G’bye Tabsy, we’ll miss you!

Hedley Brian Taber Herbert or plain Herbie to his mates finally lost his battle with illhealth on FridayHerbie had suffered breathing problems from serious asthma ever since I got to know him on our first tour in 196667 Despite his health concerns he seemed to have nine lives like a cat but this was his final oneA couple of years ago his wife Fran sent me a text saying ldquoHerbiersquos going into hospital and he wonrsquot be coming outrdquoLo and behold Tabsy was soon back at the retirement village and we were having our regular Saturday morning snooker game followed by a couple of glasses of red wine At a younger age people asked how he was and Irsquod say ldquoIf Tabsy gets past 45 hersquoll make 90rdquoSadly he fell just short but he displayed staunch fighting qualities to reach 83 Tabsy was resilient he never complained just got on with life and did his job The cat was not well at times but he was alive until FridayIn his prime he was an Australian wicketkeeper a fine glove man and probably the most popular cricketer I ever met Wherever you went people would ask howrsquos Tabsy Yoursquod tell them nothing has changed but Brian is still battling The reply was always the same ldquoIsnrsquot he a good blokerdquoHis first Test was in South Africa 196667 and Herbie claimed a very creditable eight dismissals it would have been nine but one local umpire was extremely patrioticIn December 1968 NSW skipper Taber equalled a then world record of twelve dismissals in a game against South Australia We used to joke ldquoHow did you get a stumping of legspinner Dick Guy He never spun a ballrdquoDespite Tabsyrsquos prowess as a smooth keeper with good footwork I worried about him after he was struck in the eye by a bail in a charity game In 1982 we took an oldtimers team to play in Fiji Tabsy was our keeper and we had three wristspinners in the sideWhen David Sincock the biggest spinner of them all hit the edge of the matting with his first delivery it flew past the righthand batsmanrsquos left shoulder Tabsy collected the ball easily and casually tossed it to me at slip The next ball hit the same spot on the matting and shot straight along the ground just missing off stump Herbie again easily collected the ball and casually tossed it to me at slip I stopped worrying about Tabsyrsquos damaged eyesightWe admired Taber as a lsquokeeper but were wary of him on the golf course Herbie was a regular lsquomiraclersquo worker on the course and would often produce unbelievable shotsIn India in 1969 Tabsy produced his piece de resistance The first two holes were halved so the match rested on a par three of 155 yards Tabsy caught a bit of the sandy tee and then flubbed his iron so he exclaimed ldquoMight be time for the Texas WedgerdquoHe proceeded to give the ball a good tap with the putter and it gained much needed impetus from a strategically placed rock about six inches from the pin Its last roll was into the holeQuite unperturbed Tabsy marched to the hole and collected his ball noting as he replaced the pin ldquoWersquove got our parrdquoTabsy retained his incredibly quick and salient sense of humour to the end He also helped other keepers including Rod Marsh the man who took his place in the Australian sideHe was an extremely good manager and one of his great contributions to Australian cricket came when in 1991 he managed an underage side to the Caribbean At departure he was told by a naive official ldquoIf Shane Warne puts a foot out of place send him homerdquoTabsy quite rightly ignored the advice made Warne the social secretary and after his playing success on tour Herbie told me ldquoBy the way the young bloke is a really good legspinnerrdquoTabsy was a good cricketer he understood the game and knew how to handle people Importantly he was a good bloke and we all miss the gentleman wicketkeeper60The number of dismissals Brian Taber had behind the stumps in 16 Test matches for AustraliaAlso ReadCricket quite the gentlemanrsquos game