Dial C for cricket emergency

Charu Sharma proving to be a fine replacement auctioneer for the Indian Premier Leaguersquos mega auction over the weekend provided the anecdotal history of cricket another gemDesignated auctioneer Hugh Edmeades suffered a fall something that caused IPL chairman Brijesh Patel to ring his Bangalorebased contact to check if he could fill in Sharma who obliged told The Indian Express that he would have been at the golf course at that time had he not suffered a fall himself and injured his shoulder on a trip to Kathmandu to conduct an auction for a cricket league thereSharmarsquos qualities of a pro auctioneer came to the fore on Saturday He was swift without appearing impatient and if a cricketing term can be used he fared well with the overrate I also liked the fact that he requested teams to hold the paddle high enough for everyone to see in the quest to save time The auction stretched to ridiculous lengths on both days and the BCCImdashtheir indifferent attitude to the media notwithstandingmdashmust have an earlier end so that the print media has everything in detail for the next dayrsquos newspaperIt would be fair to say Sharma was a saviour for the IPL auction the stars appeared alligned and he did enough to make the Indian cricket bosses consider him for the next one And if at all they were looking for someone to replace Richard Madley who conducted all previous auctions they had a good man right under their nose all this time Sharma may well conduct many more auctions but hersquod be proud to tell his grandchildren about this oneUltimately itrsquos about being in the right place to come on board in an emergency Bob Taylor the former England wicketkeeper happened to be at Lordrsquos on the second afternoon of the Lordrsquos Test against New Zealand when Richard Hadlee knocked down Bruce French with a blow at the back of his helmet French playing only in his third Test had to be stretchered off before the doctor administered three stitches Bill Athey wore the big gloves for a couple of overs before Mike Gatting the England captain called on his former England teammate Taylor then 45 and two years into retirement Taylor was at the iconic ground for some PR work with Cornhill Insurance the sponsors of the series Taylor did a tidy job for 73 overs before England summoned Hampshirersquos Bobby Parks whose father Jim and grandfather James played for England Bobby kept for 63 overs before French was fit enough to resume duty According to David Frithrsquos report in Wisden Cricket Monthly Bobby was all set to leave for a day out when he got the call to join the England team at Lordrsquos Little did New Zealand captain Jeremy Coney imagine that he would be a Taylor and Parkslike substitute two years later when John Wrightrsquos New Zealand team were afflicted by a virus in Bangalore Coney by then retired and into radio commentary and television producer Ken Nicholson did duty on Day Four of the Test It could well have been a dream for Nicholson to be on the field during a Test match but sometimes dreams donrsquot come true Ask celebrated commentator Henry Blofeld a travelling journalist for the 196364 India tour and an opening batsman who played firstclass cricket for Cambridge Blofeld fancied his chances of playing the Mumbai Test for which the English camp were saddled with injuries and illnesses MCC fielded an illbalanced side the following day but Blofeld didnrsquot get his chance and Mike Smithrsquos team managed to draw the game at Brabourne StadiumAt times replacements are close at hand but they may not fit in because of likes and dislikes My departed friend Kiran Ashar who opened the batting and kept wickets for Mumbai in the 1970s told me about how he was part of the Vijay Manjrekarled Bandodkar XI squad made up of mostly Associated Cement Companies players for the 196869 MoinudDowlah Gold Cup which was then a firstclass tournament in Hyderabad The sidersquos regular wicketkeeper KS Indrajitsinhji was unavailable for the semifinal and Manjrekar despite opposition from senior players like Dilip Sardesai and Bapu Nadkarni was in no mood to include young and promising Ashar He had exTest stumper Naren Tamhane fly out from Mumbai to keep wickets for the rest of the tournament Ashar was in tears because Manjrekar said he didnrsquot like the way he played in the team meeting The next time Ashar played the MoinudDowlah Gold Cup 197172 he was representing ACC and he scored a hundred in the semifinal against Hyderabad Cricket Association while putting on 183 runs for the opening wicket with Sunil Gavaskar Manjrekar watched it and was one of the first to congratulate AsharTalking about congratulations Sharma deserves plenty for his weekend work It is one thing when providence provides an opportunity It is quite another to take that chance and shine at short noticemiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper