Scaling the peaks of batsmanship

Anant Gaundalkar

AS the world celebrates Saeed Anwar's phenomenal 194 against India at Chennai - the newest peak of one day batsmanship - we cast a quick look back in time, to the king he dethroned, and compare the two innings.

Vivian Richards vs. England at Manchester on May 31, 1984:

Issac Vivian Alexander Richards strode out to the middle that warm summer day in May in the first of the three one-day games at the Old Trafford, Manchester. He came to the crease when the Windies were precariously placed at 11 for two, with the celebrated opening pair of Gordon Greeinidge and Desmond Haynes back in the pavilion.

Dropped early in his innings, Richards - then at his devastating best - handed out to England the most expensive punishment in the history of limited-overs cricket.

Wickets however fell at regular intervals at the other end and, at 166 for nine, the West Indies seemed to have lost their way. It was left to Richards to break his side out of jail, with a display of dazzling strokes and a fury unseen till then on a cricket field.

There were 14 overs remaining of the scheduled 55 when the last man in, Michaiel Holding, joined him in the middle. These 14 overs produced 106 runs of which Richard's share was a phenomenal 93. Such was the audacity of his batting and so ingenious the improvisations that he had 21 boundaries against a predominantly defensive field.And so great was his power, that one of his five sixes cleared the ground at the Warwick Road end.

By the time the 55 overs were completed, the West Indies had recovered to 272, Viv Richards was on an astounding unbeaten 189 off only 170 deliveries in 220 minutes.

The Master Blaster had not merely effect a West Indian victory in this game, but a psychological devastation of English team for the rest of the season.

Saeed Anwar vs. India at Chennai on May 21, 1997:

IT took ten days short of 13 long years to break the world record for the highest individual innings in the history of instant cricket. And that honour goes to none other than Saeed Anwar of Pakistan - coincidentally, again in May, this time in the cauldron that is the M A Chidambaram stadium at Chennai.

There seemed no stopping the stylish Anwar as he cut, drove, pulled, glided and, on occasion, lashed the bowlers to the fence and, on five occasions including thrice in succession off the usually niggardly Anil Kumble, over it. He reached the new record of 190 with a swept four off Tendulkar, added another with a cut to reach 194, and then, in an effort to hit a six (which would have registered the first double-country in limited-overs cricket), skied the Indian skipper for Ganguly to take a very well-judged tumbling catch at fine leg in the 47^th over.

Five sixes and 22 fours, compiled over 206 minutes and 146 deliveries - these figures (and it pays to note that his strike rate is better even than that of Richards - convey a sense of his mastery over the bowling.

In this time, he was associated in three major partnerships - 89 with captain Ramiz Raja for the second wicket, 116 with Ijaz Ahmed for the third wicket and then 84 with Inzamam-ul-Haq for the fourth wicket. When he eventually departed at 297, his share was 65.31 per cent of the total then. More, it was a contribution that helped his team win a berth in the final, despite the best efforts of the Indian batsmen in the chase.

Following are complete details of progressive improvements in the highest individual innings in the annals of one-day cricket, arranged in chronological order:

					World Record Held for
Runs	Date	Player	Opponents	Venue	Years	Days
82	January 5, 1971	J.H. Edrich (Eng)	Australia	Melbourne	1	232
103	August 24, 1972	D.L. Amiss (Eng)	Australia	Manchester	1	14
105	Sept. 7, 1973	R.C Fredricks (WI)	England	The Oval	--	358
116*	August 31, 1974	D.Lloyd Eng)	Pakistan	Nottingham	--	280
171*	June 7, 1975	G.M. Turner (NZ)	East Africa	Birimingham	8	11
175*	June 18, 1983	Kapil Dev (Ind)	Zimbabwe	Tunbridge Wells	--	348
189*	May 31, 1984	I.V.A. Richards (WI)	England	Manchester	12	355
194	May 21, 1997	Saeed Anwar (Pak)	India	Chennai	To be seen

NOTES:

1. The world record has been held by eight players from five different countries - three Englishman, two West Indians, a New Zealander, an Indian and now a Pakistani.

2. Vivian Richards held the record for the longest duration, of 12 years and 355 days, while David Lloyd has the shortest reign at the top, of just 280 days.

3. * denotes unbeaten innings.