The Blaze of Glory XI - part two

Insurance companies that had to pay out huge sums to batsmen injured by the West Indies quartet have been hunting for this man for years now. Any info will be appreciated
© Getty Images



Greetings from New York City, where non-cricketous work has taken me temporarily to the place where Donald Bradman met Babe Ruth, and, one hopes, tried to convince the legendary Yankees slugger that if he did not hit the ball in the air so often, his innings might last rather longer. In fact, it is entirely possible that Donald Bradman ate a bagel, or put on a gorilla suit and tried to climb up the outside of the Empire State Building, or said "You talkin' to me?" whilst looking at himself in a mirror, within a just few blocks of where I am writing this now. I can feel the cricketing history in the air.

It is also possible that, given that he was in New York during a honeymoon which consisted of a four-month cricket tour, that the new Mrs Bradman at some point, perhaps on the sidewalk right below my window, pulled the Don aside and said: "Next time you go on a honeymoon, can I suggest you do so without 12 other men in tow? It is just not the more romantic way to make a girl feel special. And stop looking at the Statue Of Liberty like that. I know she's hot, but I AM YOUR WIFE. How was the game, darling?"

Welcome to Part 2 of the the Official Confectionery Stall Going Out In A Blaze Of Glory Test XI. Since Part 1 was released, Rahul Dravid has retired from international cricket. Had he had done so after last summer's series in England, he would have strolled into this team, despite India's total failure as a team, after one of the finest sustained displays of the craft of batsmanship seen in recent years.

Instead, a largely fruitless tour of Australia, and another sadly thorough walloping for his country, means that he has departed the Test scene with the same number of runs in his final Test as mustered batting legends RP de Groen and Franklyn Rose, and by joining Richard Blakey and Adrian Griffith as players who have exited Test cricket as part of a whitewashed team (plus, in fairness, several players of elevated cricketing stature) (and, potentially, the entire current England XI if they all decide to quit cricket and join a religious commune). It was an exit ill-befitting one of the Test game's finest players, after 16 years of silk and steel in his nation's cause, the undisputed Michelangelo Of The Forward Defensive.