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00:00Geoffrey Jones bowled the first ball of the series, and Conrad Hunt coolly square-cut it for four.
00:20Then a typical first morning of a test. The faster bowlers nagged away a little short of a length.
00:30The batsman played, and sometimes missed. But gradually Hunt sent down his roots.
00:38First butcher boy in company.
00:44Then came nurse.
00:53Meanwhile Hunt was making his cool, competent way to a century.
01:00England had their successes, but a 215 for four to see Garfield Sobers walk into bat is more than merely disheartening.
01:14But whatever the bowlers may have felt, this was a memorable innings.
01:19Sobers stepped into his own, batting with an exuberant mastery granted to few men on this level.
01:30Mike Smith gave us an exciting reminder of his catching ability, but not everything was held.
01:50So Sobers was still there with his cousin David Holford to bat on Friday morning.
02:00Sobers, the critics agreed, wasn't in touch on the second morning.
02:06He only made 161, that's all.
02:14And he loaded a heavy burden on the shoulders of the English batsman.
02:18Millburn's were only briefly broad enough. His run out was brilliant or grotesque, according to where your sympathies lay.
02:42England never settled.
02:45The wicket began to take spin and give Lance Gibbs an inch of turn and he'll take an L.
02:51There's no finer finger spinner in the world today.
03:07Sobers, of course it would be Sobers, rendered him spectacular aid.
03:12Holford produced a classic leg break for Titmuss.
03:25Park struck some healthy blows, but Gibbs was unanswerable.
03:32All too early on Saturday, England, 317 behind, were invited, gentle word, to follow on.
03:45Colin Millburn, in his first test, mounted a mighty resistance.
03:50First Russell was his partner, and then Barrington.
04:02For a few minutes, he batted with Cowdery.
04:06He was the only man in the world to have batted with Cowdery.
04:09For a few minutes, he batted with Cowdery, and then, at length, Millburn, on the brink of a century, went down as he batted defiantly.
04:27Cowdery batted with poise and care against the spin, until Sobers, Sobers again, took his wicket.
04:46Then Gibbs mopped up.
04:57And that was it. West Indies, in three days, by an innings and 40 rounds.
05:09Soliri constant time.
05:12This was only the second time West Indies had won by an innings in England.
05:18But I don't think anyone could say that they did not earn it.
05:28So do Lourdes, a place of mellow memories, and those meetings of old friends at the same place every year.
05:38Though they grow older, their meetings are as fresh as ever, and the new assignations spring up beside them.
05:51England's change of captain to Colin Cowdery couldn't change the luck of the toss.
05:57With Tom Graveney back at long last, and Basil de la Vire in, these were intriguing possibilities.
06:05And Higgs, Alec Fetzer's true successor, and Knight, took four West Indian wickets between them for 155.
06:20And nearly another. Sobers, no less, dropped first ball.
06:27But at the end of the half day's play that rain allowed, the balance was just about even.
06:38Higgs bowled gamely on into the second day to his best test performance, six for 91.
06:45West Indies, all out for 269, hadn't made the most of batting first.
06:51The England innings began on the high note of Wesley Hall bowling at Lourdes,
06:57recalling his historic spell of 1963, and cutting at once into the English batting.
07:06That brought in Tom Graveney, back after three years and 37 tests away, and on the day after his 39th birthday.
07:15He was left in no doubt of the crowd's welcome, and he was batting at once.
07:20Like an old master, settling in with Boyd.
07:24Soon the question of Saturday morning crowd within closed gates was,
07:54did Tom Graveney reach the storybook hundred on his return?
07:58Calmly on to 96, and then...
08:08It is far too wise a man to have been unhappy with 96.
08:25England, five wickets down and 66 behind. The game level again.
08:30The cue for Jim Parks to play in innings of quite boyish freshness and enjoyment.
08:37Basil D'Oliveira, entering his first test with a rare air of maturity, was run out by uncanny bad luck.
08:45But at least he preserved a sense of humour, and a souvenir about it.
08:50Still, Parks went gaily on.
08:54He too fell short of his hundred, but if a lead of 86 was less than England's hopes, it was better than their fears.
09:18And in the half hour left of the third day, night, with the catch of the game off heat, reinforced their position.
