Dead Eye Joe bids goodbye

Limited overs cricket has helped in creating more athletic cricketers The word ldquomorerdquo must be stressed because itrsquos not that there werenrsquot ultra lively and splendid catchers in fielding sides You could say they were few and far betweenOne of the finest among themmdashWest Indiesrsquos Joe Solomonmdashpassed away in New York last week at the age of 93Solomon went down in history as the man whose direct hit brought about Test cricketrsquos first of two Tied Tests at the Gabba in Brisbane during the Australian summer of 196061Solomon played 27 Tests for the West Indies mainly as a lowerorder batsman from 195859 to 196465International cricket started for the Guyanese on the 195859 tour of India At Green Park Kanpur he played his role in the Gerry Alexanderled West Indiesrsquos 203run win with Test debut scores of 45 and 86 on a jute matting pitchThe debutantrsquos second innings knock earned rich praise from reputed cricket correspondent Dicky Rutnagur in the Indian Cricket Field Annual ldquoIf the quality of his Solomon innings went partially unnoticed it was because he was eclipsed by the unadulterated brilliance of his lefthanded partner Garfield Sobers who scored 198 whom he assisted in a stand of 163 the highest ever for the sixthwicket by West Indies against Indiardquo wrote RutnagurIronically a run out the mode of dismissal he became most famous for two Decembers later prevented Solomon from scoring a hundred on debut He fell short by 14 as the visitors then declared to give India 444 to chaseIn the next Test at Kolkata he helped himself to an unbeaten 69 in West Indiesrsquos 6145 declared to which India responded by getting bowled out for 124 and 154After 43 and 8 not out in Chennai Solomon got his maiden Test hundred in the final encounter of the series in Delhi Again West Indies batted only once to score 6448 declared a closure delayed to enable Solomon to get his ton he in Rutnagurrsquos words ldquoso richly deserved for his consistent batting throughout the seriesrdquo Helped by Chandu Bordersquos 96 and Hemu Adhikarirsquos 40 India drew the game for the series to end 30 in West Indiesrsquos favour This was the series in which India had four different captains Polly Umrigar Ghulam Ahmed Vinoo Mankad and Adhikari Talking of captains Solomon pleased his skipper Alexander no end averaging 11700 and also earned the respect and confidence of the next captain Frank WorrellWorrell along with his Australian counterpart Richie Benaud conspired to revitalise Test cricket through the 196061 series Down Under They started things brilliantly with attractive cricket which led to the opening Test at Brisbane ending in a tieSolomon played an important part in that landmark moment in cricket by hitting the stumps with a direct hit as Lindsay Kline turned one towards square leg took off for the winning run only to see his partner Ian Meckiff run out through Solomonrsquos brillianceJournalist Mike Coward who interviewed Solomon for an ABC documentary on the Tied Test told me from Sydney on Wednesday that the exbatsman was a fine man and his recollections of the game were splendid ldquoThe ball was coming to me I know itrsquos the last run for them to win I collected it with both hands I threw at the wicket and it went straight to the stumpsrdquo Solomon recalled in the documentaryThe amazing part was that from his position Solomon could see only one stump and he hit it Although this piece of brilliance lodged itself firmly in memory banks it was not the first time he did it in that Test Alan Davidson who was putting on a significant partnership with his skipper Richie Benaud suffered the same fate as Meckiff earlier in the session It was a matchturning dismissal because the West Indians except for skipper Worrell believed that the two established allrounders would guide the Australians home Solomon felt he was lucky to get Davidson run out with that strike That said he was known to train hard for direct hits at practice His childhood played a role as well ldquoAs boys from the country we would pitch marbles and try to steal mangoes by hitting them down We had a good aimrdquo he told CowardSobers who was Solomonrsquos third and last Test captain wrote in his instructional book Cricket Advance ldquoAfter that Brisbane Test of course he simply had to be known as Dead Eye JoerdquoAmidst admiration and kudos for his fielding there was legpulling Sobers revealed to readers what Australian allrounder Ken lsquoSlasherrsquo Mackay told Solomon during the Brisbane Test celebrations ldquoWhy donrsquot they give you a turn at the bowling crease more often After all you are the best chucker of the lotrdquoSolomon was a quiet West Indian He went about his postplaying career without being in the public glare And I donrsquot remember reading an interview pertaining to his career when he came to India as manager of Alvin Kallicharranrsquos 197879 West Indies team Commentator Reds Perreira indicated to me earlier this week that Solomon may have played a good hand in that secondstring West Indies team keeping Indiarsquos victory count to just one in the sixTest seriesSolomon was reserved but Reds said he could engage you in a cricketrelated conversationTherersquos a good chance Solomon is up there discussing his direct throw with six of his teammates and eight members of the Australian playing XI that figured in the Tied Test even as the survivors remember him down heremiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper