Michael Holding gets annoyed at Brian Close

Mr. Whispering Death trying to hurt Brian Close during the 1976 "grovel" series. Terrifying to watch.

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[daddycarty]

come on guys this is cricket, while you are free to voice your opinion, we dont need any form of racial remark. i am a west Indian and i do say it was a courageous performance by Brian Close. Holding was bowling very fast that day and Brian stood up to him. Not many batsmen stood up to those bowlers back then. But we can remember batsmen like Dennis Amiss , Sunil Gavaskar and others who stood up to bowlers like Lillee, Thompson, Holding , Roberts and others

[FoxMcScrooge]

If you took the time to actually digest what I said you would realise that Thomson still bowled faster than all these guys despite not training or bowling for nearly a year due to his ban after going on the rebel tour to SA. And when did I ever make any mention of test cricket dickhead? You mate are the fuckwit. You honestly think Holding would have bowled an over like that to an in form Lara / Ponting / Tendulkar / Richards etc? Would have been doing a lot of fetching.

[simonlilley]

Thomson never went on a rebel tour to SA

[pix046]

I like the way the batsmen go down to the middle of the wicket to pat the ground with their bats. It is not much exxageration to say they could prod the ground near the boundary at the beginning of Holding's run up!

[pix046]

Poor Brian Close! Such guts. Nevertheless, this is a world class fast bowler finding a bit extra in the wicket and remembering the 'grovel' remark (totally over-cooked reaction, by the way). Poor Brian is a county class batsman out of his depth. But his guts are UNIVERSE class.

[simonlilley]

The pic in Fire in babylon is actually after the 1963 Lords Test. Check it out, the film makers got it wrong LOL.

[simonlilley]

Mike Brearley wore a skull protector under his cap from around 78 onwards. I think the first time we used helments much was the 79 World Cup Final.

[simonlilley]

Absolutely. I remember tht session on the Saturday night. At one point someone came out the crownd and gave John Edrich a bat about 3 feet wide. I take my hat off to both of them taking that sort of pace and not flinching for second. No helmet arm guard chest protectors. Edrich was clearly a woose as he wore a cap !!!!! Some protection that would be!!

[simonlilley]

I think you will find that Close was still playing for Somerset at the time of this match, so hardly "out of retirement" he retired at the end of the 1977 season.

[simonlilley]

Thomson did not go on a rebel tour to SA.

[sskgrs]

Tendulkar with no gears like Brian Close would have retired without hurt playing Holding.:-)

Sunil Gavaskar is by far the best Indian bastman to have played and he played without helmet against the mighty WI bowlers of 70s and 80s.