The Golden Age of cricket from 1890 until the outbreak of The Great War in 1915 was something of a mythical era in which the English county competition began, the spirit of cricket reigned supreme and players such as WG Grace and Victor Trumper heightened the skills in the game to levels never imagined beforehand.
It became the leading sport in Australia and England and saw the emergence of South Africa as a third Test-playing nation.
Given what is widely written about Grace’s gamesmanship rather than sportsmanship as well as several other well-documented clashes both verbal and physical the era was perhaps questionable as to whether everything was, in fact, golden, but certainly cricket came out of the era a far better product than it entered it.
It recently struck me that perhaps I have lived through a second Golden Age of cricket. Between the end 1975 and beginning of 2000, six of the major nations in Australia, England, West Indies, India, Pakistan and South Africa sat atop the ICC world rankings on at least one occasion.
Allan Border batting at Edgbaston in 1985. (Photo by MSI/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Only New Zealand of the long-standing nations for the whole period did not.
While prior to this period other countries had sat at the top of the world rankings, it was often sporadic and for short periods. The West Indies enjoyed a long run in the 1960s but otherwise cricket supremacy had historically been dominated almost exclusively by Australia and England.
South Africa rose to the top in 1969 but shortly thereafter were excluded from international competition in what was anything but a golden age for the game. The rankings then reverted to a race for superiority between Australia and England until India assumed the crown for a period in 1973-74.
The winds of change were beginning to blow. The West Indies, South Africa and now India had dared to stride into territory formerly the enclave of cricket’s traditional foes.
Things were about to change dramatically over the next few years as the new Golden Age was ushered in. There were certainly birth pains but what followed took the international game to heights never previously considered.
The Ian Chappell led Australia had regained its mantle at the top of the rankings by 1974. But like boxing, 1975 heralded another championship into world cricket with the advent of the World Cup of one-day cricket.
The might of the West Indies captured the first two cups and when they reached the third consecutive final some fears that they would prove unbeatable in this format were emerging. An inspired India created a shock by defeating them in the final, followed in turn by victories by an Australia beginning to lift itself out of a decade in the doldrums.
A young and exciting Pakistan wrested the cup from Australia before handing it over to surprising and innovative Sri Lanka. While Australia then won the next three championships the tournament had already established itself by then and was given real credibility having been shared among so many contestants in such a short time after its inception.
It is now looked forward to every four years with the same enthusiasm as some of the games traditional Test series.
World Series Cricket came and went very quickly but cricket was never the same again. The players who had struggled forever on the meagre returns the game offered despite them being at the very top of their profession could now receive the financial rewards commensurate with their commitment and skills.
The game moved from being a contest between players to a fully fledged business with new levels of the product to entertain the masses. Why the various cricketing bodies throughout the world were unable to see the commercial opportunities the product offered prior to the advent of WSC is a mystery to this day.
Following a return to the more traditional running of international cricket under the auspice of the ICC, while it would never be the same the game prospered in many ways as never before. The West Indies began a reign of terror on the world with its four-pronged pace attacks riding roughshod over all opponents.
While this era is often remembered as such, with players such as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd to complement the bowlers, the side contained eight or more of the West Indies all-time greatest players as it conquered all before it winning in Australia, England and India in a period of unprecedented dominance.
Many still rate this as the greatest cricket side ever assembled.
Not surprisingly, teams rising to the top in one format of the game also enjoyed success in others. Pakistan tasted its first period atop the ICC rankings with a number of its all-time greatest players including Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan uniting to adopt not only supremacy in rankings, initially in 1988 but also beginning an ultimately successful drive to the World Cup in 1992.
Indeed, Imran is widely viewed as, behind Sir Garfield Sobers, the second-best all-rounder ever, one of the best and most inspiring leaders to have played the game and in many pundits’ top five players of all time.
Imran Khan celebrates with teammates after the 1992 Cricket World Cup final victory over England at the MCG. (Photo Tony Feder/Allsport/Getty Images)
He was also good enough at one stage to have been selected to play for NSW – (sorry it was too good an opportunity to pass up)!! Akram, the Sultan of Swing, is also widely regarded as possibly the finest left arm fast bowler to have played the game.
India also tasted the top of ICC world rankings in 1980 just prior to winning its first WC. The rise of Kapil Dev as one of the great all-rounders in the game ably assisted their finest batters until that time in Sunil Gavaskar.
India had produced some fine batters throughout their history and a litany of great spin bowlers but now enjoyed the services of a world-class fast bowler to tick all boxes as a complete cricket team. The continued stream of greats including Mohammed Azharuddin, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar has assured India of placement near the top of the rankings from that time until the present day.
South Africa took a long time to become a force in world cricket. Despite some favourable results against England and New Zealand they won only one test in 50 years against Australia and did not win a series against them until 1969.
But when they arrived, they did so with a bang, moving to the top of world cricket with some of the greatest players to have played the game. They then spent a little over two decades in the wilderness before returning and competing strongly almost immediately, returning to the top of the rankings within eight years with players such as Jacques Kallis, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock emerging.
Australia began and finished this golden age at the top of the world. In between a very poor decade in the 1980s was the inspiration to a surge back up the rankings through the early nineties and shuffling top spot with the West Indies, South Africa and an emerging India throughout the decade to finish the millennium and the Golden Age at the summit, as it had begun it.
In that time, I was fortunate to see players such as Dennis Lillee, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh.
I delight in having seen so many of the countries who play Test cricket ascending to its summit and I savour the memory of having watched so many great players. Truly this was a Golden Age for the sport.
Ian Chappell in 1972. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
I looked back with some pride at my discovery and was saddened again by the fact that the person who introduced me to and instilled in me my passion for cricket – my Dad – had passed away too early to have seen this new Golden Age.
It struck me, however, that he had seen Bradman bat. He had seen his hero Alan Davidson, who competed with Akram as the greatest left-arm quick bowler the game has seen, bowl as I had seen Lillee.
He had seen Hammond, Hutton, Compton, Trueman and Statham play. He had seen Sobers, Hall and Worrell. He had not seen but heard and read of Hanif Mohammed, Fazal Mahmood, Richards, the Pollocks and Proctor, Vijay Hazare, Polly Umriga and the Nawab of Pataudi and a myriad of other players upon whose shoulders the players of my Golden Age had stood.
It suddenly dawned on me that every fan of the game in fact enjoys his own Golden Age with memorable feats and champion players. I was no different to my own father and some other young fans own Golden Age is unfolding as I sit here and write this.
The game of cricket doesn’t belong to any country or any age but to everyone who has ever been privileged to have played or watched it.
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