Clayton Murzello: Nine not fine and that's a shame

Dont worry about it Allan These guys captain Kepler Wessels and coach Mike Procter dont know what they are doing Fast bowler Donald would get this sort of a response from his pal Omar Henry each time Henry didnt make the South Africa playing XI in the early years of their 1991 readmission into international cricketSpinner Henry was the first nonwhite cricketer to play for his country Three Tests and three oneday international games was all he got despite claiming more than 400 firstclass wickets He went on to become South Africas national selection panel chief in 2002Last weekend Keshav Maharaj like Henry a leftarm spinner claimed nine wickets in an innings against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo His 9 for 129 went down in the record books as the best analysis by a touring bowler in Sri Lanka but South Africa still ended up losingMaharajs show pleased Henry but he was distressed about the overall attitude to his beloved craft While speaking to me the other day he was astounded that Faf du Plessis lineup in the recentlyconcluded Colombo Test had just one specialist spinner He was also convinced that South Africas selectorial blunders earned Sri Lanka the bragging rights for their 20 series win and not because of some superlative play by the host nationHenrys worries for South Africa are not restricted to the Test match front It is on the domestic cricket scene back home where he feels there are not enough opportunities for spinners to display their skills which in turn gives rise to a situation where batsmen miss out on an opportunity to show what they can do while combating good spinnersFrom the cricket enthusiasts point of view it was sad to see a bowler ending up on the losing side despite getting nine wickets in an innings Of the 17 bowlers who have claimed that many in an innings in Test cricket history including Maharaj and excluding Jim Laker and Anil Kumbles all10 feats only four bowlers ended up on the losing side They are Maharaj himself Indians Subhash Gupte Kapil Dev and West Indies Jack NoreigaGupte claimed 9 for 102 against Gerry Alexanders West Indians at Kanpurs Green Park on Day One of the second Test in 1958 The tourists lineup which included batting greats like Garry Sobers Rohan Kanhai and Conrad Hunte were bowled out for 222Yet India succumbed to a 203run loss But Gupte certainly made an impression on Sobers No spin bowler for Sobers is better than Gupte and that includes arguably the greatest of them all Shane Warne Bishan Singh Bedi has been quoted as saying that he listened to the radio commentary while Gupte claimed his nine at Kanpur a spell that inspired him to be a spin bowler And the late Guptes India teammates reckoned he truly had the West Indies at his command that wintry day in Kanpur Kanhai who was dismissed by Gupte in both innings at Kanpur recalled in his book Blasting for Runs how Gupte greeted him at the tea interval with the words Hello rabbit It caused some laughter but Kanhai was fuming That comment was enough to open Kanhais determination tap In the next Test at Kolkata Kanhai blasted 256 According to the Guyanese Dr Rajendra Prasad the then President of India presented him with a stuffed tigers head in appreciation of a fine innings The tigers head made for good viewing at Kanhais original home in Guyana but mastering Gupte was his real prizeIn 1971 another India v West Indies clash witnessed a ninewicket haul This time it was Jack Noreiga an ageing offspinner who made an impression at Trinidad in the second Test of that series Noreiga was called Jack the Ripper and sent back every Indian batsman in the first innings save opener Ashok MankadBut India went on to win the game their very first Test victory in the Caribbean thanks to the batting efforts of debutant Sunil Gavaskar and the spin of EAS Prasanna Bedi S Venkataraghavan and Salim DuraniA dozen years later Kapil Dev claimed nine in West Indies second innings in the 1983 Ahmedabad Test His 9 for 83 was an epic spell in which he bowled nonstop for 303 overs The bowler who claimed the one wicket was BS Sandhu one of the four Sikhs in Indias squad that included himself debutant NS Sidhu spinner Maninder Singh and reserve Gurusharan Singh India were soundly beaten on a poor pitchIt will take a while for Maharaj 28 to recover from the pain of his ninewicket show going in vain at Colombo While hes a bighearted spinner hed do with some serious spin support from the other end Meanwhile Henry 66 may need to do the young man a favour and shout from the roof tops You guys still dont know what you are doingmiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates