia scored 338 in reply, India on the back of half centuries from Pujara and Shubhman Gill scored 244, in their second outing Australia declared at 312/6 and asked India to chase down 407 runs, Indian batsmen showed that they're looking forward to the challenge and till Rishabh Pant and Pujara was there it looked like that India can win.

However,dismissals of both Pant and Pujara it became a little bit hard, two new batsmen were on the crease Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin, it became even more difficult after Vihari injured his hamstring, both Vihari and Ashwin had to battle 'short-stuffs', verbal stuff and their own physical issues with Vihari having hamstring issues and Ashwin  was facing back problems but they make it sure that they won't let them through to the the tailenders, It was a 'blockathon' which lasted 259 balls and eventually helped them to draw the match.

By the 4th and final test at Brisbane India lost most of their best players and forced to field new or inexperienced team but despite that they proved themselves, it all started with a largely inexperienced Indian bowling attack restricted Australia on 369, in reply India lost 6 wickets for 186, with Australia still 183 runs ahead it looked bleak for India.

But debutant Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur proved to be enough for Aussie bowlind attack they thwarted everything what was threw to them, both Thakur (67) and Sundar (62) scored an important 123 runs partnership but unfortunately after the dismissals of both batsmen, Indian team was wrapped rather quickly, Australia got an important lead of  33 runs.

In the second innings, Australia were bowled out for 294 and India need to chase down 328 runs to win, despite losing Rohit Sharma early, Shubhman Gill's heroic 91, Rahane's 24, and Cheteshwar Pujara's unbelievable pain-stricken innings in which he took blows after blows to make sure that Australia can't make any further inroads, even after Pujara's dismissal Pant completed what he missed out in Sydney, he scored the winning runs and won the test series for India.

These are certain incidents in test cricket with which I can associate bravery, I think I missed out on certain instances, if you want to add some let me know in comments