Random Cricket Photos Post 121





#RandomCricketPhotosThatMakeMeHappy

For as long as he played for Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar and pace were synonymous. And so were Shoaib Akhtar and theatrics. And that almost always made for great cricket viewing. You can ask anyone who was at the MCG on December 27 2004. In the final over before Tea on the second day, Justin Langer had driven one on the off side where substitute Afridi had brought to halt a proverbial tracer bullet. That got Akhtar going. He wasn’t pleased. A stare followed a spit in Langer’s direction and that got the batsman going. A bouncer followed and Langer had a few words to say to Akhtar who had almost reached the batting crease on his follow through now.

The next delivery was better directed and hit Langer on the forearm who, sensing the danger, quickly asked for an armguard, something he usually never wore. And Akhtar was quick to mock it when at the beginning of his run-up of the next delivery, he laughed while acting as if he was hurt on the fingers. By now, the entire MCG crowd was into it.

Soon, the shoe was on the other foot. The pacer overstepped and Langer extended his arm to signal no ball to rub it in. Standing at the other end, Martyn had a smile and possibly a word of thanks to the almighty that he wasn’t the one facing Akhtar’s thunderbolts. The next couple of deliveries were both thunderbolts that Langer dealt with safely before the teams went for Tea.

Langer knew about Akhtar and his pace too well obviously, after being at the receiving end of a full toss bowled at 155kph five years ago (third image) when he handed Australia an improbable win by scoring 127 in a chase of 369 at Hobart.

Later in the day, Langer said this about this about the battle that makes it such a memorable one for me - "For me that's why you play the game. It's one of the great battles in Test cricket playing against Shoaib Akhtar. There was nothing malicious about it. It was like two warriors going at each other. A bloke's bowling at 150kph, trying to rip the fingers off your hand, or even worse. It gets your blood going, the adrenaline pumping, you're in a fight - to me that's what Test cricket is all about."

Cricket at its beautiful best.

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