Cricket legends meet a kid with a camera

One of the real joys of growing up as a sport-loving kid in Victoria is being able to experience the magnificent arena that is the MCG.  Our footy and cricket heroes seem to be much larger than life in that venue than anywhere else, and I get the impression that other sporting cultures don’t offer quite the accessibility to our heroes as we do here in Australia.

Back when I was just a little tacker I lived in the country, but on rare occasions I was fortunate enough to have been taken to the cricket or footy in Melbourne.  My grandfather was an ex-VFL footballer and a state cricket selector, and as such had regular access to tickets for all the big games at “The G”.  I’ve been dusting off all the old prints I took with my plastic Hanimex 126 from one particular Xmas Test (a match between two “Test” nations), and running them through a new Canon MP980 scanner.

1979

The Test in question was the 1979 Australia v West Indies Boxing Day clash, and aside from being able to see the games greatest names in action right in front of me, it turned out that one of the players actually bowled against me later in my own cricket playing life.  On a related note, I once clean bowled the Sri Lankan opening batsman in a one-day game, but that’s another story.

Anyway, because the tickets came from my grandfather I was seated in the Members, right in the middle of the actual players section. This gave me the very best access possible to snap photos of the legends that shaped my sporting life.  Dennis Lillee has always been Australia’s greatest fast bowler, and you can sense a real charisma and confidence in him as he makes his way down the race.

After the game, the players exit the MCG through the Members doors then walk through the public surrounds of the ground to get to the team bus. I don’t know that this happens much these days but it led to a situation where you could easily approach them and ask for an autograph or simply say hello. As you can see by the lack of hysteria, or even many other fans, times were very different back then.  I have a memory, which may well be just imagination, that I asked Dennis if my Nana could wash his clothes for him that night.

And here is my Nana with Joel Garner, who was everybody’s favourite West Indian. Not only was he huge at 6′ 8″, he was also a gentle giant. He was more than happy to hug Nana as I took the shot.  I’m pretty sure that’s Bob Simpson in the background autographing something for a young girl.

The most powerful and dangerous batsman in modern cricketing history is a debate that could rage for quite a few beers. Many would say Adam Gilchrist, and it would be hard pressed to argue against that. Then there are Lance Klusener, Lance Cairns, Ian Botham and many more.  For me it is still Viv Richards. There is something to this man’s incredible arrogance that makes it appear to the general public as supreme confidence, which it probably was. Whatever the case he was amazing to watch, and on this particular tour he didn’t make one score below 70.

In this shot he is coming back up the race after being dismissed on 96 (probably trying to hit a boundary for his ton).  I’m wondering what possessed me to stand right in the middle of the race to take this shot. Today’s attendants wouldn’t allow such boldness.

1983

I don’t remember going to this match in 1982, but I am fascinated to know how I got so close to the presentation. You must remember that my camera at that time had a fixed lens of probably 50mm, so to get this tight a shot I must have been in the front row of the onlookers.

Tony Grieg (ex-English cricketer, and Australian TV commentator) interviews David Gower as he accepts the award for player of the series.

At the time I was taking all these photos on such a cheap little gadget it never occured to me how much I would appreciate them in the future. In fact, it is part of the reasoning behind my developing thoughts on the unnecessary focus people place on technical perfection and expensive gear. The more time I spend on Flickr, the more I am disillusioned by people who are pushing over-Photoshopping and totally “perfect” images instead of capturing the real life events going on around them. Their amazingly crafted images might look wonderful on a wall, but who is buying them for that purpose? We just look at them on our screen and say ‘wow’, then click “Next Image”.

These old, badly crafted snapshots taken at the MCG gather value over time, and I wish I’d spent more of my life with a camera in hand.