Beyond a Boundary

I had the opportunity to host a little fireside chat with Michael Holding this past weekend. Well, there was no fire, and we were standing, but it's all the same really! Clearly there are some days on which I have even less right to complain about my life than usual. Thanks to Hemant Buch and CCA for inviting me to do this.

It is often said that you shouldn't meet your heroes, lest they lose some of their lustre. I have been fortunate enough to meet several of mine, and the adage rings as something approaching a truism. Sometimes this is because, well, we're all human beings, and thus flawed in some ways. Other times it's because we're very rarely the person we try to make others believe we are. Many times, our Jekyll and Hyde nature gets revealed.

And then on occasion, there's an exception that stands out.

I first encountered Michael Holding in September 1996. That should have been the second time, because I should have met him when he played for Derbyshire in the 1988 Benson and Hedges Cup final, but for reasons that don't need to be aired here, I missed out on the opportunity to hang with Andy Roberts, Clyde Walcott, Raman Subba Row, and a host of others.

Back to 1996 - when a little bit of history was made. The first ever live audio and video sports coverage on the Internet (admittedly the video was a bit more like stop-motion using a 15fps webcam and a homegrown java applet). And the commentary team to kick it off was the legendary Michael Holding, and the slightly less legendary yours truly.

Life may come and go, but as Ella Fitzgerald sang, accompanied by Louis Armstrong, "The memory of all that. No, no, they can't take that away from me"

Not sure that moment was quite so iconic for Michael Holding, but you had better believe I gently reminded him of his true career highlight!

Meeting him then was humbling, because of the grace and generosity with which this legend of the game embraced the request to go on air with CricInfo, and then do what was one of the earliest AMA's with fans on the #cricket channel on IRC.

Meeting him again was even more humbling.

The grace and humility continued to shine through, especially in how he engaged with his youngest fans. As an aside, how heartening is it to see boys and girls in the 5-15 age range going gaga over a 1970's and 1980's cricketing legend? The 80's wasn't just the greatest decade for music, clearly.

Beyond that though, as we chatted for more than an hour in front of 100-150 hopefully captivated fans, it was eye-opening and heart-warming to see the person that is Michael Holding come shining through.

Now if you know me, you know I often relish being a contrarian, and a troll. I'm sure it can be exasperating to be unsure whether I'm being serious or not at any given point in time.

So of course, I had zero intention of asking the bowler of the greatest over of all time, the person with the greatest moniker in sporting history, "Whispering Death," about his bowling. We have google for that!

Instead, we started with his batting exploits - he holds the record, tied with Neil Wagner, for the most sixes hit by a batter with under 1,000 runs in Test cricket (36). He chided me for not knowing that Colin Croft's highest score was 49 (Croft was part of the CricInfo team for quite a while), so we moved onto fielding, where I prompted him to relive his ODI debut in 1976, where he hit both sets of stumps with a throw from fine leg, and despite both batters being mid-pitch, nobody was given out. This led to a forthright discussion of Umpiring, *that* incident and tour of NZ, and DRS.

Which was enough cricket, so we moved onto the fun stuff - his advocacy, which was inadvertently launched during a rain-delay during the 2020 post-George-Floyd covid tour of England by the West Indies. And boy did he paint a powerful picture - with passion, heart, and soul, the lattermost of which he had earlier lamented was the biggest loss in the modern era of cricket. I couldn't have got a word in edgewise, and I didn't want to, because he was so eloquent, and let's face it, nobody paid to hear me speak (though I now rather inexplicably have a couple of selfies posed for to add to my autographs given!).

At a time when the world increasingly needs more humanity and basic human decency, and simultaneously looks increasingly devoid of it - here is a man who embodies it, and does so with heart and with rationality. None of us are perfect, and I doubt Michael Holding is either (and he would cringe if I suggested otherwise), but he is exemplifying today so much of what I want to be.

Although I haven't officially announced my retirement, Test match opening bowler may be beyond me now (but England selectors, I'm qualified, and if everyone else goes to the IPL, I'm up for it). All time great TV commentator may also be a bit of a stretch, although in my own mind there's a non-zero chance of attaining that status. But agent for change with the courage to stand loud and proud for what you believe in, and for those who need you to stand up for them? That's something we should all aspire to, every day.