Sports
Derek Underwood – a man who defied convention
by Rex Clementine
Derek Underwood, the man who mesmerized Sri Lankans with an eight-wicket haul in our inaugural Test match at P. Sara Oval 42 years ago, is no more. He passed away at the age of 78 on Monday.
Arjuna Ranatunga thrilled us all becoming the first Sri Lankan to post a half-century in Test match cricket. He was dismissed by Underwood. The manner in which the old fox, 37 at that time, set up the 18-year-old was a treat to watch indeed. Arjuna was cleaned up shouldering arms to the veteran, whose nickname was ‘deadly’.
Underwood took a five for in the first innings and finished with three wickets in the second essay. When he left Colombo, he was on 297 wickets. There was little doubt in us that he was going to get to the 300-wicket mark during the English summer just a few weeks away. He in fact needed only 11 more wickets to break Fred Trueman’s record for most wickets by an Englishman in Test cricket. But fate would have other ideas.
Dr. Ali Bacher, the South African supremo was masterminding a rebel cricket tour by an England team. He had roped in Graham Gooch, Geoff Boycott, John Lever, Bob Woolmer, Johny Emburey and many others. Underwood joined too. All were handed three-year international bans and that effectively ended many players’ careers.
West Indies were unforgiving for those players who toured apartheid South Africa. Sri Lanka too were somewhat rigid. England were far more lenient. Underwood played First Class cricket after the rebel tour.
Underwood’s fascination with Kent is legendary. He spent all his 24 years as a professional cricketer at Canterbury and that involved more than 900 games. He took 100 wickets for the season on ten occasions and the first time it happened was when he was just 17. After retirement, he went on to become the President of Kent County Cricket Club and later Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Underwood was unlike any of the other spinners that we have seen. Spinners usually are slow and flight the ball trying to beat the batters in the air. Underwood was more of a cutter fashion bowler. He had a long run up looking similar to a medium-pacer and he fired it in.
Most good spinners prosper when there is a solid wicketkeeper. Qadir had Bari, Warne had Healy, Murali had Sanga and so did Underwood. His partnership with Alan Knott went beyond England as they both played for Kent as well.
Kent renamed The Annexe Stand at their ground as the Underwood – Knott Stand to recognize the pair’s service to the county. The press box at Kent ground is in the Underwood – Knott Stand.
Underwood was a proper tail-ender as evident by his record – no half-centuries in Test match cricket. But that didn’t prevent him from coming in as nightwatchman during many games. This was at a time when the West Indies had Marshall and Holding while the Aussies had Lillee and Thomson. In sports, they say, it’s all about the guts you show.
One is reminded of the famous story of a Sri Lankan left-arm spinner. When Duleep Mendis wanted to spare his premier batsman Aravinda de Silva and ordered the spinner to get ready to go in as night watchman, the spinner apparently was hiding in the toilet.
Underwood will be remembered. Not just for scripting many famous wins for Kent and England, but for having the courage to be different, to move away from conventional spin and to stick to his strength. That made him the most successful spinner that England have ever produced.
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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