Remembering my favorite commentator – Mr. Tony Greig!

“Oh, he has hit this one miles. Great shot! Ohhh!!!! It’s a bigieeeeee. The little man has hit the big fella for six. He is half his size. What a player, a wonderful player.”

These words are ingrained in my mind from the day I heard them on April 22,1998, when Sachin played one of the finest ODI knocks of that time. I still believe this inning, if not the best of all time, is at least in the top five knocks played in all formats of cricket, including Test matches. That one inning instilled enough fear in the Australians that they panicked and couldn’t defend a decent total two days later in the tournament's final. April 24, 1998, Sachin’s 25th birthday, and I remember every Indian somehow knew that we would win the Coca-Cola Cup on that day, come what may.

Scoring runs is an art but presenting it on television is another skill that very few possess. Tony Greig was a master at it. The way Sachin scored his runs, Tony's words brought the catalyst and excitement on TV. Tony immortalized that inning. You can hear his words endlessly and will never get tired of living that inning again and again.

The metaphors used by him were something out of this world. His vocabulary enhanced with every shot that Sachin hit for a 4 or 6. The excitement and the atmosphere were electric in Sharjah that day. Post this inning, I used to always have a lookout for Tony Greig’s commentary across various matches around the world. But the icing on the cake was again the test series between India & Australia in 2001 – where he was again commentating in all 3 test matches at Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai. Tony Greig deserved that series, perhaps if not arguably the best test series to have ever been played in the history of cricket.

Tony’s partnership with Bill Lawry was amazing when they commentated for the Australian Channel 9 broadcasting company. The banter between them sometimes overtook cricket happening in the center. Go to YouTube & relive some of the classics between both of them – I’m sure you lighten up your mood if you are having a tough day. I generally find some time over the weekends to see replays of Tony Greig’s commentary. It always brings a smile to my face & more often than not I get to relive the many cricketing memories.

During his playing days in the ’70s, he was a character then as well when he made the infamous remark “that he intends WI to grovel” when WI was to tour England before the 1976 test series. West Indies took it seriously & made Poms suffer for that comment & made sure that England didn’t win anything on their home turf in both Test & ODI series. That series marked WI domination throughout the ’80s & up to some extent in the ’90s.

Tony died at the age of 66 & I always felt as a cricket fan, I missed his commentary a lot. Though may not be a great cricketing legend – he was definitely & one of the finest commentators.

 

Miss you, Tony!!! Rest in peace.

 

-        Madhur Kapoor (Cricket Enthusiast)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

West Indies & the art of winning World Cups!!!!!

If not for that brilliant catch from Kapil Dev in the 1983 World Cup Final at Lord’s ; we wouldn’t have seen a new Champion until the first 3 editions of the ODI World Cup.   Somehow, I’m always fascinated by the West Indies cricket team & the art of winning World Cups, especially in this era with T20s. They did leave a template for other teams to follow in ODIs, set the tone & then phased out in the 90’s. I still remember the later World Cups of that decade in 1996 & 1999 WI was up to a great fight in both of them; however an always-spirited Australia ended their campaign in Mohali & NZ pipped them out of super 6s due to superior NRR in 1999.   However, fast-forward to the T20 World Cups & West Indies has always been a force to reckon. Winning in Colombo , 2012 & Kolkatta , 2016 proved that they again became the 1 st team to win 2 editions in the same format. They set the template, they set the tone. It won’t be surprising if they do make...
Read more

WC 1999 - Lance Klusener - The man they called “Zulu” & the birth of the “Chokers.”

 Every cricket World Cup has seen many stars emerging; especially the excitement of the pre-T20s era, if you pick any World Cup from 1975 to at least 2003; you would see at least one star cricketer rising above the rest. Viv Richards burst into the scene around 1975, and Kapil Dev with a magnificent 175 not out against Zimbabwe single-handedly carried India to the title. Inzamam Ul Haq for me was a standout performer for Pakistan in 1992 with the most important contributions made against NZ at crucial junctures. Jayasuriya was lethal in 1996.   However, in 1999, Lance Klusener rose to the top by displaying extraordinary hitting. He took the scalp out of Shoaib Akhtar in 1 of the Super Six matches. Lance treated Shoaib clocking almost 100 mph every ball with equal disdain. He annihilated his opponents with the bat and equally contributed with wickets. I remember him scoring at a strike rate over 150; something unheard of in the previous millennium.   Coming back...
Read more

Pakistan Cricket Team & Champions Trophy 2025 – will the real Pakistan stand up?

  Being an Indian, I had always been fascinated by the Pakistan cricket team growing up in the 90s. The one-sided contests between India & Pakistan during ODIs in Sharjah & seeing India lose almost 90% of the time was heartbreaking. Yet I could find solace in 1 thing – we lost to a team with far superior bowlers & batsmen except for Sachin Tendulkar. I remember I was in my early teens & Sachin scored a marvelous 100 in Sharjah in 1996 just after the WC to win a match in Sharjah against Pakistan after almost a decade. I think that was the first time an Indian ODI team scored an excess of 300 with a brilliant cameo from Azhar at the end of the innings worthy of one of the great T20 innings played in this era. Since the sports were televised in India on Star Sports (Prime Sports then in 1992), I had seen very few matches – only the ones that were telecasted on Doordarshan. All the matches I remember between 1990 and 1996 between the 2 greatest rivals always re...
Read more