09:32Monday morning, and on a pitch briefly lively after weekend covering, England suddenly attacking.
09:39And when Can High was out, we came to the crucial moment of the match, perhaps of the series.
09:43West Indies, 95 for 5, were in effect 9 for 5, and at the end of their batting, England surely were winning.
09:53But for one man, Silvers, when David Holford, playing only his second test, came in to join him.
10:01But one man is not enough for such a situation. Easy, too easy to be wise after the event.
10:07Cowdery was content, as many a captain would have been in his place, to give Silvers the single in order to attack Holford.
10:15Only gradually did it dawn on him, or anyone else, that a young cricketer was growing into a test batsman under their very eyes.
10:24Silvers moved on, but first protectively, always commandingly, and gradually, too, Holford lengthened his stride.
10:32This was magnificent batting. Every ball critical, yet stroke after stroke being made as if with joy, and to remind us that a bat is for making runs.
11:02He went into the last day, to an escape for Silvers.
11:21To Holford, a memorable moment.
11:31When, still together, they'd made 274, a West Indian record for the eighth cricket, Silvers could declare and set England 284 to win in four hours.
11:51This time, Melbourne began in more circumspect fashion.
11:55Now, in an echo of 1963, Silvers threw in Griffith and Hall with a full attacking field.
12:02And soon England, from the edge of winning, as they'd been a day before, were brought to the brink of losing.
12:08At this crucial moment, Melbourne, as solid and belligerent as he looked, rode his luck, and wielded his bat with immense power.
12:27Meanwhile, at the other end, Tom Graveney, for all the sore thumb that made his strokes painful, was the calm, reassuring, professional influence.
12:38Alas, rain disturbed the delicate balance of runs wickets in time, and left little for expectation or enjoyment, except Melbourne's hundred.
12:48He came to that in his own way, even if his supporters couldn't give him quite the same lift as he gave the England batting.
12:57How might it have gone, I wonder, but for the rain, which cost an hour of the afternoon, and left England 86 behind with six wickets in hand at the end?
13:15Might it have been another 1963?
13:18This was a draw of more epic quality than many a decided game.
13:23And if I shall always remember Sobers and Holford for their part in it, I shall not forget Melbourne or Graveney either.
13:31Trent Bridge, where Neville Cardus once said, it is always afternoon, and the score is always 360 for two wickets.
13:56Though they won the toss, again, it didn't prove so for the first West Indian innings.
14:08Higgs and his newest bowling partner, John Snow, were encouraged by just a little greenness in the wicket.
14:22The ball would move a bit off the seam, and the West Indian batsmen didn't enjoy it.
14:40Even Sobers must have no more than three, and they leant heavily on Seymour Nurse, surely the major West Indian batsman of the new generation.
15:10Like Parkes, Melbourne and Graveney, before him in this series, he fell tantalisingly short of his century.
15:24But 235 was much less than West Indies must have expected on a pitch of such reputation.
15:31Someone had muttered, however, that England would have to pay for getting Garfield sobered out as cheaply as that.
15:38And surely enough, he took the new ball himself, and the English innings was no sooner begun than he cut into it.
15:48Then he helped hold to Melbourne's wicket.
16:00All alone accounted for Russell, and England were 13 for 3, and the only encouragement for their friends that night was the last half hour.
16:15The serenity of Colin Cowdery batting at his best, and Tom Graveney emphasising the long loss England had suffered from his absence.
16:34Friday, and the game was tilted again. Graveney and Cowdery, with rounded authority, batted far on down the day in face of every resource of the West Indian bowling.
16:47Storms darkened and interrupted the play, but otherwise Graveney and Cowdery made it seem that Trent Bridge was indeed a place of afternoon and countless runs.
16:59Graveney came majestically to the hundred he'd missed at Lord's.
17:12Now, again, Sobers made crucial thrusts.
17:21Cowdery became the fifth batsman in this series to be out in the 90s.
17:26Third morning, a traditional Trent Bridge Saturday, England had declined from the prosperity of 220 with only four wickets down to 260 for 9, just 25 ahead.
17:39And their last two batsmen, Basil D'Oliveira and Derek Underwood, babes in this jungle with a mere three tests between them.
17:47Yet, and surely to their amazement as much as everyone else's, they stayed on to set a new last wicket record for England West Indies Test matches.
17:56Underwood, modestly adhering to the basic principles of textbook defence.
18:01D'Oliveira, calm, yet, given the opportunity, powerful, and growing up into the crowd's respect and affection.
18:1665 for the last wicket.
18:24England, 90 ahead on the first innings.
18:34And in front of an eager Saturday crowd, the West Indies lost their first two wickets and were still behind when Can High and Butcher came together.
18:43Can High, who had been in the lead for the last two innings, was able to take the lead in the second half.
18:51Butcher, who had been in the lead for the last two innings, was able to take the lead in the second half.
18:59Butcher, who had been in the lead for the last two innings, was able to take the lead in the second half.
19:07And now the West Indies proved themselves undeniable as unofficial champions of the world.
19:22They played their way out of the threat of defeat at Launce, and now they did it again.
19:28Grimly through the rest of Saturday, but with mounting power into Monday.
19:32Can High was out for, surely, as slow, yet as valuable, a 60 as he's ever made in his life.
19:43Underwood, a wise head on his young shoulders, was economical, but he could only slow the advance.
20:07Sobers batted like a man apart, and then at 94, tossed away 100 with the air of a prodigy.
20:33Butcher, now, steady us along just a little bit.
21:00Butcher, now, steady us a long distance train, went on to 200.
21:06So Sobers could declare again, leaving England 393 to win in 389 minutes.
21:15A cool, realistic calculation, which Griffith, Hall and Gibbs proceeded to verify for him.
21:27Boycott fought as savagely as ever.
21:51First gravely, played himself in, and then was out before he could build an innings.
22:02Then Colin Carragher did the same thing.
22:18De la Vera again was resolute and firm, but all the time the West Indies totally, efficiently were winning.
22:34By 139, they went two up with two to play for the fourth test at Headingley.
22:40You know, John, West Indies won this match by the quality which has always distinguished the really strong sides.
22:48The blend of experience, technique and temperament.
22:52This carried them from a losing position to a winning one.
23:18After an opening wink of sun at Headingley, sheer February weather took most of the joy and half the play out of the first day.
23:28But nothing ever chills the Yorkshire crowd's enthusiasm for its own test match.
23:34Ken High gave them some bright moments.
23:43Higgs bowled faithfully.
23:48Hunt after a bright start dug in.
23:57And Snow refused to be disheartened by the feather bait pitch.
24:08So by the end of the half day, the game stood level.
24:21It didn't remain so long on the second morning.
24:25Higgs certainly gave England a glimpse of hope with Butcher's Wicket.
24:29But then they didn't take another for five live long hours.
24:33There was, in the words of the old rhyme, a smile on the face of the Tiger.
24:39In years to come, no doubt, the English players will relish the memory of that innings.
24:43But for the moment, they suffered under the lash.
24:45Seymour Nurse is a man of strokes, but he was content to make his century modestly by comparison to his captain.
24:55Why should it ever end?
25:00The bowler seemed, if not quite sober as collaborators, at least helpless servants.
25:06We'd seen it all before, but it was as thrilling as ever.
25:21Even the numbers seemed a little important, though Sober's century received an unusual salute.
25:31There was an impressive, if belated, sight of Barber's leg spin.
25:46And it ended Sober's gay progress, but at a time when it hardly mattered, either for him or for his successors.
25:55And when he declared, a huge round figure loomed ahead of the England batting.
26:09Boycott and Barber were content to live until the morning, the morning of the third day.
26:16In England then, Hall began one of his great spells, a splendid sight of bounding power as he moved in,
26:25unless you happened to see him from the opposite crease.
26:29Yet perhaps greater drama came at the other end, where Griffith took the first wicket of the morning,
26:36and bowled a bouncer to Gravely, whereupon Charles Elliott, the umpire, warned Griffith
26:41that if he delivered such another ball, he'd be called for throwing.
26:50Eventually, even Hall had to rest.
26:54D'Oliveira, once again cool and correct, where men of far greater experience failed, batted soundly and at times gloriously.
27:02And Heeks now stood with him and made the highest score of his career.
27:25D'Oliveira was out hitting.
27:29And Milburn, returning after his injury, made another gesture.
27:34But England were tied down, their tail was mopped up, and they followed on 260 behind.
27:41In a flash of intuition, Sobers threw the ball to Lashley as first change.
27:47And, with another indication of Jackie Hendricks' mounting ability, the first England wicket was gone.
27:53The only Yorkshireman in the side was out, to a gasp of disappointment all round Eddingley, and a dear midday for Monday.
28:03Barber began that fourth morning with defiant spokes, but again Sobers, who else?
28:09It was becoming almost too regular. Sobers cut the innings open.
28:14Milburn, even at half power, mounted his usual aggression.
28:20But this time it was the turn of yet another of the West Indies world class players to deal the final stroke.
28:27Gibbs, six for 39, and the game was done.
28:31West Indies by an innings and 55, and the rubber by three games to none, and only the oval to come.
28:38Once more, if Sobers was again outstanding, 174 in his only innings and eight wickets, it was a team win.
28:46At least six West Indians made important contributions to this decisive match.
28:52And it is my belief, the spirit of challenge by England so wanting in this game, if present, may not have changed the result,
29:00but would have given the spectators a better treat.
29:16But Cowdery was blamed, and at the oval, England, for the first time in cricket history,
29:22selected a third captain within a single test series, Ryan Close from Yorkshire.
29:28But he couldn't stop Sobers with his infallible luck from winning the toss for the fifth time in the rubber.
29:35Nevertheless, he led out a vastly altered England side, with John Edwards and John Murray coming back,
29:42and Dennis Higgins, who was the only man in the team to win the toss,
29:47with John Edwards and John Murray coming back, and Dennis Amos of Warwickshire playing his first test.
29:56Close is no respecter of cricketing persons from any country, and from the start he pushed his jaw right into the matter.
30:04For the fifth time in the rubber, Higgs took the first wicket of the match.
30:09Dear sir, is this a record?
30:17John Snow took MacMorris' wicket.
30:34And though Canhigh played himself into the day, Close jumped in to have Butcher caught.
30:41And when Nurse went to, it was 74 for 4.
30:46England, though, had been through all this before.
30:50Here was Sobers once more, with good reason to smile, and it was all as before.
31:02Close gave us an unusually early sight of Barber's leg breaks.
31:06But it was all as before, or so it seemed.
31:12Sobers, 50.
31:26Canhigh's 100, strangely enough, is first in a test in England, and not unrecognised.
31:37Then, all at once, the familiar pattern was disturbed.
31:43Canhigh's favourite sweep stroke was caught by Ellingworth.
31:47Sobers hit one of Barber's poorer leg breaks, scraped it bravely.
31:52And Close, with real tactical acumen, kept on his spinners, and the wickets fell.
31:58Down to 2.23 for 9.
32:01Then, where there was nothing missing on this day of sun and a full crowd,
32:05we had the comedy and tension of a last wicket stand.
32:09Hall at his most exuberant.
32:20Supported by Gibbs, coolly unamused, was a bold play.
32:25And Gibbs, coolly unamused.
32:28For the bowlers, batting is a serious business.
32:4145 runs for the last wicket.
32:4445 runs enjoyed as much on the terraces as on the field.
32:55To complete the pattern, the tension of 40 minutes of the England innings.
33:08And Boyd Goodswick is taken by the sheer pace of Hall.
33:17Friday. The sun hot, the gates closed.
33:20The story, sadly familiar to English followers.
33:24Barber got a startling ball.
33:26From Silvers, of course, his 200th test wicket.
33:30It lifted, took the club, and went to slip.
33:40John Edrich, game as ever.
33:45Then a reminder that on this tour,
33:47Jackie Hendricks has become a world-class wicket-keeper.
33:52Dennis Amis, impressively calm and workmanlike.
34:06Tom Graveney, deepening his impress on the series.
34:10Then, Hall again.
34:13D'Oliveira was due to fail.
34:21The combination of Griffiths and Hendricks dealt with Illingworth.
34:51And at three o'clock, England were still 102 behind.
34:56When John Murray, long left out of the England team
34:59because his batting wasn't good enough,
35:01came out number nine to join Graveney.
35:06And then, in a stand to make selectors blush,
35:10these two batted for the rest of the day.
35:14After tea, in tidy order, came the 150 for the partnership.
35:22Graveney's century.
35:37Murray's 50.
