Spicy tradition flows at Lord’s

In 1979 I was into my second year of cricketfollowing I had not heard of Lordrsquos More familiar venues in my adolescent mind were Wankhede and Chidambaram Chinnaswamy and BrabourneAcross my Prabhadevi home was one section of a cottage from where a tireless busy Ganesh idol maker Mr Malvankar operated He worked relentlessly only complaining of a hurting back amidst his daily stressYear after year Mr Malvankarrsquos son Vijay took leave from his employers as Ganesh Chaturthi approached and spent his days at Prabhadevi using his expertise to paint the Ganesh idolsrsquo eyes While I watched him work with thin brushes Vijay talked cricketHe told me how Sunil Gavaskar had criticised the 1976 Jamaica crowd in Sunny Days ldquoWhat is Sunny Daysrdquo I asked only to be told that it is a book It appeared Vijay followed every Test matchThis was 1979 He was well aware of how India lost the opening Test of the 1979 series against England at Edgbaston He dwelled on the second Test at Lordrsquos where India were bowled out for 96 in the first innings and how a better show in the second innings through century efforts from Dilip Vengsarkar and Gundappa Viswanath helped India draw the TestHe then informed me that the next Test was to be held in a place called LeedsLeedshellip what a fascinating name I thought I lapped that up better than in 2002 when a Pakistani taxi driver said he would take me to ldquoLeedrdquoI lost touch with Vijay and havenrsquot met him since I shifted residence from Prabhadevi Who knows if he and I reunite through this open letterDear VijayHope you are well and still following cricket I distinctly remember our conversations and you being the first to tell me about Lordrsquos and Leeds What a pity that Lordrsquos is in the news for the wrong reasons Do you think Australiarsquos wicketkeeper Alex Carey should have hit the stumps when Jonny Bairstow left his crease at the end of an over By the way Jonny is the son of the late David who played in the Oval Test of that 1979 series which we spoke aboutItrsquos interesting Vijay that Lordrsquos for all its stature and tradition has been a venue of many incidents and controversiesI am sure you know about how England fast bowler John Snow shoved Sunil Gavaskar there in 1971 while our hero was completing a runFour years later in the Ashes Test there a streaker named Michael Angelow ran on to the turf stark naked amusing some and embarrassing others at the home of cricket And John Arlott in the commentary box was moved to exclaim ldquoWersquove got a freaker Hersquos down the wicket now Not very shapely and itrsquos masculine And I would think itrsquos seen the last of its cricket for the dayrdquoThen there was this topless female intruder in 1986 holding a lsquoBring Back Bothamrsquo the England allrounder was serving a ban banner disturbing the India versus England Test action much to the annoyance of Gavaskar who was at the crease with K SrikkanthI ended up being a cricket reporter who was sent to cover a series there in 2002 After the NatWest series which India famously won I stayed back for the Lordrsquos Test And what do I see Another controversy hitting the London venue On Day Four of the Test an Australian fan accompanied an already disappointed Sachin Tendulkar dismissed for 12 on his way back to the fabled pavilion What if that intruder harmed Tendulkar we all wondered This was the same Test in which Harsha Bhogle and his colleague Gautam Bhimani representing ESPN then were at the receiving end of utter rude behaviour from a ground steward Bhimani was even assaultedAnd what happened eight summers later when the Pakistani cricketers were accused of spot fixing in the 2010 Lordrsquos Test established that this malaise was still very much part of the gameI read later that there was even a bomb threat at Lordrsquos during the England v West Indies Test of 1973 Eightynine minutes of play was lost and poor Dickie Bird umpiring in only his third Test was petrified unlike the West Indian supporters When some of them landed on the ground instead of adhering to leavetheground instructions and noticed how scared Bird was they said to him according to Birdrsquos autobiography ldquoDonrsquot you worry about the bomb Mr Dickie Bird Just look at that total on the scoreboard and worry about thatrdquo Bird looked up and saw West Indies were 652 for eightI almost forgot to include Mike Athertonrsquos dirtinthe pocket incident which soiled his reputation during Englandrsquos 1994 battle against South Africa at LordrsquosAnd by the way the Australian cricketers being booed by the members in the Long Room during last weekrsquos Test is so despicable that mere suspension of their membership wonrsquot do The offenders should cease to be members for lifeI guess wersquove had enough of this drama at Lordrsquos Vijay Just like you told me in 1979 the next Test is at LeedsIt was a rainmarred Test in 1979 and I hope the weather wonrsquot be a hindrance out there like way back thenKeep well and thank you for lsquointroducingrsquo me to Lordrsquos and Leedsmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper