England's Ouster from World Cup brings back memories from it's haydays

The first casualty of this cricket World Cup was the England's ouster from the Quarterfinal rounds. Their defeat against Bangladesh (no more a minnow) sealed their fate. Didn't come much of a surprise, the way they played in this World Cup they didn't deserve to qualify, a sad come down of a nation which gave birth to this glorious game.

 

It wasn't the case 33 years back, when a power packed English team with the likes of Gooch, Gower, Botham and Willis were touring India. England then had a formidable team. They already had an indomitable One day record, being the finalist of the prior World Cup, loosing to the mighty Windies. India at best, had a below average record in the limited overs version of the game.

 

A late winter day of that cricket season seems just like yesterday, when the first ever One Day International match at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack was played between India and England. It was the last week of January 1982. It was one of it's kind of that time. Earlier it had hosted a few games between the touring international sides and East Zone. But for the first time an One day match involving team India was going to be played at the picturesque venue.

 

Enthusiasm was building up in anticipation of the match. There was a huge demand for the tickets, with all the them soon getting sold out. My father managed to buy couple of tickets to the jealously of my friends, giving an ardent cricket fan in me the most cherished opportunity of that time. A few officials were openly selling their passes in the black market. 

 

The English team arrived early and were housed in Hotel Kalinga Ashok, barely a mile from my home. Next morning I heard "TRING TRING".. a friend of mine ringing his bicycle bell in front of our flat (apartment).  It was his usual signal that something important was going on. I immediately rushed down stairs. He told me to ride with him as he got the news that English players were out in the lawn of the hotel. I did not think twice as my heart was pounding fast with unbridled excitement. Now I am going to actually see those I see regularly on Sportstar, Sportsweek and Sportsworld, the Sports magazines of the time. We pedaled fast and within 5 minutes reached the spot.

 

I could see Bob Taylor (their wicket keeper) and Ian Botham from close, sipping their morning Tea and chatting on the lawn. Only a barbed wire separated us by a few feet. My friend got over excited and started shouting in Oriya at top of his voice"HE HE..ARRE DEKH RE, TALOR AU BOTHAM BASICHANTI (Hey Hey take a look, Taylor and Botham are sitting)". A few passerby took notice and a crowd started gathering. Both these English players could sense the commotion. They got up and hurried towards their room. Before leaving Botham made a monkey like gesture and rolled a half eaten apple towards us. We felt so privileged of getting his attention and felt as if we got salvation. Little we realized it wasn't a very laudable gesture on his part.

 

Finally the D-Day arrived. On the day of the match we got up at 4 AM and proceed towards Cuttack. We started early as we were told in advance that there were many fake ticket holders, so we better get inside the stadium before it gets full. The match started. I had my pocket transistor with me. England batted first with the Oriya commentary blaring " GOOCHA AAU COOKA (Gooch and Cook in Oriya accent) THIA HOICHANTI AAU MAHANADI PATU KAPILA DEBA ASILE( are standing and from Mahanadi rive side Kapil Dev is walking in). It was a long day.

 

At lunch time we consumed some cold Puri and Potato curry brought from home. After the match ended we came out of the stadium with one hand closing our nostril trying to avoid the yellow rivulets of urine almost flooding the exit gates. Finally got back home tired, with tons of memories to cherish down the lane. Later I learnt that at least 5000 spectators with valid tickets were denied entry into the stadium.