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Lou Vincent - The Exuberant Aucklander |
A special feature by
Karthik Narayan
Resonant and radical are two
words that may best describe the attitude of
this new multi-pronged star in the cricket
horizons. It was the first time he was wielding
the cricket bat, and he opened the innings for
his team. And he slammed every bowler giving
them the perfect treatment along with his
prescription of vanishing cream. And these
bowlers weren’t your average Joes – they were
the mightily accomplished Aussies.
That was the very varnish coated starting that
this variety player had dreamt of! After a super
century in his very first innings with the bat,
he came on to further dominate the Aussies with
a half century in the second innings. An innings
of character and with all the shots around the
wicket in his kitty, Vincent gave the Aussie
bowlers enough headaches. Ricky Ponting and his
men might have done well to check the expiry
dates on the aspirins that they took to counter
those headaches!
After that golden debut, Lou Vincent
unfortunately did not shine as much as he would
have liked it in test matches. There was enough
talk about his batting position in the side –
the team management felt he wasn’t very
technically correct. Then along came Polly –
that perfect innings that any talent would
always cherish as their best – a century against
the Indians in India at Chandigarh. That must
rank very special for anybody, because sub
continent conditions are always tough and
testing.
Lou Vincent then after faltered in his career,
stumbling a bit upon a bout of poor form and a
lack of application of technique. The twenties,
30s and forties came, but they weren’t going to
be good enough. In his entire test career from
2001 till date, he played just 20 tests, and he
has over 1000 runs and a jumping average of 34,
which shall go higher as he plays more.
This right handed batsman is not the perfectly
equipped player for test matches, though his
bits and pieces mannerisms has won his team many
laurels at the ODI level. He is the most
valuable player in ODIs no doubt, with racing
well paced innings and the immensely popular
fielding. There was some cloud over his test
place, but now he has sealed it fully. Currently
he is playing as a middle order batsman.
Cricket as they say is like a school, every
innings, every catch and every moment is a
teacher – the outcome is in the form of the
results and the experience gained out of it all.
This player has learnt a few lessons in his
short test career as well – and he put all that
knowledge in the classic yet contemporary
innings against Sri Lanka when they toured the
Black Caps in April 2005.
The team needed a long and patient innings from
him – so that they could pile on the agony and
the runs to press for a win, and Lou Vincent
played his part to perfection. His second double
century of his career came around – a
magnificent and marathon innings came about –
224 runs of the very finest choice of shots,
spending as much time as we spend waiting at a
dentist’s place. Now there shall be no doubts
and critics for this fabulous talent. This is
the right knock at the right time for him. This
shall make him more run-hungry and leave the
opposition looking high and dry as he brings the
world to its feet delighting them with his
skills.
There is no doubt about this cricketer’s
fielding – he has it in his veins, blood and
bones. He puts in that charming dazzling display
of pyrotechnics at the various fielding
positions he fields in – ranging from backward
point to forward short leg. He rushes in there,
attacks the ball and releases it in a flash with
pin-point accuracy. An aerial view of the
matches where he plays shall plot a small little
black dot run around like a rabbit all the time.
Age is on his side, and with a career that has
kicked off robustly. Endurance and tolerance
shall be the litmus tests for him in the coming
years, for him to maintain his tempo and go on
to become New Zealand’s top batsmen shall be
entirely in his own hands. But we at
Cricketfundas.com are positive about his career
ahead and we wish him all the very best!
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