Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

79 Parfitt had reached Bombay in time to take over some of the twelfth-man duties that had been carried out by Kripal Singh, who had played for India in the previous match. Cowdrey soon followed and, with only a couple of nets for practice, immediately emphasised his class with centuries in the next two Tests. At Calcutta England took a narrow lead on first innings, but once again India dawdled in their second innings, leaving neither side with much prospect of victory. At Delhi Cowdrey’s contribution was 151. The other specialist batsmen all made runs to give England a lead of 107, but India then piled up 463 for four, the match petering out as another draw. The pendulum had gradually swung towards England. Though Mike lost the toss in all five Tests, in the final match at Kanpur Pataudi asked England to bat. Soon it was the tourists calling the tune, amassing 559 for six, with Knight and Parfitt making hundreds. Titmus, with six for 73, then led the way in restricting India to 266; but, after the follow-on had been enforced, England’s bowlers toiled in vain, Pataudi redeeming an otherwise wretched personal series with 203 not out. To draw a series in India was a triumph for Mike and his team. They had overcome considerable odds in the early stages and never surrendered. Mike had played his part with the bat. Without any big scores, he had hit 306 runs in the Tests at an average of 51, achieving the consistency so often lacking when he had been given earlier chances. He had led a happy team through more hardships than he could have anticipated. The coming summer the Australians would be in England as holders of the Ashes. Clive Taylor in the Daily Herald echoed the views of other observers that there was only one choice as captain: ‘If there is any justice in cricket, Mike Smith must be the man.’ ‘If you can stand up, you’re playing’