35:40Murray's 50.
35:43The 300.
35:47And next morning, though it was the first Saturday of the football season,
35:52the oval gates were closed again.
35:56Englishmen struggled to hide their disbelief.
36:00Graveney's 150.
36:10The 200 partnership.
36:24Murray's century is first in a test.
36:28And as the two of them followed one another back to the pavilion,
36:32they were hailed as if they'd won a test series.
36:40After that, no one asked more of Higgs and Snow
36:44than that they should put up the 400.
36:48Yet now, slowly, they grew a partnership even more amazing
36:52than that of Graveney and Murray.
36:56Through uncertainty, laughter, incredulity,
37:00to something like command,
37:02passed the new ball for another three hours
37:06passed the new ball for another three hours
37:09to the first 50s either of them had ever scored in first-class cricket.
37:37John Snow, who indeed would normally make a bat last him a full season,
37:43now used two in one innings.
37:46Together, Snow and Higgs passed the highest English last-wicket partnership
37:50ever made in England.
37:53And they were only two short of the highest in all test cricket anywhere.
37:58And England were an unbelievable 2-5-9 ahead
38:032-5-9 ahead on Alfred Cottonball Higgs.
38:16And still the flabbergasted Saturday crowd
38:19could see Snow tumble the West Indian second innings to 12-for-2.
38:29And though Butcher resisted,
38:34Dolivere and Illingworth reduced it further to 135-for-4 by the evening.
38:47If some of their essence hadn't been squeezed out of West Indians
38:51at Headingley when they won the rubber,
38:53they would be unique among all test cricket teams.
38:57On Monday, Nurse was still entrenched.
39:00This was a great series for him.
39:03And with Sobers to come, all things were possible.
39:06Though nothing was less probable, or was it,
39:10than that he would be out first ball.
39:18It was several moments before the incredible fact sank in.
39:23Still, Nurse had to be prized out.
39:27And Griffith and Hall, as keen rivals in batting as in bowling,
39:31put on 36, a new ninth cricket record for West Indies against England before the end.
39:39But by that end, England, and not least Brian Close,
39:44had regained something outstanding.
39:46Not only had they beaten this great West Indian side,
39:50but, surely to their own amazement,
39:53but, surely to their own amazement,
39:55they'd beaten them by an innings and 34.
39:59Yes, on the plane this match, they won well.
40:03Though they have not solved all their problems,
40:06you will feel the experience that they have gained
40:08has taken them well within solutions.
40:11And the victory has been a great morale booster
40:14in technique and approach.
40:18The delight of the English supporters was very soon set in proportion
40:22when Garfield Sobers came up to accept the wisdom trophy
40:26from General Sir Oliver Lees for winning the series.
40:31What of Sobers' own contribution towards that win?
40:35Unless cricket alone among sports has deteriorated in modern times,
40:41and it certainly hasn't,
40:43and it certainly hasn't,
40:45Sobers' contribution was that of the greatest all-round player
40:49the game has ever known.
40:51A batsman of quite exciting mastery,
40:55three kinds of bowler, glorious close fielder,
41:00and an immensely astute captain.
41:03As a captain, he could deploy Wesley Hall,
41:07the personification of high pace,
41:09Charles Griffith, unfailingly hostile,
41:13fast even in slow motion,
41:16Lance Gibbs, of the highly imaginative and aggressive spin,
41:21Conrad Hunt, competent, patient and steady,
41:25Rowan Canhigh of the variable genius,
41:28Seymour Nurse, who in 1966 entered the highest class of test batting,
41:35David Holford, who emerged from apprentice to rounded test player,
41:40Basil Butcher, spirited and reliable,
41:47Jackie Hendricks, a wicketkeeper who reached his peak on this tour.
41:53And on the England side, you'll remember Colin Milburn,
41:57unfailingly aggressive and eventually mighty unlucky,
42:02Ken Higgs, game accurate, intelligent and persistent,
42:07Tom Graveney, making his movingly nostalgic return to test cricket,
42:13Basil D'Oliveira, from South Africa, a New England cricketer.
42:18And at the end, that last cricket stand.
42:22But, perhaps most intriguingly,
42:25Brian Close, with the questions he poses as to the future.
42:31This was a series of many splendid moments,
42:35and of important auguries.