Renowned cricket writer Sir Scyld Berry says ”I am the second man to attend 500 Tests”

Renowned cricket writer Sir Scyld Berry says ”I am the second man to attend 500 Tests”

(ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK)

A simple but impressive ceremony was held at Pindi Cricket Stadium to celebrate the cricket correspondent Sir Scyld Berry 500th Test at the historic occasion on the third test between Pakistan and England at Rawalpindi.

The Telegraph’s Chief Cricket Writer Scyld Berry has become the second cricket correspondent of the world who covered the most cricket test matches , remarkably, when he attend his 500th Test match in Rawalpindi on Thursday when he reports on the Pakistan vs England series decider .

The only other person reached this magical milestone was the late, great Australian captain – and legendary commentator – Richie Benaud.

Sir Scyld Berry in an article wrote that ”I am the second man to attend 500 Tests” – this is how cricket changed in 51 years” ”Game is safer” , ”faster”, ”fairer and more professional than it was on my first tour in 1977 –” but not necessarily better”.

While recalling his memories he says that England’s batting used to be bent on survival, based on the fear of getting out’’. ‘’Today it is fearless hitting’’. ‘’This volte face has been one of the three biggest changes between my first England tours’’,’’ which began with a warm-up game in Rawalpindi in Pakistan in late 1977’’, and now on returning to Rawalpindi for the series-decider, my 500th Test’’.

He stated that In the opening Test of that series in 1977, Pakistan opened with a total of 407 in Lahore – and England had not one thought of winning when they replied.

They were intent on taking time – and, if needs be, entertainment – out of the game, ‘’whereas in the opening Test of this series in Multan, ‘’England replied at 5.48 runs per over in scoring 823 for seven to set up victory’’.

He said that England were rather more measured back in 1977. The slowest century of all time in first-class cricket had just been scored in Pakistan’s innings by Mudassar Nazar, as he took three minutes short of ten hours. Geoffrey Boycott was slower still in scoring 63 off 267 balls, between 11 and 12 runs per hour. ‘’The capacity crowd mainly amused itself with political demonstrations’’, he said.

Overall England replied with 288 at a rate of 2.1 runs per eight-ball over, which was the form in several Test countries in those distant days: in our terms, England, on a pitch every bit as friendly for batting as the first featherbed in Multan, batted for two whole days at 1.8 runs per over. Their scoring rate in the opening Test in Multan, and on their previous tour of Pakistan was three times faster.

Batting has been revolutionized by the helmet which allows cross-batted shots against any pace; while bowling in Test cricket has not vastly altered. There was always a rest day before Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s, so bowlers did not have to be quite so match-fit: the rest day would normally occur between the first and second innings, allowing for recovery or golf. The pioneer of reverse-swing in Pakistan, Sarfraz Nawaz, was already experimenting in 1977.

What has changed has been England’s strategy. That 1977 series ended 0-0; and over the course of England’s first six tours of Pakistan, only four Tests ended in a definite result, either way. Since Ben Stokes took over as captain, England have played out one single draw, which was because of Manchester’s rain.

There was not enough time to get a result in Pakistan, so they used to say; now there is a will, there is a way. Neutral umpires and the Decision Review System constitute the second major change in the half a century since the first Test I attended in a professional capacity in 1973. Looking back, almost in horror,

it is hard to convey just how nasty and acrimonious an England Test series in the Asian sub-continent could become. All umpires outside England used to be amateurs, who officiated infrequently. England’s cricketers were accustomed to professional standards at home.

Once the home umpires – in Australia too as well as Asia – had “sawn off” a couple of England batsmen by giving them LBW, the behavior in a Test series would plummet in a snowball of allegations of cheating and racism as the players on both sides appealed for everything. Much of the media would react nationalistically; the whole relationship between two countries and their people could be poisoned.

Nowadays every umpiring decision is above board and transparently honest: if there is any disagreement then it surrounds the interpretation of a third (or TV) umpire from a third country. Players from the two sides have often played in the same team or T20 franchise. Joe Root and Harry Brook represent Yorkshire, whose captain is the Pakistan captain Shan Masood.

Strange it may seem now, but not in this context: I was welcome to bowl in the England nets on the rest day of the second Test in Hyderabad (not the one in India). Half the ground, including the nets, was more or less sand so my leg breaks, for once, gripped.

There was a senior net for serious batsmen, like Boycott and the captain Michael Brearley; and a junior net in which the other members of the squad and the bowlers could have a hit. I got one of them out twice in three balls. Who? Ahh, what happened on tour stayed on tour then. The name of the game: trust.

The British High Commission threw a reception at the start of my first tour, replete with alcohol and unattached secretaries on assignment from the UK. One of the players, when supposed to be 12th man during a warm-up game in Peshawar, flew to Islamabad for the day to continue a liaison.

England had a practice game against Lahore Gymkhana in one of the world’s most beautiful grounds, Lawrence or now Jinnah Gardens. One of the umpires disappeared at the interval between innings so, as nobody else volunteered, I did. I gravely took hold of John Lever’s MCC sweater when he took the new ball, my umpiring CV consisting of standing briefly in a few club games.

Above all is the never-ending fascination of seeing how elite athletes – or, better say in some cases, strong personalities – react to the high wire across Niagara Falls.

For this is what faces them when they bowl their first ball of a Test or face their first: the abyss, if they look down for a moment. It is one reason I keep playing, never to forget the mortification of dropping a catch, to have some vague sense of the ordeal these England cricketers go through on the field and in their bedrooms on sleepless nights.

I cannot convey what fun it all was (though I’m trying to capture it in a book). A cricket tour has become a business trip, every day programmed in advance: play/train/travel.

Trust has been eroded: the players are not so exclusive as to stay in their own hotels like England footballers but they mostly keep themselves to themselves. Back then it was one party – one long party.

More a lads’ outing, escaping the English winter: cricket and a spot of work by day, hedonism by night, a way of life condemned not to last but pure delight while it did.