Debasis Sen, Southampton: Will we ever see a great opening partnership again? That is a question not just for England and India in the ongoing series. It is a problem that is being faced by most of the top teams across the globe. Talking about opening partnerships the names of these pairs Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Greenidge and Haynes, Langer and Hayden Legendary West Indian opener Gordon Greenidge, who shared an opening partnership of 6482 runs with Desmond Haynes was present at the Ageas Bowl on Day 1 of the fourth test between India and England.
According to Greenidge, “I think the problem for the openers these days is their footwork, timing and mentality.”
Indian captain Virat Kohli has been a prolific run scorer in the on-going series. Kohli is way ahead in the leading run scorer list with 544 runs with still a test match to go at the Oval.
On being asked to compare with the greats of yesteryears, the Barbadian said, “He will certainly compete with anyone. He is a prolific run scorer too. Hope India just does not keep depending on Virat alone which is evident in this series. In recent times a lot of pressure is on Virat, not only with the runs he scores but also the pressure of handling captaincy. It will be nice if some of the other guys (batsmen) can take the pressure off him by scoring runs.”
He also added, “I think Kohli’s consistency separates him from others. His consistency has been excellent as to how he go about his game.”
The highlight for the series has been the performance of the Indian seamers. The former West Indies opener is not at all surprised with the emergence of talented medium pacer like Bumrah.
“It is not a surprise for me. You will always get two or three bowlers cropping up from time to time. India has always produced some world class spinners but it is good to see young fast bowlers being able to swing the ball, move the ball. I am impressed with their art of using the conditions to swing the ball rather than seam movement. It makes the opening batsmen’s job even more difficult if the new ball is swinging on a green surface. So it is a matter of survival most of the times,” said the 67-year-old cricketer.
West Indies cricket presently is struggling to catch up with the top teams of world cricket. Greenidge, who was part of that indomitable team of the 70’s and 80’s did sound optimistic.
“I am not a part of the regime right now. It obviously needs some change because the players are not as bad as the performances. There is a lot of youngster on the horizon but may be they do not have the same mentality, behavior and thinking. Unfortunately, most of them prefer to play the T20 game than developing the skills to play the longer version of the game. So the people running the game needs to take stock and perhaps go the route where they can develop the skills of the game,” said the former Caribbean opener.
Greenidge is now in London busy raising funds for his charity work back home. He is also the patron of Gordon Greenidge Primary School. A fundraising programme will be hosted in London on September 06, where his compatriots Michael Holding and Clive Lloyd will also be present.
“We have embarked on a fundraising event to raise awareness to build a library and a research centre at the school. That will be the first of the three phases. The event is on September 06 which is a day before the test match at the Oval. We are actually pushing the trend, get the numbers we are looking for,” signed off the dashing West Indian opener.