Hall said and done!

The golden great, who was seen interacting with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid in Barbados, appeared lacking in muscle—but his on and off-field deeds are backed by brawn

The Wesley Hall we saw the other day on social media, interacting with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid in Barbados, was a far cry from the strapping fast bowler whom cricket enthusiasts may have seen during his playing days, or his cricket administrative time, or both.

A frail Hall, 86, was seen happily presenting his book Answering The Call to the current stars. It’s no surprise that Hall became a Senator and preacher. For, he always seemed to be game for a chat and was happy to interact with cricket lovers, especially the younger lot.

In his prime cricketing years, he was as swift as swift can be; his pace and pitching feared by opposition batsmen; his first book fittingly titled Pace Like Fire.

In India, during the 1958-59 series, Hall claimed 30 Test wickets at 17.67. It was his first tour for the West Indies! Among India’s below-100 totals, the 98 all out in the opening Test of the 1961-62 series at Port-of-Spain is the least talked about. Hall started it all with the wickets of skipper Nari Contractor, Vijay Manjrekar and Dilip Sardesai, in four balls for eight runs. In 13 Tests against India, he claimed 65 wickets—the same number against England in 19 Tests, but a good 20 scalps more than against Australia in a dozen Tests against them. Sixteen wickets in three overseas Tests against Pakistan included a fifer at Lahore, where he became the first West Indian bowler to bag a hat-trick.

His 30-yard run-up astounded those in the stands and the batsmen he hurled his thunderbolts at.

In a pre-India v West Indies series article in 1983 for The Sportstar, Bob Simpson, the former Australia opening batsman, captain and later coach, revealed Sir Don Bradman believed Hall was unique. “His pace alone was not the only reason for Hall’s success. His magnificent action allowed him, when he kept the ball up, to also bowl a wicked outswinger, an unplayable ball for a man of such pace. He also hạd the uncanny ability to get the ball up higher from a good length than any bowler that I have seen before or since. Sir Donald Bradman at the time, also contended, that no one in his experience, was able to extract the same lift from a good length, as Hall could and did,” wrote Simpson.

Cricket lovers will remember Hall bowling the last over in Test cricket’s first tie at Brisbane in 1960. Probably, the only advice he got from his captain Frank Worrell was to be calm and not bowl a no-ball. The astute captain reminded his premier fast bowler that he wouldn’t be able to return to Barbados if he over-stepped. Hall didn’t and Australia’s last man Lindsay Kline played one wide of mid-on for Joe Solomon to pick it up and execute his 25-yard direct hit which had No.10 Ian Meckiff run out.

If there was one bruised man in that Brisbane battle, it was Australia opener Colin McDonald. He took two nasty blows from Hall under the heart and chose to cover his sore ribs by tying a thigh pad to his body, according to his teammate Norman O’Neill, who scored 181 in Australia’s first innings. David Frith in the book, The Fast Men revealed that McDonald presented Hall his battered sweater during that epic series.

Hall’s last tour to Australia in 1968-69 was not a memorable one, much like his final series against India on these shores in 1966-67. Two for 54 was the best he could come up with in the Brabourne Stadium Test. At Chennai, Farokh Engineer gave Hall and pace partner Charlie Griffith a pasting en route his century in just over a session. “Engineer treated them [Hall and Griffith] as if they were just medium-pace hacks, mere trundlers,” wrote KN Prabhu in The Times of India. He ended up with 192 wickets in 48 Tests.

Hall played a significant role in West Indies cricket through the managing of touring teams. He has played a good hand in mentorship too.

If Clive Lloyd ended his international career in 1985 as one of the most successful batsmen and captains of all time, he can thank Hall. Twelve years prior, Lloyd sat in the Kensington Oval dressing room crying after he was told he’d be 12th man for the Barbados Test against the 1972-73 Australians. Hall came up to him and reminded him that he was chosen for the President’s XI and the then West Indies captain Rohan Kanhai was nearing the end of his road. Lloyd was pacified and smashed 178 in the Georgetown Test of the series. In a year’s time, he was announced as West Indies captain.

The late Malcolm Marshall too owed his emergence to Hall, who was personnel manager at Banks Breweries in the late 1970s. Thanks to Hall, Marshall got employed as a store room attendant and the promising cricketer and was picked for the 1978-79 tour of India with only one first-class game under his belt. Hall was not manager on that tour, but he managed the next West Indian side to India in 1983-84, when the visitors won 3-0. While that provided him a great deal of satisfaction, being manager of the 1996 World Cup team here must have been depressing. West Indies, led by Richie Richardson and coached by Andy Roberts, lost to Kenya in Pune and had no business to lose the semi-final to Australia in Mohali.

It can be safely said that the highs outweighed the lows in Hall’s lifetime in cricket. 

What we saw the other day was not the sprightly West Indian great. Not very long ago, cricket lovers would describe him as someone who radiated energy, enthusiasm and effervescence. But then, age doesn’t spare anyone while taking its toll.

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.

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