My Favourite Cricketer: Angus Fraser by James Marsh

In our continuing series "My Favourite Cricketer", Pavilion Opinions' James Marsh selects the bedrock of English bowling in the 1990s, hearkens back to a man cut from the very Bedser cloth - Angus Fraser.

Number one Test side, World T20 champions and recent winners of, well, an ODI series, these are salad days indeed for the England cricket team. Yet for a fan who lived through the 1990s the pleasure of success is slightly tainted by its rather nouveau unfamiliarity. England's lettuce shouldn't be so crisp. It certainly shouldn't be capable of being tossed to any of our bowlers safe in the knowledge they can make the celestial Indian line-up at times look like rabbits.

Apologies for the metaphor milking, but back then milking was exactly what you grew accustomed to watching an England attack whose laboured efforts were further hampered by a management and selection policy that was occasionally merely vindictive rather than incompetent. Mullally, Illot, Jarvis. McCague, Salisbury, Munton. The names roll off the tongue like an ulcer. Until that is you get to the one man that put this listless canon of international fodder to shame: My favourite cricketer, Angus Fraser.

courtesy: independent.co.uk

He wasn't the quickest, bounciest, most swing-laden or aesthetic player you could hope to see, but 'Gus was the bowler that I loved to watch pounding in more than any other. More lumbering throttle than whispering death, you could nevertheless keep your Holdings or your Waqars, and besides - if you really must have aestheticism - just look at the beauty of his stats: In 46 injury and selection lottery interrupted Tests he took 177 wickets at 27.32, an average that betters many including that of three of his rather more celebrated successors, Anderson, Hoggard and Flintoff. It might be a struggle to argue he could match the respective guile, shape, and aggression of that trio, but throughout the troubled 1990s Fraser bowled 1668.2 overs for his country, second only behind Phil Tufnell and the most by an England quick by nearly 300. That's 10,010 balls of unflinching, intelligent, mainly on a nagging length unerring, sometimes just "Hold an end up for a sweltering session, Gus", body-aching skill and commitment. Often his reward was to be summarily dropped.

His triumphs against the then still formidable West Indies side on their home soil are well documented, but can never be highlighted enough. Along with Alec Stewart's two tons, he restored pride to a side skittled for 46 in the previous Test by taking a first innings 8 for 75 in 1993/94 and and in doing so bowled England to their and anyone else's first victory in Bridgetown for nearly 60 years. Four years later, after 18 months of snubbing by the selectors, he returned triumphant to the Caribbean and took 11 for 110 in Port of Spain, picking up Lara's wicket in both innings, although this scalp was not uncustomary. Fraser sent the Windies genius on his way seven times in the 14 Tests they played against each other.

courtesy: ecb.co.uk

To my mind, though, his most significant triumph was in 1998 during England's home series against South Africa, which, along with Dominic Cork's 1995 tour de force against the Windies, was the one that made me believe I might once again see my national side regarded as more than just a laughing stock. Not only did he and Robert Croft create the template for Onions-infused rearguards with their dogged tenth wicket stand to stop England going 2-0 down at Old Trafford, he also took the second ten wicket match haul of his career at Trent Bridge to set up England's victory. His efforts were as crucial, but nowhere near as oft-recalled, as Atherton's famous facing down of Allan Donald in the subsequent run chase.

Gary Naylor of the superlative 99.94 blog recently wrote here about his love for Glenn McGrath, who he admiringly termed the 'bastard's bastard'. Much attracted by that criteria I was very close to choosing Nasser Hussain over Fraser, but even on that basis I think 'Gus doesn't underperform, such was his curmudgeonly capacity for opinionated and often wry complaint that served him so well in his subsequent career as a journalist. His forthright approach clearly brought respect rather than rancour, however, and in his autobiography Hussain states his deep regret at never having captained Fraser internationally, describing him as "the sort of bloke I desperately wanted in my team, one who would give it his absolute best, would play with passion and commitment and make no excuse or hide behind anyone or anything." Not perhaps a terribly flashy quote, but then 'Gus wasn't a terribly flashy cricketer. He was simply, as was patently obvious to anyone who ever had the pleasure of watching his resolute magnificence, just an absolutely terrific one.

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Ryan Giggs' Twenty United Years, Part 2

In Part One of our special feature on United stalwart Ryan Giggs’ Red Devils’ tenure, we examined the football landscape when Giggs made his Man U bow twenty years ago. More telling perhaps is a birds-eye view of how the world was at that time.

In those twenty years - 7305 days - he’s seen a lot:

Two weeks before that substitute’s turn against Everton, US-led troops invaded Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. The first Gulf War was over in 100 hours as President George Bush chose to ignore advice from several senior advisors; the Welshman then saw history repeat twelve years later. Since that first war, Giggs has outstayed three US Presidents: Bush, Bill Clinton and Bush Jr. The Prime Minister of England was also a newbie – John Major, who had ended eleven years of Thatcherdom in the same month Giggs turned professional, November 1990. Wales’ favourite son has seen off four British PMs and five Australian.

Even more astonishingly the USSR was still a viable (barely) entity when Giggs’ debut came. Only five-and-a-bit months later in August, the country broke up after a failed military coup. The Ukraine and Belarus were first out the Union’s door; even United’s recent European Super Cup opponents changed their name from Zenit Leningrad to Zenit St Petersburg as their home city reverted to its original name after seventy-odd years of communist rule.

Perhaps the incident with the most staying power from March 1991 followed the cosmic ripples emanating from Giggs’ debut; it occurred the following day in Los Angeles as LAPD officers were filmed beating black motorist Rodney King which caused communal uproar and several high-profile damages claims. Magic Johnson also made the headlines for admitting in November that he was HIV positive. If you wanted to play FIFA or Football Manager, you’d have to do it on the state-of-the-art Super Nintendo Entertainment System. And the all time clue to let you know how far back in time we’ve traveled: Mike Tyson, the man for whom the Tyson Zone is named, was arrested for the first time, charged with raping a Miss America contestant.

Other debutants that year included TV’s Home Improvement, movies Silence of the Lambs and Thelma and Louise; the music world rocked to Pearl Jam’s Ten, U2’s Achtung Baby, Metallica’s eponymous release and the last of Michael Jackson’s truly great albums, Dangerous. The world mourned the passing of Michael Landon, Gene Roddenberry, Stan Getz, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Frank Capra, Freddie Mercury, Doctor Seuss and Miles Davis.

Real Madrid starlet Sergio Canales was born only six weeks before Giggs first turned out for the Red Devils and it’s an amusing thought that he was wearing (admittedly awful 1991-style) United kits before Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda were born – shortly after Germany’s 1990 World Cup win. He’s been a professional for over twenty years, seen five FIFA World Cups in that time and not played at any of them, perhaps the greatest injustice he’s ever been dealt Eleven of his first-team comrades this year were three years of age or less.

Ryan Giggs has outlasted all but Sir Alex during his time at United. His success and longevity due mostly to his special blend of skill, pace, resistance to injury and focused evolution. As his pace has declined he’s moved from the flanks into the centre of the park and has, for the past three-plus seasons, defined the role of “midfield schemer”. More than anything else, you get the feeling Giggs feels privileged to be playing football this late in his career, especially for a club that means so much to him.

Congratulations, Ryan Giggs. United, and football, are glad that you’re going around for season twenty-one next term. We hope also that there’s a twenty-second.

Ryan Giggs: Twenty United Years

During their 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Wednesday, Ryan Giggs achieved the incredible feat of playing for Manchester United for twenty years. And when he appeared to a generous ovation from the substitute's bench, Giggs equalled footballing immortal Bobby Charlton's United appearances record with 606. Think about that: twenty years! 133 teammates, ranging from the very best (Eric Cantona) to the utterly ineffective (David Healy). Forty -eight times he's been on the podium as a trophy winner or runner-up. That's just silly - and a convincing case could be made that he's football's all-time winningest player.

On a personal note, he's been my favourite player ever since that first season where United finished sixth in the old First Division. I'd only recently decided to follow football and the first game televised after that decision was a United fixture - I wish I could remember the game, but for the life of me I can't - so I followed Man U. Mark Hughes, Bryan Robson and Denis Irwin were the stars of that era but, in my first early teenage rebellion, I decided my favourite player was a young guy who showed flashes down the left, the most prominent a back-heel to Hughes just outside the box which led to a "Sparky" score. It was Giggs. 

It can't have been his debut as United lost that 2 - 0 to Everton, but it was one of his earliest appearances for the club. For the entire twenty years I've followed soccer, Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson have accompanied me.

After some thoroughly unexhaustive but very fun research, that season 1990-91 can show just how different football is today and the changes in leagues that Giggs' career has endured and outlasted.

In that first season United won the European Cup Winners' Cup, a trophy since replaced by the Champions' League. First Division clubs included Crystal Palace (who finished third in their highest league position ever), now non-league Luton and the now defunct Wimbledon finished one spot below United in seventh. Now-Premiership clubs Fulham, Wigan, Stoke and Birmingham City sat in the lower reaches of Division 3, a league won by Cambridge City. The largest raise in club stature since that time, however, belongs rather unsurprisingly to Blackpool who finished the season fifth in Division 4. Wimbledon notwithstanding, Luton's demise is the greatest fall.

Notable debutants included Giggs, Watford's David James, Liverpool's Steve McManaman, Forest's Roy Keane, Palace's Gareth Southgate and another man to make the United flanks his own, Andrei Kanchelskis. Retirements included former United man Norman Whiteside and Liverpool stalwart Alan Hansen. The football world mourned (?) the passing of Robin Friday when the greatest non-league footballer ever died of a heart attack at 38. Liverpool were re-admitted to European competition after the Heysel Disaster and in remarkable symmetry, only eight days prior to Giggs' debut, Kenny Dalglish resigned as the Scousers' manager. That he is at the helm of the Merseysiders and opposes Sir Alex Ferguson seems very apt.

Stay tuned, as part two of our series on Ryan Giggs' twentieth year in the Manchester United first team will be published in coming days.

Image courtesy: http://www.whoateallthepies.com