02 December,2009 08:43 AM IST | | Corresepondent
The Australians under Bob Simpson on their way home after retaining the Ashes in 1964-65 were pushed a fair way in the first Test at Madras, and then found themselves at the receiving end at the Brabourne Stadium (though it must be said on their behalf that they were without their star batsman Norman O'Neill who took ill after a night out on the eve of the match).
It is surprising that an unfit player should have been included and perhaps there would have been more to it - but this was in the days before the investigative reporter had arrived on the scene. The visitors made 341 as Peter Burge and Tom Vievers used their weight and reach to drive and pull. They had to cope with the steady attack of Nadkarni and get accustomed to the unorthodox Chandrasekhar.
The match, according to some, was decided by one magic ball - a spitting legbreak from Chandra, bowling from the Churchgate end, which took the top of the off stump. It was a 'master ball' and in those days when such courtesies still existed, Burge raised his bat to acknowledge it. Burge, with 74, had to yield place as top scorer to the more elegant Booth (81) after Lawry (68) had set the innings on a stable footing. Yet by the time Nadkarni (4 for 33) had worked in tandem with Chandra (4 for 73), the target of 274 was within the reach of such skilled and attractive batsmen as Sardesai, (56) in an order reaching down to Pataudi (53) and Borde (30 not out). No 7 was considered too low for a batsman of Borde's stature, but it was one that was to succeed.
Extracted from an article by KN Prabhu written in the book CCI The Home of Cricket
published by The Marine Sports
