From Epilepsy to Cancer - A brief look back at the career of Tony Greig

Just when it looked like one year-long battle was finally over, another one seems to have come up.

This time, it was Tony Greig who was caught unaware. The illness, which does not guarantee a tomorrow for anyone suffering from it, has made him his target. It is the beginning of an ordeal for the former English cricketer. Yuvraj Singh came out unscathed and I only hope Tony’s life turns out to be no different.

It is a sorry state of affairs when a person who injected life into cricket commentary is left in a struggle to avoid the inevitable. Yes, he has not reached that situation yet, but unless he comes out of this ailment, we cannot be sure. Of course, we have seen Yuvraj Singh but we had also come across the sorry demise of Malcolm Marshall.

It sounds good when people say X, an ailing one, can draw inspiration from Y, a recovered one. Surely, it gives confidence to those who are ailing to know that a few have survived their ordeal. But then, mere inspiration is not going to alienate a person from the actual disease itself.

There are various factors involved, like one’s age and the doctor’s knowledge,to name a few. More importantly, it is the gravity of the disease which decides everything. However, suffering is not new to Tony.

If at all he can take a leaf out of anyone’s book, it should be his own. Right from a very tender age, he has been suffering from epilepsy. However, that impairment never distanced him from playing cricket. Born to a Scottish father and a South African mother, he gained an entry to play in the English domestic circuit, representing Sussex.

He was one of those talented individuals who was good both with the ball as well as with the bat. Though recognized more for his batting, he was not too bad with the ball in his hand. He was able to bowl medium pace and a bit of spin, putting him in a very rare breed. His subsequent successes, being a part of the English test side, prompted many to hail him as one of the greatest all-rounders ever during those days.

Eschewing from the traditional style of batting for which the Englishmen were known, he batted like one of the modern day aggressors.

When Mike Denness was sacked as English captain after the 1975 World Cup, Tony was offered the job to lead the side. During his tenure as captain, he courted many controversies, one of those was with regards to his remarks about West indies pace attack which invited some stick from the crowd at the venue.

He was one of the guys who befriended the rival league, which was then called the Kerry Packer Series, making many English players sign for it as a result. Many such instances have occurred in his career, where he has been looked upon as a foe rather than a comrade in the cricketing world. His soft corner towards Packer saw him stripped him of his captaincy.

However, he played a few more series for England‘s Test team. The captain in charge then was Mike Brearly who later on went on to become one of the greatest captains England has ever had. Tony’s cricketing career came to an abrupt end a few years later but even then, he hardly seemed to have regretted it. He was of the opinion that he had achieved enough, what with epilepsy to contend with.

He didn’t stay away from cricket for too long. He soon became universally known for his energetic commentary.

In the era of radio commentary, the listener would be clueless about the proceedings until the commentator mentioned the score, and with the advent of television wherein a viewer was actually able to watch the match, the value of the commentator only went down. Occasionally, Henry Blofield would light up a day when he spotted ear rings on a spectator, but nobody else inspired a joyful broadcast the way Tony Grieg did.

It has been an absolute treat listening to him ever since. It was during the resurgence of Sri Lankan cricket after the 1996 World Cup, that his commentary became more exhilarating. The adventurous batting display of the Sri Lankans, especially that of Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, fed him with the requisite momentum to be at the top of his commentary.

You would not find a Barry Richards or Benaud type of artistry in his expertise from the box, but his style was good enough for a layman.

We will surely miss him from the box as he is suffering from cancer. He might have antagonized a section of people (even from India) due to various controversial statements and actions, but it is time for us to leave all complaints aside and wish him a speedy recovery just as we did for Yuvraj Singh.

Let us unite and pray for the great man’s life who, like I said, gave life to modern day cricket.